by Mary Burns
Yet, didn’t I miss the magic company, and in those hours I sat with my own child at my breast, a proper womanly breast, didn’t I daydream of getting back into that business teased your powers of belief, though in my case even Mr. R couldn’t bring back what’d been there and then gone again so quickly. Couldn’t make what appeared disappear, or the other way round, no matter how elegantly he might flourish his cape and say “Presto!”
I was already practiced in the art of illusion, as hadn’t himself been so? The magician of magicians with his power to inspire belief. You can call it lying or dress it up and call it illusion. Irene’s never heard of the fellow. She knows her late father, and the children their late grandfather, by the name of Patrick Dwyer, the poor fellow died of influenza, and I made Margaret promise to never say different. Of course the timing’s off, but with time itself different than we thought, what does it matter? It may turn out that it’s not only time we invent, but people, things. It may be that life itself is an illusion, we almost dead ones at the threshold between two rooms is all, two rooms different only on account of the angle of light pouring in. I will know before long, sure.
Whenever the Bluebird bus took me and Irene to visit Margaret and Harry and their two boys, her cousins, in the city, I always looked in the directory, under M. There were many D. Malloys, and a wild thought occurred to me sometimes. Maybe I’d acted too quick. Accustomed to disappointment, hadn’t I somehow looked for every opportunity to find it? Could a been another D. Malloy, after all, and it just the blazing bandage around his head confused me. The woman at the bed’d never said his name—Desmond—the same I’d whispered so breathless the Sunday the riot broke out. Desmond. The first and last time I was in a position to breathe like that at all into a man’s ear. Desmond.
Afterword
While examining old newspapers at the Newberry Library in Chicago a number of years ago, I came across a time period—July 21 to July 30, 1919—that astounded me for the size of the headlines on consecutive days. During those ten days in Chicago, a blimp crash in the Loop, a major race riot, a streetcar strike, and a child abduction all competed for top story status. These big events played out against a post-WWI backdrop that mixed the return of soldiers and sailors with the Great Migration of African Americans from southern to northern states, and the urban influx of self-supporting single women living apart from their families.
The Nineteenth Amendment—which gave women the right to vote—had been passed by Congress the previous month, and the Wartime Prohibition Act—which banned the sale of beverages containing more than 2.75% alcohol—took effect on June 30th. Class warfare became deadly when so-called “Bolsheviks” sent bombs to prominent politicians and those investigating “the Red Scare.” To round out an incredible summer, the Black Sox Scandal erupted during the World Series—with Chicago White Sox players accused of intentionally losing games.
1919 was also the year when, during a total solar eclipse in May, Sir Arthur Eddington put Einstein’s theory of relativity to the test and altered our concept of time.
Just as immigration continues to create tension in Europe and the United States today, the Great Migration of African Americans from the south to the north caused tensions that erupted in what was called the “Red Summer of 1919”—due to the blood spilled on the streets of twenty-five American cities. Chicago’s African American population had increased from 44,000 in 1909, to almost 110,000 in 1919, an increase of about 148 percent. Competition for jobs in the city’s stockyards was particularly intense, pitting African Americans against whites (both native born and immigrants). Tensions ran highest on the city’s South Side, where the majority of black residents lived, many of them in old, dilapidated housing and without adequate services.
On July 27, 1919, an African American teenager drowned in Lake Michigan after he violated the unofficial segregation of Chicago’s beaches, and was stoned by a group of white youths. His death, and the police’s refusal to arrest the white man whom eyewitnesses identified as causing it, instigated a week of rioting between gangs of black and white Chicagoans. When the riots finally ended on August 3rd, fifteen whites and twenty-three blacks had been killed, and more than five hundred people injured. One thousand African American families lost their homes when they were torched by rioters. It was the worst of the riots in the United States that year, and the worst in Chicago’s history. Much of the mayhem was blamed on white “athletic” clubs, such as the Hamburg Club, of which Chicago’s future mayor, Richard J. Daley—then seventeen years old—was a member.
The final death toll for the crash of the Wingfoot Air Express was one crew member, two passengers, and ten bank employees. Twenty-seven members of the bank’s staff were injured. The bank reopened for business the day after the crash. While seventeen Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company employees—including the blimp’s pilot—were arrested after the crash, there were no charges filed and no trial. However, within hours of the crash the Chicago City Council passed a resolution urging the adoption of regulations to control air traffic above the city.
Thomas Fitzgerald, the man who abducted and murdered six-year-old Janet Wilkinson, was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on October 17, 1919 at the Cook County Jail.
The strike by employees of Chicago’s elevated and surface lines—which began a day after the race riots had, and involved 15,000 workers—ended after only four days, on August 2nd. Workers in other Chicago industries—stock yards, steel mills, clothing, agricultural equipment, etc.—as well as actors, also went on strike that year.
