City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

by Gary Krist

  5. For Lundin’s focus on the black, Irish, and German vote, see Leinwand, Mackerels in the Moonlight, p. 38, and Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 168. “Damn him, we know he’s no good” is quoted in Davis, “Portrait of an Elected Person,” p. 177. For Thompson’s campaigning on national issues, see Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 170. For Thompson’s appearance before the “Old Eighth,” see the CD of February 22 (“You have come back decorated”); see also Ovington, Walls Come Tumbling Down, pp. 142–43; and Aylesworth and Aylesworth, Chicago, p. 11.

  6. The background to the Illinois registration law is explained in the CDT of January 26.

  7. Sweitzer’s advocacy of the emergency legislation was reported in the CDT of January 26. The passing of the Hughes bill 133–0 as reported in the CDT of March 21.

  8. For the greatest sins in machine politics, see Allswang, Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters, p. 23. See also George Washington Plunkitt’s dissertation on “Ingratitude in Politics” in Riordon, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, pp. 33–36.

  9. The details about Lowden’s life come principally from his authorized biography, Lowden of Illinois, a thorough, generally fair, but perhaps slightly too admiring account by William T. Hutchinson. Garland’s characterization of the governor (“the look of an English earl”) is cited in ibid., p. 75. Lowden’s willingness to accommodate machine politics, when necessary, is conceded in ibid., p. 260. For the colloquy at Eagle Lake, see ibid., p. 265.

  10. On the intricacies of Chicago’s taxing and bonding limitations and the resulting structure of overlapping “governments,” see Merriam, Parratt, and Lepawsky, Government of the Metropolitan Region of Chicago, particularly pp. xv and 20.

  11. For Lowden’s overhaul of the state government’s administrative structure, see Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 314. “An endorsement from Thompson seemed almost equivalent to a blackball” is from ibid., p. 308.

  12. “It was a hectic interview” and other quotes from that scene with Lundin come from Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 31.

  13. Lowden’s flu was cited in his wife’s diary for 1919 in the Pullman-Miller Family Papers at the Chicago History Museum. Lowden’s signing of the Hughes bill was reported in the CHE of March 27 and the CDT of March 28.

  14. The CDN of March 24 attributed the crime wave to “criminal politics” in city hall. “It is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the situation” was quoted in the CDN of March 24. The plot whose object was “the overthrow of the government of the United States” was reported in the CHE of March 11. For the Bolshevik squad, see Bukowski, “According to Image,” p. 146.

  15. The election bettors “awaiting next week’s developments” as per the CHE of March 23. The Tribune plea (sometimes mistakenly described in the literature as a countersuit) is discussed in the CDN and CDT of March 26. The prediction that Sweitzer would run away with the election was reported in the CDN of March 25. Ring Lardner’s column about dropping out of the race and running for king appeared in the CDT on April 5.

  16. The scene at the Pekin Theatre, with quotations, was reported in the CDT of March 25.

  17. “Never, on the eve of a Chicago mayoralty election” is from the NYT of March 30. “Downtown Chicago stood on its head” is from the CDT of March 30. The “hurling of stink bombs” was reported in the CHE of April 1. “Whenever [Mayor Thompson] drew up at the curb” is from the CDT of March 30.

  18. The prediction of four hundred thousand total votes and the “general belief that party lines were [being] thrown to the wind” were in the CDN of April 1. Schmidt, in “Chicago Daily News and Illinois Politics,” p. 144, claims that the CDN cited Cook County’s ballot as the longest in the world. The account of Irma Frankenstein’s voting experience is from her diary (Irma Rosenthal Frankenstein Papers, box 3, folder 20).

  19. Election figures are from Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, pp. 16 and 73.

  20. “Truth and justice have again prevailed” was quoted in the CDJ of April 1.

  21. “Chicago’s Shame!” as reported in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 171. “It is difficult for outsiders to understand” and other quotes are from the NYT of April 3. “He becomes a minority mayor” is from the CDN of April 2. “Negroes Elect ‘Big Bill’ ” comes from the CDJ of April 1. For white resentment of black voting power as demonstrated in this election, see especially Rudwick, Race Riot at East St. Louis, p. 220.

  22. “I have been maligned” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 171. The lack of a congratulatory note from Lowden is described in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 207.

