USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Chicago and Cook County official Republican directory and sketch book, 1900 > Part 5
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Here we return again to the subject of this sketch, John M. Smyth, and find him attending the old renowned Kinzie public
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school, where he received a good sound business education. When only fifteen years of age he started to learn the typo- graphic art, in the composing room of a daily newspaper, which he soon gave up to accept a position as clerk in the counting room. He embarked in business for himself in 1867, and opened a furniture store at 92 West Madison St. This was the start of the business which has since grown to such immense proportions, and has made the name of its proprietor a house- hold word in every part of the city. To accommodate his rapidly increasing business he moved his establishment in 1880, to its present location where he greatly enlarged and extended the operations of his business. This immense store was destroyed by fire in April, 1891. Mr. Smyth immediately re-built on the same site completing the great structure and occupying same by November 1st, of the same year. This is considered the largest house-furnishing establishment in the United States, and covers eleven acres of floor space, which is known as the famous "Town Market " of John M. Smyth & Co.
It would require more space than it is intended this book will contain to do justice to the subject of this sketch in his many years of arduous labors in upbuilding this mammoth furniture house.
Mr. John M. Smyth is a member of the Union League, Ashland, and Illinois Clubs, and in political campaigns his superior judgment and wise counsel renders him almost. indis- pensable as a leader of the Republican party in Cook County.
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CONGRESSMAN WILLIAM LORIMER.
THE GREAT REPUBLICAN LEADER WHO CONTROLS HIS PARTY AND REDUCED POLITICS TO A SCIENCE.
Consistent in public life with his career as a private citizen, Congressman William Lorimer has proven his claim to the sup- port which has been given him since he entered the political arena, in which so many tombstones mark the death of ambitious young men.
Success in political life means more than the attainment of office. It means more than the gratification of a desire to win laurels so greatly coveted by a competitor. It means the ap- plication of the principles on which he bases his claims for public confidence. It means an effort to assist by all honorable means those whom he represents, in all their claims for just and equal rights as guaranteed by the constitution.
Mr. Lorimer came to Chicago in his boyhood, and when he was old enough to begin to watch his own interests, put his hands to the paint brush and afterwards to the hard task of a laborer at the Armour Packing Company. He came from a good Scotch family, and was born in England in 1861.
Mr. Lorimer worked his way up from the paint shop and the packing house to the position of street car conductor. By his honesty, his persistence, his energy and his unfaltering am- bition he went forward. He made many friends and first showed his shrewdness in politics when he nominated and elected John A. Cook as Alderman from the Seventh Ward, and did this in the face of a Democratic majority of 1,500 to 1,800. His ability as a political adviser then became prominent.
He afterwards moved to the Tenth Ward where he also became a political leader and adviser, and he has to his credit the nomina- tion and election of more West Town Assessors than any man on the West Side.
His indomitable will and energy, however, were destined to
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achieve still greater successes for him. He was a man of the people. His principles were to distribute the greatest good to those who deserved and needed help. He became interested in the laboring classes. He took up their fights and their strug- gles against oppression. He espoused the eight hour labor law.
Could a man like this fail to achieve the distinction that must inevitably come to those who merit it?
He received the nomination and was elected to the Fifty-fifth Congress. His services reflected more credit on him than any other young member of Congress. He became prominent among the nation's lawmakers, as an advocate of a class of people who needed a champion. Labor recognized his work and gave him encouragement. There were giants against him. Corporation- and trusts stood in his pathway, but undaunted he never faltered and won in his great fight for the working man.
Mr. Lorimer was returned to Congress in 1896, and for his services to his constituents and to the Republican party and to his country, he was again nominated and elected in 1898.
Congressman Lorimer, was the originator of the unequaled Republican organization which exists in Cook County to-day and which is complete in every detail, from the Republican County Central Committee down to the ward and precinct organizations.
Mr. Lorimer, was Chairman of the Cook County Republican Central Committee in 1895. In 1892, he broke the unit rule at Minneapolis, and was an ardent supporter of the beloved states- man, James G. Blaine. He was a delegate to the St. Louis Convention that nominated President Mckinley in 1896, and in 1897, was a possibility for the United States Senate.
His career in congress has proven a surprise and source of gratification to his many friends and constituents. Mr. Lorimer is recognized at Washington as the most able and influential man that ever represented Cook County in Congress.
