Monday, November 28, 2016

Artist's sketch of the "Ride of the Century" for the 1934 Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago.

If you notice the bottom right, it says "Beach Midway... 1934". The Sky Ride was built in 1933, and it wasn't on the Midway Plaisance. The Midway was on the mainland south of it in 1933. 
The 1934 Beach Midway was just south of Adler Planetarium and replaced the Jantzen (a swimsuit company) bathing beach that was there in 1933. 

The steel coaster "Ride of the Century" was never built.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream (1850-1892); Serial Killer.

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, also known as the Lambeth Poisoner, was a doctor secretly specializing in abortions. He was born in Scotland, educated in London, active in Canada, and later in Chicago, Illinois. 

Cream established a medical practice not far from the red-light district in Chicago, offering illegal abortions to prostitutes. He was investigated in August 1880 after the death of Mary Anne Faulkner, a woman on whom he had allegedly operated, but he escaped prosecution due to lack of evidence. 

In December 1880, another patient, Miss Stack, died after treatment by Cream, and he subsequently attempted to blackmail a pharmacist who had made up the prescription.


On 14 July 1881, Daniel Stott died of strychnine poisoning at his home in Boone County, Illinois, after Cream supplied him with an alleged remedy for epilepsy. The death was attributed to natural causes, but Cream wrote to the coroner, blaming the pharmacist for the death after again attempting blackmail. 

Cream was arrested, along with Mrs. Julia A. (Abbey) Stott, who had become Cream's mistress and procured poison from Cream to do away with her husband. She turned state's evidence to avoid jail, laying the blame on Cream, which left Cream to face a murder conviction on his own. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Joliet Prison. One night unknown persons erected a tombstone at Mr. Stott's grave, which read, "Daniel Stott Died June 12, 1881, aged 61 years, poisoned by his wife and Dr. Cream."
Cream was released on July 31, 1891, when Governor Joseph W. Fifer commuted his sentence after Cream's brother pleaded for leniency, allegedly also bribing the authorities. Moving to London, he resumed killing (mostly prostitutes) and was soon arrested. He was hanged on November 15, 1892. 

According to the hangman, his last words were reported as being "I am Jack the Ripper." Records show Cream was in prison during the last three Ripper murders in 1888.
Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

"My Uncle Al Capone played Santa Claus." A True Story.

1930 was a terrible year for most of us. The Depression had set in deep. My old man and many other heads of families were laid off without an hour's notice. Small businesses closed down, hundreds of them. Families doubled up to save rent. 
Al Capone as Santa Claus.
Sent to me by 
Deirdre Marie Capone, Al Capone's Grandneice.
In Burnham (a village in Cook County), there were exactly three people outside of city hall with steady jobs - the mailman, the milkman, and a schoolteacher, and the schoolteacher only got paid every three or four months. Mom got work as a scrub-woman at the school. And now, when Al and the boys came around for volleyball, he'd slip her $10 and apologize for dirtying up the floor she'd just been washing. I hung on to my shoeshine stand for dear life.

The breadlines. The soup kitchens. Al ran his own 
soup kitchen in Chicago. Beggars coming around to your back door for a crust of bread. Food was cheap enough, but nobody had money to buy it. The corner drugstores sold cigarettes two for a penny. Who could afford a full pack at 15¢ for 20 cigarettes? There was always a long line in front of the roll-your-own cigarette machine. If you rolled them thin enough, you could get 50 cigarettes out of a 10¢ package of loose tobacco. We practically lived on the three-day-old bread Dad brought home from a bakery. A full gunnysack (burlap sack) cost 25¢, and we kids would rummage through it, hoping to find a sweet roll or two.

Christmas 1930. I'll remember it as long as I live. None of the kids expected any presents. But maybe a chicken dinner. We still had a few hens scratching around the backyard. Then, the miracle happened. We were gathered around the Christmas tree - such as it was, just bare branches - when a loud knocking on the front door came. Dad opens up, and it's Santa Claus, whiskers, a red suit, and a big bag on his back. I yelled, "Al!" and threw myself at him. He clapped his hands, and six of his boys came in, each lugging a box of groceries that could have fed the whole neighborhood. They helped Mom stack them neatly on the pantry shelves. There were expensive gifts for everybody - a watch set in diamonds for Babe and slip-over sweaters for my brothers Edward, Sam, Don, and me. Don got a wind-up train and a whole set of tracks. My sister Kathy got the most beautiful doll I have ever seen, with an entire wardrobe. And a large turkey with all the fixings. I never tasted anything so good in my life.

