City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

by Gary Krist

  21. “Between the people, on the one hand” is from a Thompson speech quoted in the CDT of January 18. “If continued in the office of mayor” is from the text in the Republican of January 15. “The audience stood on its feet” is from the same article.

  CHAPTER THREE: ENEMIES

  1. The Landis demurral (“I would just as soon have you ask me to clean a shithouse”) is quoted in Watkins, Righteous Pilgrim, p. 177.

  2. Merriam’s life and work is most completely discussed in Karl, Charles E. Merriam and the Study of Politics. For the progressives’ preference for middle-class, educated experts over working-class ethnic politicians who might share the same goals, see Lissak, Pluralism and Progressives, p. 66. The Jane Addams quotations are from her endorsement in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, section 3, box 75, folder 5. Merriam’s attacks on Thompson are from ibid., section 3, box 76, folder 5.

  3. The most complete source for details about Olson is Willrich, City of Courts. “Thanks to Mayor Thompson” is from the CDT of February 10. “They made the school treasury” is from the CDT of February 5. The list of scandals outlined by Olson is summarized in Hoffmann, “Big Bill Thompson,” p. 18. “Have used the vast public expenditures” is from the CDT of February 8.

  4. There have been many books devoted to an analysis of urban political machines. Most useful to me were Gosnell, Machine Politics, and Allswang, Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters. “Ceaseless devotion” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. xxii. See also Merriam, Chicago, p. 137.

  5. “No mayor ever entered the City Hall” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 120.

  6. Thompson’s letter about the “fair manner” with which the Trib treated him, reproduced in the CDT of April 7, 1915, is cited in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 37. The scene beginning “Victor Lawson listened” is recounted in Dennis, Lawson, pp. 318–19.

  7. “We’re going to drive every crook” is quoted in Luthin, American Demagogues, p. 84. “No shadow of corruption” is cited in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 120.

  8. “I’m not going to let them leave” and the model boat incident is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 125. “I am here to emphasize the grief and indignation” is cited in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, pp. 41–42. The popularity of “Big Bill hats” after the Eastland disaster is noted by Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 19.

  9. “Here it is. You play with it” is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 126. “A roster of his nearest and dearest friends” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 68. The discontent over appointments is best summarized in Chenery, “Fall of a Mayor,” p. 37. Chicagoans’ mistrust of their hometown papers is cited in Shottenhamel, “How Big Bill Thompson Won Control of Chicago,” p. 40.

  10. Lundin’s early image maneuvering and machine building is recounted in an article on the Poor Swede in the CDT of March 31. See also Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 16. “To the people of Chicago” is quoted by Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 51. “Unscrupulous politicians should be thwarted” is cited in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 143. The suicide note was printed in the CDT and CDN editions of April 3, 1916.

  11. “The people don’t want it” is from a diary kept by Max Loeb, quoted in the CDT of September 1, 1918.

  12. “Chicago is the sixth largest German city” is cited ubiquitously, as in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 151. They also cite “This war is a needless sacrifice” on p. 155.

  13. “I think that Mayor Thompson is guilty of treason,” “a disgrace to the city,” and “a low-down double-crosser” are cited in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 156–57.

  14. Big Bill’s response to his attackers is best described in Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 50ff. The results of the primary vote come from ibid., p. 56. Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 118, and Luthin, American Demagogues, p. 87, discuss the unpopularity of the war among Chicago’s ethnic groups. The analogy with Lincoln’s loss to Douglas was made in the Republican of September 21, 1918.

  15. Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, pp. 4, 17ff., has the best discussion of Thompson’s shifting image over the course of his first term and his turn away from the increasingly powerless reform element and toward immigrants and workers.

  16. “Who are the other two candidates” is from the Republican of February 22.

  17. Thompson’s invitation to debate was reported in the CDT of January 25 and 26. The February 11 confrontation was widely covered, with slightly varying details, in most of the papers. I have relied most heavily on the account in the CDT of February 12, from which the quotations in this paragraph come.

  18. “FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS!” is from a Thompson campaign letter collected in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, series 3, box 75, folder 3.

