Six Degrees of Gullible

In A Daughter of the Middle Border, Hamlin Garland wrote of his friend, sculptor Lorado Taft, "Taft was an 'easy mark' in those times, a shining hope to all the indigent models, discouraged painters and other aesthetic derelicts of the Columbian Exposition. No artist suppliant ever knocked at his door without getting a dollar, and some of them got twenty." Funny he should phrase the compliment just that way. And, Garland himself was also known to be generous when he had become an established writer.

Evidence of their giving spirit comes from a little Chicago Tribune article in 1910. The brother of Herbert Adams made a social call on Taft in late January and, being a little short on cash, Taft kindly loaned him $10. Ironically, Hamlin Garland had the opportunity to illustrate his generous spirit about that same time when a nephew of Henry Alden, a friend of Garland's at Harper's Magazine, came calling. The nephew too had found himself a bit strapped, and Garland loaned him $5. "He only asked for $3, but he seemed such a presentable man and the nephew of a dear friend of Mr. Garland, that we gave him all the ready money in the house," said Mrs. Garland.

As you might have guessed, this was a case of literary larceny. The men had been duped by a suave swindler. But, they weren't alone. Writer Clara Louise Burnham received him and he talked at length about her soon to be published book. "Mr. Greenleaf," as he called himself, walked off with a cool $20. The brazen thief represented himself as Mr. Johnson of The Century and even tried to establish an office in the hallowed halls of The Chicago Literary Club. He was refused. The stranger made calls all over town.

By February 18, 1910, the Tribune had put two and two together and exposed the ruse in the paper. The confidence man, said to be from the East and with a warrant on his head, left town...and was never heard from again.

There were, however, some re-faced writers left in his wake.

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On Chicago: Sister Carrie's Chicago

"In 1889 Chicago had the peculiar qualifications of growth which made such adventuresome pilgrimages even on the part of young girls plausible. Its many and growing commercial opportunities gave it widespread fame, which made of it a giant magnet, drawing to itself, from all quarters, the hopeful and the hopeless--those who had their fortune yet to make and those whose fortunes and affairs had reached a disastrous climax elsewhere. It was a city of over 500,000, with the ambition, the daring, the activity of a metropolis of a million. Its streets and houses were already scattered over an area of seventy-five square miles. Its population was not so much thriving upon established commerce as upon the industries which prepared for the arrival of others.

"The sound of the hammer engaged upon the erection of new structures was everywhere heard. Great industries were moving in. The huge railroad corporations which had long before recognised the prospects of the place had seized upon vast tracts of land for transfer and shipping purposes. Street-car lines had been extended far out into the open country in anticipation of rapid growth. The city had laid miles and miles of streets and sewers through regions where, perhaps, one solitary house stood out alone--a pioneer of the populous ways to be. There were regions open to the sweeping winds and rain, which were yet lighted throughout the night with long, blinking lines of gas-lamps, fluttering in the wind. Narrow board walks extended out, passing here a house, and there a store, at far intervals, eventually ending on the open prairie.

"In the central portion was the vast wholesale and shopping district, to which the uninformed seeker for work usually drifted. It was a characteristic of Chicago then, and one not generally shared by other cities, that individual firms of any pretension occupied individual buildings. The presence of ample ground made this possible. It gave an imposing appearance to most of the wholesale houses, whose offices were upon the ground floor and in plain view of the street. The large plates of window glass, now so common, were then rapidly coming into use, and gave to the ground floor offices a distinguished and prosperous look. The casual wanderer could see as he passed a polished array of office fixtures, much frosted glass, clerks hard at work, and genteel businessmen in "nobby" suits and clean linen lounging about or sitting in groups. Polished brass or nickel signs at the square stone entrances announced the firm and the nature of the business in rather neat and reserved terms.

"The entire metropolitan centre possessed a high and mighty air calculated to overawe and abash the common applicant, and to make the gulf between poverty and success seem both wide and deep."

Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)
From: Sister Carrie, 1900

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The Little Corporal and the Army of the American Eagle

Very near the end of the Civil War the first popular children’s magazine emerged from Chicago. Published from 1865 to 1875, The Little Corporal was the brainchild of Alfred L. Sewell. Sewell also wanted to “employ the principal of "centrally organized giving to Children’s fund-raising" and created the ‘Army of the American Eagle’ as a way to raise money for the second Chicago Sanitary Fair.

