USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of representative men of Chicago, Minnesota cities and the World's Columbian exposition : with illustrations on steel. V. 2 > Part 17
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Probably Mr. Spalding's greatest service to the game of base ball was that he rendered it, when, under his personal management and at his own ex- pense, two representative teams of American base ball players (the party comprising in all some thirty people) made a tour around the world, traveling westward from Chicago across the Amer- ican continent to the Sandwich Islands, New Zea- land, Australia, Ceylon, Arabia, Egypt, through continental Europe, England, Scotland and Ire- land and across the Atlantic to America.
The whole trip occupied a period of six months, being made notable by a greater number of big receptions and banquets, as well as courtesies ad- vanced by a greater number of prominent people than was ever previously enjoyed by any similar party of our countrymen.
Knowing that our national game was more en- joyable when understood, and that it afforded more good qualities to the athlete than any other out-door sport engaged in by the residents of for- eign countries, he formulated the plan, magnificent in its conception and of immense proportions, to introduce base ball abroad.
In pursuance of this plan two teams were organ- ized under the name of the "Chicago, and All- America Base Ball Teams." The first contest be- tween the two occurred at Chicago, October 20, 1888, this being the date of the party's departure upon its memorable tour. The trip marked a prominent era in the history of manly sports, as it served to introduce and establish the game of base ball on five different continents, and in fourteen different countries. Americans from Maine to San Francisco were kept posted upon the progress of the party by the four correspondents who accom- panied the teams, and who represented in the
neighborhood of thirty great American daily papers.
The teams gave several exhibitions en route to California, and on November 19th boarded the steamer Alameda at San Francisco, and started for Australia, stopping at the Sandwich Islands and New Zealand on the way. They gave ex- hibitions in all the large cities of Australia, and these exhibitions were witnessed by thousands of people enthusiastic beyond all anticipations of the party.
Beyond Australia the experience of the party was certainly a most interesting and unique one. The teams played the American game in the pres- ence of the natives of India, and before hundreds of Bedouin Arabs, on the sands of Sahara, beneath the towering figure of the Sphinx and in the shadow of the Pyramids, on ground trodden by Moses, the Pharaohs, Anthony and Cleopatra ; the walls of the old Colisseum at Rome looked down upon the as- sembled Americans in their base-ball uniforms, and thousands of Romans attended the games in the beautiful Plazza de Sienna on the estate of one of the most noted families in Italy, the Prince Borgheze ; at Naples Vesuvius looked down upon the first game played by the party on European soil; in historic Florence the American colony turned out in force to see a similar contest, and thence the party journeyed on to Pisa's leaning tower, and the home of Columbus, to Nice and Monte Carlo, to Paris, and across the channel to Great Britain.
A complete history of this remarkable trip was subsequently compiled and made attractive by some two hundred illustrations, by Mr. Harry C. Palmer, who accompanied the party as correspond- ent of the New York Herald, Boston Herald, Chi- cago Times, and other leading American papers, and it is needless to say that it makes most inter- esting and delightful reading. To Mr. Spalding's excellent management, foresight, wealth and ex- perience the success of the undertaking was mainly due. From beginning to end the trip was one al- most unbroken ovation. Before leaving their own shores, the party was royally entertained at all points which they visited, and their first encounter with a foreign shore was certainly a memorable one. This occurred a week after the party de- parted from San Francisco, when they arrived at Honolulu in the Sandwich Islands, and were ten-
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dered a reception at the royal palace, followed by a banquet given on the grounds of the Queen's palace by the late King Kalaukau, which is said to have eclipsed anything of the kind ever before given on the islands. The leading residents of all the cities of New Zealand, and of Sidney, Mel- bourne, Ballerat and Adelaide vied with each other to do the party honor. The freedom of the theaters at each point was tendered, and the party was banqueted and feted until nature became ex- hausted, and many of the pleasant courtesies ex- tended were declined for no other reason than that the party were simply too much exhausted to accept of them. Some idea of these courtesies may be better understood when it is known that during the party's twenty-four days' stay in Australia they were honored by no less than twenty-eight banquets and public receptions.