Deirdre Marie Capone, Al Capone's Grandneice.
Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Illinois Boys Reformatory School in Pontiac, Illinois.

After the end of the Civil War, social reformers began to object to the practice of placing convicted juvenile offenders in the same penal institutions as adult criminals.  They based their objections on the belief that young men would be further corrupted by being in close proximity to dangerous felons, and if sent to an adult facility, the young men might be victimized inside of prison.
Boys Reform School, Pontiac, Illinois in 1893.
In Illinois, this progressive spirit led the state's legislators to decide that the time had come to modernize its dealings with juvenile criminals.  When the State of Illinois announced its decision to build a Reform School for young lawbreakers, the city and township of Pontiac were very interested in securing its location within the city limits. The Illinois legislature had passed an act in 1869 allowing certain towns possessing specified natural and already acquired advantages to compete for the establishment of the school in their community.

After due examinations by the commission appointed for that purpose and hearing the propositions from each locality, they settled on Pontiac.  The Board of Trustees sought to provide "a place for the thorough reformation and elevation of the erring young people of our State."  The first buildings at the Reform School were completed, water and heating systems installed, and the grounds made ready.  In June of 1871, the first six young men, convicted of stealing horses in Peoria, arrived at the Illinois Boys Reformatory School in Pontiac.  Over the years, they would be followed by thousands. 
Boys Reformatory, 1895
In just a few months, the pattern of life at Illinois Boys Reformatory School was set. There was belonging to the institution in land, 280 acres, which was worked by the inmates. The buildings which made up the institution were, in 1872, valued at $110,000. Over 6,000 shade and fruit trees were planted, and a large field for sports, including an excellent baseball diamond was created. There were dormitories, a greenhouse, factory and school classroom areas, cooking and dining facilities, a farm, and other spaces.  Five teachers were employed to provide instruction, also a farmer, engineer, baker, overseers of shops and others added to the number of eighteen employees.

The school could house up to 400 boys ages 8 to 16, but it took several years to approach capacity. Each of the young men assigned to the Pontiac Reformatory was expected not only to attend conventional educational classes, but also to learn a trade that would help them to become law-abiding and productive citizens in the future. The boys attended school for 4 hours each day (except Sunday). All of the common branches of knowledge were taught: reading, arithmetic, writing, history, geography, and other subjects. Several of the boys requested and received special lessons in Latin and Greek. The course of instruction was very thorough and competent teachers were employed. 

The prison began with a library of 1,500 volumes (which expanded to over 12,000 volumes by 1907), and reading evolved into one of the favorite ways to use any free time the boys had. Over twenty magazines and papers were subscribed to for the inmates, and all were reported to have been “read eagerly.” A large number of the boys committed to the Pontiac Reformatory could neither read nor write on entering the institution. However, when discharged, many of them were described by their teachers to be “fair scholars.”

Among the career choices the boys had to choose from were: printing and book-binding, black-smithing, mechanical and electrical engineering, various branches of wood working, brick-laying and masonry of different kinds, painting and glazing, tin-smithing, plumbing, tailoring, steam fitting, barbering, and shoe making.
Young Men Learn Skills in Barber School.
In the shoe factory, between seventy and eighty boys were employed. Nearly 300 pairs of shoes or boots were produced each day. The shoes made were then sold by a footwear dealer. The shoe firm of Tead & Son paid the Reformatory School eighteen cents per day (made up of six hours of work) for each young worker. Later, the task of marketing and selling the shoes made by the boys was taken over by the Pontiac shoe firm of Lyon and Legg. They were, in turn, replaced by the Chicago-based, R.P. Smith Sons & Company.

In 1893 the institution was changed from a boys’ reformatory into a more conventional penal institution with the acceptance of inmates as old as 21, and later 30 years of age.  The name was altered to reflect this evolution, the Illinois State Reformatory.  Two new cell houses were constructed, adding nearly 800 beds to the facility.  By the turn of the century, more than 1200 prisoners could be housed there.  Rehabilitation was still favored, and training options continued to be offered.  After 1904, many of the State's youngest juvenile offenders were no longer sent to Pontiac, but were placed in a new facility built in St. Charles, The Illinois School for Boys.
In the 1907 report from the Reformatory’s Board of Managers, the state of the institution is fully discussed.  According to the report, there were just over 1,100 inmates at the facility. Of that group 894 were white and 218 men of color.  There were just 52 boys between the ages of 8 and 12 years, 163 young men between 13 and 16 years of age, 625 adult men who were considered redeemable, and 272 men viewed as habitual criminals and not likely to change.  

