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THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
BCD Ej4.j
1
Stron XI
Presented
Grant Jastill Og. Bitte the Part cular and high admination the
thread
20
Denwal usy Plager.
Auvo2, 1874
8
THE
GREAT REVOLUTION,
& HISTORY OF THE
Rise and Progress of the People's Party
IN THE CITY OF
CHICAGO AND COUNTY OF COOK,
WITH
SKETCHES OF THE ELECT IN OFFICE.
BY M. L. AHERN.
CHICAGO : LAKESIDE PUBLISHING AND PRINTING COMPANY. 1874.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by M. L. AHERN,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington
II
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
JACOB LENGACHER,
242
THOMAS CANNON,
- 243
DAVID MURPHY, - 244
MICHAEL BRAND, -
245
THOMAS LYNCHI, 246
JOHN T. CORCORAN,
- 247
JULIUS JONAS,
-
-
249
PART III.
COUNTY OFFICERS.
H. B. MILLER, County Treasurer, - - 253
HERMANN LIEB, County Clerk, 255
M. R. M. WALLACE, Judge County Court,
257
JAMES STEWART, Recorder, - - 258
AUSTIN J. DOYLE, Clerk Criminal Court, - 259
JOHN STEPHENS, Coroner,
260
MISCELLANEOUS.
P. O'BRIEN, Supervisor, 263
MILES KEHOE, City Weigher, - 264
JULIUS RODBERTUS, Assistant Assessor, -
-
265
,
COMMON COUNCIL STANDING COMMITTEES.
The following is the disposition of standing committees in the Common Council for 1873-4, as appointed, under the Mayor's bill, by Mayor Colvin :*
FINANCE .- McGrath, Spalding, Lynch, Schaffner, Heath.
RAILROADS .- Lengacher, Richardson, McGrath, Stout, Woodman.
JUDICIARY. - Richardson, Cannon, White, Cullerton, Campbell.
FIRE AND WATER .- Corcoran, Mahr, Foley, Woodman. Stone.
SCHOOLS .- Moore, Reidy, Eckhardt, Lynch, Cleveland.
STREETS AND ALLEYS, S. D .- Schmitz, Stone, Coey Foley, Spalding, Dixon.
STREETS AND ALLEYS, W. D .- McClory, Hildreth, Ke- hoe, Woodman, Miner, O'Brien, Campbell, Cleveland, Eck- hardt.
STREETS AND ALLEYS, N. D .- Lynch, Cannon, Corcoran, Lengacher, Stout.
WHARVES AND PUBLIC GROUNDS. - Cannon, Schmitz, Moore, Jonas, Bailey of the Ninth.
* Under this bill, Mayor Colvin presided over the Council. At the expiration of the measure, Ald. Dixon succeeded to the position.
I4
COMMON COUNCIL STANDING COMMITTEES.
WHARFING PRIVILEGES. - Kehoe, Cleveland, O'Brien, Warren, Clark.
LOCAL ASSESSMENTS .- Fitzgerald, Moore, Reidy, Hil- dreth, Murphy.
BRIDEWELL .- White, Heath, Bailey of the Ninth, Spal- ding, Jonas.
LICENSES .- Brandt, Bailey of the Ninth, Mahr, Reidy, Corcoran.
POLICE. - Schaffner, Richardson, Murphy, Cullerton, Mahr.
GASLIGHTS. - Cullerton, Jonas, Pickering, Schaffner, Miner.
HARBOR AND BRIDGES .- Hildreth, Coey, Sidwell, Len- gacher, Bailey of the Ninth.
PRINTING .- Foley, Fitzgerald, McGrath, Murphy, Bailey of the Eighth.
MARKETS .- Stout, O'Brien, Warren, Quirk, Sidwell.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS .- Bailey of the Eighth, Schmitz, Coey, Heath, Brandt.
COUNTY RELATIONS .- Pickering, Hildreth, Dixon, Brand, Bailey of the Ninth.