His plan was to entice boys and girls to sell pictures of “Old Abe, the War Eagle,” mascot of the 8th Wisconsin, legendary for leading his regiment into numerous battles and emerging unscathed. The Chicago attorney made children “privates” in the Army of the American Eagle simply for buying pictures for a dime each. Recruits who sold pictures to other children or adults advanced through the ranks of Sewell’s army, starting with a corporal’s rank for selling 10 copies and progressing up to major general for selling 4,000 copies. Other incentives included gold, silver and bronze medals for the best-selling salesmen and saleswomen. One picture at a time, children from all over the North raised more than $16,000 (reported in The Little Corporal, July 1865) (From: Civil War America by James Alan Marten)

Sewell later wrote in The Little Corporal, that his goal was to” marshal the children and give them a chance to show how well they love their country and her brave defenders.” Emphasizing good conduct in his "army," the monthly magazine had as its slogan, "Fighting against Wrong, and for the Good and the True and the Beautiful" and cost $1 for a year's subscription.

The Little Corporal was filled with all kinds of juvenile literature, poetry, picture stories and songs. It was extremely popular with children all over the nation who eagerly awaited each month's edition. There was, of course, a slight lapse in publishing in October, 1871. The office of The Little Corporal burned in the Great Fire. The publisher was undeterred and, like Chicago itself, vowed to rise again.
"The Little Corporal will like 'Phœnix rise from its ashes to immortality,'and continue to fight for the good, the true, and the beautiful."

For much more on The Little Corporal, please see NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN CHILDREN & WHAT THEY READ An absolutely great site by Pat Pflieger. Be sure to explore all of it. Also available are some pre-fire issues of The Little Corporal at Google Books.

Photo Credits:
Cover; R & A Petrilla, Booksellers
"Offices in Ruin" by Thomas Nast

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A Titanic Loss

Last week marked the tragic sinking of the R.M.S Titanic on April 15, 1912. Over 1,500 souls were lost when the massive ocean liner struck an iceberg including such famous first-class passengers as John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor and Ida Straus. But, the most heart-wrenching loss may have come from the third class roster.

From the April 20, 1912 edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune (Click on for a larger, readable image):



Nils Palsson had come to Chicago in 1910, hoping to establish a better life for his family. He eagerly awaited their arrival. Lost were Mrs. Alma Cornelia Palsson (29), Gosta Palsson (2) Paul Palsson (6), Stina Palsson (3) and Torborg Danira Palsson (8).

The story of the doomed family is recounted in Titanic: Women and Children First by Judith B. Geller and is available for viewing in the book's preview here.

Photo credit: Encyclopedia Titanica. Nils, Alma and one of their young children, probably Stina.

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On Chicago: Second City First in Crime

George Kibbe Turner (1869-1952) was a muckraking journalist of the Progressive Era, reporter and early twentieth century novelist. Turner joined the staff of McClure's in 1899 and focus his writing on urban problems. In 1907, he turned his critical eye on Chicago...

Chicago, in the mind of the country, stands preeminently notorious for violent crime. It is the second city on the continent: it is, all things considered, perhaps the most typically American of our cities; it is intimately known by millions; and its press is especially active and alert in the discussion of local affairs. The reputation of Chicago for crime has consequently fastened itself upon the imagination of the United States as that of no other city has done. it is the current conventional belief that the criminal is loose upon its streets, that the thug and hold-up man go patrolling them by night.

Take Chicago, then, not because it is worse than or different from other cities of America, but, on the contrary, because it is so typical, and because it is so well known. Why have the primary basic guarantees of civilization broken down in Chicago? Why has that city, year after year, such a flood of violent and adventurous crime? The answer can be simple and straightforward: Because of the tremendous and elaborate organization — financial and political — for creating and attracting and protecting the criminal in Chicago.

From: "The City of Chicago: A Study of the Great Immoralities" by George Kibbe Turner
McClure's Magazine, April, 1907 (Also located and in its entirety on Google Books.)

Photo credit: "A Ragged Line of Whiskey Row (A few of the forty-eight saloons that huddle around the rear entrance of the stock-yards on Ashland Avenue." Photo from the text.

