Cable Court, a One Block Private Street, a Turnaround for Cablecars, in Chicago.

The Hyde Park turnaround, which ran on a separate electric cable, was at Cable Court (East 56th Street and South Lake Park Avenue, [1500W] was named in honor of Ramson R. Cable, President of the Rock Island Rail Road in 1857.

The private street, Cable Court (5622S 1500W) is pictured here from Lake Park Avenue looking east. Circa 1950

Cable Court ran between 56th and 57th Streets. When the cable car system was abandoned the street was used for a turnaround for electric trolly buses which did not use the streetcar tracks. 

During an Urban Renewal project shortly after this photo was taken the street was reclaimed for buildings.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Assassination of Abe Lincoln's Dog, Fido.

Fido was a mixed breed dog with floppy ears and a yellowish coat. When fireworks and cannons announced Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the Presidential election of 1860, poor Fido was terrified. The Lincolns were worried that the long train trip to Washington, D.C., in 1861, combined with loud noises, would terrify Fido. 

In 1893 John Eddy Roll copyrighted this picture and turned it into a Carte de Visite (Cabinet Card) that was sold at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago.

A Cabinet Card that was sold at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

John and Frank Roll, two neighborhood boys, promised to take good care of Fido. Mr. Lincoln made them promise to let Fido inside the house whenever he scratched at the front door, never scold Fido for entering the house with muddy paws, and feed him if he came to the dinner table. The Lincolns gave the boys the roll pillows from their sofa so Fido would feel at home! Did you know the name “Fido” is Latin? Fido is from “Fidelitas,” which translates as “Faithful.”

A cropped picture of Fido from a Cabinet Card.

Fido outlived President Lincoln but came to a similarly tragic end in 1866. Fido was exceedingly friendly and had a habit of showing his congeniality by depositing his muddy forepaws plump on the breast of anyone who addressed him familiarly. His excessive friendliness eventually caused his death in a very unique way, in that Fido suffered the fate of his master—assassination. 

So there was Charlie Planck, one day in 1866 heavily intoxicated, sitting on a curb, head hanging down. Some accounts say he was whittling a stick. In any event, he was holding a "sharp, long-bladed knife." A friendly yellow dog came up to him, the way it often approached strangers. And it put its muddy forepaws on Charlie Planck. In a blind, drunken rage, Planck drew the knife and plunged it into Fido's chest.

Wounded and whimpering, the most famous dog in Springfield—an in all of America, for that matter—struggled to make his way back home, back to the Roll house, hobbling, hobbling, while blood poured from his chest. But it was too far. He would make it only as far as the Universalist Church on the corner of Fifth and Cook, just three blocks from the Roll mansion.

Fido, mortally wounded, his yellow coat matted with blood, labored to the backside of the church. He curled up tight against the chimney as if to keep warm. And there he died.

Poor old Fido was buried by loving hands in a spot that is kept sacred to this day.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

President Lincoln Reviews Court Martials.

On July 18, 1863, in a six-hour session, President Lincoln reviews several pardon cases; regarding one, he writes Advocate General Joseph Holt regarding the case of soldier Michael Delany sentenced to be executed: “Let him fight instead of being shot.”

“I am in a state of entire collapse after yesterday’s work,” Presidential aide John Hay writes the next day. “I ran the Tycoon through One hundred Court martials! A steady sitting of six hours!” Hay writes in his diary: “Today we spent six-hours deciding on Court Martials, the President, Judge Joseph Holt, and I was amused at the eagerness with which the President caught at any fact which would justify him in saving the life of a condemned soldier. He was only merciless in cases where meanness or cruelty was shown.”

Lincoln was especially averse to punishing with death cases of cowardice. Lincoln said, "it would frighten the poor devils too terribly, to shoot them."

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.