PART I.
HISTORY OF THE HE PEOPLE'S PARTY.
THE PEOPLE'S PARTY.
The People's Party was built after a very peculiar fashion. The plans and specifications of the doughty structure were prepared by a party of religious adventurers, known as "The Committee of Seventy "-an organization of gen- tlemen constructed in the interest of temperance, immedi- ately after the passage of the State Liquor Law. Mr.
Joseph Medill filled the important duties of contractor ; and Mr. Elmer Washburn-whose acquaintance with dur- able stone work was never questioned-acted as sub-con- tractor. Before the building was completed, it is true Mr. Medill departed for Europe; and when it was com- pleted, it is a well-known fact that Mr. Washburn sud- denly and mysteriously disappeared; leaving behind Messrs. A. C. Hesing, Daniel O'Hara, H. D. Colvin, and others-who were merely assistants-to enjoy the fruits of their labor. These facts to the contrary notwith- standing, the People's Party is an edifice nobody need feel ashamed of.
Messrs. Hesing, O'Hara and Company have decided that the structure will be far more substantial than its predecessor No pains will be spared to make it
2
18
THE GREAT REVOLUTION.
what it should be. Among other improvements, it is said, Mr. O'Hara has brought into requisition an in- genious device-for these days-whereby the People's money will be perfectly secure, and can be counted at any moment without extraordinary public excitement.
Two errors by the Medillian administration, it may be ·said, are chiefly responsible for what is known as the Peo- ple's Party. This organization, it will be allowed, to-day .holds the balance of power in the great city of Chicago. How those two errors occurred is best known to the ad- ministration during whose reign they were committed.
One error was the importation from Joliet, Ill., of a Super- intendent of Police for Chicago. The other error was the attempt to enforce an oppressive liquor ordinance, sug- gested by a party of men calling themselves "The Com- mittee of Seventy." There was another error, about which the daily press has spoken considerably. The Tribune, of December 15: 1873, referring thereto, said :
"The disclosures published elsewhere regarding the defal- cation of the City Treasurer, Mr. David A. Gage, amply justify all the charges brought against him by his opponents in the recent city election. They also justify a change in the city government. Having supported Mr. Gage in good faith, and having disbelieved the charges preferred against him until a few days ago, when we learned the real facts from one of the bondsmen, we are now free to acknowledge that the People's Party were right from the beginning, so far as they made their demand that the city money be counted.
19
THE PEOPLE'S PARTY.
Mr. Gage is a defaulter. A manful acceptance of all the consequences of his acts is the best way out of his present difficulties. We believe that he has sufficient property to pay everything he owes to the city in time. Certainly that, added to the security of his official bond, is sufficient. Meanwhile, he has placed the City Government in grave embarrassments." % % *
For the benefit of the reader, it may be stated that the Chicago Tribune was an Opposition paper, and the David A. Gage, of whom it speaks, City Treasurer, under the Me- dillian administration. Full particulars regarding Mr. Gage's misfortune will be found, hereafter, under the head, "Count- ing the Money."
As regards Error No. I : The gentleman imported from Joliet was known as Elmer Washburn. At whose instance the Mayor, acting under the Mayor's Bill (passed for the benefit of cities exceeding 10,000 inhabitants), came to be convinced that there was not a solitary man in Chicago, fit to be the Superintendent of Police of the city in which he lived ; that in fact he must needs go to Joliet after him, is beyond ordinary comprehension. Certain it is that Mr. Washburn, when he made that trip from Joliet to Chicago, was an ill-fated passenger. From the moment he made his first appearance in the habiliments of his office, it was pain- fully evident that Mr. Washburn, while apparently a very fine gentleman, had mistaken his vocation. He did not seem to comprehend the duty of Superintendent of Police from the outset, in but very rare instances. Whether he was acting under impulse or instruction, his orders touch-
20
THE GREAT REVOLUTION.