Here is presented a unique record, and behind the man who has achieved the distinction which has fallen on Mr. Lorimer, there must be worth and merit; such honors cannot be won in any other way. Not only this but there is a future, the possi- bilities of which cannot be predicted, for a man who in his thirty- seventh year has gone from the humbler position of a laborer to that of a representative in Congress for three successive terins, of one of the grandest commonwealths in the United States.
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HON. CHARLES S. DENEEN.
THE FEARLESS STATES ATTORNEY WHOSE RECORD IS UNEQUALED.
. A TERROR TO CRIMINALS.
In the galaxy of political stars and legal lights, in the state of Illinois there is not a name around which clusters more promise and prominence than that of Charles S. Deneen, the young and brilliant States Attorney of Cook County.
There are few young men in the West who are better equipped intellectually than Mr. Deneen. He has shown more fine ability, genius and talent in the office of States Attorney than any man. who has ever held that position. His intelligence illuminates and brightens the Records of Cook County courts like a beacon light on a dreary and foggy shore.
His legal ability has been displayed in so many instances that he is now regarded by the bench and the bar as one of the coming powers in the profession, and in the political world.
Just in the prime of life, he stands before a bright and promising future. He has only passed thirty-five years, but in that time has attained a fame which few men acquire in a lifetime.
Mr. Deneen has long been a power in politics. He was a member of the legislature in 1893, and was appointed attorney for the sanitary district in 1895, which position he resigned in 1896 to accept the higher and more responsible position of States Attorney for which he was nominated by the Cook County Re- publican convention and elected by a tremendous majority over his opponent. Mr. Deneen has since discharged the enormous duties of that office with distinction and credit to himself and honor to the Republican party.
The following is a summary of the work done by States Attorney Charles S. Deneen and staff during the year 1899: Number of cases on docket, 6,911. Number of cases disposed of, 4,278. Total number of convictions, 3,117. Total number of acquittals, 219. Defendants found not guilty by the court,
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150. Number of cases nolled, 93. Cases nolled by request of prosecuting witnesses, 45. Stricken off with leave to reinstate defendants being convicted in other cases, 447. Stricken off with lcave to reinstate, 207.
The record as shown above of the amount of business done by States Attorney Charles S. Deneen and his assistants during the past year, by far excels all other records made by any pre- vious states attorney, and in some instances we find it has more than doubled the work done under previous administrations in any one year.
Nights and Sundays, when other elective officers of Cook County are enjoying the comforts of life, Charles S. Deneen can be found at his office, buried deep into legal documents, looking after the safety and welfare of the people of Cook County.
Charles S. Deneen is the son of Prof. S. H. Deneen who held the Chair of Latin and Ancient History in McKendree College at Lebanon, Ills., for thirty years. The son grad- uated from that college in 1882. He came to Chicago in 1885, and his career since then has been one of continued success at the bar and in the political field. His opinions and advice on political matters are considered so valuable that he is always consulted by his party leaders in all campaigns. .
It can be very truthfully said of Mr. Deneen that he has made an unequaled record as States Attorney; the very men- tion of his name alone brings terror to the hearts of all classes of criminals and wrong doers, from the confidence man down to the murderer and hold-up man, and even -the jury briber.
Right here, in connection with jury bribing investigations, exposure and prosecution, Mr. Deneen has rendered to the common people and the public in general (corporations excepted) the most valuable services ever rendered by a States Attorney.
The jury bribing investigation prosecuted by States Attorney Deneen has made it possible for the poor to obtain justice in the courts of Cook County, as well as the rich.
This one act alone, which has already done untold good for the public in general, has endeared Mr. Dencen to the hearts of every honest, liberty-loving, fair-minded, just-thinking citizen of the entire state of Illinois.
For Mr. Deneen, we predict the brightest future of any man of his age residing within the limits of this great statc.
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HON. ROBERT M. SIMON.
RECORDER OF DEEDS OF COOK COUNTY, WHOSE OFFICIAL RECORD HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE PUBLIC.
THE MUCH VALUED SECRETARY OF THE REPUBLICAN COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
Hon. Robert M. Simon, the present recorder of deeds of Cook County, who was elected to that important office by a tre- mendous majority in 1896, has given more universal satisfaction in the discharge of his duties than any recorder that ever preceded him.