King Humbert and the Prince of Naples, the Khedive of Egypt, President Carnot of France ; the Prince of Wales, and the leading athletic or- ganizations, together with the representatives of the nobility of the different countries, were present, in person, to witness the contests of the teams, and to extend the courtesies of their class and countries.
So much for Mr. Spalding's connection with the National Game. He has devoted the best years of his manhood to the task of building the National Game and its organizations up to their present standard. He interested himself in the game because he liked it, and continued its inter- ests incidentally to the building up of the greatest mercantile house in the sporting-goods line in existence to-day.
In 1875, Mr. Spalding was married to Miss Josephine Keith, of Boston. They have one child, a son of fourteen, Keith Spalding.
Personally and physically, Mr. Spalding is a prince ; being a powerfully built man of over six feet, and two hundred pounds in weight. In manner he is cordial and straight-forward, yet courtly. In business argument he is concise, de- termined and unhesitating. He is a true friend, and none is more highly regarded among business men in his community. Of great mental capacity, of remarkable foresight and judgment ; of affable presence and address, and an excellent reader of human character, it is safe to say that had not accident, and his love for out-door sports laid the
lines of his life in their present channels, Mr. Spalding would have been equally as prominent a leader in any other undertaking that he might have identified himself with.
Socially, Mr. Spalding is both widely and favor- ably known. He owns a magnificent residence at Kenwood, one of Chicago's most beautiful and choicest suburbs.
He is a member of a dozen different clubs, in- cluding the Union League, the Washington Park and Kenwood clubs; as well as a director of the Chicago Athletic Association, and a member of the Manhattan Athletic Club, of New York.
In summing up his biography it must be ad- mitted that the story of his life is such as to show what a strong personal character, combined with pluck and business judgment, have accomplished for many of our most prominent citizens.
Mr. A. G. Spalding owes his present high po- sition among Chicago representative men to his own exertions. He began his business career in that city in 1876, and by honorable business deal- ing and close attention to business, has placed the sporting-goods house of A. G. Spalding & Bro., with similar houses in New York and Philadel- phia, and branches throughout the cities of this country, at the head of all business houses of its kind in the world.
It is undoubtedly a fact that in taking the American Base-Ball Teams around the world, Mr. Spalding did vastly more to familiarize the resi- dents of foreign countries with the name of Chicago, the city of the great World's Fair, than did ever any individual or corporation before him.
In later years Mr. Spalding has not confined his business to his mercantile interests, but has entered very largely into real estate speculations, and is admittedly a shrewd and successful dealer in realty.
At this writing he is a man in the prime of life, who may look back upon a career of which any man might justly feel proud. Within the last year or two it has been his policy to gradually retire from active participation in both commer- cial pursuits and the affairs of the game. Pos- sessed of an ample fortune, accumulated by close and self-sacrificing attention to business duties throughout a period of more than twenty years, it is his purpose now to let others take the reins, while he gratifies a long cherished desire to see
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the world, a mere glimpse of which was afforded him on the memorable trip of 1888-1889, and en- joy the rest and recreation which his years of active business life have so fully entitled him to.
While he remains in Chicago, Chicago may well feel proud of his citizenship, and should he leave to take up his residence in another city, Chicago's loss would be that city's gain.
S. T. GUNDERSON,
CHICAGO, ILL.
THE subject of this sketch is prominent
among those men who composed the Chi- cago World's Fair Delegation which so success- fully overcame all obstacles and enabled this city to hold, within its confines, the greatest World's Exhibition ever known to the world. He was born in Norway in 1839, and lived there until his ninth year, at which age he accompanied his parents to the United States and located in Chi- cago, which at that time (1848) was a city of twenty thousand inhabitants. The trip to Chi- cago from New York at that early date was made entirely by water : on the Hudson to Albany, by Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, and by the lakes from Buffalo to Chicago. From 1848 to 1854 he attended the public schools of Chicago.
