Showing posts with label 1925. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1925. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2020

September 10, 1925 -- Chicago Plan Commission Urges "Immediate" Start to Outer Drive

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September 10, 1925 – Engineers for  the Chicago Plan Commission make a presentation to the executive committee, urging that an immediate start be made on the outer drive from the Field Museum through Grant Park, over the Illinois Central tracks and through the warehouse section north of the river, all the way to Chicago Avenue.   It is expected that the project will cost in excess of $9,500,000  (over $140,000,000 in today’s dollars).  Present at the meeting is a “Who’s Who” of Chicago citizens, including James Simpson of Marshall Field and Company, Julius Rosenwald, Joy Morton, Charles H. Wacker, Frank I. Bennett, Harry A Wheeler, Colonel William Nelson Pelouze, John V. Farwell, Edward B. Butler, and Michael Zimmer.  Simpson reads from the report, including one passage that states, “If the improvement is made in the near future, it can be done at the least possible expense.  If it is delayed every year that passes will add greatly to the cost.”  [Chicago Daily Tribune, September 11, 1925]  The report also underscores the importance of the huge project, stating, “The development of this large territory is inevitable in the future.  We advise the improvement to hasten this development – a territory whose progress now is retarded, because of its inaccessibility.”  Change takes time, and the plan did not approach its completion until the bridge that carried the Outer Drive, today’s Lake Shore Drive, across the Chicago River was opened in 1937.  The above photo shows the bridge under construction in 1936.

September 10, 1954 – The state civil defense director, Robert M. Woodward, graces Chicago with some upbeat news when he announces that a hydrogen bomb dropped at Madison Street and Kedzie Avenues between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. would cause 3,030,096 deaths and 1,382,421 injuries.  With an evacuation window of 15 minutes there would still be 1,876,227 deaths and 844,013 injuries.  For those wondering why we folks in our sixties and seventies sometimes act so strangely, it might be good to remember that we grew up with regular updates like this instead of the latest updates on Pokémon Go.

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September 10, 1953 – The Greater North Michigan Avenue Association presents a general plan for redeveloping and preserving the Near North Side, from the Chicago River on the south and west to North Avenue on the north and the lake on the east.  The ambitious plan has a number of long-range objectives.  First up is the rehabilitation and conservation of three industrial districts, the first of which is roughly bounded by Chicago Avenue, Wells Street and the North Branch of the river.  The second area is located at the river, North Avenue and Halsted Street while a third, smaller location, is at the southwest corner of Division Street and Larrabee Street.  The second major recommendation of the plan is the rehabilitation and conservation of an area east of Wells Street and south of Chicago Avenue, through which Ohio and Ontario Streets run.  Another component of the proposal is the conservation of the neighborhoods west of La Salle Street and north of Division Street through the adoption of a minimum standard of housing and zoning laws.  The proposal recommends the widening of State Street from the river north to Chicago Avenue, a project that has been in the city’s plans for two decades, along with the widening of Clark Street from the river north to North Avenue. Also recommended is the development of Orleans Street and Clybourn Avenue as a “semi-superhighway.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, September 11, 1953]  Also recommended is work on Ohio and Ontario Streets to make them ready to accommodate traffic flowing to and from the proposed highway to be built west of the north branch of the river.  Commuter service by the Chicago and North Western Railroad to a new terminal near Michigan Avenue and the river is recommended as well.   The chairman of the association, Newton C. Farr, says that the program as outlined would take at least a decade to carry out.


September 10, 1948 – Mayor Martin H. Kennelly gives approval to a proposal submitted to the city council, requiring that city officials and employees be required to sign non-Communist affidavits or face dismissal.  The proposal, sponsored by Forty-Fourth Ward alderman John C. Burmeister, also mandates a “loyalty committee” of three to five aldermen appointed by the mayor.  The mayor says, “I think it’s all right. We don’t know who we have working for us.”  The mayor is pictured in the above photo.