  CHAPTER SEVEN: ON THE WARPATH

  1. “Re-Election Starts Mayor on Warpath” and subsequent quotes are from the CDN of April 2.

  2. “Thompson Men Plan to Extend Rule in State” and the power over Lowden’s presidential hopes now held by Thompson are from the CDT of April 3. “Mayor Thompson let it be known” is from the CHE of April 3.

  3. The Wheeler interview with Thompson and all quotes are reported in the CDT of April 2.

  4. “A constructive program to boom Chicago” was quoted in the CDT of April 2. “Be a Chicago booster!” comes from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 172–73. “A new spirit must control public officials” is from a speech text in the Frank O. Lowden Papers, series 3, box 36, folder 10. “Unless it is one absolutely necessary” was quoted in the CHE of April 28.

  5. The text of Thompson’s address before the legislature was reprinted in the anonymously published “Catechism: The Truth About Chicago’s Financial Condition,” pp. 16 and 22. For the success of Thompson’s plea and the reference to Lowden’s “delayed congratulations,” see the CDJ of April 29.

  6. Baseball results are from the CHE of April 24 and 25. Lardner’s “I wished you could of [sic] seen” was in his column in the CDT of April 24. The opening of the White City Amusement Park was reported in the CEP of May 14. For the Wartime Prohibition Act, see Allen, Only Yesterday, pp. 14–15.

  7. “My enemies have recently bored holes in the walls” is from an open letter “To the People of Chicago,” dated September 6, 1917, as quoted in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 66. The actual transcript of an eavesdropped conversation between Thompson and Lundin is in the former’s Justice Department file, memo of May 2, 1921 (9–19–1206–3). (NB: Thanks to Douglas Bukowski for lending me his copy of this now-destroyed file.) “Big enough to blow out the entire side” quoted in Allen, Only Yesterday, p. 35. For the bomb plot, see also the CDT of May 1.

  8. The rise in cost of living as per Bachin, Building the South Side, p. 290. The most thorough and useful work on Sandburg is Niven, Carl Sandburg. Also helpful to me were Helga Sandburg’s account of her parents’ marriage, Great and Glorious Romance, and Yanella, Other Carl Sandburg, which is especially good on the poet’s early political work. “I believe there are some big, live feature stories” is from a May 31 letter from Sandburg to Smith in the Carl Sandburg Papers at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (Connemara Collection, 3–019–072).

  9. “I am with all rebels everywhere” is from an undated (late 1919) letter from Sandburg to Romain Rolland (Carl Sandburg Papers, Sandburgiana Collection, 11–1919). For the best account of the Finnish agent episode, see Yanella, Other Carl Sandburg, pp. 123–30. Also see ibid., p. 133, for Sandburg’s coverage of the AFL convention.

  10. “A sorry world” is quoted in Smith, Colonel, p. 218. The protest of twenty-five thousand Jews was reported in the CDT of May 22. The June 8 gathering as per Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 96.

  11. For the Frankensteins’ membership in the city’s long-established German-Jewish community, as well as the quotation “in literature, my schoolwork,” see Klapper, Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, p. 40. For Emily’s visit to the Christian Science lecture and quotations (“So very, very few healthy, robust people”), see her diary for February 2 and 3 (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

  12. All quotations in this section are from Emily Frankenstein’s diary entri
es for June 6, 1918; June 12, 1918; and an undated entry on page 198 of the diary (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

  13. For the Ellis Avenue bomb, see the CDT of April 7. Other bombings are per a document in the Carl Sandburg Papers, “Interracial Situation in Chicago.” For the Harrison bombing, see Giddings, Ida, p. 595.

  14. “Well, Negroes, you must get guns” is from the BA of April 5.

  15. For the Barnetts’ new home on Grand Boulevard, see Wells-Barnett, Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells, p. 196. For the makeup of the committee and the incident at city hall, see Giddings, Ida, p. 595, and the BA of June 7. “He could not put all of the police in Chicago on the South Side” is quoted in Giddings, Ida, p. 595.

  16. “No man is big enough” is from the NYT of April 11.

  17. “Smiles, tears, hugs, [and] kisses” and “the greatest parade the old town ever saw” are from the CHE of May 28. Thompson’s absence from other homecoming parades was noted in the CDT of May 27.