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A Springtime Poetical Interlude from "BathHouse" John

April is National Poetry Month and so, in keeping with the season, I offer the following selection from Chicago's undisputed poet laureate of the City Council, First Ward Alderman John J. Coughlin. The bard, who has also penned such delights as "Ode to a Bathtub," "She Sleeps by the Drainage Canal", "They’re Tearing Up Clark Street Again" and the popular "Dear Midnight of Love" (performed at the Auditorium Theater in 1899), believes his latest offering to be his best.

"There is no doubt about it being a gem," Coughlin told reporters. "At this season of the year every man with music in his soul must listen to the song that nature sings. It is impossible for the true poet to get away from it."

Signs of Spring

I've received a wireless message saying spring is "C. Q. D.";
It is written in the maple sap that oozes from the tree.
I can read it in the swollen stream and in the blade of grass;
Look where you may, there's signs of spring and coming garden "sass."

O, the birdlet in the treelet sings a songlet to its mate;
Such a chirping and such smirking (are they framing up a date?)
If you'll only stop and listen to the notes piped sweet and clear,
You will need no better evidence that spring is really here.

O, the windows in the shoplets are filled up with women's hats;
There are some as big as washtubs and some more like brewery vats.
See the ladies stop to "rubber" and admire the freakish gear;
'Tis an ever failing omen that our old friend spring is here.

There's the bumlet and his votelet - both are signs of early spring;
I would rather hear the hobo than to hear Caruso sing.
Yester eve I heard him warbling from behind a "tub" of beer,
Which convinced me that the balmy days of spring were surely here.

There are many other signs of spring which come by wireless wire;
One of which is Yours Sincerely, who is tuning up his lyre
Just to twang a song to nature 'bout the brooks and fields of green;
O, I wonder if I'm understood; I wonder, yes, I ween.

John J. Coughlin (1860-1938)
Published March 21, 1909

Recommended reading:
Chicago poetry: Who should be the new poetic voice of Chicagoland?

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Life in Old Chicago: Wanna Body With That Beer?

Opening a tavern across the street from the Cook County Hospital definitely had its drawbacks for owner Nicholas Urbanus. The Urbanus saloon was located at 18th Street and Wentworth Avenue fronting the hospital at 18th and Arnold Street, which had opened in 1866.

On April 13, 1871, the boys were tossing back a few, having a good old time, and the talk turned toward "dead-houses." Patron Larry Ryan began boasting about the number of bodies he had taken from the grisly establishment. A couple of the lads left the establishment and Ryan followed.

The gaiety continued until a few minutes after 8 o'clock when the front door of the watering-hole was opened and the corpse of a young badly burned girl was flung through the opening. "The body was scarecely draped and presented a most hideous and revolting appearance," reported the Chicago Tribune.

Barkeep Urbanus quickly covered the poor girl and notified hospital authorities that one of their former patients was now located in his tavern. Mr. Urbanus also told reporters that this was not the first occurance of this kind.

Party on.

Recommended reading:
Cook County Hospital (Encyclopedia of Chicago)
The History of Cook County Hospital
History of Hospital in Cook County

Photo credit: County of Cook: Milestones in Healthcare

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On Chicago: A Case of Natural Predestination

"LONG before the Stone Age man was building his mounds in Illinois, long before the Indian roamed the prairie or the French explorers came in their canoes, Chicago's destiny was written in the stars.

"The groundwork of the city's greatness was laid far back in the dawn of geological time, when all the central plain from the Appalachians to the Rocky Mountains was fathoms deep beneath an ancient sea. The limestones of that prehistoric sea bottom, with their veins of zinc and lead, the sandstones and clay, the silt which mellowed into rich alluvial soil, were to become the source of untold wealth.

"The carboniferous age slowly converted the primeval forests into coal. The Illinois coal deposits alone have been estimated at 45,000,000,000 tons — enough to last, at the present rate of consumption, for 750 years, by which time new sources of energy doubtless will have been found.

"It was the great ice sheet, leaving other rich mineral deposits, which gouged out the Great Lakes basin, without which Chicago could not have come into being.

"To the advantages of location must be added the advantages of climate. The Chicago area lies directly in the path of the cyclonic storms which sweep the country, gathering up the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and precipitating it as rain, thus counteracting the effect of arid winds from the Southwest, irrigating the vast corn and wheat belts, and watering the northern forests. Nor could such weather conditions fail to produce a vigorous and energetic race of men and women.