ing police duty form the strangest record this generation has ever witnessed in this particular line. His order for twelve hours successive service by the patrolmen, among other fatal mistakes, made him very unpopular among his men; and his disposition of the force regarding the detec- tion of liquor-sellers on Sunday, while unwary travelers were -being sand-bagged with impunity, made him the target of most extensive abuse. At the approach of the fall elect- ions, the following, in regard to Mr. Washburn, appeared in a leading journal :
" The leaders of the Republican party in this city have just awakened to the fact -long ago apparent to the blind- est - that the association of moral ideas is not as strong as it formerly was in this city. They look profound astonish- ment when they get on that subject, and remark, 'We have been losing votes,' and vainly inquire 'Where is the leak ? ' *
At last, they think they have found it. It is Superintendent Washburn."
The Times, of Wednesday, October 22, 1873, under the head of " How He Does It," contained the following :
" If anybody anywhere knows of anything that has not been done-outside of his duty-by a Chicago police- man, and will kindly inform Mr. Washburn what that par- ticular thing is, he will detail some of his force to do it at once. In this category of things done should be included everything except the suppression of crime. This, however, is a department of effort in which our excellent chief has no ambition. What he is evidently attempting to do, and
2I
THE PEOPLE'S PARTY.
which he has attained a most astonishing success in doing, is doing every possible thing except his duty. So marked is this line of action on the part of our chief, that it leads the Times to make a suggestion which, it believes, will be greatly to the benefit of the city, by enabling Chicago to avail itself of the services of a very excellent man. This suggestion is that, in order to have our police business thor- oughly attended to, Mr. Washburn should be made comp- troller of the currency, or elected as a Trustee in Hyde Park. Once in either of these positions, or any similar one, Mr. Washburn would at once give his whole attention to the police work of Chicago, from the idiosyncracy in his nature to do with great vigor that which he is not expected to do, and which is entirely outside of his official position. It is true that as such Comptroller, he would pay no atten- tion to the currency, or, if a Trustee of Hyde Park, he would not have the slightest interest in the doings of that domin- ion. As a Trustee of Hyde Park, he would esteem it his especial duty to put down houses of ill-fame, and bunko- players, just as now; while Chief of the Chicago police, he feels it to be his duty to regulate affairs over in the State of Indiana. As Comptroller of the currency, he would at once institute measures against the ten thousand' and odd crimi- nals of Chicago, just as now ; while Superintendent of our police, he employs himself as a boss-tailor by inventing a new roll for the lappel of a coat, or adds an inch to its tails. It is quite certain that it is only by some such ruse as this that the public will ever succeed in getting Mr. Washburn to attend to properly policing the Garden City. Meanwhile,
22
THE GREAT REVOLUTION.
until something is accomplished, as above suggested, the people will watch with interest the vagaries of the erratic Superintendent. When he has arranged affairs in Indiana to suit his ideas, he will probably look into things in Iowa and Kansas. We may also venture to hint to him that the currency act needs tinkering, and which being altogether out of his line, he will be proportionately anxious to take hold of it. This attended to, the spots on the sun might be looked into, and then he might apply himself to discovering a wash that would take the stripes out of a zebra. Of course, there is no reason why the stripes should be taken out of a zebra, which assurance, it is certain, will awaken all Mr. Washburn's ambition to take them out at once. Meanwhile, the thieves, bunko-players, and the rest of the guild, will have to have their own way until such a time as Mr. Washburn's successor shall be appointed."