  18. The alleged incident with the boy at the parade (“Gee, he’s here!”) was reported in the CDT of May 28.

  19. “I failed to see the Mayor’s stand” was quoted in ibid.

  20. The Aurora incident and conversation was reported in ibid., June 28.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: GOING DRY

  1. Scenes from the June 30 debauch come principally from the CEP of July 1 (“bowing to the Board of Trade Building”). Garrity’s vow of “dire vengeance” on offending proprietors was reported in ibid., June 29. The incident of the stolen whiskey barrel is from ibid., July 1. (NB: Wartime Prohibition did allow consumption of near beer and other very low-alcohol beverages.)

  2. “The biggest carnival night in the history of Chicago” was the opinion of the CHE of June 29. The $2 million estimate is from the CEP of July 1. The smaller crowds in the soft drink emporiums were reported in the CHE of July 7. “Slums will soon only be a memory” is quoted in Behr, Prohibition, p. 82.

  3. The Colonel’s ample stash of whiskey as per Morgan and Veysey, Poor Little Rich Boy, p. 233. The fifteen thousand doctors and fifty-seven thousand retail druggists applying for licenses are cited in Nelli, Business of Crime, p. 151. Lardner’s recipe (“Take a glass of sweet cider”) is from the CDT of July 14. Alternative sources of alcohol as cited in Behr, Prohibition, p. 85.

  4. The June 17 attack is discussed in Spear, Black Chicago, p. 213. The assault on the white principal is from Diamond, “Hoodlums, Rebels, and Vice Lords,” pp. 39–40. The fatality report is from the CHE of June 23. The Charles W. Jackson incident was reported in the CEP of July 1.

  5. The Garfield Boulevard signs and the warning to “prepare for the worst” were mentioned in TNIC, p. 57. The July 4 upset in the Polish neighborhoods is discussed in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 96, and in Leinwand, Mackerels in the Moonlight, p. 33.

  6. Sandburg “interviewing shopkeepers, housewives” is from Niven, Carl Sandburg, p. 336. “We made the supreme sacrifice” is quoted in ibid., p. 337.

  7. Wells-Barnett’s letter (“There had been a half-dozen outbreaks”) was printed in the CDT of July 7.

  8. The 250,000 striking Chicago workers as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 141. On p. 128, Tuttle describes the expiration of federal employment requirements. Individual strikes in Chicago are per ibid., pp. 138–39, and Taylor, “Epidemic of Strikes in Chicago,” pp. 645–46.

  9. “The traction volcano” is from the CEP of July 15. The 50–1 margin for the strike vote was reported in the CHE of July 17.

  10. “Frank is much concerned” is from Florence Lowden’s diary entry for July 19 (Pullman-Miller Family Papers). The official launch of Lowden’s campaign in Washington, D.C., as per the NYT of July 14. The admiring profile of Lowden appeared in the July 20 NYT.

  11. Thompson’s citation of legal obstacles was reported in the CEP of July 15. The reaction of the president of the elevated railway employees (“That committee arbitrate?”) comes from the CEP of July 19.

  12. “Most important meeting since the world’s fair days” is from the CEP of July 21. The “dream coming true” quotation is from ibid., July 19. “This bridge’ll bring property values around here up by the millions” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 172. (NB: Thompson was, of course, right, as Colonel McCormick would build his Tribune Tower a few blocks north of the bridge within a few years.)

  13. Baseball details are from the CDT of July 20. Emily’s tribulations, with quotations, are from her diary, pp. 192–97 (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

  14. Davenport’s offer of a blimp ride to the mayor, and Thompson’s response, as per the CEP of July 22. The mayor’s two meetings of the day as per the CEP of July 21. “The greatest day, barring none, in Chicago’s history” is from the CDT of July 22. “It marks a new era” is from the CDN of July 22.

  CHAPTER NINE: TUESDAY, JULY 22

  1. Details of the scene around the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank building on the morning after the crash, along with the quotation from John J. Mitchell (“Reports that we lost any money”), are from the CDN of July 22.

  2. The violation of “all preconceived notions of safety” and the editorial (“That girls working at their desks in the security of a bank building”) are from the CEP of July 23 and 22, respectively.

  3. “The most sensational tragedy” is from the CDN of July 22. “There seems little question that the flight was experimental” is from the CDT of July 23.