The seal of public approval has been placed upon his admin- istration almost from the day he took the oath of office.
The early political official training which Mr. Simon received in the various departments of Cook County, from messenger boy up to chief clerk to the county clerk, and other elective offices which he held, no doubt largely tended to make him thoroughly competent to fill any elective office within the gift of Cook County, outside the judicial bench, to which no doubt he will not aspire as he is not a law student.
Mr. Simon was born in Chicago, on the North Side, February 17, 1866. His father was Simon Simon, and his mother Anne Elizabeth (Meyers) Simon. The parents of Robert M. Simon, the subject of this sketch, are both of good old German stock, and came to Chicago in 1847, where they continued to reside, and commanded the highest respect and esteem of this com- munity.
Robert M. Simon received his early education in the public schools of Lake View, and graduated from the Lake View high school in the class of 1883. After leaving school Mr. Simon obtained a position as messenger boy with Sheriff Hanchett, and
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from this humble position was promoted by grade on his ability through nearly all the departments of the county building up to that of chief clerk to the county clerk, which position he held up to 1896, at which time he was elected recorder of Cook County.
In 1894 Mr. Robert M. Simon was elected collector of Lake View by the largest plurality ever received by a Republican can- didate for that office. In 1896 he received the Republican nomination for recorder of deeds of Cook County, and this nom- ination was largely due to his good political record and his high standing in the community, and when the ballots werc counted it was discovered that no mistake was made by placing his name on the ticket, as he only ran a few thousand votes behind McKin- ley and finished fourth from the top in that memorable election in Cook County.
The manner in which he has ever since conducted that important office has met with the approval of the general public, and serves as a source of gratification to his friends and the Republican party in general.
From the earliest history of the human family, it has been the ambition of mankind to acquire land. Once acquired and a home established, the true man will naturally fight to the last to protect it. Among all the laws of this or any other civilized country where a good government exists, those relating to matters of realty have ever been the most carefully provided, and the laws in regard to the recording of papers, which affect land are the most important in the statutes for the reason that all such instruments must be recorded to make them legal.
The different classes of instruments this department has to deal with embraces bills of sale, tax deeds, warrantee deeds, trust claim deeds, trust deeds, releases, mortgages, chattel mortgages, charters and voluntary assignments. The Recorder's office by reason of the generally accepted value of realty is beyond doubt the most important department in Cook County, and under the present Recorder Mr. R. M. Simon is the most complete and ably conducted of any such institution in the United States.
Mr. Simon is secretary of the Republican County Central Committee and a valued member of that body. The grand and almost unequaled Republican organization which exists through- out Cook County to-day owes much of its success and existence to Mr. Robert M. Simon.
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He is a member of the executive committee, and but few members of that body labor harder to accomplish success for his party during campaigns than he does.
Mr. Simon is a man of unerring judgment and a citizen whose social radiance has never been darkened by the cloud of condem- nation. He was one of the founders of the Ravenswood His- torical Society and Public Library and has been identified in similar encouragement of other worthy public enterprises.
His friends have reason for pardonable pride in the achieve- ments of a man like Robert M. Simon, whose personal worth is a source of congratulation to the Republican party in particular and the tax payers of Cook County in general.
Mr. Simon was married to Miss Nellie Frances Peperly, who is a lady of high culture. They reside at 2561 N. Ashland avenue.
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HON. JAMES PEASE.
FORMER SHERIFF OF COOK COUNTY-WHO RETIRED FROM OFFICE, RETAINING HIS POPULARITY AND POWER IN THE RANKS OF HIS PARTY.
Hon. James Pease is one of the few men that ever retired from the office, as Sheriff of Cook County, with the highest respect of the general public, who can still be referred to with pride as a power in the inner political circles of his party.
For many years the office of Sheriff of Cook County has been referred to by politicians and newspaper men as a political grave yard.
Probably to James Pease, more than any other man that served Cook County in that capacity, belongs the credit of ele- vating the office of sheriff to a higher political and business standard.
While tombstones mark the political graves of many an ex- sheriff of Cook County, yet a living monument is being erected to the memory of Ex-Sheriff James Pease, who has been for years, and is to-day, a power in the ranks of the great Repub- lican organization of Cook County.
