USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Political history of Chicago (covering the period from 1837 to 1887) Local politics from the city's birth; Chicago's mayors, aldermen and other officials; county and federal officers; the fire and police departments; the Haymarket horror; miscellaneous > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
17
258
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
.
PETER FORTUNE.
Peter Fortune was born in Roundtown, just out- side the city of Dublin, and when very young went to Dublin where he went to work for a grocer. This was in 1850. In 1856, after considerable travel through the country, Mr. Fortune found himself the proprietor of a grocery store at the corner of Polk and Desplaines streets. In 1857 he moved to the corner of Harrison and Desplaines streets and there pushed a lucrative business in conjunc- tion with other ventures. He was proprietor of a place at the corner of Desplaines and Randolph, and also at the corner of Market and Lake. He was for a time connected with John O'Neill's brewery on South Water street. When his father died he went home to Ireland ; and outside of this short respite, his business life has been one of con- tinued activity.
In 1865 he started brewing, and from 1866 up to 1876 transacted a great ale trade. In 1876, notwithstanding the fact that the Germans had monopolized the traffic, he com- menced the manufacture of lager. Today he is doing an extraordinary business and his immense buildings at the South-west corner of Van Buren aud Desplaines streets are ample evidence of the fact.
HENRY HEMMELGARM
County Commissioner Hemmelgarm was born in Hano- ver, Germany, in 1830. Here he was brought up and worked at the blacksmithing trade up to November, 1852, when he came to New Orleans. Here he followed his trade as well for a short time after 1853, when he came to Chicago. His first business experience in this city was with the firm of Seckle & Co., produce and commission merchants, in the West Division. He subsequently acted as salesman for E. Seckle & Co., on Kinzie street for nine years. He finally established himself in the produce and
259
THE COUNTY BOARD.
commission business at 201 Kinzie street, where he is push- ing a most prosperous trade.
Among the new commissioners - he was elected in the fall of 1885 - not one probably takes more interest in the public welfare. Shortly after his election he was a constant attendant at the investigation of the State Board of Chari- ties into the condition of the insane asylum at Jefferson.
FRANK NIESEN.
Commissioner Frank Niesen was born in the Rhenish province of Wittlich, Germany, December 25, 1829, and emerging from the provincial school with honor, achieved a creditable record in the high school of his native place, in April 20, 1854. Frank, who was the eldest of a family of eight children, left his birthplace for America, and on June 17, 1854 he made Chicage his adopted home. After a year's experience in a South Water street vinegar factory, he entered the employ of John Palmer & Co. at 146 Kin- zie street, and with this firm and their successors he was connected for ten years. With the savings of those years he established a vinegar factory of his own at 124 Goethe street, and at the same time formed a co-partnership with ex-Commissioner John Herting at 26 Chicago avenue, which thrived well up to the time of the great fire of 1871. The flames of that furious fire not only melted the effects of the firm, but dissolved the co-partnership as well. His heavy losses in the conflagration only strengthened Mr. Niesen to renewed effort. The smoke had hardly cleared away when he established himself at 756 Halsted, near Willow, in company with Mr. Dieden. The firm dis- solved subsequently and Mr. Niesen has conducted the business to the present day. He has been very successful.
Politically, Commissioner Niesen has been very fortunate. In 1876 when under the charter of 1872 thirty-six aldermen were elected at once, he was elected by the larger majority
260
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
to represent the fifteenth ward in the City Council. He drew the short term, but was reëlected in 1877. In 1879 and 1880 he was elected collector for the North Town of Chicago. In 1883 he was elected County Commissioner, and though he is a Democrat he has invariably commanded many Republican and other votes. The Commissioner cele- brated his silver wedding in 1881 and hopes to celebrate his golden wedding in 1906. His family is a long-lived one.