September 10, 1924 – A magic evening takes place on the lakefront as 3,000 children carrying lanterns march into the Grant Park stadium, today’s Soldier Field, in a “preliminary dedication”. [Chicago Daily Tribune, September 11, 1924] Despite a light rain the Pageant of Music and Light has spectators cheering “as the army of girls and boys marched into the arena and scattered about to form [a] sparkling wheel.”  A mixed mass chorus under the direction of William Boeppler rolls thorugh “The Heavens Declare,” following the song with a rendition of “Beautiful Savior” and the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah. A children’s choir of a thousand voices than takes over, led by Hans Biedermann.  The program concludes with the Civic Band of Chicago leading the crowd in “America.”  The official opening day for the massive stadium will occur a month later, on October 9, the Fifty-Third anniversary of the Chicago Fire. The first event held in the new sports arena will be a police track meet that features a thousand athletes from the police department, drawing 90,000 spectators.  At the urging of the city’s Gold Star Mothers the Municipal Grant Park Stadium is officially renamed Soldier Field on November 11, 1925.





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Thursday, April 23, 2020

April 23, 1925 -- Chicago Fire Department Battles Massive Elevator Fire

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April 23, 1925 – An entire area of Bridgeport is threatened with destruction as two grain elevators containing more than two million bushels of corn and oats are destroyed by fire and embers from the conflagration start over a dozen other fires in the area.  Fire brands fall over a ten-block area as 50,000 people watch firefighters battle the flames through the early morning hours.  An initial 4-11 alarm is followed by seven special calls, bringing 44 fire engines, four hook and ladder trucks, three fire boats, three fire squads and a water tower to the scene.  There are no fire hydrants in the lot on which the two elevators are located, and fire crews battle low water pressure for the first hour of their attack.  Most of the fire trucks are driven close to the river and take water directly from it as the fireboats Graeme Stewart, Joseph Medill, and Dennis J. Swenie attack the blaze from the river.  At the most dangerous point in the blaze 60 firefighters narrowly escape when the 150-foot north wall of one elevator crashes to the ground.  This also has the effect of dumping tens of thousands of bushes of grain into the river, completely blocking the South Branch.  Chief Arthur Seyferlich decides early on that there is no chance of saving the grain elevators, and he dispatches a number of his men to the roof of the Omaha Packing Company across the river where they soak the plant and adjoining structures to save them.  Emanuel F. Rosenbaum, president of the company that owns the elevators, estimates damages to amount to $2,250,000.  “Both elevators had a capacity of something more that 2,000,000 bushels (close to $37,000,000 in today's dollars) and they were filled to capacity,” he says.  The Rock Island elevator is shown in the distance in the right hand corner of the photo above.
April 23, 1992 – The Lake County Forest Preserve commissioners vote to protest a decision by the Department of Defense regarding the fate of Ft. Sheridan.  Playing both offense and defense, the commissioners vote to write a strongly worded letter to the Pentagon while stating that they still want to get their hands on 250 acres of the base that are comprised of a golf course, ravines and Lake Michigan shoreline.  This follows an earlier announcement that half of the 250 acres would go toward a veteran’s cemetery with the remainder put up for bid by local governments.  Andrea Moore, the president of the district, says, “I don’t think the Department of Defense ever intended that there be much local use of the land.  They have cut the natural resources in half.  How do you manage half a ravine?”  [Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1992] Commissioner Robert Buhai of Highland Park says that while the communities involved in the Ft. Sheridan commission had worked hard to preserve much of the land for public use, Lake Forest had actively lobbied veterans’ groups for the national cemetery.  He says, “The clout that Lake Forest had has superseded everything else.” All of the controversy comes as the clock ticks steadily closer to the closing of the base on May 31, 1993.  The district did not get its golf course.  Instead, it received much of the area covered by the former golf course, a military air strip, rifle range, and Nike missile site.  The restored prairie area contains roughly 4.5 miles of trails for hiking, 3.7 miles for cross-country skiing and 1.3 miles for bicycling.  

April 23, 1970 – The Chicago Tribune reports that the Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks has voted unanimously to give landmark status to two Chicago historical sites – the Hull House mansion at 750 South Halsted Street and a block of 40 row houses on Alta Vista Terrace, not far from Wrigley Field.  The Hull House mansion was built in 1856 for Charles J. Hull, a Chicago real estate broker but by 1910 had become the center for a 13-building complex that was home to the social settlement community of Jane Addams.  The mansion and one other building are the only two structures that remain after the University of Illinois leveled the area for the building of its Chicago campus.  The Alta Vista Terrace area is only the second such district to be designated as a landmark, the first being the area surrounding the Chicago Water Tower on Michigan Avenue.  Hearings within the month will determine the status of the Leiter I building at 208 West Monroe Street and the Monadnock Building at 55 West Jackson Boulevard.  Leiter I would not make the cut and would be demolished in 1972.  The Monadnock, fortunately, received landmark status and was meticulously restored.  Alta Vista Terrace is shown in the above photo.
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April 23, 1962 – The Home Federal Saving and Loan Association’s new 16-story building at the southeast corner of State and Adams Streets is topped out.  One of the last beams to be hoisted in place carries a broom with it to signify a “clean sweep,” a building’s superstructure erected without a fatality.  The bank’s president, Otto L. Preisler, signals a construction crew to begin lifting the final beam into place, using a walkie-talkie.  In the black and white photo above architect William Hartman joins other dignitaries as they watch the last piece of structural steel placed at the top of what is today 11 East Adams.  The building as it appears today is shown in the second photo.