The following touching farewell notice, given to the mys- teriously disappearing Superintendent by a leading journal, will convey an idea of the popularity of his régime :
" Elmer Washburn will leave Chicago in about the same manner that he came, with this exception : Many regretted his coming, and but few will sigh at his departure. Those who have entertained the idea that he contemplated resist- ing the power of the Mayor's bill, or that he would remain in Chicago after his head was chopped off, would undoubtedly be convinced of their error should they visit his late res- idence, No. 97 Twenty - Second street. The card, "For Rent," is on the door, and not a sign of Elmer, or any mem- ber of his household, can be perceived by the closest scru-
23
THE PEOPLE'S PARTY.
tiny. In a somewhat mysterious manner, his goods and chattels were carted to the Twenty - Second street depot, where they were deposited in a freight car, of either the Illinois or Michigan Central Railroad, and are, before this time, far away. As a master-stroke of economy, the Super- intendent detailed one of the patrolmen from the Second Precinct station, to assist in the removal of his goods. On yesterday, rag-pickers were poking about the yard, No. 97; but they found nothing. Our Superintendent is a careful man, and permits nothing to go to waste. Where he will go when he delivers up his star of authority, no mortal knows, but there is a good army whose prayers, could they be of avail, would certainly place one or two oceans between Elmer and Chicago."
As regards error No. 2 : In the fog succeeding the Great Fire, the organization known as a Committee of Seventy sprung into an active existence. Contemporaneously, a Committee of Safety was working energetically, whose creation was suggested as a matter of vigilance regard- ing the frequent commission of crime in those days. Those Committees should not be confounded. Among the members of said organization of Seventy were, on the outset, and for some time in fact, several very worthy gentlemen. It was a prominent attraction for a time. It then retired from the public gaze. After an interval, how- ever, what was left of it besought the Mayor to enforce the liquor ordinance, the most objectionable features of which come under the head of " Misdemeanors," in the records of the Common Council. To the prayer of the petitioners,
24
THE GREAT REVOLUTION
Mayor Medill finally acceded, and issued an order for the enforcement of the Sunday ordinance. The measure of German-American indignation, at this juncture, was full to over-flowing. A committee of this element of our popula- tion, appointed by a mass-meeting, called upon his Honor, the Mayor, and assured him that the law was too strin- gent; but without avail.
The opposition, while quite universal among the deal- ers -who considered the order most oppressive - was most spirited from this quarter, as the custom among the German people had become sacred to sit beneath the umbrage of some spreading arbor, of a Sunday, and sip in harmony the flowing nectar. It was a custom those people had trans- planted from the Fatherland.
The movement was denounced by the German-Ameri- can element everywhere, as a blow aimed directly at their liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the coun- try and the State; in fact, they regarded it as an effort to enthrone detested Know - Nothingism in the midst of American citizens of foreign nativity. Indignation meet- ings followed in quick succession throughout the entire city. The commingling of the religious element with poli- tics was particularly nauseating, inasmuch as it even fore- shadowed to them the possible loss of freedom of con- science.
The first shot fired was heard in the Seventeenth Ward. At this meeting, an invitation to co-operate was extended to all liberal elements of all parties and nationalities prone to combat an attempt to destroy personal liberty. A great
25
THE PEOPLE'S PARTY.
German mass-meeting followed at Aurora Turner Hall, on Milwaukee Avenue. Mr. A. C. Hesing, on this occasion, instructed his hearers that they must assure their fellow citizens that they were for good order every day, as they were.
From this point forward, the Liberal movement steadily advanced. At the meetings in the several wards, delegates were appointed upon whom the Union could implicitly rely. Those gentlemen met in Bismarck Hall, and appointed an Agitation Committee. This Committee prepared an Address, from which the following extracts are selected : "A govern- ment that rests on material force alone, and adopts coercive measures to compel the people to follow a certain line of conduct, must always be a tyranny, whatever form it as- sumes." "The question * * is that concerning the renewed attempts to enforce certain laws which, for some time, had been obsolete; and to lend assistance to their sanctioning power by additional legislation, and which, for the sake of brevity, is familiarly styled the Temperance and Sunday Laws."
