City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago (46 page)

  
6.
 The long quotation (“When [Mrs. Fitzgerald] entered the door”) is from the
CDJ
of July 25.

  
7.
 “I have ordered the arrest of all half-wits” was quoted in the
CEP
of July 25.

  
8.
 The aura of mistrust was reported in the
CHE
of July 26; see also the
CDN
of July 25.

  
9.
 The scene at the
Wingfoot
inquest was described by several papers, each of which published slightly different accounts of the testimony. “What this man [Lipsner] has to offer is hearsay” was quoted in the
CEP
of July 25. “Wacker told me that he was nervous and scared” is from the
CDJ
of July 25. “He said that the blimp acted up,” is from
CDT
of July 26. “Wacker said that Carl Weaver,” is from
CDJ
of July 25. “Produce the evidence,” is from
CDN
of July 25. Lowery’s threat to clear the room as per the
CEP
of July 25.

10.
 The exchange among Lipsner, Mayer, and Maranville as reported in the
CDT
of July 26.

11.
 O’Brien’s demand that Boettner testify next is from the
CDN
of July 25. Boettner’s attire as per a picture in the
CDT
of July 26, in which his manner of testifying was also described. “We had no trouble during our flights on Monday” as quoted in the
CDN
of July 25. The rest of his testimony as reported in that issue of the
CDN
and in the
CDT
of July 26.

12.
 Conflicting reports on the origin point of the fire as per the
CDT
of July 26.

13.
 Details and all quotations from the transit talks in these paragraphs come from the
CDJ
of July 25.

14.
 Lowden’s arrival in Chicago and his closed-door meetings as per the
CEP
of July 25 “It is understood that some progress toward reconciliation was made” is from the
CHE
of July 26. “Frank telephones [to say] that the streetcar situation is very bad” is from Florence Lowden’s diary entry for July 25 (Pullman-Miller Family Papers).

15.
 Sandburg’s articles for the
CDN
were later reprinted in his pamphlet
The Chicago Race Riots
. “Deplore Unfounded Negro Crime Tales” appeared in the
CDN
of July 25. The
CDT
reported on the two French analyses in its July 25 edition.

16.
 For the New Negro sensibility and the DuBois quotation, see Boskin,
Urban Racial Violence in the Twentieth Century
, p. 41, and Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 209. Claude McKay’s poem was published in the
Liberator
2 (July 1919), cited in Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 208.

17.
 “
THE MAYOR SHOULD RETURN
” was an editorial in the
CEP
of July 25. Big Bill’s cowboy outfit was described in the
CDN
of July 25. The rest of the details and quotations from Cheyenne were reported in the
CDT
of July 26.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SATURDAY, JULY 26

  
1.
 “All Chicago Seeks Solution of Missing Child Mystery” was the headline in the
CDN
of July 26. The “biggest question” quotation and the four hypotheses are from the
CDJ
of July 26.

  
2.
 The additional $2,500 reward was announced in the
CDT
of July 27. The flood of calls, telegrams, and letters, and the Dearborn Station false alarm, were reported in the
CEP
of July 26.

  
3.
 The sister superior’s admonition and the dragging of the lake as per the
CEP
of July 26.

  
4.
 The discovery of bones in the sewer was reported by the
CDT
of July 27.

  
5.
 Evidence given by Marie Pearson and William Harris as cited in the
CDT
of July 27. That of W. J. Hogan is from the
CEP
of July 26. The scene with Michael Kezick, with quotations, was described in the
CDT
of July 27.

  
6.
 “Ordinarily, the arrest of a suspect” is from the
CEP
of July 26, which also took note of the lack of any formal charges against Fitzgerald and Lieutenant Howe’s backup plan.

  
7.
 The manner of Fitzgerald’s interrogation as per the
CDT
of July 28. The
CEP
of July 26 described the prisoner’s fit of weeping. The
CDT
of July 28 noted Fitzgerald’s teasing of Captain Mueller about his hat. “He is the most stubborn and one of the shrewdest men I have ever questioned” is from the
CEP
of July 26 and the
CDT
of July 27.

  
8.
 The bringing in of five North Side women and their daughters, as well as the order to police to look for “another moron,” were reported in the
CDT
of July 27.

  
9.
 The questioning of Major York as per the
CEP
of July 26.

10.
 H. T. Kraft’s testimony is from the
CDT
of July 27 (“You know it is possible to test a dirigible on the ground”) and the
CDN
of July 26 (the virtual impossibility of leaking hydrogen to ignite).

11.
 “I have made an effort to see Wacker” was quoted in the
CDT
of July 27. The complaints of the businessmen’s jury as per the
CEP
of July 26.

12.
 The profile of Carl Sandburg appeared in the
CDT
of July 26. The Lowden boom in Washington was reported in the
CHE
of July 27. Emily Frankenstein’s
resolution to finally “say goodbye” to Jerry as per her diary for July 26 (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

13.
 The witnessing of Judge Dolan’s fall comes from reports in the
CDJ
and
CDN
of July 26 and the
CDT
and
CHE
of July 27. The quotations from the two witnesses on the seventh floor were from the
CDJ
.

14.
 The same four papers covered the aftermath of the apparent suicide, but again, all quotations (except “He seemed jolly and carefree,” which is from the
CHE
of July 27) come from the
CDJ
of July 26, which had the most complete coverage of the incident. For the Judges vs. Lawyers baseball game, see the
CDT
of June 11.

15.
 Afternoon temperatures as per the
CDT
of July 27 and Florence Lowden’s diary. “Negotiations are over” was quoted in the
CDN
of July 26. “Chicago is in for a streetcar strike” is from the
CEP
of July 26.