April 23, 1955 -- The Chicago Daily Tribune reports that mass injections of the Salk anti-polio vaccine for Chicago first and second graders in 65 parochial schools will begin on April 25. Herman Bundesen, the president of the Board of Health, also announces that the rest of the 16,200 boys and girls in these schools, along with students in 38 private and five Jewish schools will begin receiving vaccinations on April 26. The first shot will be given by Dr. Bundesen at Immaculate Conception School, 1415 N. Park Avenue. Reverend Monsignor Daniel Cunningham, Superintendent of Catholic schools in the city, will be present as well as Mayor Richard J. Daley. Chicago School Superintendent Benjamin C. Willis reports that shots for public school youngsters will begin on May 2 with 89 percent of parental permission slips for first and second graders already returned.
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Friday, January 17, 2020

January 17, 1925 -- Chicago Loop Turns Day into Night -- Smoke Menace Increases


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January 17, 1925 – Day is turned into night in the Loop as “every available light in the central business district was utilized to offset the darkness” as a “condensed cloud of smoke, soot, dirt, tar, ash, ferric oxide and gasses … reduced the light to such an extent that it was all but dark.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, January 18, 1925]  The Chicago Daily Tribune reports that the city’s damage by smoke is in excess of $50 per family each year, “the sheer physical damage to property of all kinds from collars and cuffs to lace curtains and rugs.”  [Chicago Daily Tribune, January 12, 1925]  “Each year Chicago throws away for smoke damage almost as much money as it cost to build the world’s fair and the sanitary canal,” the article continues.  The city has been trying to do something about the problem of smoke pollution since 1881 when the first crude anti-smoke ordinance was passed.  In 1912 the city spent $46,000 in an attempt to moderate the problem.  By 1924 that figure had slipped to $26,600.  In 1910 the staff of the smoke inspection bureau numbered 34, but by 1924 that number had dwindled to 10.  On January 21, 1925 the City Council orders its health committee “to begin at once and continue from day to day an inquiry of the causes and effect of air pollution in Chicago, and to report its finding and recommendations to this council not later than March 1, 1925," noting that in failing to confront the issue the city “not only fails to meet its obligation and one of the first purposes of its existence, but also directly contributes to sickness, suffering, and possibly death, which fails to take all reasonable precautions and measures to protect, promote, and conserve public health.”  [Chicago Daily Tribune, January 22, 1925]  Things did not improve quickly ... the above photo shows the corner of Lake and State Streets at 10:15 a.m. on February 1, 1957 ... 32 years after the Tribune cried out for change in 1925.


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January 17, 1909 –The Chicago Daily Tribune reviews “the greatest wrecking operation that ever was carried out in Chicago,” [Chicago Daily Tribune, January 17, 1909] the demolition of four square blocks bounded by Canal, Clinton, Fulton and Madison Streets. Beginning on May 2, 1907 a hundred individual structures that housed more than 500 businesses were leveled within 18 months to make way for the new passenger terminal for the Chicago and North Western Railroad.  Two months before the operation began, three men, working for the Garden City Wrecking Company, inspected every building in the area, in an attempt to assemble an accurate bid for the work.  Leading the list of salvageable material that the appraisers found was lumber worth between $400,000 and $500,000.  The Tribune reports the buildings held “… old joists, beams, and stringers of cork pine that the lumber market today could not equal in quality and sizes.  Timbers twenty odd feet in length without a knot to mar them were the rule.  Forty years ago this pine – now almost extinct – could be bought for $12 a thousand feet; today such pine will sell for $150 a thousand.”  Over a hundred workers spent 18 months clearing the area, hauling away millions of tons of material from the 13-acre site.  The Ogilvie Transportation Center at the bottom of the highlighted rectangle now anchors the section of the city that was cleared in 1909.  It replaced the Chicago and North Western terminal that was demolished in 1984.