"Chicago, therefore, lies in the very heart of a territory blessed beyond all others in the bounty of its natural resources. From plains and farms, from mines and forests, Chicago draws the livestock, the grain, the minerals, and the timber which, converted into finished products, supply the needs of all the world.

From: Chicago's Accomplishments and Leaders by Glenn A. Bishop and Paul T. Gilbert (1932)

Recommended reading:
Early Chicago (website and book)
Nature's Metropolis by William Cronon
Gifts of the Glaciers
Formation of the Great Lakes

Photo credit: Tech Great Lakes

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More Than a Pretty Face: Dorothy D. Deene

Over at The Virtual Dime Museum, Lidian recently posted an article about Chicagoan Dorothy Deene and her amazing "complexion tea." As always, Lidian does a great job, but I thought a little more information might be in order. Dorothy D. Deene was a fascinating lady. Lidian talked about the entrepreneurial side of Dorothy, and her complexion ...whatever.

By 1911, ads like this were popping up:

ARTIST'S FACE GROWS YOUNGER EVERY YEAR

Years ago we became acquainted with the newspaper illustrations and writings of Dorothy Deene, the famous Chicago artist. The people that knew her fifteen years ago declare, "cross their hearts and hope to die," that she is really younger looking today than when they first knew her. In short her face refutes the fact that fifteen years have been torn off the calendar, for Father Time has left no traces on her pretty face...the history of her youthful appearance summed up in a nutshell, is that she always keeps a chemical product on her dressing table called pure thermodized jelly. She says she gets it at the drug store, and it keeps away wrinkles, double chin and enlarged pores.

I have no idea what "thermodized jelly is, but I want a jar NOW. And, where did the "tea" go?

THE BEAUTY

So, how did Dorothy come to attention of Chicago? In early 1907, The Chicago Tribune held a contest to find "The Most Beautiful Girl in Chicago." It was quite a big deal and hundreds of pictures of wives, daughters, nieces, granddaughters, friends and sweethearts flooded the newspaper offices. One of the pictures submitted was that of Dorothy Deene, then living at 9958 Langly Avenue. She didn't win the contest. A stenographer, Della Carson, won the Grand Prize of $100. Dorothy pocketed $10 and the hearts of men all over the world. The contest was in February. By March the Tribune was running a full page article titled, "1800 Men Fell in Love with Her Picture." (see picture above)She got a lot of mail and a lot of publicity. The press loved her!

THE ARTIST and TEACHER


Her studio was located at 70 East 41st Street in Chicago and her Commercial Art School at 1014 E. 41st St. There is a wonderful 1910 advertisement for her school on eBay. But, best of all is her promotional pamphlet filled with Dorothy Deene's do's and don'ts for budding artists.

As an artist, Dorothy Deene's work appeared in some Socialist publications as illustrated by the following entry in Class Struggles in America By Algie Martin Simons (1907)

The Sale of an Appetite. By Paul Lafargue. Translated by Charles H. Kerr. Cloth, illustrated, 50 cents.


This is a realistic story of gay Paris, and at the same time a striking picture of the contrasts between the life of the working class and the owning class. It embodies a startling allegory, bringing out the fact that the laborer is obliged to sell his various bodily functions in order to live. Three original wash drawings by Dorothy Deene add to the vividness of the story.

The book had also been listed in The International Socialist Review of 1904 with Deene specifically being mentioned as "the talented, young, 'New Thought' artist...
Dorothy Deene's pictures are surprisingly good. They have an individuality all their own, and at the same time they interpret the story most admirably."

Whether or not Deene was a Socialist or a member of the New Thought movement, I can not say. It is entirely possible she simply took on the job to make some money and promote her work. But, based on the "Deene-isms" in the promotional book, I'd vote for New Thoughter.

Deene disappeared from the pages of the Tribune for a few years, but in October of 1913 a photograph appeared, titled "Women Voters Who Attended Garbage Session of City Council." The ladies look very serious and I think the thermodized jelly had stopped working. Was Deene a Suffragette?

And, last but not least, there is an intriguing listing on Amazon for a song titled, "The Malay Moon," Words and Music by Dorothy D. Deene.