16.
 All of the daily papers had remarkably detailed reports on the culmination of Fitzgerald’s interrogation, the most complete being those in the
CDT
and
CHE
of July 28. All quotations in this section are from the former.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 27

  
1.
 The confession scene, with quotations, comes from the reports published in the
CDT
and
CHE
of July 28.

  
2.
 The scenes in the Chicago Avenue station and in the basement of the East Superior Street duplex, with quotations, are also as reported in ibid.

  
3.
 The
CDT
and
CHE
of July 28 also had the most thorough accounts of the crowds out on East Superior Street, though the shouts (“Lynch him!” “String him up!”) are as reported in the same day’s
CEP
.

  
4.
 All quotations in the taxicab scene are from the
CHE
of July 28, with additional details from the
CDT
and
CEP
of the same date.

  
5.
 The
CEP
of July 28 is my principal source for the scene back at the Chicago Avenue station. The reports of “ill-concealed weapons” as per the
CHE
of that date. That day’s
CDT
has an account of M. F. Sullivan’s interrogation of Fitzgerald. (NB: Among the inconsistencies cleared up was the fact that Marjorie Burke was mistaken about when Fitzgerald and Janet Wilkinson met on the street; it apparently happened before the girls’ trip to the playground, not after.) The July 28
CEP
depicted Fitzgerald as “cool,” while the same day’s
CDT
described him as “a picture of control.” “Don’t let them hang me” and Hoyne’s appointment of James O’Brien (whose nickname “Ropes” was noted in the
CDN
of July 28) as per the
CDT
of that date.

  
6.
 “Acting Chief Alcock already has issued orders” is from the
CEP
of July 26. “This case should cause the people of Chicago to demand a special session of the legislature” was quoted in the
CDT
of July 28.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: SUNDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 27

  
1.
 The story of the five boys’ excursion to the Hot and Cold comes from Tuttle,
Race Riot
, pp. 3–10. (NB: Tuttle interviewed John Harris in 1969.)

  
2.
 The account of the racial confrontation at the Twenty-ninth Street beach was reported by all of the newspapers, though I have relied most heavily here on the
CEP
of July 28. For this episode of the riot and for those that follow in subsequent chapters, I have relied on numerous other sources. The 1919 race riot has been extraordinarily well documented. The most comprehensive treatment, based on many months of field interviews conducted by a staff of researchers, is
TNIC
, the 650-page report of the Chicago Commission on Race Relations. Other important works on the topic, besides Tuttle,
Race Riot
, include Grossman,
Land of Hope;
Spear,
Black Chicago;
Philpott,
Slum and the Ghetto;
and Sandburg,
Chicago Race Riots;
as well as Grimshaw,
Racial Violence in the United States;
and Waskow:
From Race Riot to Sit-in
. Of the numerous essays and articles on the riot, Pacyga, “Chicago’s 1919 Race Riot,” collected in Mohl,
Making of Urban America
, deserves special mention for the light it casts on the ethnic and class aspects of the riot, often given short shrift by other works that emphasize the racial aspects exclusively.

  
3.
 All of the quotations in this section come from Tuttle,
Race Riot
, pp. 6–7. (NB: According to
TNIC
, p. 4, the coroner later found no contusion or other indication that Eugene Williams had actually been hit by the rock; the coroner therefore concluded that the boy had died by drowning when he couldn’t reach shore because of the rock throwing. John Harris may indeed have embroidered the incident in his interview with Tuttle fifty years after the fact [the blood-in-the-water detail, for instance, may be a trick of memory]; however, it should also be noted that coroners at this time typically had little or no medical training [though some on their staff did], and even
TNIC
admits that “rumor had it that [Eugene] had actually been hit by one of the stones and drowned as a result.”) Officer Callahan’s retreat to a nearby drugstore as per the
CEP
of July 28.

  
4.
 The
CDT
of July 28 estimated the crowd at one thousand people. Exaggerated rumors as per Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 8. The white bathers who helped search for Eugene Williams were noted in
TNIC
, p. 5.

  
5.
 The shooting incidents are most thoroughly described in
TNIC
, pp. 5, 660. The
CEP
of July 28 identified the black policeman as Jesse Igoe. The escalation of the riot (“bubbling cauldrons of action”) was best described in the
CDT
of July 28.

  
6.
 For the reaction of the athletic clubs to the beach rioting, see Tuttle,
Race Riot
, pp. 32–33. Richard J. Daley’s membership in the Hamburg Athletic Club is discussed in Cohen and Taylor,
American Pharaoh
, pp. 27–36. (NB: While there
is no hard evidence that Daley participated in the rioting, as Cohen and Taylor write, “he was, at the very least, extremely close to the violence.”)

  
7.
 Some individual instances of violence were reported by only one or two newspapers. The locations of the major confrontations as per the
CHE
and
CEP
of July 28. The
CDT
of July 28 reported on the white crowds shooting at streetcars. The tapering off of violence overnight as per Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 34. The day’s toll of dead and injured as reported in the
CDT
of July 28.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: MONDAY, JULY 28

  
1.
 Mayor Thompson’s impromptu press conference at Union Station was covered most completely by the afternoon papers. The dialogue in this section comes from the
CEP
and the
CDJ
of July 28. Thompson’s telegram to Alcock, sent while in Cheyenne, was mentioned in the
CDN
of July 28.

  
2.
 Details of the car negotiations and the quotation from Governor Lowden come from the
CDT
of July 29. The
CDN
’s praise of Lowden appeared in an editorial in the July 28 edition.

  
3.
 Chief Garrity cited the number of police at 3,500; see
TNIC
, p. 36. The quotation from Michael Gallery is from the
CEP
of July 28. (NB: Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 34, differs on the exact wording.)