January 17, 1920 – Chicago wakes up to the realization that the day of the hangover is gone as Prohibition begins at midnight.  On the previous day “auto trucks were at a premium during the late afternoon and early evening” [Chicago Daily Tribune, January 17, 1920] as individuals pursued the last chance to buy liquor for home consumption and transport it to their homes.  Major A. V. Dalrymple, the “head of the prohibition enforcers” promises that no effort will begin at enforcing the new law for ten days. “Of course I don’t mean that you can sell the stuff tomorrow,” he says. “Far from it. But we will not start any search of seizure until this ten day period has passed.”

January 17, 1915 – South Halsted Street between Polk and Madison Streets becomes a battle ground as 1,500 unemployed men, women, boys and girls battle the police.  According to the Chicago Daily Tribune, “Shots were fired, clothes were torn, eyes blackened, and heads cracked while clubs, blackjacks, and revolver butts were used with bruising effect on heads, arms and knuckles” as the “hunger procession” proceeded up Halsted Street.  [Chicago Daily Tribune, January 18, 1915] The battle occurs after a meeting of the unemployed at Bowen Hall at the Hull House settlement.  Two detectives inside the hall, dressed as unemployed workmen, listen as Lucy Parsons, the widow of Albert Parsons, who was hanged for alleged complicity in the Haymarket Riot of 1886, speaks.  The detectives, Sergeants Fred Krueger and Herman Eastman, report that trouble is brewing.  First Deputy Superintendent of Police Herman Schuettler, who himself was at his post during the Haymarket riot, orders, “Demand a permit from them, and if they haven’t got one order them to disperse. The reserves will be on the way to help you.” A procession forms on Polk Street, just west of Halsted and begins to march, six people abreast, up Halsted, carrying a large black banner with one word, “Hunger,” displayed in white letters.  The police order the marchers to disperse, but the marchers continue onward, a voice crying out, “To h___ with the orders.  We’re hungry!”  The policemen, small in number and waiting for reinforcements, are surrounded.  According to the paper’s reporter, “In a minute the cluster under the swaying ‘hunger’ banner was a maelstrom of fists and clubs.  Girls and women shrieked and fell to the ground in the fray.  A small, dark haired girl, climbing on to the shoulders of a man, dove head foremost into the center of the fight, her fingers reaching out for the eyes and hair of the policemen … The detectives drew their revolvers and began to lay to right and left, felling all within reach … Women threw their arms around the necks of the plain clothes men, biting them and tearing their faces with finger nails.”  On the marchers move, coming up to a phalanx of policemen at Harrison Street; the procession breaches the line and continues north to Adams Street where they encounter mounted officers.  On they continue to Monroe Street.  Battered at each new block “the ranks of the marchers were becoming noticeably thinned.  Those remaining appeared to be the more vindictive who had succeeded in fighting their way through.”  Finally, at Madison Street the marchers find themselves surrounded, and many of those who are left “made for doorways, alleys, saloons, lunch rooms, and basements, where they mingled with the surprised patrons and escaped.”  At each intersection along the route of the march arrests are made, and those taken prisoner charged with rioting, unlawful assemblage and parading without a license.  At the conclusion of the festivities the Tribune reports, “Halsted street looked like an armed camp with squads of police stationed at the corners and mounted men patrolling the middle of the street.”  Mrs. Lucy Parsons is shown above, missing a glove, after her arrest.

January 17, 1903 -- Judge Arthur Chetlain sentences George Wellington "Cap" Streeter to an indeterminate term in the penitentiary at Joliet for manslaughter for the killing of John S. Kirk on February 11, 1902 in the "District of Lake Michigan." The dead man had been a watchman for Henry W. Cooper, the man lakefront property owners had engaged to protect their interests on the north side of the river near Oak Street. "Cap" Streeter was not personally connected to the scene where the killing occurred; he was held responsible because testimony indicated that he had told the occupants of the district that if anyone "came fooling' around" to shoot him. After being found guilty in December 3, 1892, Streeter said, "They found us guilty but it only goes to show that when a lot of millionaires get together and get the help of the state the liberty of a man ain't safe. This whole thing is a scheme." The captain and his missus are pictured above.
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Sunday, September 1, 2019