To the Address were appended resolutions pressing a thorough reform of the Civil Service; advocating economy ; urging the establishment of more schools, with competent teachers, as a preventative of crime; denouncing arrests where a summons would answer; placing police duty in its proper channel; recognizing the right of the citizen to pass the Sunday in his own way, provided he did not interfere with the choice of any other person; recommending tem- perance in all things, and a reasonable regulation of the
26
THE GREAT REVOLUTION.
liquor business, such as the appointment of inspectors, and the fining of dealers in impure stuffs; and demanding that drunkards be held strictly accountable as well for their acts committed while drunk, as for committing the act of getting drunk.
The principles embodied in the foregoing mainly consti- tuted the platform adopted at the great mass-meeting in Kingsbury Hall. Cemented by those principles, the great legion of foreign-born Americans, with a very fair sprinkling of native-born Americans, marched to an overwhelming triumph, under the banner of the People's Party, November 4, 1873.
The enforcement of the obnoxious Sunday ordinance came within the province of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners ; as also did the manner in which Superin- tendent of Police Washburn would enforce said ordinance.
Particulars concerning the same have been carefully taken from the proceedings of the Board; all of which have been classified under the head, "Medill - Washburn - Sheri- dan," as those three gentlemen represented the two sides to this matter -in fact, it may be added, the two sides to various other matters. So many changes have taken place in the Board that the writer deemed fit to go as far back as the inauguration of the Fire-proof Ticket. Incidents illus- trative of Mr. Washburn's conduct, otherwise, are contained therein.
MEDILL-WASHBURN-SHERIDAN.
Mancel Talcott and Jacob Rehm joined Mr. Sheridan as Police Commissioners with the success of the Fire-proof Ticket. Talcott's entry was imposing. His brow was fur- rowed with great thoughts apparently, and his lips were set expressive of marvelous intention. The advance of Rehm was much less pretentious. He walked into the Board room like any ordinary individual, and took his seat beside Mr. Sheridan without the least suggestion of importance. Mr. Talcott was elected President of the Board at once. For some time, all was harmony. The Board of Police, con- trolling the two great arms of the city government,- the Police and Fire Departments,- became immediately the cynosure of the public eye. The necessity of a good Fire Department was uppermost in the public mind as a natural result of the experience of the great fire. The skeleton of perished life and property rose up before all citizens alike, and pointed to a future when the grim ordeal of October 9, 1871, might easily be repeated. It was the necessity of the hour, in accordance with the platform of the Fire-proof Party, that the Board should enforce with rigor every ordinance
28
THE GREAT REVOLUTION.
enacted by the Council for protection against fire. This the Board scrupulously did.
In the spring of 1872, Mr. Rehm resigning, the Mayor appointed in his place Ernest F. C. Klokke. The Board was now composed of Messrs. Talcott, Sheridan and Klokke. About this juncture, the President of the Board, inflated, it would appear, by complimentary notices from the Press, fell into the error of supposing that Talcott constituted the Board of Police, and that his colleagues were merely spec- tators, as it were. He would fain be Dictator. Such action on the part of Mr. Talcott necessarily fastened upon him the eye of the Press. Hence he derived great titles : "Grand Sachem," "Papa Talcott," "Mr. Oldtalcott," and so-forth. His reign subsequently was one series of strange movements. When he withdrew from the Board, however, he brought with him the warmest personal friendship of his colleagues.
Upon the inauguration of Mr. Klokke, the first matter of importance that arose was the removal by the Mayor of Superintendent of Police Kennedy. This occurred on July 29, 1872. On August 13, 1872, Elmer Washburn suc- ceeded. Mr. Washburn was not a resident of Chicago; knew nothing of its ways, wicked or otherwise, it appears; could not point out the haunts of her evil-doers ; indeed, his only qualification to rule a police force was the result of his experience in Joliet State Penitentiary, attending to convicts. The moment Mr. Kennedy was removed, specu- lation became rife as to his successor. It was presumed that Mr. Medill, with his great good sense, would select, if
29
MEDILL - WASHBURN - SHERIDAN.