In 1931 another cell house was added to the institution.  All maximum age restrictions were removed in 1933 and the facility was renamed the Illinois State Penitentiary. Prison population soon topped 2,500.  As the number of inmates grew, the educational opportunities began to shrink.  The manual training programs that were created to reform the youngest offenders were phased out.  Educational classes continued, and there were opportunities for some prisoners to work inside the walls. 

Starting in the late 1970s the institution was promoted to Maximum Security and prisoners were on 24-hour lock down, only being allowed out of their cell for weekly exercise in the yard.  

While the history of the Pontiac correctional facility has been generally good, there have been a few instances of escape, some periods marked by prison violence, and only rare situations that devolved into prisoner riots. The state's worst prison riot and fire occurred at Pontiac on July 22, 1978. The result of the incident were scores of prisoners and guards injured, buildings damaged or destroyed to the amount of more than four million dollars, and three Correctional Officers killed.  

The Pontiac Correctional Center is now classed as a Maximum Security prison, but does have a separate Medium Security facility on the grounds. The Center was threatened with shut down in 2008, but that threat has been reduced, and the institution continues in operation.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of "Newspaper Alley," Chicago, Illinois. 1833-1918

Newspaper Alley is one of the landmarks of the city. Originally it was named Calhoun Place [1]. It was named for John Calhoun, Chicago's pioneer printer and newspaper publisher. Mr. Calhoun arrived in Chicago in 1833 from Watertown, New York. 

On Thanksgiving Day of 1833, he founded the "Chicago Democrat" (1833-1861) newspaper. He lived on State Street at the corner of the alley between Madison and Washington Streets and usually walked through the alley for a shortcut to his print shop.
The alley between Madison and Washington Streets was known as "Newspaper Alley," Chicago.
In later years, the street became known as "Gamblers Alley" on account of the large number of gambling houses that infested it.

The Chicago Times (1854 to 1895) was the first newspaper user of the alley. It was started on the site of the old University Club. Newsboys entered the basement through a stairway off the alley, and there received their papers to sell.
Newspaper Alley... the first Tribune building would be erected here in 1869.
Other newspaper users of the alley were the Old Herald, the Globe, the Dispatch, the Mail, the Journal, the Morning News, the Chicago Record, the Chronicle, The Times-Herald, the Record-Herald, the Evening Post, and lastly, the Herald. 

Other famous users of the alley, all of whom have gone out of business or moved away, were the Chicago Board of Trade [2]; the Chicago Open Board of Trade [3]; George Clark's concert hall; "Appetite Bill's" saloon in which Jere Dunn killed Jimmy Elliott [4]; the Round Bar in which "Doc" Haggerty was killed by "Bad Jimmy" Connorton [5]; the Whitechapel Club [6]; William "Silver Bill" Riley's Poolroom; John Condon's, Pat Sheedy's, and "Si" James' gambling houses; Bill Shakel's "clock."; "Bathhouse John's silver dollar saloon (1895-1914) [7]; Billy Boyle's Chop House [8]; Harry Varnell's Big Faro Game [9]; and Jim McGarry's Place, where Finley Peter Dunne got the inspiration for his "Mr. Dooley. [10]"

On May 7, 1918, the passing of the Chicago Herald as an individual publication and the subsequent address 30 Newspaper Alley was the occasion for a tribute to the few hundred yards of famous brick and stone. 

NEWSPAPER ALLEY GOES DARK FOR THE FIRST TIME.
Lights went out for the first time in a half-century on May 10, 1918, in the famous old "Newspaper Alley." Its passing came with the sale of the Herald and the ending of its nightlife. Between midnight and 5 o'clock am, the alley in former days was full of bustle and activity. Wagons and auto trucks were coming and going. At times the alley was choked with traffic.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.



[1] Calhoun Place (20 North - 1 to 400 West) was named after John C. Calhoun, editor of the Chicago Democrat, the city’s first paper. He died in Chicago on February 20, 1859, at the age of 51 years old. Nicknames but nothing official: Newspaper Alley, Whitechapel Alley, Gamblers Alley, and Newsboy’s Alley.