  CHAPTER FOUR: THE FOURTH ESTATE

  1. There have been several biographies of Robert R. McCormick, the most complete of which is Smith, Colonel. Also useful (and often more sardonic) are Gies, Colonel of Chicago, and Morgan and Veysey, Poor Little Rich Boy. McCormick’s accent as per Gies, Colonel of Chicago, p. 8ff. Tribune book critic Burton Rascoe’s memoir, Before I Forget, provides an unforgettable portrait of the Colonel (see pp. 8 and 267 for details on his dogs and his rooftop polo practice). McCormick’s height is from his entry in the Dictionary of American Biography. “Working for McCormick is a little like working for God” is quoted in O’Reilly, “Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick,” p. 3.

  2. The authoritative biography of Lawson is Dennis, Lawson. Third-largest-circulation newspaper as per ibid., p. 140. The firing of the pressman is also from ibid., p. 29, as is Lawson’s habit of testing advertisers’ claims, p. 137. “A man of mental and moral poverty” is quoted in ibid., p. 321.

  3. “Some newspapers” is from a Thompson campaign booklet in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, series 3, box 75, folder 3. The two newspaper “scandals” are widely reported in the biographies and elsewhere. Lawson discusses the tax bill issue in correspondence in the Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 4, box 125, folder 827. “Robbing the school children” and “tax dodger” are from Thompson stump speeches transcribed in ibid., folder 828.

  4. The two quotations in this paragraph are from a letter from Lawson to Arthur Brisbane dated March 13 (Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 1, box 74).

  5. “Mayor’s Men Panicky Over Swing to Olson” was in the CDN of February 10. “I think ‘stocks are up’ ” is from a letter from Lawson to E. D. Hulbert on February 15 (Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 4, box 117, folder 784).

  6. A roundup of the various parades and celebrations for returning soldiers was published in the 1919 Chicago Daily News Almanac, p. 804. Emily Frankenstein’s reactions to the soldiers are in her diary for January 7 and January 13 (Emily Frankenstein Papers). The CDN was particularly concerned about employment prospects for the troops; see two articles in the January 28 edition. The CDT carried a story about soldiers hooting at Thompson, for instance, on February 16.

  7. “The Case Against Thompson” was in the February 21 edition of the CDN. “[Thompson] has failed in everything that could be hoped for him” comes from the CDT of February 23.

  8. “Actions speak louder than words” and the scene at the Monroe Street Bridge were reported in the CDN of February 22. “Bill grabbed the Chicago Plan and raced away with it like a gridiron star” is quoted in Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 25.

  9. The deployment of soldiers by all three candidates was reported in the CHE of February 25. The Thorpe incident is ubiquitously covered (e.g., Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 166; Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 154; and in most of the newspapers); not all accounts are identical, but I have relied most heavily on the report from the CDN of February 24 and the CHE of February 25.

  10. Olson’s allegations of a “citywide plot” were reported in the CA of February 26. Election vote counts are from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 156. Ibid., p. 150, was also the source of the quote about all “wh
o had eyes to see and ears to hear.” The February 26 edition of the CHE noted Merriam’s loss in his own district.

  11. “Our cause is crowned with victory” is reprinted in the CHE of February 26. “We beat them today and we’ll beat them on April 1!” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, 167.

  12. Details of the early-morning bombing on February 28 are from the CDT of the same date.

  CHAPTER FIVE: A BOMB IN THE NIGHT

  1. Most details about the Indiana Avenue bombing are from an article in the CDT of February 28. (Significantly, the incident was not covered by most of the other daily papers, although the CDN did run a captioned photograph of the damage.) For my description of the interior and exterior damage, I have relied on two photos reprinted in William M. Tuttle Jr.’s excellent Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919, p. 177. “The violent result of prejudice against the Negro inhabitants” was quoted in the CDT article of February 28.