R. S. M'CLAUGHREY.
Richard S. McClaughrey represents the town of Palos in the Cook County Board. He was elected independent- ly. The Commissioner was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., in 1822, and aside from a chequered experience on the Pacific coast, a trip to which region in 1850 consumed sixty-four days, his whole life has been spent upon a farm. He is the proprietor of 600 acres in Palos. In 1862 Mr. McClaughrey enlisted in the 100th Illinois Regiment under Colonel Bartleton, and among other battles participated in the engagements at Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and Resaca. He received a hip wound at Mission Ridge. For three years the Commissioner was a Trustee for the town of Blue Island.
M. R. LEYDEN.
Michael Richard Leyden, County Commissioner, re- ceived the highest vote polled in the very interesting cam- paign in which he figured. He was born in the city of Sligo, Ireland, in 1853, and when he was three years of age his family located in Chicago. He first attended the Kinzie school in the North Division, then St. Jolin's Paro- chial school, and finally the Mosley school, in the South Division. When about 16 years of age Mr. Leyden visit- ed Texas in the interests of Hancock & Cragin, the well known packers. After a brief stay, in 1870, he returned to Chicago, and engaged his services as a salesman to John
261
THE COUNTY BOARD.
O'Malley, who prosecuted a flourishing meat trade on Kin- zie street. In 1872 he went into the meat business for himself at No. 11 West Jackson, where he is now locatad. As a business man Mr. Leyden has been uniformly suc- cessful. His first political race was made in 1879, when circumstances conspired to defeat him. In 1883 he was overwhelmingly elected County Commissioner.
JOHN HANNIGAN.
Commissioner Hannigan was born April 5, 1840, in the Parish of Rore, Kilkenny, Ireland. When he was eight years of age the family came to Albany, N. Y., and a short time thereafter the future Commissioner commenced active life as a bell-boy. He worked hard in three hotels, the Exchange, the Stanwick Hall, and the Delavan House, and his early experiences proved very useful to him in af- ter life, when he conducted a hostlery of his own. Unim- portant as his position was, it was yet a good school for the study of human nature. It is a well known fact that Mr. Hannigan's judgment of men's character is considerably above the average. In 1855 he came to Chicago, and was first employed as a bartender in a North Water street liotel. In 1857, in company with Lawrence Lynch, now dead, he established a place at 28 North Wells street, but shortly sold out to go to New Orleans. Sickness, however, caused his hurried return to Chicago. This was in 1859, when he engaged his services to William Cox, the proprietor of the Girard House, which stood near the Michigan Central Railroad depot, at the foot of South Water street. In 1861 he established a hotel at the corner of West Water and Cook streets, and 1865 the Commercial Hotel on Sherman street. The great fire of 1871 swallowing up these premi- ses, he started the Depot House on West Water and Cook streets, and in 1873 the North-Western Hotel, near the Chi- cago & North-Western Railroad depot. In 1881 he located at
262
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
14 North Wells street, where he is at the present time transacting a flourishing business. He was elected Coun- ty Commissioner by about the largest majority given .
THOMAS F. BAILEY.
Thomas Francis Bailey, Clerk of the County Board, was born in Lough Gur, Limerick, Ireland, in 1842. When eleven years of age he came to Bradford county, Pa., and worked on a farm. In 1856 he came to Chicago and became general foreman in Shufeldt's Distillery. He represented the Ninth ward, at one time, in the City Council.
DAVID M'CARTHY.
The Deputy Clerk of the County Board is one of the best known young men around the city, and is an accom- plished public officer. The McCarthy family is one of the oldest and most honored in the city. Mr. McCarthy was born in Chicago, November 14, 1846, and is a brother-in- law of Michael Keeley, the extensive brewer, and a man whose name is intimately identified with the most prom- inent enterprises, political, social and otherwise. Mr. Keeley was a member of the City Council, and was spoken of several times as a candidate for the county treasurer- ship and other offices of public trust. He presided at the great demonstration in Battery "D" when so successful an appeal was made to Irish-Americans to aid Charles Stewart Parnell in his brilliant parliamentary struggle for justice to Ireland.