not an officer from the police force, at least a man conver- sant with Chicago criminal life, and the way in which to deal therewith. Mr. Medill pursued exactly the different course, however, and proceeded to Joliet State Prison to find a man competent to act as Superintendent of Police of the great city of Chicago. This may be set down as the first grave mistake of the Medillian administration. The act, it cannot be disputed, caused general mortification among Mr. Medill's warmest friends. What policy actu- ated the Mayor in his action it is impossible to conceive. It was certainly a most discouraging affair to the police force thus made hopeless of deserved promotion; and the marvel is that it did not totally demoralize them, The con- sequence hereof would be terrible, at the time, when crimi- nals were flocking in by scores from all parts of the country, and murders were being attempted and committed in al- most every district of the city.
The necessities of the hour at this particular period of Chicago's history could not be overlooked. It appeared evident to our best citizens that all must act to protect themselves and their homes from concerted outrage at the hands of cut-throats.
A meeting was held on September 12, 1872, in the Cham- ber of Commerce, on Market street. The purpose of the convention was the repression of crime which, with the resurrection of the city, had assumed gigantic proportions. Henry Greenebaum presided. Three committees were appointed for the three divisions, and comprised twenty- five leading citizens. On September 30th, another meeting
30
THE GREAT REVOLUTION.
was held, called by the Committee of Seventy, then existing for some time, in the interest of temperance. Police Com- missioner Talcott was present, and stated that nine-tenths of the crime was induced by drunkenness, and advocated the enforcement of the law closing saloons on the Sabbath. To reach this result, a Committee of Fifteen was sent to Mayor Medill.
This gentleman told the committee that the movement was rather impracticable; the law could not be enforced. The Mayor's address on this occasion was substantially as follows :
" After referring to the demand that the saloons be closed on Sunday, His Honor inquired if this meant that therein all drinking should be prevented, or that to outward appear- ances no liquor must be consumed therein. The demand clearly stated was this : that the Mayor is commanded to prevent the masses of the people of Chicago from drinking liquor on Sunday in places licensed to supply them on the other six days of the week. Could this be done with the insignificant police force? It appeared to be thought that the saloons had been recently opened on that day, when, in fact, they had never ceased to furnish liquor on any Sunday since the incorporation of the city, more than thirty years ago. Efforts had been made by preceding Mayors to prevent the practice ; but the most that was ever accomplished - and that for a short time only - was to force the keepers to pull down their blinds and shut their front doors while the drink- ing went on. The hotels closed their bars, and the waiters supplied the guests at their rooms. To this extent he thought
31
MEDILL - WASHBURN - SHERIDAN.
the Sunday ordinance could be enforced, but it was ques- tionable if any less liquor would be consumed. He was will- ing to issue an order to the police to close the saloons on Sunday, but could not give any assurance that drinking would be stopped. In no city like Chicago, with a mixed population, had the attempt ever succeeded. His Honor proceeded into a careful consideration of the matter to prove the strength of his position. He asked the Committee how could the police prove that liquor was being drunk on the premises, with the street door locked and the windows shaded ? Should they be orded to break in the doors and smash the windows on suspicion ? Or should they put on citizen's clothes, slip around through the alley to the kitchen, and sneak in, call for liquor, and drink it? Or was it expected that he himself should do it ? It could not be done in Chicago. Again, while the ordinance forbade the saloon keepers to sell liquor on Sunday, it did not forbid the citi- zen to buy from him on Sunday and drink. There was no penalty for purchasing and imbibing, and it was hard to con- vince the dealers that it was wrong to sell on the first day of the week, when it was legal for anybody to purchase and drink it on that day. His Honor very sensibly remarked that to stop liquor drinking would require the aid of one teetotaler policeman to be stationed in every saloon, billiard hall, house of ill-fame and tavern in Chicago - say 3,000 in all. The tax-fighters made it hard work to support 450 policemen; and most of the force sympathized with the saloons, and he had no power to discharge them. He had repeatedly made known to members of the Temperance
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