  2. For details about the earlier bombings, see Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 175–6.

  3. Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 160ff., gives a good background of the early black settlement of Chicago. For information about Chicago’s role in the Great Migration, I have also relied heavily on Grossman, Land of Hope, and Spear, Black Chicago. Two excellent works on the topic appeared in 2010—Berlin, Making of African America, and Wilkerson, Warmth of Other Suns—though neither focuses on Chicago or on the early stage of the Great Migration relevant here. For the wartime labor shortage and industry’s use of labor agents, see Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 82 and 87, respectively. “The land of suffering” is from ibid., p. 91. For other exhortations from the Chicago Defender, see Spear, Black Chicago, p. 134. “Anywhere north will do” is quoted in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 79.

  4. The half-million figure is cited in the exhaustive report by the Chicago Commission on Race Relations (primarily authored by Charles S. Johnson) entitled The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot in 1919 (hereafter cited as TNIC), p. 602. Ministers transplanting entire congregations are cited in Sandburg, Chicago Race Riots, pp. 14–15. For the growth of Chicago’s black population, see Cohen, Making a New Deal, p. 35, and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 66. “Every time a lynching takes place” is quoted in ibid., p. 86.

  5. Chicago Defender circulation figures as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 212. For the growth of Chicago’s black metropolis, see Spear, Black Chicago, as well as Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto, and Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes. American Giants attendance as per Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes, p. 213. “The greatest experiment-station” is a quotation from Horace Bridges, president of the Chicago Urban League, cited in the Chicago Urban League’s 1920 Annual Report. “Half a Million Darkies” is quoted in TNIC, p. 530. “Black Man, Stay South!” and “a huge mistake” are cited in Spear, Black Chicago, p. 202. The offer of financial aid is according to ibid., p. 203.

  6. For the Tribune on banjo-plucking blacks, etc., see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 202. The Stroll is defined and described in Bachin, Building the South Side, p. 247, and in Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes, p. 25. For the moving of vice establishments into black neighborhoods, see Spear, Black Chicago, p. 25. Ibid., p. 24, also discusses why black housing was plagued by overcrowding and disrepair. For a discussion of the forces creating the downward spiral of black neighborhoods, see Garb, City of American Dreams, pp. 182ff. Sandburg, in Chicago Race Riots, pp. 12–13, discusses the issue of southern rural ways appearing inappropriate to more established urban dwellers.

  7. Spear, Black Chicago, p. 36, cites strikebreaking as blacks’ only entry into many industries. The equation of the terms “Negro” and “scab” is cited in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 119; see also Sandburg, Chicago Race Riots, p. 52. The twelvefold increase in black stockyards workers as per Spinney, City of Big Shoulders, p. 169. Blacks’ suspicion of unions and the returning soldiers is noted in Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 18, 128. “You pay money and get nothing” is quoted in TNIC, p. 177.

  8. The lack of residential construction during war is cited in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 168. The Black Belt as home to 90 percent of the city’s black population is from Cohen, Making a New Deal, p. 34. The factors governing the southward growth of the Black Belt are mentioned in Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 167–68. (NB: Most people moving into white neighborhoods were middle-class, established blacks escaping encroaching vice, as per Spear, Black Chicago, p. 150.)

  9. For the early peaceful efforts to stop integration, see Spear, Black Chicago, p. 211. “Clear of undesirables” is quoted in ibid., p. 210. The efforts to keep neighborhoods “lily white” are discussed in Travis, Autobiography of Black Politics, pp. 66–67, and Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto, p. 162ff. “Look out; you’re next for hell” and “We are going to BLOW these FLATS TO HELL” are quoted in Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 175–76. “Attempted assault and murder” is from the CD of June 1, 1918, as quoted in Spear, Black Chicago, p. 212.

  10. Black vs. white voter registration figures are from Gosnell, Negro Politicians, p. 17; see also Spear, Black Chicago, p. 192. For Chicago as the first northern city in which blacks made up a significant portion of the population, see Allswang, Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters, p. 92. “The strongest effective unit of political power” is from Sandburg, Chicago Race Riots, p. 5. Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 16, claims that this was the first municipal playground in the country; Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 42, says it was the first in the city. “White people from nearby came over” is quoted in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 14. “My task is not easy” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, pp. 87–88.

  11. “I’ll give you people the best opportunities” is quoted in Spear, Black Chicago, p. 187. The Second Ward’s black voters giving Thompson his winning margins is from Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 186.