September 1, 1925 -- Wacker Drive's Name Causes Reaction



September 1, 1925 – Two days after the South Water Street market closes for business, the Chicago Daily Tribune rails against the street that will replace it, specifically the fact that the new road along the river will be named after Charles H. Wacker, the head of the Chicago Plan Commission.  “It is small town stuff at its worst,” the paper proclaims, “to rename South Water street because it is double decked and remade . . . We certainly acknowledge Mr. Charles Wacker’s civic spirit and his useful service in the protection and realization of the city plan . . . But to give his name to the chief thoroughfare of the city, after Michigan boulevard, is not only crude vandalism, but without fitness of proportion.  Mr. Wacker has been a useful citizen, but his service in the city does not tower above that of all other citizens . . . what of Daniel Burnham, who was the creator of the city plan, one of the most famous and gifted of our citizens? If we give Mr. Wacker’s name to our second greatest street, how are we going to honor Burnham with any respect for proportion?

September 1, 1949 – At the end of August the Chicago Daily Tribune carried a report on the death of noted landscape architect, Jens Jensen.  Oops.  Wrong guy.  It turns out that a 65-year-old Door Country, Wisconsin resident with a similar name was the guy who rode the Great Skyway and not Mr. Jensen, who is alive and well in his home in Ellison Bay.  Taking advantage of the error, the paper publishes a flattering piece on the contributions of Jensen, who came to the United States from Denmark in the early 1890’s and began work as a laborer in the west parks system of Chicago, going on to be one of the premier landscape architects of the twentieth century.  “Jens Jensen had a simple set of precepts,” the paper observes, “which he clung to stubbornly in the face of both politicians and millionaire clients, and defended with the rage of an inspired Viking when aroused.  He believed in the beauty of nature.  He detested formal gardens.  He taught the middle west the value of its native trees and plants in landscaping.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, September 1, 1949] The article continued, “To him, parks were placed where city people should find the comfort of natural beauty.  They were not for batting baseballs.  Neither were they automobile speedways.  In his judgment, 15 miles an hour was fast enough for people entering the parks to enjoy the lawns, the crab apple blooms, and the hawthorns.  In a day when efforts are made to encroach on the parks for almost every other public use, a revival of the Jensen principles would be a healthy thing for Chicago.”  Perhaps Jens Jensen's greatest work in Chicago is Columbus Park, shown in the photo above.

September 1, 1977 – Employees at the Oriental Theatre, the second largest theater in the Loop, are told that the venue will close its doors at the end of the month unless a new tenant is found. Mickey Gold, the theater’s manager, says, “There is no panic.  Different people have lost leases on this and other theaters in the past, and we hope it will stay open.”  The Oriental opened in 1926 with an ornate design by the firm of Rapp and Rapp. It was built on the same site on which the Iroquois Theater stood, the theater in which over 600 people lost their lives in 1903.  In its best days, the most famous performers in the country graced its stage, but in the 1970’s the theater mirrored the general decline of the Loop.  A 1971 experiment to bring live entertainment to the Oriental with such acts as Gladys Knight and the Pips and Stevie Wonder lost promoters $115,000.  The story ends happily as on January 10, 1996 a Canadian theatrical company purchased the property with a promise to renovate it, a plan that would be helped along with a $13.5 million grant from the city.  Although the company declared bankruptcy in 1998, the project was completed and on October 18, 1998 the theater reopened with a seating capacity of 2,253. In the restoration, architect Daniel P. Coffey came up with a plan that increased the theater’s backstage area by expanding into the adjacent Oliver Building.  Today the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre is one of the downtown palaces that hosts touring Broadway shows. 
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Monday, July 8, 2019

July 8, 1925 -- Roosevelt Extension into Gran Park Announced

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July 8, 1925 – Plans are announced for the extension of Roosevelt Road by way of a viaduct across the Illinois Central Railroad tracks on the south end of Grant Park.  South Parks Commission president Edward J. Kelly says that the viaduct will require the razing of a portion of the Illinois Central Railroad station that sits on the east side of the planned viaduct.  It is expected contracts for the $1,500,000 project will be ready for bids by the beginning of 1926.  Part of the cost will be borne by bus and trolley companies if their tracks use the viaduct.  The viaduct provided entry to the museum campus which had previously not existed.  Clearly, the tracks ended up a part of the project.  A far different place these days as can be seen by the contrast between the 1930's photo and the view looking east today.