  4. Maclay Hoyne’s arrest order was reported in the CDT of July 22 (the CDT of the next day amended the number of arrests from the seventeen originally reported to fourteen). All quotes in these two paragraphs are from the CDT of July 22.

  5. Details and quotations from the city council meeting were reported in the CDT of July 22.

  6. The scene at the Central Undertaking Rooms and the quotation from Mrs. Carl Weaver were recounted in the CHE of July 22.

  7. The scenes at St. Luke’s Hospital involving Marcus Callopy’s family and Alice Norton are from the CDJ of July 22. Milton Norton’s deterioration overnight as per the CHE of July 23.

  8. Carl Otto’s funeral as cited in the CDJ of July 22. The scenes with his wife at home and at the hospital, with quotations, were reported in two articles in the CDT of July 23.

  9. Mrs. Davenport’s reaction to the news of her husband’s death, with quotations, was recounted in the CHE of July 23.

  10. “All I can say is, I thought the end of the world had come,” was quoted in the CDT of July 22. The same edition is the source of the quotation from Maybelle Morey (“I was working in the bond department”). People (including several sportswriters and an alderman) who claimed that they were “almost” passengers on the fatal flight were noted in the CEP and CDT of July 22 and the CDJ of July 23.

  11. “While the airship was still burning” is from the CDJ of July 22. The coroner’s inquest scene was described by columnist Louise Brown in the CEP of July 23. Hoffman’s somber announcement of Norton’s death as per the CHE of July 22.

  12. For the mayor’s reaction to Lowden’s “interference” in the traction situation, see the CDJ of July 21. The characterization of the closed-door meetings as “star-chamber sessions” was in the CHE of July 22. The quotation from the mayor’s spokesman is from the CDJ of July 21.

  13. The 60 percent fare hike as per the CDN and CDJ of July 22. “If our state constitution were properly constructed” is from the CHE of July 22. Thompson’s readiness to take the matter to court was cited in the CDJ of July 21.

  14. The report on the circumstances of Janet Wilkinson’s disappearance is from the Chicago Department of Police Daily Bulletin for 1919, first made public on July 26 (in the Chicago Public Library’s Municipal Reference Collection, MRC Cc P766). Marjorie Burke’s account was reported in the CEP and CDN of July 23, and later recounted in more detail in the CDJ of July 26. Berenice Wilkinson’s was in the CDJ of July 23.

  CHAPTER TEN: WEDNESDAY, JULY 23

  1. The search for Janet Wilkinson was described in all of the daily papers,
most usefully in the CDN of July 23 and the CHE of July 24, the latter noting the fifty volunteer boys and girls. The description of Janet is from the Police Daily Bulletin report cited on the previous page. The first published photo of Janet appeared in the CEP of July 23.

  2. Marjorie Burke’s story as per the CDT of July 24. (NB: The CHE of July 23 initially misidentified the witness as Marjorie Dee, another of Janet’s friends.) The story of the previous incident with Janet and Fitzgerald was reported in the CDN and CEP of July 23.

  3. Fitzgerald’s appearance and manner as described in the CDT of July 24, which also recounted Fitzgerald’s explanation of his movements before his arrest.

  4. Fitzgerald’s previous arrests on larceny charges as per the CDJ of July 23 and the CDT of July 24. His earlier arrest for “conspicuous interest” in two girls comes from the CHE of July 24. The dropping of the case “for want of prosecution” was cited in the CDN of July 23.

  5. Fitzgerald’s description of the earlier incident with Janet (“It was around Christmastime she came into my home”) was quoted in the CDT of July 24.

  6. The dragging of the lake in response to Fitzgerald’s offhand comment was reported in virtually all of the newspapers; see also Lindberg, Chicago by Gaslight, pp. 198–99.

  7. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office could not locate the transcript of the coroner’s inquest in the Wingfoot case, so I have had to rely on descriptions of the proceedings as reported in the newspapers. All of the quotations in these first paragraphs are from the CEP of July 23 and the CDT of July 24.

  8. The various theories about the cause of the fire are from the CEP of July 23. Coroner Hoffman’s declaration on the requirements for establishing blame and the lack of precedent in Illinois law as per the CDT of July 24. “Which did not contemplate airships falling” is from the CDJ of July 22.