JAMES C. STRAIN.
The urbane Committee Clerk of the County Board was born February 12, 1848, in Dublin, Ireland. When a year old, his family came to New York city and placed him in the public schools of the metropolis. Coming to Chicago in the spring of 1868, in 1870 James C. entered the straw-goods business, and continued therein up to
263
THE COUNTY BOARD.
1878. From October, 1879, to September 1, 1883, he was employed in the water office by the city, and while there had charge of a division, and won the well-merited praise of his superior officers and the firm friendship of his associ- ates. He then assumed his present position.
WILLIAM J. M'GARIGLE.
The warden of Cook County Hospital was born in Mil- waukee, Wis., September 12, 1850, and after an experience in the public schools graduated in the German and Eng- lish Academy of his native place. His first effort in busi- ness was as a confidential servant of the United States Express Company; the handling of large sums of money, being constantly intrusted to him. He subsequently filled an equally responsible position in the employ of the Chi- cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He married Miss Anna Bodmer, of Milwaukee, in November, 1870.
Mr. McGarigle joined the Chicago police force in 1872, and was assigned to duty at Webster avenue station. From 1873 to 1875 he acted at headquarters in the dual capacity of Clerk of Detectives and Secretary under Elmer Washburne. It was a most arduous position, for these days were very stormy; the stormiest in fact in the police history of Chicago. A conflict raged between Mayor Medill, vested with the one man power under the charter of 1872, and the Board of Police Commissioners. Wash- burne was Chief of Police under Mayor Medill, and Dr. Ward the Secretary of the Board of Police was acting Superintendent of Police under the jurisdiction of that organization. In 1875 he was promoted to the lieutenancy and made Chief of Detectives, when the City Council gave him the rank of Captain, with additional pay. When act- ing as Secretary, Mr. McGarigle suggested to Chief of Police Hickey who came in under Heath's administration the propriety of placing boxes like the fire alarm instru-
SOHA
COUNTY HOSPITAL.
264
265
THE COUNTY BOARD.
ments so that the police could be called upon by electri- city -a suggestion which eventually led to the establish- ment of the patrol system. The telephone at this time had not been developed. Interviews with Professor Bar- rett of the fire alarm service, Fire Marshal Swenie, and others finally led to the establishment of the Police Patrol Service during Mr. McGarigle's first year as Superintend- ent. Illustrations of this important system are found elsewhere. In 1879 he was transferred to the old police station at the corner of Madison and Union streets, to take charge of the third precinct.
In the fall of 1879 Mr. McGarigle was appointed Gen- eral Superintendent by Mayor Harrison. As such he created Austin J. Doyle, who was secretary, the first In- spector of police, an office now filled Under Chief Ebersold by John Bonfield. In 1880 he made Dr. Hen- rotin surgeon of the Police Department, and through his professional services made nurses out of the police force, and the patrol wagon a veritable drug store on wheels. It may be stated right here that "Old Darby," now in the fire alarm telegraph service was the first animal that ever pulled a patrol wagon. It is highly creditable to "Darby" as every city in the world is following Chicago with the patrol wagon. May "Darby's" shadow never grow less. In the spring of 1882 Mr. McGarigle visited the capitals of the old world, and submitted the result of his observations to the City Council, which dignified him with an unani- mous vote of thanks and commendation.
He concluded his report as follows :
" In closing this portion of my report I am compelled to say and do it with the greatest pleasure, as a tribute due a faithful body of men that in all my travels I have no- where seen a finer class of men as to physique and intelli- gence, than those who compose the force of our own city, both in size and in their bearing ; and when on duty their
266
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
appearance is far superior to any of the police forces which I have had the pleasure to see during my absence."
In the fall of 1882 he resigned, to accept the Democratic nomination to the shrievalty, and carried the city, but was defeated. On September 1, 1883, he was appointed War- den of the Cook County hospital, and as such, decreased the mortality as is well known, from 11 to 72 per cent.
