City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago (47 page)

  
4.
 Chief Garrity’s qualms about the militia as per Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 35. For the most complete account of the People’s Council incident, see Thurner, “Mayor, the Governor, and the People’s Council.” “In case rioting should break out” is quoted in ibid., p. 137. “A treasonable conspiracy” and “Freedom of speech will be respected” are quoted in ibid., p. 138. Garrity’s announcement (“even if it becomes necessary to fill every jail in Chicago”) comes from Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 35.

  
5.
 Details in this paragraph come from various sources. For Fitzgerald’s suicide watch, see the
CDT
of July 29. For the overflowing crowds on the street, see the
CDN
of July 28. “Send him out here and we’ll hang him for you!” was quoted in the
CEP
of July 28. “You can never tell what will happen” was cited by the
CDJ
of July 28.

  
6.
 Each of the papers had a slightly different account of the very brief coroner’s inquest session. I have taken the quotations from the
CEP
of July 28.

  
7.
 The quotation from Hoyne and the announcement from Crowe are both from the
CDN
of July 28.

  
8.
 The quotations from O’Brien are from the
CEP
of July 28. That day’s
CDN
noted that he was wearing his hanging tie. “Fitzgerald may be a moron” is from the
CDT
of the same date.

  
9.
 The twenty-five incidents in Chicago that year as per the
CDT
of July 28. The next day’s edition of that paper cited the official’s estimate of two hundred cases
per year. “There is but one solution to the whole problem” was quoted in the
CDN
of July 28.

10.
 The scene of Janet’s casket being carried into the duplex was described in the
CDJ
of July 28 and in the
CDT
of July 29. The
CDN
of July 29 noted that many mourners remained on the street through the night.

11.
 For the gangs of white youths waiting just outside the yards, see
TNIC
, p. 6. The attack on Oscar Dozier was described in ibid., p. 656.

12.
 For the attacks on streetcars, see Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 37, and
TNIC
, pp. 656–57. (NB: The latter book describes the weapon used to kill John Mills as a “scantling.”)

13.
 The ineffectiveness of the police was widely remarked upon in the press and later by the coroner’s jury. Stories that they “were all fixed and told to lay off on club members” come from
TNIC
, p. 12. The arrest of Joseph Scott as per ibid., p. 659.

14.
 The unusually aggressive self-defense of blacks in the riot was a recurrent theme in much of the press coverage, particularly in the black weeklies. The
CDN
of July 28 reported the crowd at Thirty-fifth and State as three hundred; Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 40, puts it at four thousand (admittedly, the crowds in this location grew throughout the evening). The rumored invasion of the Black Belt by “an army of whites” as per Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 40. The killing of Casmere Lazzeroni as described in
TNIC
, p. 663. Eugene Temple’s murder as described in ibid., p. 658.

15.
 The carloads of whites firing at random as per Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 40. Edward Dean Sullivan’s ordeal was described by him in his book
Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime
, pp. 1–7.

16.
 The Angelus incident is most reliably described in
TNIC
, pp. 6, 661–62. The shooting went on for ten minutes according to the
CD
of August 2.

17.
 That the white gangs seemed to be focusing on the contested neighborhoods with black newcomers is emphasized by Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 41; Philpott,
Slum and the Ghetto
, p. 170; and
TNIC
, p. 6.

18.
 For the aldermen urging suspension of search-and-seizure laws, see the
CEP
of July 28. George Harding’s reassuring quotation after his tour of the riot zone was cited in the
CDN
of July 28.

19.
 The carefully worded text of Thompson’s telegram was reprinted in the
CDT
of July 29.
TNIC
, p. 41, breaks down the groups from the Illinois National Guard and those from the state’s reserve militia; both groups were typically referred to interchangeably as “the militia.”

20.
 Details about Sterling Morton’s experience come principally from two sources—a letter he wrote to his cousin, Wirt Morton, dated August 11, 1919, and a memoir, “The Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” written
decades later (both in the Sterling Morton Papers at the Chicago History Museum). The quote about the need for the militia being greater after the war is from the memoir, p. 5.

21.
 Morton’s history as per “Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” pp. 5–7, his biography in the Sterling Morton Papers, Joy Sterling Morton’s entry in Ingham,
Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders
, and the
Fifth Year Record: Class of 1906, Princeton
(Princeton University Press, 1912). The story about choosing the Morton Salt girl comes from an anonymous article in
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
(September 1959), p. 42.

22.
 The scene in the Loop as described in Morton’s letter of August 11 and “Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” pp. 7–9.

23.
 “Get in my cab” is from Morton, “Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” p. 8. “I saw sights that I never shall forget” is from the letter of August 11. Other details from the memoir, pp. 7–9.

24.
 “The South Side is a seething cauldron of hate” is from the
CEP
of July 28. The Horace Jennings episode was described in both Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 43, and
TNIC
, pp. 38–39.

25.
 The “grossly unfair” conduct of the police as per
TNIC
, p. 599. See also pp. 34–35. For any white person in uniform as a target, see the
CDT
of July 28.

26.
 Emily Frankenstein describes her father’s close call in her diary, p. 201. The man shot while eating dinner comes from the
CDT
of July 28. Lucius Harper described his harrowing experience in the
CD
of August 2.

27.
 The number of dead and wounded at the end of the second day of rioting as per Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 44. The results of the strike vote and the shutting down of the streetcar and elevated systems were ubiquitously reported.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: TUESDAY, JULY 29

  
1.
 “I stood up in a truck” and “Oh mother, here comes the lion’s cage” are from the
CEP
of July 29. “Never in the history of the city has such a condition prevailed” was quoted in the
CDN
of July 29. All of the other details in these paragraphs come from the same two papers.