Beauty queen, entrepreneur, artist, teacher and possibly suffragette. That was Chicago's own, Dorothy D. Deene. Quite the independent woman of the early twentieth century. But I still haven't found anything on windmills, Lidian...

For more information on the "New Thought" movement, see A History of the New Thought Movement By Horatio Willis Dresser and the Columbia Encyclopedia definition.

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Chicago History Caught in the Web

Marion Mahony Griffin is the subject of a recent post at designslinger. Marion Mahony (1871-1962), who married Walter Burley Griffin, was Chicago born and graduated from MIT in 1894. She went to work for Frank Lloyd Wright in 1895 and was one of his premiere designers. She was his first employee and the first woman to be officially licensed as an architect. For more information see The Magic of America from the Art Institute of Chicago.


Dumpsite is posting an email they received from Preservation Chicago regarding the sale of the Richard Nickel house at 1810 W. Cortland in Bucktown. Let's hope a buyer who is sensitive to Nickel's legacy will step forward. (Photo from the Save the Nickel House website.)


One of the items on my historical Chicago wish-I'd-been-there list is hearing Mark Beaubien play the fiddle at the Sauganash. Paul Tyler, of the Old Town School of Folk Music, wrote a piece on Chicago fiddlers last year titled, What in the World? A Fiddle Club for Chicago. Great piece and full of juicy historical nuggets. The Beaubiens are still a prominent family in Chicago. Just for fun, you might also enjoy the September, 1888 New York Times article, MARK BEAUBIEN'S WIFE. It seems she was quite the fiery femme.




Phillip Armour sure knew how to get around the Stockyards! A little about Mr. Armour...

"He pays six or seven millions of dollars yearly in wages," writes Arthur Warren in an interesting article in McClure's Magazine, February, 1894, "owns four thousand railway cars, which are used in transporting his goods, and has seven or eight hundred horses to haul his wagons. Fifty or sixty thousand persons receive direct support from the wages paid in his meatpacking business alone, if we estimate families on the census basis. He is a larger owner of grain-elevators than any other individual in either hemisphere; he is the proprietor of a glue factory, which turns out a product of seven millions of tons a year; and he is actively interested in an important railway enterprise."

He manages his business with great system, and knows from his heads of departments, some of whom he pays a salary of $25,000 yearly, what takes place from day to day in his various works. He is a quiet, self-centred man, a good listener, has excellent judgment, and possesses untiring energy.

"All my life," he says, "I have been up with the sun. The habit is as easy at sixty-one as it was at sixteen; perhaps easier, because I am hardened to it. I have my breakfast at half-past five or six; I walk down town to my office, and am there by seven, and I know what is going on in the world without having to wait for others to come and tell me. At noon I have a simple luncheon of bread and milk, and after that, usually, a short nap, which freshens me again for the afternoon's work. I am in bed again at nine o'clock every night."

Mr. Armour thinks there are as great and as many opportunities for men to succeed in life as there ever have been. He said to Mr. Warren: " There was never a better time than the present, and the future will bring even greater opportunities than the past. Wealth, capital, can do nothing without brains to direct it. It will be as true in the future as it is in the present that brains make capital — capital does not make brains. The world does not stand still. Changes come quicker now than they ever did, and they will come quicker and quicker. New ideas, new inventions, new methods of manufacture, of transportation, new ways to do almost everything, will be found as the world grows older; and the men who anticipate them, and who are ready for them, will find advantages as great as any their fathers or grandfathers have had."

From: Famous Givers and Their Gifts By Sarah Knowles Bolton (1896)

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Chicago History Online: A New Satellite Site

I have a little announcement. You see all those links in the right column? Soon they will be edited to simply a list of topics linking to a new site called Chicago History Online. The reasons for this change are obvious. As the Journal grows and the link sets increase in number, the site will load even more slowly than it does now (I've had emails) and become more cluttered. Something had to be done. Chicago History Online is in its infancy; the link sets need to be sorted by category, and I need to figure a way to have the pages open in a new window on the Journal site. After all, I don't want you running off. But, it's a start. I'm not even sure I like the theme, but I do want to keep it clean and simple.

I would really like your feedback on this change. Is it a good or bad idea? How would you like to see the site organized? Contact me at sharon at chicago history journal dot com ( you know the anti spam drill) with your suggestions or leave a comment.

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