§
As a former journalist, I was intrigued by the coverage of these events in Chicago’s nine general circulation newspapers of the time. My primary newspaper sources were the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily News, including the latter’s fantastic photo collection, held by the Chicago History Museum. I also consulted back issues of the Chicago Defender, the Herald Examiner, and popular magazines and dime novels of the time, when reading was a major leisure activity, and—just before radio became popular in the 1920’s—how people got their news.
As a novelist, I wanted to imagine the lives of people historians rarely bother with. The Reason for Time presents the life of an ordinary person who lived through those extraordinary days in Chicago. While Maeve Curragh is a fictional character, she is typical of the young women wage earners who were living on their own in American cities during the first decades of the twentieth century. An Irish immigrant, she works as a clerk at a job that pays poorly, she lives in a boarding house, she takes many of her meals at cheap lunchrooms, and enjoys the city’s plethora of theaters—for the then-declining vaudeville shows, and for films. She hopes marriage and children are in her future.
§
The most useful source I found for information about race relations in Chicago in 1919 is the exhaustive study by The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago; A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot (University of Chicago Press, 1922) [https://archive.org/details/negroinchicagost00chic].
Carl Sandburg wrote about the race riots as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News. His articles were later published as a collection, The Chicago Race Riots, July 1919
[https://archive.org/details/chicagoraceriots00sand].
Readers interested in the condition of single women should consider Joanne J. Meyerowitz’s excellent book Women Adrift: Independent Wage Earners in Chicago, 1880-1930 (University of Chicago Press, 1991).
Those and other non-fiction books, as well as novels of the time—including Studs Lonigan, by James T. Farrell—helped me to fill out my imagined July in Chicago, the year when the notion of time and many other things changed forever…not only for Maeve Curragh.
§
Editor’s note
Gary Krist’s non-fiction book City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago (Crown, 2012) covers the tumultuous days of lat
e July 1919 from a political perspective.
To learn more about Carl Sandburg, please visit:
http://www.nps.gov/carl
Acknowledgments
The Reason for Time began as an idea that occurred to me while browsing newspaper microfilm at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The staff of that institution, of the Chicago History Museum, and of the Harold Washington Library always courteously, and sometimes even enthusiastically, answered questions, searched for materials, and showed me the way around equipment. Thanks to all of them. My niece Amanda Brady put me up during the research phase, and I am grateful for her hospitality and her interest in the project. Also to Gwyneth Campbell, for helping me access newspaper files at Northwestern University. Finally, I must most sincerely thank Emily Victorson for her enthusiasm, and her tireless attention to detail.
About The Author
A former journalist and documentary filmmaker, Mary Burns is the author of four novels, two short-story collections, a non-fiction book about snow geese, and several radio and stage plays. She grew up near Chicago and now lives just north of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
For more information, visit her website,
www.maryburns.ca.
Also Published By Allium Press Of Chicago
Visit our website for more information:
www.alliumpress.com
Shall We Not Revenge
D. M. Pirrone
In the harsh early winter months of 1872, while Chicago is still smoldering from the Great Fire, Irish Catholic detective Frank Hanley is assigned the case of a murdered Orthodox Jewish rabbi. His investigation proves difficult when the neighborhood’s Yiddish-speaking residents are reluctant to talk. But when the rabbi’s headstrong daughter, Rivka, offers to help Hanley find her father’s killer, the detective receives much more than the break he was looking for. Their pursuit of the truth draws Rivka and Hanley closer together and leads them to a relief organization run by the city’s wealthy movers and shakers. Along the way, they uncover a web of political corruption, crooked cops, and well-buried ties to two Irish thugs from Hanley’s checkered past. Even after he is kicked off the case Hanley refuses to quit. With a personal vendetta to settle for an innocent life lost, he is determined to expose a complicated criminal scheme, not only for his own sake, but for Rivka’s as well.
For You Were Strangers
D. M. Pirrone
On a spring morning in 1872, former Civil War officer Ben Champion is discovered dead in his Chicago bedroom—a bayonet protruding from his back. What starts as a routine case for Detective Frank Hanley soon becomes anything but, as his investigation into Champion’s life turns up hidden truths best left buried. Meanwhile, Rivka Kelmansky’s long-lost brother, Aaron, arrives on her doorstep, along with his mulatto wife and son. Fugitives from an attack by night riders, Aaron and his family know too much about past actions that still threaten powerful men—defective guns provided to Union soldiers, and an 1864 conspiracy to establish Chicago as the capital of a Northwest Confederacy. Champion had his own connection to that conspiracy, along with ties to a former slave now passing as white and an escaped Confederate guerrilla bent on vengeance, any of which might have led to his death. Hanley and Rivka must untangle this web of circumstances, amid simmering hostilities still present seven years after the end of the Civil War, as they race against time to solve the murder, before the secrets of bygone days claim more victims.