  
2.
 The
NYT
of July 30 reported that half a million Chicago commuters stayed home. For the stockyards and municipal employees, see Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 44. “Snipers, white as well as black” is from the
CEP
of July 29. Edward W. Jackson’s death as per
TNIC
, pp. 658–59. The shooting of Parejko and Maminaki is from ibid., pp. 664–65. The absence of larger mobs on Tuesday was noted in the
CDT
of July 30. For the prowling group of twelve black soldiers, see the
CDN
of July 29. “This is the most serious problem that has ever confronted the police department in Chicago” was quoted in the
CDJ
of July 29.

  
3.
 Three officers and one sergeant in the Loop as per
TNIC
, pp. 36–38. For the cited incidents in the Loop, see ibid., pp. 19, 666.

  
4.
 “The race riots are spreading” is from Florence Lowden’s diary for July 29 (Pullman-Miller Family Papers). Calls for martial law as per the
CDN
of July 29.

  
5.
 Lowden’s abrupt return to Chicago was noted in the
CDT
and
CDJ
of July 29. “I cannot say who is responsible for this situation” was quoted in the
CDN
of July 29.

  
6.
 For Dickson’s upbeat assessment, see the
CEP
of July 29.

  
7.
 The joint news conference of the mayor and the governor was covered by all of the papers. The quotations in this section are as they were reported in the
CDN
and
CDJ
of July 29.

  
8.
 For the prison riot, I have relied most heavily on reports in the
CEP
and
CDN
(“Look here, I’m not going to give you more than a minute”) of July 29.

  
9.
 The sixty armed detectives around city hall as per the
CDT
of July 30. For the far-fetched rumors, see
TNIC
, p. 33, and White, “Causes of the Chicago Race Riot.” The
CD
story of the alleged murder of the black woman and her baby appeared in the August 2 edition.

10.
 For the press distortions, see especially West, “Press Coverage of Urban Violence, 1903–1967.” See also Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 47, and
TNIC
, p. 26, for discrepancies over the numbers of killed and wounded.

11.
 For police distortions (seventy-five police dead; “For God’s sake, arm [yourselves]”), see Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 48.
TNIC
, p. 35, compares the relative number of black and white arrests and casualties. The incident of the arrested and released light-skinned black man (“You’ll probably need this before the night is over”) is recounted in West, “Press Coverage of Urban Violence, 1903–1967,” p. 50.

12.
 For the North Side gunfight, see the
CDT
of July 30. Threats to household staff are from Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 50.
TNIC
, p. 659, reports on the death of Joseph Lovings and the newspapers’ exaggeration of it.

13.
 “While all sensible people” is a quote from Sterling,
Black Foremothers
, pp. 112–13. For Wells-Barnett’s other activities during the first days of the riot, see the
CDT
of July 30. Her letter (“Free Chicago stands today humble before the world”) appeared on the front page of the
CDJ
of July 29.

14.
 The
Broad Ax
accusation was reported in the
NYT
of July 30. The quotation from the
CDN
editorial appeared in the July 29 issue.

15.
 The
CDJ
of July 29 blamed the mayor and police for their failure to protect the city’s children. “We have other Fitzgeralds; we have other little Janet Wilkinsons” comes from an editorial in the
CEP
of July 29.

16.
 “Vast Throng Weeps at Slain Girl’s Bier” is from the
CDN
of July 29. Reverend Phelan’s and John Wilkinson’s quotations were reported in the
CDJ
of July 29.

17.
 Details of the funeral service and burial in this paragraph come from the
CEP
of July 29.

18.
 The
CDN
of July 29 wondered aloud how everyone had gotten to the Wilkinson funeral. Denial of strikebreaker rumors as per the
CEP
of July 29. “The fire will have to die out of the men” was quoted in the
CDJ
of July 29. “The compromise was liberal” as reported in the
CDT
of July 29. “The majority of our employees” as per the
NYT
of July 30.

19.
 The
NYT
of July 30 also reported that the plan was “hooted down.” The mayor’s quotations in this paragraph are from the
CDT
of July 29.

20.
 Strikers setting a streetcar on fire as per the
CDN
of July 29. For Hoyne’s meeting with Lowden, see Dobbert, “History of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919,” p. 62.

21.
 “Everyone cheered themselves hoarse,” “I did my best to put some pep into them,” and “For political reasons, we were kept in the armory” are from Morton’s August 11 letter to Wirt Morton (Sterling Morton Papers).

22.
 The spike in nonfatal shootings of police was reported in the
CDT
of July 30. For the shot-out streetlights, see Tuttle,
Race Riot
, p. 50. The
CDT
of July 30 reported on the Provident Hospital incident and the rise in arson.

23.
 “Our men are all ready” was quoted in the
CEP
of July 29. The late-night conference and the quotations from Thompson (“I am going to go home”) and Righeimer (“There are a half-dozen cases on record”) are from the
CDT
of July 30.

24.
 Sandburg’s report on the meeting of the Olivet Protective Association and his interview with George C. Hall appeared in that evening’s
CDN
of July 29. The text of the poem “Hoodlums” is from Sandburg,
Complete Poems
, p. 201. For Sandburg’s composition of this poem, see also Yanella,
Other Carl Sandburg
, p. 144.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: WEDNESDAY, JULY 30

  
1.
 Excerpts from Emily Frankenstein’s diary come from pp. 199–201 (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

  
2.
 Death toll by Wednesday morning as per the
CHE
of July 30. “Mayor Refuses Assent to Martial Law” is from the
CDJ
of July 30; “Storm Mayor with Demand for Troops to Quell Race Riots” is from the same day’s
CDN
.