[2] The completion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal in the fall of 1847 and its opening in the spring of 1848 inspired the formation of the Chicago Board of Trade, the city's first voluntary association of businessmen. The Board of Trade was reorganized in 1850 to conform to a law 
governing boards of trade passed by the Illinois General Assembly in 1849. 

The city's merchants adopted their procedures to handle grain in bulk, not in bags, as traditionally had been the case. The first small shipment of grain in bulk occurred in 1839. Chicago's grain traders gained national recognition as a reliable and competitively priced source of grain during the 1850s.

The Board of Trade enhanced its role in the grain trade by implementing regulations for grading grain. The state legislature recognized its regulations by granting it a special charter in 1859. The special charter gave the board the power to impose rules and regulations for handling grain and to arbitrate disputes between commodity merchants.

[3] The Chicago Open Board of Trade was organized in 1880 and has survived as the Mid-America Commodity Exchange and is a subsidiary of the Chicago Board of Trade. A butter and egg exchange that traces its roots to the post–Civil War era was reorganized in 1919 as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. 

[4] How I Killed Three Men, Chicago Daily Tribune, July 1, 1890.

[5] He murdered "Doc" Haggerty, Chicago Tribune, February 17, 1891

[6] The Whitechapel Club was started in 1889 by a small group of newspapermen in Chicago, Illinois. The club was named after the area in London where Jack the Ripper murdered his victims. It only lasted five years, ending in 1894. While the core of the club members were newspapermen, the club members included artists, musicians, physicians and lawyers. Some of the well-known members of the club included Brand Whitlock, George Ade, and Finley Peter Dunne.

Inside, the Whitechapel Club looked more like a trophy room for murderers rather than a clubhouse. Walls were decorated with Indian blankets soaked with blood, nooses, knives that had been used to kill, and pictures of pirates who had been beheaded. Skulls, used to drink red fruit juice, lay everywhere, and a full-size model of their "President," Jack the Ripper, was placed in a corner. Pipes, cigars, and alcohol would also be easily found in any room. 
Meetings at the Whitechapel Club would usually start around midnight. Because Jack the Ripper was never in attendance, the Vice-President would chair meetings. Club meetings were very private, although guests very occasionally were brought. People would tell stories, jokes, poems, or monologues during meetings. Telling insults at whoever rose to speak to the club was customary. Throughout the meetings, members would drink heavily.
 
In later years of the club’s existence, membership became very coveted. In order to become a member, a candidate had to go through an initiation. First, only two members of any profession could belong to the club at any time. The new member, a probationary member, would attend club meetings for one month. At any time during that month, another member could reject him from becoming a member. If the first month was survived a club-wide vote would be made on whether to keep or reject the man. If one vote was a “No” he would not get a membership to the club.

[7] The story of Bathhouse John. Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1953 

[8] Billy Boyle's famous "chophouse in the alley," at 5 Calhoun Place, Chicago, known widely since 1875 among Bohemians of Chicago and those by other cities visiting Chicago, was closed on March 20, 1895, by its creditors. High rent, many "tabs," and a declining business have put an end to the noted "all-night" resort.

[9] Faro, Pharaoh, or Farobank is a late 17th-century French gambling card game. It is descended from basset and belongs to the Lansquenet (card game) and Monte Bank family of games due to the use of a banker and several players. Winning or losing occurs when cards turned up by the banker match those already exposed. It is not a direct relative of poker, but Faro was often just as popular due to its fast action, easy-to-learn rules, and better odds than most games of chance. The game of faro is played with only one deck of cards and admits any number of players. 

[10] Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) was an American humorist and writer from Chicago. In 1898 Dunne published “Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War,” a collection of his nationally syndicated Mr. Dooley sketches. The first Dooley articles appeared when Dunne was a chief editorial writer for the Chicago Post, and for a number of years, he wrote the pieces without a byline or initials. They were paid for at the rate of $10 each above his newspaper pay. 
A contemporary wrote of his Mr. Dooley sketches that "there was no reaching for brilliancy, no attempt at polish. The purpose was simply to amuse. But this very ease and informality of the articles caught the popular fancy. The spontaneity was so genuine; the timeliness was so obvious." In 1898, he wrote a Dooley piece that celebrated the victory of Commodore George Dewey over the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay—and this piece attracted national attention. Within a short time, weekly Dooley essays were syndicated across the country.
In 1899, under the title Mr Dooley in Peace and War, a collection of the pieces was brought out in book form, received rave reviews from the critics, and was on the best-seller list for a year.