Honor Above All
J. Bard-Collins
Pinkerton agent Garrett Lyons arrives in Chicago in 1882, close on the trail of the person who murdered his partner. He encounters a vibrant city that is striving ever upwards, full of plans to construct new buildings that will “scrape the sky.” In his quest for the truth Garrett stumbles across a complex plot involving counterfeit government bonds, fierce architectural competition, and painful reminders of his military past. Along the way he seeks the support and companionship of his friends—elegant Charlotte, who runs an upscale poker game for the city’s elite, and up-and-coming architect Louis Sullivan. Rich with historical details that bring early 1880s Chicago to life, this novel will appeal equally to mystery fans, history buffs, and architecture enthusiasts.
Beautiful Dreamer
Joan Naper
Chicago in 1900 is bursting with opportunity, and Kitty Coakley is determined to make the most of it. The youngest of seven children born to Irish immigrants, she has little interest in becoming simply a housewife. Inspired by her entrepreneurial Aunt Mabel, who runs a millinery boutique at Marshall Field’s, Kitty aspires to become an independent, modern woman. After her music teacher dashes her hopes of becoming a professional singer, she refuses to give up her dreams of a career. But when she is courted by not one, but two young men, her resolve is tested. Irish-Catholic Brian is familiar and has the approval of her traditional, working-class family. But wealthy, Protestant Henry, who is a young architect in Daniel Burnham’s office, provides an entrée for Kitty into another, more exciting world. Will she sacrifice her ambitions and choose a life with one of these men?
Company Orders
David J. Walker
Even a good man may feel driven to sign on with the devil. Paul Clark is a Catholic priest who’s been on the fast track to becoming a bishop. But he suddenly faces a heart-wrenching problem, when choices he made as a young man come roaring back into his life. A mysterious woman, who claims to be with “an agency of the federal government,” offers to solve his problem. But there’s a price to pay—Father Clark must undertake some very un-priestly actions. An attack in a Chicago alley…a daring escape from a Mexican jail…and a fight to the death in a Guyanese jungle…all these, and more, must be survived in order to protect someone he loves. This priest is about to learn how much easier it is to preach love than to live it.
Her Mother’s Secret
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Fifteen-year-old Sarah, the daughter of Jewish immigrants, wants nothing more than to become an artist. But as she spreads her wings she must come to terms with the secrets that her family is only beginning to share with her. Replete with historical details that vividly evoke the Chicago of the 1890s, this moving coming-of-age story is set against the backdrop of a vibrant, turbulent city. Sarah moves between two very different worlds—the colorful immigrant neighborhood surrounding Hull House and the sophisticated, elegant World’s Columbian Exposition. This novel eloquently captures the struggles of a young girl as she experiences the timeless emotions of friendship, family turmoil, loss…and first love.
A companion guide to Her Mother’s Secret
is available at www.alliumpress.com. In the guide you will find photographs of places mentioned in the novel, along with discussion questions, a list of read-alikes, and resources for further exploration of Sarah’s time and place.
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Libby Fischer Hellmann
Someone is trying to kill Lila Hilliard. During the Christmas holidays she returns from running errands to find her family home in flames, her father and brother trapped inside. Later, she is attacked by a mysterious man on a motorcycle. . . and the threats don’t end there. As Lila desperately tries to piece together who is after her and why, she uncovers information about her father’s past in Chicago during the volatile days of the late 1960s . . . information he never shared with her, but now threatens to destroy her. Part thriller, part historical novel, and part love story, Set the Night on Fire paints an unforgettable portrait of Chicago during a turbulent time: the riots at the Democratic Convention . . . the struggle for power between the Black Panthers and SDS . . . and a group of young idealists who tried to change the world.
A Bitter Veil
Libby Fischer Hellmann
It all began with a line of Persian poetry . . . Anna and Nouri, both studying in Chicago, fall in love despite their very different backgrounds. Anna, who has never been close
to her parents, is more than happy to return with Nouri to his native Iran, to be embraced by his wealthy family. Beginning their married life together in 1978, their world is abruptly turned upside down by the overthrow of the Shah and the rise of the Islamic Republic. Under the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Republican Guard, life becomes increasingly restricted and Anna must learn to exist in a transformed world, where none of the familiar Western rules apply. Random arrests and torture become the norm, women are required to wear hijab, and Anna discovers that she is no longer free to leave the country. As events reach a fevered pitch, Anna realizes that nothing is as she thought, and no one can be trusted…not even her husband.
THE EMILY CABOT MYSTERIES
Frances McNamara
Death at the Fair
The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition provides a vibrant backdrop for the first book in the series. Emily Cabot, one of the first women graduate students at the University of Chicago, is eager to prove herself in the emerging field of sociology. While she is busy exploring the Exposition with her family and friends, her colleague, Dr. Stephen Chapman, is accused of murder. Emily sets out to search for the truth behind the crime, but is thwarted by the gamblers, thieves, and corrupt politicians who are ever-present in Chicago. A lynching that occurred in the dead man’s past leads Emily to seek the assistance of the black activist Ida B. Wells.