Mr. McGarigle's career has been phenomenal for a man of thirty-six. President Cleveland came very near appoint- ing him United States Marshal for the northern district of Illinois. He was one of the chief instruments in locating the Democratic National convention in Chicago ; was chairman of the National Finance committee and was chief Marshal of all the Democratic hosts in Cook county; and was twice elected President of the Police Association of the United States.
Mr. McGarigle is one of the organizers of the Chicago Sectional Underground Wire Company, and was its first secretary.
Great improvement is apparent in the County Hospital since Mr. McGarigle's advent. The electric communica- tion with each and every one of the wards of the immense institution, which is conceded by the world's travelers to be the finest hospital in the world, including the Vienna Hospital, and the magnificent precautions against fire are high tributes to Mr. McGarigle's inventive genius. The County Hospital was never before managed more skill- fully, and several members of the State Board of Charity last year in an interview stated that they had never seen bet- ter management and discipline in an institution of the kind.
nale #leriyle Warden
267
THE COUNTY BOARD.
JOHN F. DOHERTY.
The Chief Clerk of the County Hospital was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., December 29, 1853. The family moving to Chicago when he was but two years of age, he was sent to St. Patrick's school. At thirteen he went to Gilman, and at twenty to the state normal at Normal, Ill. He taught school for three years at Havana, Ill., and at El Paso. In 1879 he came to the hospital, and has worked for three wardens. In the spring or 1882 he served in the office of Joseph Sokup, the West Town Assessor.
EDWARD M'DONALD.
The Engineer of the County hospital was born May 1, 1845, in Niagara Falls, N. Y. In 1861 he removed to Chicago, and in 1863 he went to New York City. He sailed the ocean for twelve years, visiting Havana, Lisal and Vera Cruz. He was four years with the engineer for the New York and Mexican mail line. In 1865-6 he sailed from New York to Boston for the Neptune line. In 1872 he was Chief Engineer of the steamship City of San Anto- nio, which cruised between New York and Galveston. In 1874 he went to Baricoa, Cuba, in the tug Mohawk, 17 tons burden, a distance of one thousand six hundred and fifty miles. For two years he was Engineer of the New York Herald and Bennett buildings. In 1877 he came to Chicago and was appointed Engineer in the House of Cor- rection. He retired to assume his present duties.
The following are County Hospital attaches :
Physicians and Surgeons-Regular School Medical Board .- Drs. A. J. Baxter, T. W. Miller, J. B. Murphy, W. P. Lee, Chr. Fenger, each three months' service ; F. S. Smith, G. M. Hutchinson, E. St. John, W. P. Verity, D. A. K. Steele, W. T. Bellfield, S. A. McWilliams, Cotton, each six months' service; P. J. Rowan, Coey,
268
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
Nolan, H. C. Curber, N. Briggs, F. Henrotin, Geo. H. Randall, each four months' service ; John Guerin, F. C. Schafer.
Homeopathic Medical Board .- Surgeons : Drs. Chas. Adams, Sherra, Newman.
Physicians : Drs. A. W. Burnside, J. S. Mitchell, Woodward.
Gynecologists : Dr. Streator.
House Staff-Regular School .- House Surgeons : M. L. Harris, W. G. Clarke. House Physicians : Elbert Wing, E. P. Davis. Senior Assistants to House Physi- cians : C. B. Wood, Chas. Davison. Junior Assistants to House Surgeon : G. D. Shaver, T. E. McDermott. Junior Assistant to House Surgeons : C. M. Coe, W. H. Weaver. Junior Assistants to House Physicians : Hugh Menzies, E. G. Epler. Superintendent of Training School : Miss M. E. Hemple.