As his parents were poor, he left school and learned the carpenter and lathing trade, and con- tinued working in that business until he was eigh- teen years old, when he engaged in the business for himself. During the time he was engaged in carpentering, the financial panic of 1857 caused all improvements in Chicago to be abandoned, consequently he determined to better his condi- tion, if possible, and for that purpose visited Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1858, but he soon re- turned to Chicago. In 1862 he purchased a lake vessel, the " Hercules," and within the next five years purchased other vessels until he had six, most of them grain carriers. Besides lake trans- portation he was engaged in the lumber trade, and in 1871 became largely interested in sawmills. In 1875 his mill plant was destroyed by fire, and having invested all he had in it, with small insur- ance, he was left financially ruined. But he did not lose heart, but went to work with a will and manly courage and soon retrieved his losses. At the present time (1892) he has large mill interests, with office at 503 Chamber of Commerce Building, and is head of the firm of S. T. Gunderson & Son,
manufacturers of moldings, casings, etc., and is also associated in the firm of John A. Gauger & Co., who ship large quantities of doors and sash of their own manufacture throughout the United States.
Mr. Gunderson has an honorable Masonic rec- ord. He was made a Mason in 1868, in Kilwin- ning Lodge, No. 31! A. F. and A. M .; he has ad- vanced through the various degrees, and is now a member of Chicago Commandery, K. T., No. 19, and Oriental Consistory, S. P. R. S., of the thirty- second degree, and the Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He was one of the founders of the Illinois Masonic Orphans' Home, of which institution he was trustee for three years.
He has always been affiliated with the Republi- can party. In 1874 he was chosen a member of the Common Council of Chicago from the Eleventh Ward, now known as the Seventeenth Ward. He was appointed a member of the Board of. Educa- tion by Mayor Washburne in June, 1891.
In religion he is a follower of the great reformer Martin Luther, and is an active member of the Lutheran Church. He is a large stockholder in and president of the Mt. Olive Cemetery Associa- tion. With his characteristic shrewdness and foresight, he invested in real estate some years ago, and the natural increase in the value of Chi- cago realty largely increased his already large fortune. He is the principal owner of Gunder- son & Gauger's addition to Chicago, and Gun- derson & Gauger's addition to Oak Park, besides holding much improved property in various parts of Chicago.
In 1863 he married Miss Emily C. Olson. Mr. and Mrs. Gunderson are blessed with two sons and a daughter; the eldest son, George O., is a business partner of his father, and has always been considered a young man of sound business principles ; Seward M., the younger son, is also
yours Truly
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connected with his father's business, and displays those qualities that impress one with the fact that he will worthily succeed his father in mercantile life. Miss Ida Mabel Gunderson, their only daughter, is a very highly educated and accom- plished young lady, a musician of more than usual brilliancy. She is a graduate of the Chi- cago Musical College, from which she received a teacher's diploma, and also a diploma from the graduating class. Miss Gunderson still continues the study of music, in which she takes a great deal of pride. She is of an artistic nature, and besides her interest in musical matters, she finds opportunity to devote a portion of her time to painting, both in water colors and in oil. She has not neglected the other accomplishments for those of music and painting, but is highly educated in all branches. She is a graduate of the Misses Grant Seminary. George Gunderson was married to Miss Julia A. Jacobs, daughter of O. B. Jacobs, the well-known lumber dealer, June 15, 1887.
Mr. Gunderson has always taken a deep inter- est in travel, and has visited all places of interest in England, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and France. Returning from Europe via New Orleans, he visited the Republic of Mexico. Hc has journeyed over the United States from occan to ocean more than once, and his numerous visits to different parts of the world have filled his mind with many broad ideas.
Mr. Gunderson has always been known as a public-spirited citizen of Chicago ; he has always taken a deep interest in public affairs, and any enterprise that tends to the welfare of the city of Chicago always finds in him a warm sympathizer and firm friend.
Such is his biography. He certainly deserves credit for what he has accomplished. He began life at the very bottom, and has surmounted ob- stacles that would appal most men. He has risen from poverty and obscurity to affluence and posi- tion entirely through his own exertions.
JOHN W. BYAM,
CHICAGO, ILL.
J OHN W. BYAM has few peers at the Chicago
bar ; he never rests with the comprehension of a mere abstract proposition, but sceks the origin, history and philosophy of the law. The natural bent of his mind is highly philosophical and reflective. His keen and ready perception, his trained habits of analysis and logical synthesis, enable him to eliminate principles from sophistry, and the real from the hypothetical. He is very thorough in the preparation of his cases for trial, and the authorities he cites are usually decisions of the courts of high repute and directly in point. He has a melodious and harmonious compass of voice, a distinctness of elocution, an ardent animation of manner that enchains the attention of his hearer, and his logic is irresistible. He is a good companion, and a gentleman of great liber- ality and high social standing.
