City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago (43 page)

  
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 “who 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 House 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.