List of Employés permanently engaged in Hospital : Warden, Wm. McGarigle; Chief Engineer, E. S. Mc- Donald ; Assistant Engineer, D. T. Boyle; Chief Clerk, J. T. Doherty ; Assistant Day Clerks, T. A. Parker, J. J. Mahoney ; Assistant Night Clerks, C. Cummings, F. B. Marooney ; Messenger, C. Potter ; Druggist, F. R. Mur- phy; Storekeeper, G. Ashman; Assistant Storekeeper, Robt. Jamison ; Housekeeper, Mary J. Fugerson ; Bath room Clerk, H. Gahagan.
Besides the above there are employed in the hospital the folowing : Carpenters, 3; painters, 4; plumbers, 1; firemen and assistants in boiler room, 8; nurses, (male) 15; drivers of ambulance, etc., 4; morgue keepers, 2; scale men, 1; elevator men, 4; laborers, 6; porters, 2; gatekeepers, 1; cooks and kitchen employés, 6; bakers' assistants, 3 ; laundry employés, 10 ; linen room employés, 4 ; dining room employés, 6; chamber maids, 3; scrub- bing maids, 18; druggists' messenger, 1; night watch-
269
THE COUNTY BOARD.
man, 1; door keepers, 2; Miss Hampton, superinten- dent of nurses.
House Surgeons .- Drs. Keith, Davis, Black, Mitchell, Jr., Chandler. House Physicians : Drs. Bridge, Van Hook, Caldwell, Smith, Jr., Post, Plummer, Prickerd. House Gynecologists : Drs. Benauer, Spoche, Obs, Hibbard.
HARRY A. VARNELL.
The popular Warden of the Cook County Insane Asylum was born in Frankville, Iowa, February 13, 1852, and was an only child. In 1854 his father John H. brought the family to Chicago, and engaged in the lumber and com- mission business. Harry carried his school books from the family residence in the old brown row on the corner of Madison and State streets to the old Dearborn school, where the Inter Ocean Building now stands. He subse- quently attended the old Jones school at the corner of Clark and Harrison and the Brown school, corner of Wood street and Warren avenue. His father dying when our subject was thirteen, Harry became the sole support of his mother. He entered the dry-goods house of Potter Palmer, on Lake street near Clark as a cash boy, and by industry and thrift was in the meat business for himself at the age of sixteen. When quite young he married ' Miss Lillie Favor, daughter of Mr. Fred Favor, who served with credit in the Chicago Board of Trade Battery during the war. Mr. Varnell withdrawing from the meat trade, traveled for years for the Hall Safe & Lock Company, the Mosler Lock Company, and the Cincinnati Lock Com- pany. On September 1, 1884, he accepted his present position. He is a sturdy Democrat and is a power in the seventh ward.
JAMES O'BRIEN. -
County Agent O'Brien, was generally considered one of the very best men for the arduous position he holds. The
270
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
requirements of the office are peculiar ; while a man must by nature sympathize with people in distress the quality of discernment is imperatively necessary to a proper admin- istration. Many impostors call upon the County Agent. Mr. O'Brien was born in the county of Wexford, Ireland, July 25, 1842. Coming to Chicago, he first coupled cars and was soon appointed yard-master for the Chicago, Bur- lington & Quincy Railroad Company. Thereafter he entered the retail liquor business, but retired from the traffic some time ago. He served three terms in the City Council.
NICHOLAS ECKHARDT.
The Assistant County Agent was born in Germany in 1832, and at the age of seventeen came to Chicago. He adopted the carpenter trade at once and also connected himself with the Fire Department. He was a pipeman on the " Queen," and afterward on the " Brown."
Mr. Eckhardt is one of our most prominent German Americans, and is gifted with a happy disposition. He represented the fifteenth ward in the City Council, having been elected in 1872 on an independent ticket.
CONRAD FOLZ ..