Our subject was born September 10, 1837, in the village of Warsaw, Wyoming county, New York. His father was Israel Byam, and his mother's maiden name was Eudoxia Smith. He received his education at Genesee College, Lima,
New York, and studied law with Mr. George Davis, then of Gencseo, Livingston county, New York.
He then entered the Albany Law School, and was graduated therefrom in 1865, and was ad- mitted to the New York bar the same year. Hc began practice at Livonia, New York, and soon entered into an extensive business, which ex- tended into the adjoining county of Ontario. Even then he enjoyed a wide reputation as a very learned and eloquent lawyer.
Mr. Byam always avoided the use of his name for political honors, but, yielding to the earnest solicitations of friends, he served two terms as school commissioner of Livingston county, New York. His practice became so large and his labors so ardurous, that it became a matter of serious consideration with him, how he could re- duce his labors without diminishing his income, but this was accomplished by removing to Chi- cago in May, 1882, where a large number of his friends then resided.
Mr. Byam's efforts in behalf of Frank Mul-
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kowski, who was indicted in the fall of 1885 for the murder . of Mrs. Agnes Kledzick, at 186 Southport avenue, Chicago, August 22, of that year, gained for him great notoriety, and widely spread his fame as an advocate and astute lawyer. The Chicago Herald, November 13, 1885, has the following just tribute to Mr. Byam : " Mulkowski, now on trial for his life before a jury in Judge Shephard's court, was entitled, of course, to counsel. Unable to employ a lawyer, the court, as is the custom, assigned him counsel. Ordinarily, the selection in such cases is made from members of the bar who are not burdened with active engagements, and who think that re- putation, with possibility of clientage springing therefrom, will be sufficient compensation for the time expended by them in conduct of the case. Under such circumstances, the defense may be carnest, but it is not likely to be skillful, and in as large a bar as that in Cook county, and in courts where the number and variety of causes are so great, that public attention is only momentarily attached to even an important case, the calcula- tion of the neophytes of the law is disappointed. The case, and their share in it, are quickly for- gotten. Mulkowski is, however, extraordinarily favored. If he escapes what seems to most persons 'a merited fate, he will owe his deliverance to the skill, industry and acumen of a lawyer, to whom he has not paid a cent, and whom, it is improbable, he will ever be able to compensate, even to the extent of a dollar. Mr. Byam, generally unknown to the bar, has been a revelation to the older and better known lawyers. The story of the calm, dignified, patient and acute manner in which he has been managing a desperate defense, has spread among the lawyers, many of whom have visited the bar of the court to see for them- selves the manner and the methods of this stranger. Whatever the outcome of the case Mr. Byam's reputation for professional capacity, and that devotion to a client's cause, which is the greatest recommendation to an accused or a litigant, is assured. Mulkowski may be hanged, but Byam is made."
The News of November 14, 1885, said of Mr. Byam's argument in this case : "He spoke three hours and a half, and when he sat down the gen- eral opinion was, that everything that could be said for Mulkowski had been said. After hav-
ing woven into his argument every fact in the history of the prisoner and circumstances in con- nection with the crime, which might contribute to the advantage of the defendant, he denounced in scathing terms the 'sweat-box' methods em- ployed by the police to extort testimony or con- fessions from culprits ; he declared it to be a relic of barbarism, which should not be tolerated in this enlightened age. He closed with an effective peroration, taking ground against the penalty of death by hanging. Twice during the speech Mul- kowski bent down his head on the table before him, and wept bitterly. The State's attorney congratulated Mr. Byam on his address."
The Mail says of the effort of Mr. Byam : "A more cloquent and ingenious plea had, probably, never been made inside the Cook county court- house, which is a compliment almost impossible to over-rate. It takes a mighty smart man to make a sensation in Chicago, and that is just what John W. Byam seems to have done."