July 8, 1965 –Mayor Richard J. Daley leads the opening ceremonies for the new 10.5-acre park at the filtration plant north of Navy Pier.  The mayor has just activated the five fountains in the park by pushing a button when seven kids, ranging in age from seven to ten years, barge into the ceremony and engage Daley in conversation.  “Mr. Mayor,” one little girl begins, “Why did you turn on that fountain?” [Chicago Tribune, July 9, 1965] “Well,” Daley answers, “it’s just like I was telling these fine people in the crowd here.  We want to show everybody in the country that Chicago is going to be the best city there is. That’s why we want to keep doing things that we think are important to the growth of our city.” Today the park is called Milton Lee Olive Park in honor of Milton L. Olive, III, a Chicago native who became the first African-American to receive the Medal of Honor during his service in Vietnam.  On October 22, 1965 Olive sacrificed himself by smothering a grenade with his body, saving the lives of three other soldiers.  The park was designed by Dan Kiley, who among other commissions, was the principal designer of the Chicago Botanic Garden, the South Garden of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Lincoln Center in New York City, and the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.  The park consists of five circular fountains of various circumferences, representing the five great lakes.  The fountains no longer work … the pipes that supply them have failed, and replacing them has a low priority.  To walk down the park’s central tree-lined pathway, though, is to find one of the great vantage points from which to view the city north of Grand Avenue.  The above photo shows the Fifth Army band performing at the dedication ceremony.


July 8, 1950 – The Chicago Daily Tribune reports on four apartment building projects taking place on the lakefront, buildings projected to house 1,126 families.  The largest of the buildings is being constructed on the site of the former Potter Palmer mansion at 1350 Lake Shore Drive.  The $8,663,000 building will hold 740 apartments with only 192 of that number being built as efficiency apartments.  Rents are expected to begin at just over $40.00 a month.  Two floors of concrete a week are being poured, and completion of the towers is expected by April 1, 1951.  In the 860 Lake Shore Drive building the steel has been erected up to the twelfth floor.  Herbert S. Greenwald, the developer of the building, says that unit prices will range from $13,500 to $27,000.  At 1350 Astor a 51-unit building is rising toward its ultimate 15-story height with unit prices between $14,900 and $27,000.  Within the month a 16-story cooperative building on the same street where it meets Banks Street is expected to be completed with apartments projected to start at $18,200.  The nine-room penthouse in the building has already sold for $65,000.  860 and 880 North Lake Shore Drive rise in the photo above.


July 8, 1858 – The police report in the Chicago Press and Tribune begins, “The docket at the Police Court was unusually light yesterday, whisky drinking having measurably subsided after the Glorious Fourth.”  Still, there was enough to keep the typesetters busy.  The following incidents are noted:

Timothy Conley, a drayman, got drunk and managed to run into every vehicle he met.  He also succeeded in inducing somebody to knock a hole in his head.  As he attributed all his misfortunes to the whisky he drank in honor of Independence Day, he was let off with a fine of $3.

George Dow was fined $3 for getting drunk and using insulting language to a woman.

James Jenkins, alias J. W. Hanneman, was brought up for getting beastly drunk.  The prisoner gave the following account of himself and his conduct:  He states that for a year past he has been lecturing about the country as a reformed drunkard, and that on the Fourth he met a friend and drank a glass of lemonade, which he now suspects had a chip in it; that some how or other he continued to imbibe lemonade with larger chips in them, until he got on a regular bender, and was found dead drunk in the streets . . . He started on his spree with $40, and had $15 left when arrested.  He was released on condition that he behaves better in the future.

Michael Connor, a drunken vagrant, was found sleeping on the sidewalk on the corner of Clark and Monroe streets.  He says he came from New York two days ago, and has no money or work.  He was fined $2 and sent to Bridewell to work it out.

E. Patrick Cagan was arrested upon complaint of one Ryan, who charged that Cagan had knocked him down.  As Ryan had hid to avoid giving testimony, Cagan was released.

Thomas Ready, brought up for being drunk, was not ready for trial, and his case was continued.

Jeremiah Nolan was fined $3 for a simple drunk.

Cornelius Casey went to visit his friend, James Dooley, when the latter got very drunk and made so much disturbance in the house that the police arrested them both.  Dooley was fined $5, and Casey was released.


Pa Swanzie was drunk and driving a buggy recklessly through the streets, and running against other vehicles.   He managed to capsize a buggy in which a lady and gentleman were riding, and was fined $5 for his misconduct.

The above photo shows Clark Street as it looked at the time Michael Connor was found sleeping on the sidewalk at Monroe Street.

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