Conrad Folz, the veteran jailor of Cook county, was born in Bavaria in 1827, and when twenty-two arrived in New York. As early as 1851, after a look around the country, he came to Chicago in the "Wisconsin." He took contracts for streets in Holstein, and at once accumu- lated wealth and prosperity. Under Mayor Dyer he was placed in charge of the fire-alarm bell, and kept it up until 1861, when he resigned because of reduction of salaries under Mayor Wentworth. When A. C. Hesing was ap- pointed Sheriff he became jailor. He has served fourteen years under eight Sheriffs, and is now serving under the ninth. Under the firm name of Driesel & Folz, Mr. Folz
271
THE COUNTY BOARD.
is engaged in the manufacture of cans for dried fruit at Nos. 413 and 415 Larrabee street.
T. J. BLUTHARDT.
Theodore J. Bluthardt, whose name is a household word among the German people, is County Physician. The Doctor was born in Neuenburg, Prussia, in 1837. At the age of twelve, emerging from the public school, he entered the gymnasium in Konitz, where he ended his studies at the age of eighteen. He at once came to the United States; in 1858 commencing the study of medicine with Dr. Max. Meyers in Chicago. He applied himself so earnestly that in March, 1861, he graduated distinguish- edly in the Lind University, now the Chicago National College. He proceeded to Boston to complete his scholas- tic career, but the war of the rebellion arising, he could not resist the impulse of taking an active part in the salva- tion of his adopted country. He accordingly entered the army as assistant surgeon of the First Illinois Cavalry, and was in active service at once. At the battle of Lexington he was wounded in the abdomen and taken prisoner with Mulligan. Released, he was sent on hospital duty to the Fifth Street Hospital in St. Louis, in charge of Surgeon John T. Hodgem, the eminent practitioner yet located there. On April 1, 1862, by order of General Halleck, he was promoted to the surgeonship of the Twenty-Third Missouri Infantry Volunteers for his services at Lexington. As such he served at Shiloh, and generally accompanied the Army of the Cumberland until forced to resign during the Atlanta campaign by reason of his wound, which dis- qualified him from riding horseback. He was then under a special recommendation of General Rosecrans, appointed by Governor Yates, Surgeon of the 144th Illinois Infantry, serving from 1864 to 1865, also as post surgeon at Alton, Illinois. In 1865 he resumed the practice of medicine in
272
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
Chicago. In December, 1866, he was appointed County Physician. In 1869 he was elected to the County Board, of which he was made Chairman in a short time. During his term he was a member of the Board of Education. In 1870 he was elected Town Supervisor of the West Town of Chicago. In 1872 Mayor Medill appointed him a mem- ber of the City Board of Education, which position he held up to 1876. In December, 1879, he was elected to his present office. Dr. Bluthardt has been many times President of the Germania Mænnerchor, and he was Vice- President of the Board of Directors of the North American Sangerbund at their twenty-second festival.
-
FEDERAL OFFICERS.
RANSOM W. DUNHAM.
The Congressman from the first congressional district is Ransom W. Dunham. The gentleman was born in Savoy, Mass., March 21, 1838. He received most of his education in the common schools and closed his studies at the High School at Springfield, Mass. He entered the office of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany in 1855, and remained there until April 1, 1857, when he removed to Chicago and engaged in the grain and provision business. He was President of the Board of Trade of Chicago in 1882, was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress as a Republican, receiving 11,571 votes against 10,534 for John W. Doane, Democrat, and 644 votes for A. J. Grover, Greenbacker, and was reelected.
FRANK LAWLER.
The Congressman from the second district, and the suc- cessor of the brilliant Finerty was born in Rochester, N. Y., June 25, 1842. At the age of fourteen he was car- rying newspapers for John R. Walsh, President of the Western News Company; became a newsboy on the rail- road and then drifted into the ship-caulking business. He was soon President of the Protective Association of his trade and was reelected; when the eight hour question arose he became general agent of the Workingman's Advo- cate, and was at once recognized as the champion of the work- ing classes. Not long afterward he was appointed a letter- carrier by General McArthur, was transferred to the regis- try department, and resigned when he became Alderman
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.