In the summer of 1888, in the celebrated jury- bribing case, when Sumner C. Welsh, who had charge of the accident department of the Chicago City Railway Company, was brought before Judge Hawes for contempt, for attempting to bribe Juror Rosenthal, there was a great array of talent on both sides of the case ; six weeks were spent in taking the evidence, and arguments were made by the following gentlemen : C. M. Hardy led off for the defense, and was followed by John Lyle King and Hiram S. Parkhurst for the pro- secution ; then came William J. Hynes, in one of his eloquent outbursts for the defense ; Mr. Byam followed Mr. Hynes in a masterly effort, occupy- ing three days and tivo hours in summing up the evidence and logically arguing each 'point. Of his eloquent peroration the Inter Ocean says : "Mr. Byam, after a gigantic effort, has concluded his ad- dress, closing up about 4 o'clock yesterday after- noon with a very neatly worded peroration as fol- lows: 'A crisis has come upon the courts of this city and the people demand that it shall be resolutely met. The channels of justice shall no longer be befouled, but a strong hand shall cleanse them. The jury-briber and the jury-fixer must go. The jury is from the people and for the people, and they feel it is their own special tribunal. To de- file it is a crime greater than that of high treason. A more dangerous and hideous crime it is not
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easy to imagine. Is it to be extirpated, or is the evil to take deeper root, and spread its branches out until they overshadow and poison every de- partment of judicial proceedings in this vast city ? The evil is entrenched behind a mountain of gold and is robed in the garments of social distinction. Shall wealth, shall position, shall character, shall corporate audacity, shield and exculpate the guilty ? Is the law a respecter of persons? The occasion demands unflinching courage. If the court is satisfied that Sumner C. Welsh did ap- proach Juror Rosenthal, as is alleged, we trust your honor will visit upon him a punishment that shall be commensurate with his crime ; and if your honor is satisfied, from the evidence, that there is probable cause to believe that a conspiracy exists on the part of parties indicated, by a motion heretofore filed, to do acts injurious to the administration of public justice, we believe
your honor will, without hesitation, hold such parties to bail to appear before the next grand jury to answer for their crime. In presenting this case to the court, I have not for a moment lost sight of its importance or the significance, and dignity of the occasion. I have appreciated the responsibility that rests upon you and on myself. I have endeavored, in the spirit of candor and truthfulness, without exaggeration or coloring, to point ont the naked facts-hideous as they are- that are involved in these proceedings, for the simple purpose of assisting the court, if pos- sible, in reaching such conclusions as the facts both warrant and demand.'"
Mr. Byam was married November 26, 1862, to Miss Maria Hersford, a highly educated and ac- complished lady, the daughter of Hon. Jedediah Hersford, formerly member of Congress from New York.
HENRY V. BEMIS,
CHICAGO, ILL
TT has been often remarked by world-wide trav- elers that no city on carth contains so many large, elegant and commodious hotels as the city of Chicago, and among the best and foremost stands the Richelieu. Its noted and popular proprietor, Henry V. Bemis, is a native of the Empire State and was born October 11, 1832, at Center Almond, in Alleghany county.
His father was a Baptist clergyman of en- larged views and comprehensive mind, and was widely known as an eloquent and popular and learned preacher, and a Christian gentleman. He died when Henry V. was twenty-two years old.
His mother was, before marriage, Miss Mary Shepherd. Our subject had three brothers, Edwin Coleman, George A. and Dwight L., the last named being deceased.
At the age of eighteen our subject went to Cleveland, Ohio, and engaged in book-keeping and was known at that early age as an expert accountant, and afterwards engaged in the com- mission business. In 1859, he removed to Chi- cago and engaged in the brewing business in com- pany with Mr. C. E. Downer ; their business was very prosperous and was incorporated under the
laws of Illinois in 1865, under the name of the Downer and Bemis Brewing Company, and was known by this name many years. Mr. Bemis continued to be the largest owner in the great establishment on Park avenue until April 14, 1884, when he sold out his entire interest in this property to John H. McAvoy and others, thus severing his connection with the brewing busi- ness. In 1881 he purchased an interest in the business of John Carden and Son, and was made president of the Bemis and Carden Malting Com- pany ; later he bought the entire plant; after selling a portion to his brother, D. L. Bemis and Charles Curtis, the present company known as the Bemis and Curtis Malting 'Company was in- corporated.
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