Chicago to Springfield:: Crime and Politics in the 1920s (Images of America (Arcadia Publishing)) (19 page)

State auditor Orville Hodge embezzled $6 million from the state by altering and forging checks. Hodge bought two private jets, 30 automobiles, and property in Florida and Illinois. Hodge was indicted in 1956, pleaded guilty to bank fraud, embezzlement, and forgery, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Attorney general William J. Scott was convicted in 1980 on tax charges for misusing campaign funds and was sentenced to one year in prison. (KPL.)

Roy Solfisburg Jr. (right) and Ray Klingbiel (below) both served as chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court in the 1960s. Both men resigned in 1969 after revelations they took stock from a Chicago bank at the same time litigation involving the bank was before the court. Cook County judge David Shields was convicted in 1992 of taking $5,000 to fix a case and went to prison. Cook County judge Thomas Maloney was convicted of taking bribes from street gangs to convict members of other gangs on murder or manslaughter charges and went to prison. Cook County judge Frank Wilson took a $10,000 bribe to acquit Mob hit man Harry Aleman of the murder of a union boss. As the investigation into Wilson got closer, the retired judge committed suicide. (Both KPL.)

Illinois governors sure do like honoring themselves. Counties are named for Shadrach Bond, Edward Coles, Ninian Edwards, and Thomas Ford. Towns are named for Edwards, Thomas Carlin, Joel Matteson, John Oglesby, Shelby Cullom, and Richard Yates. There are statues and museums for John Palmer, Yates, Oglesby, Altgeld, Coles, Bissell, Tanner, Small, and more. Altgeld has castle-like buildings named for him at the state universities. A college athletic center and water park is named for George Ryan. State parks are named for William Stratton and Frank Lowden. The state office building near the capitol was renamed for Stratton (who dedicated it in 1954, above). The State of Illinois Building in Chicago was renamed for James Thompson. The Centennial Building in Springfield was renamed for Secretary of State Michael Howlett. A train station in Chicago is named for Richard Ogilvie. If that were not enough, in 1969 the state created Governor’s State University. (KPL.)

Some people would say not much has changed since the author drew this cartoon, which was published on December 15, 1978. (
Daily Times
.)

This is a view of the capitol in 1927. Springfield is in Sangamon County, named for a Native American word meaning “the land of plenty to eat.” That certainly has been true for politicians. Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko suggested Chicago’s motto should be
Ubi Est Mea
(“Where’s Mine?”). Political writers Rich Miller and John Kass do not shy from linking the political machine with the Chicago Outfit. Kass writes that the Chicago machine is the “iron triangle, consisting of the Democrat Machine, Republican Insiders and the Chicago Outfit.” Chicago commentator Tom Roeser calls the Democrat Machine “The Squid, with arms, tentacles and an ability to eject an inky camouflage. If its head is lopped off, it generates another one and survives.” Charles Merriam, a reformer before 1920, called it the “Big Fix,” a combination of corrupt politicians, businessmen, and gangsters preying on an apathetic and distracted public. Merriam’s famous quote was that “Chicago is the only completely corrupt city in America.” (KPL.)