Mr. Pease was born on a farm at Wilmot, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, July 12, 1851. His father, Anson Pease, who origi_ nally came from New York State, settled in Wisconsin in 1835. He was a highly respected citizen of Kenosha County, where he served as member of the school board of that township for a number of years.
Mr. James Pease, the subject of this sketch, received his early education in the public schools of his native town, and left home at the tender age of ten years, which was shortly after the death of his mother. Arriving in Chicago in 1865, he secured employ- ment with a leading wholesale flour house, and through diligent perseverance rose to the position of bookkeeper, which position he held up to 1871.
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When the memorable fire broke out in 1871, it resulted in double disaster to Mr. Pease (namely), the destruction of his home, as well as the devastation of the flour mills where he was employed. Consequently the great fire left Mr. Pease both homeless and thrown out of employment.
Being compelled to make the best of the situation, Mr. Pease had to cast aside his bookkeeper's clothes and put on a pair of overalls, and during the re-building of Chicago, obtained a position as painter. Being endowed with the indomitable determination to succeed, he soon became proprietor of a large paint shop in this city, which business he continued to operate up to 1878.
Mr. Pease was a member of the school board of Lake View for four years, and assessor of said town for nine years. He received the Republican nomination for sheriff in 1894, and was elected by a tremendous majority.
During his administration as sheriff, Mr. Pease gave uni- versal satisfaction to the public in general, as well as the Repub- lican party, which tends very largely to his popularity in Republican circles to-day, in which party he has long been a power not alone on the North Side where he resides, but through- out Cook County.
The office of Sheriff of Cook County was created in 1831, and James Kenzie was the first Sheriff. James Forbes succeeded him in 1832. He was succeeded by Silas W. Sherman, in 1834, who served two terms. Then came Isaac R. Gavin in 1838; in- 1840, Ashbel Steele; in 1842, Samuel J. Lowe; in 1846 and 1848, Isaac Cook; in 1850, William L. Church; in 1852, Cyrus P. Bradley; in 1854, James Andrews, who (died in 1855); 1855 James S. Beach; 1856, John L. Wilson; 1858, John Gray; 1860, A. C. Hessing; 1862, David Hammond; 1864, J. L. Beve- ridge; 1870, Ben Cleaves; 1872, J. M. Bradley; 1874, Francis Agnew; 1876, Charles Keni; 1878, John Hoffman; 1880, O. L. Mann; 1882, Seth F. Hanchett; 1886, C. R. Matson; 1890, James H. Gilbert; then came the administration of James Pease, the subject of this sketch, who served from 1894 to 1898, and was succeeded by Sheriff Magerstadt in 1898.
The records of the Sheriff's office show that during all these years from 1831, down to 1894, the affairs of that office were never so efficiently administered in every detail and resulted in
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such general satisfaction to the public, as they were under Sheriff Pease.
Mr. Pease resides at 3212 Dover Street with his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Teresa Houlihan, a lady of high culture. Her father and brother gave up their lives in defense of the stars and stripes in the civil war.
The grand Republican organization of Cook County, owes much of its past and present greatness to James Pease.
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HON. THOMAS NEVIN JAMIESON.
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL AND STATE COMMITTEEMAN WHO HAS LONG BEEN A POWER IN THIE POLITICS OF HIS PARTY- CLERK OF THE APPELLATE COURT-FIRST DISTRICT.
Thomas Nevin Jamieson, Clerk of the Appellate Court, First District, Chicago, was born in Durham, County of Gray, Province of Ontario, Canada, February 29, 1848, of Scotch parents. He received a good education in the famous schools of Ontario, and at theage of fourteen he was apprenticed to a druggist. At the age of eighteen he came to Chicago, his ambition being for a larger field. In 1870 he embarked in the drug business on his own account, and ever since has been identified with the drug business in this city. For three years he was President of the Retail Drug As- sociation of Chicago, and for five years was President of the State Board of Pharmacy. Notwithstanding the prominence he has attained in politics he still retains his drug stores. He was City Sealer under Mayor Washburn, and later was Superin- tendent of Public Service of Cook County for two years. Dr. Jamieson is happily married, and has two sons and two daugh- ters.