  12. See Stovall, “Chicago Defender in the Progressive Era,” p. 170, for an assessment of how truly beneficial Thompson’s election was for blacks. For De Priest as the first African American alderman, see Spear, Black Chicago, p. 187. Other jobs for Wright, Anderson, and Carey is from Spear, Black Chicago, p. 124, and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 196. The doubling of the number of black police as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 232. Thompson’s banning of the movie The Birth of a Nation is from Spear, Black Chicago, p. 124, and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 189.

  13. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and Thompson’s backing down on the physician appointment are from Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 49. “The persons appointed were qualified” is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 168. “Blubbering jungle hippopotamus” reference is quoted in Bergreen, Capone, p. 416.

  14. “The best friend politically” is from the CD of October 2, 1918. “He has treated us fairly” is from ibid., September 7, 1918.

  15. The bombing of Jesse Binga’s offices and the scene (with quotations) involving the little girl on the street were described in the CDT of March 20.

  16. The rise in crime and the figures for the first twenty days of March are from the CA of March 22.

  17. Ida B. Wells-Barnett is the subject of several excellent biographies, the most complete and authoritative being Giddings, Ida. Also useful are Schechter, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform; McMurry, To Keep the Waters Troubled; and Sterling, Black Foremothers. Wells-Barnett herself wrote two revealing autobiographical works, Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells and Crusade for Justice. “Mother protector” is quoted in Schechter, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform, p. 141. “A slanderous and nasty mulatress” was quoted in Sterling, Black Foremothers, p. 91. The story of the C&O train incident and the quotation (“hooked her feet under the seat”) are from Giddings, Ida, pp. 62–63. Mob of “leading citizens” and the hanging threat as per Sterling, Black Foremothers, p. 83. “They had destroyed my paper” is from Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice, pp. 62–63.

  18. Working with Jane Addams as per Deegan, Race, Hull-House, and the University of Chicago, p. 78. “Mother, if you don’t go” is quoted in Sterling, Black Foremothers, p. 106. “Lighthouse” and a black version of Hull H
ouse is from Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice, p. 101. Wells-Barnett’s appearance is from Giddings, Ida, p. 65. “She walked as if she owned the world” is from the very useful supplementary materials in Wells-Barnett, Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells, p. 196. “One spot in this entire broad United States” is from the Alpha Suffrage Record of March 18, 1914, as quoted in Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice, pp. xxviii–xxix.

  19. The meeting of the Negro Fellowship League and its subsequent statement (“a willful and malicious libel”) were described in the CDT of March 25.

  CHAPTER SIX: ELECTION

  1. Sweitzer’s ties to local gas interests as per Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 26ff. “Iron-jawed Irishman” is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 143. Hoyne’s previous lack of interest in the vice issue is asserted in Lindberg, To Serve and Collect, p. 145, n. 21. “The fire department will be my special delight” and other Lardner quotes here are from his column in the CDT of March 5.

  2. “Ruin the Republican Party for years to come” is quoted in the CDN of February 4. On the tendency of Chicago Republicans to unite after even the most contentious primaries, see especially Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 94.

  3. “None of the mayoral candidates” is in a letter from Lawson to Arthur Brisbane dated March 24. “Sweitzer can beat him; Hoyne can’t” is in an earlier letter from Lawson to Brisbane dated March 13 (both in the Victor F. Lawson Papers). “The Thompson-Sweitzer issue was fought out four years ago” is from the CDT of March 3.

  4. Darrow’s quote is from an article he wrote for the CDT of March 23. “He disgraced Chicago” is from the CDT of March 6. Other denunciations of Thompson’s antiwar sentiments were cited in, for instance, the CDT of March 3, 22, 23, 26, and 27. “A guy was ashamed to acknowledge that he was from Chicago” was quoted in the CDN of March 1. “Honestly, I believe if that big fat Bolshevik crook” is from a letter, dated March 2, from First Sergeant Alfred B. Backer of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace to “Dear Folks” (unidentified photocopy in the research files of Douglas Bukowski).