Dr. Jamieson early identified himself with the Republican party, and being endowed with a natural genius for political organization and management, he soon came to the front among the political leaders of that organization, and his skill, sagacity and good judgment soon became recognized. He was Secretary of the Republican State Committee during the campaign of 1888 when "Private Joe" Fifer was elected Governor of Illinois, and was the principal manager of the campaign which made James H. Gilbert Sheriff of Cook County; also of the campaign which resulted in the election of Hempstead Washburn, as Mayor of Chicago. During the Washburn administration Dr. Jamieson was entrusted with the distribution of the offices, and exerted an
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important influence on the general policy of the administration. In the election of 1894 which resulted in such notable triumph of his party, Dr. Jamieson exerted a powerful influence. He was Chairman of the State Committee in 1896, which he resigned to accept the position of National Republican Committeeman for Illinois. In this capacity he was frequently called into counsel with Chairman Hanna, of the National Committee, and was one of the most prominent figures in the political world during the fierce battle between the Republicans and Democrats.
Mr. Jamieson was nominated by the Republicans for Clerk of the Appellate Court, First District, and after a splendid cam- paign was elected by a tremendous majority. He received 218,- 853 votes to 153,272 for Thomas G. McElligott, fusion, his opponent.
It is generally admitted that Dr. Jamieson possesess a master mind in the science of politics. He has been modest in seeking office for himself, but has bestowed political honors with a liberal hand upon others.
The creation of the present powerful Republican organization of Cook County to-day is largely a part of his work.
The personality of Mr. Jamieson is that of a modern Chester- field-a pleasing compound of polished manners and honest business methods, tempered with a remarkable strength in executive abil- ity, and a keen, prophetic eye quick to catch the shadows of coming events, It is the character that impresses men with favor, a parallel of the characteristics which kept James G. Blaine in such close touch with the American multitudes.
Mr. Jamieson is true to his political friends and not over hateful to his enemies. His word is his bond, and it is probably this one thing more than anything else that has endeared him to the hearts of the Republican workers of Cook County.
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UNITED STATES SENATOR SHELBY M. CULLOM.
THE GRAND OLD MAN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY-BETTER KNOWN AS THE PRESENT DAY ABE. LINCOLN OF ILLINOIS.
The fathers' of the Republican party have been aligned by political historians with the history of Illinois. From the prairies of the "Land of Illini" came the men who gave to the land between the seas the parity of freedom to all men. These were Lincoln, Trumbull, Cullom, Washburne, Grant and Logan, and a host of their comrades in political arms who gave to the nation that great motto, "No nation can exist half slave and half free." When the turbulent waves of national conscience cast upon the Western prairies such men as Lincoln and Cullom there came with them the salvage of shipwrecked national honor. They took that salvage and from it constituted a free republic. Lincoln died as a martyr to the faith and Cullom became the Peter of the Church of Liberty founded by the great commoner, Abraham Lincoln. Like Lincoln, he was a son of the people, by the people and for the people, and in that God-given creed he remains to-day, when even newer members would strike down the faith of the fathers. In Shelby Moore Cullom is left the inspira- tion and the Western spartanism that made of Lincoln's epoch a national Illiad. Cullom was, in that time of evolution of Amer- ican conscience, comrade and adviser of that man who sits to-day upon the people's throne of thrones-the people's Lincoln. And Senator Cullom holds his tenure in the hearts of the American people, as well as in the hearts of the people of Illinois, not only on account of his inherent integrity as a citizen and servant of his people, but because he stood by those who fought the bat- tles of the liberty loving people of America in the times which tried men's souls.
And out of all this storm of struggle and fame of success, Shelby M. Cullom has come like one untouched by flame and un- contaminated by the spoils of victory. Through all the years of
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service to his state and people, scandal has passed him by and wealth has turned its favor from his door. Like Lincoln, plain in features and in speech, Senator Cullom belongs at the fireside of American commoners, and there he sits beyond the pale of political rancor or partisan criticism. That he looks like Abra- ham Lincoln and talks like the first people's President is not a matter of wonder or a text for criticism. The channels of the lives of Lincoln and of Cullom ran in strange similar grooves. They came from that old stock which first found abiding place in the land discovered and won in blood and faith of Boone. Then they came to the " Land of Illini" to cover a greater domain for the habitation of freemen. And then when Lincoln laid down his life for that which to-day has become the apotheosis of liberty Cullom became the apostle of the gospel of liberty.
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