Saturday, December 16. Good morning.
Where Were We?
Last week, I described the political situation in Chicago in the fall of 1893, how the re-election campaign of Republican Judge Joseph E. Gary, who had overseen the conviction of the “Haymarket 8” was prompting Democratic Governor John P. Altgeld - who had subsequently pardoned those defendants who had not already been executed - to campaign against him, though he himself was not on the ballot. How the assassination of Mayor Carter Harrison by a disgruntled, insane newspaper carrier/campaign volunteer on the eve of the close of the World’s Fair had plunged Chicago from the heights of jubilation and accomplishment to the depth of humiliation and despair.
I have also described how city attorneys quickly realized there were no laws in Chicago’s books governing how to replace a mayor who died in office.
Under the Hood: The Best-Laid Plans
Last week, I promised to introduce you to “the main players in this drama,” but the first draft of this read like the character list in the front matter of a Russian novel. So, I will creep ahead with the story and introduce folks as we go. As I said, this is an experiment for me, so thanks for bearing with me.
9 pm, Saturday, October 28.
At about the time that the news of Harrison’s murder was reaching Paris and London, friends and colleagues of the mayor were arriving at the Harrisons’ home on Ashland Avenue. Police stationed at the gates to keep out and control the growing crowd let them through. To a man - and they were all men - they were politicians and newspaper editors. Sometimes both.
Among the first visitors was Carter’s good friend Henry R. “Harry” Donovan. Donovan was editor and publisher of the weekly Chicago Eagle, an ardently Democratic newspaper whose motto nonetheless was “Independent in All Things, Neutral in None.” He was also one of the “City Hall Quartet,” a group of Democrats who ran things politically for Mayor Harrison. In addition to editing the weekly, Donovan was a gas inspector for the City, having been appointed in April by the mayor.
Several Chicago aldermen had arrived as well. Of particular note was George B. Swift, a Republican. Swift had been re-elected to the City Council in April and had been chosen by the Republican caucus to preside over Council meetings when Mayor Harrison was absent. He was a former commissioner of Public Works for the City of Chicago and part of Chicago’s first Republican political machine with his business partner and friend George Royal Davis, a former Congressman who was now Director General of the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Swift was also a deacon for the Methodist church who did not drink and, according to my grandmother, didn’t serve any alcohol at table. (As longtime readers of this substack know, Swift was also my great-great-grandfather.) That he was a teetotaling politician who didn’t work on Sundays made his rise through the ranks even more remarkable. But he wasn’t called George “Brains” Swift for nothing.
The visitors were not at the Harrison home just to comfort the bereaved. As the (Republican) Inter-Ocean reported on October 29th:
A number of the aldermen chanced to meet at the residence of the murdered mayor last night and it was suggested that a special meeting of the City Council be called for to-morrow morning at 10 o’clock. Among the aldermen present when this suggestion was made were: Bidwill, of the Ninth ward; Kent and Swift, of the Eleventh; and Campbell, of the Twelfth.
All of the aldermen listed by the Inter-Ocean were Republican.
One of the reasons for their eagerness to act quickly was that city attorneys had realized that no statutes governed how to replace a mayor who died in office. Whoever controlled the process had more control over the outcome.
10:30 pm that same night.
A reporter for the (Democratic) Chicago Herald tracked down the Corporation Counsel Adolph Kraus (incidentally, the gentleman whose job the assassin Prendergast believed was owed him) at his home.
Kraus was an attorney and Jewish community leader originally from Bohemia, moving to the U.S. with his family when he was 15. He was 21 when he read about the horrific fire in Chicago in 1871 and decided he wanted “to be one of the men who rebuilt the great city.” (This is from his autobiography.)
Kraus soon became friendly with Carter Harrison; by the 1890s, he was running Harrison’s mayoral campaigns. Such was his closeness to the family that when the sons were struggling to keep the Chicago Times afloat after the death of their father, attorney Kraus stepped in to help manage the newspaper.
Said Kraus that night to the Herald reporter:
“It is absolutely certain that there is no law in existence governing in the present peculiar conditions the choosing or election of an acting mayor, but common sense and public policy tell us that there must be some municipal head representing the mayor. Then, what are we to do?”
For its part, Inter-Ocean reported that Swift and Kraus met alone that night at Kraus’s home. What they said to one another was unreported, but the paper clearly suspected the two of discussing a way out of the problem.
11:30 pm that same night.
The reporter followed up with Swift at his own home. (It’s clear that reporters thought nothing of visiting political figures at their homes late into the evening. And perhaps more remarkably, at least to us, political figures let them in.)
“I was simply selected by the Republican caucus to preside in the absence of the mayor,” he said, when seen at his house, no 52 Loomis Street, at 11:30 o’clock last night. “The council can now select any member it sees fit to act as mayor until Mayor Harrison’s successor is elected at a special election. At present the city is without a mayor.”
That was a sly bit of business, Swift asserting that the City Council could select an interim mayor. There was no such provision, at least not at 11:30 pm that night. Since Republicans outnumbered Democrats on the Council, such a method would undoubtedly have favored Swift.
The Inter-Ocean’s suggestion that Swift might well be in line to be interim mayor was not accidental. The paper was owned and edited by Swift’s boyhood friend, H.H. Kohlsaat, a well-known Chicago baker who nonetheless had decided to try his hand at the newspaper biz. The Inter-Ocean now ran a close second, at least reputationally, to the venerable Republican paper, the Chicago Tribune, edited by the equally venerable Joseph Medill (who was also a former mayor ). In the past, other papers had referred to the Inter-Ocean as Swift’s “organ,” it would live up to that reputation and then some in the days and weeks to come.
Lest you think that being Swift’s childhood chum was enough to put a newspaper editor squarely on his side, the Chicago Herald was run by another friend of Swift’s, James R. “Jimmy” Scott, a die-hard Democrat who had had it in (editorially) for Swift and Davis since they ran the town in the 1880s. This is despite Jimmy and George B. attending Sunday school together in their hometown of Galena and frequently joining forces to fight bullies down by the Galena River. Swift felt compelled to write a letter to Scott in November 1893, complaining of the newspaper’s coverage of his campaign. (It is the only handwritten letter of Swift’s known to exist.)
Transcript for those of you who do not typically decipher 19th-century handwriting during the course of a day:
Nov. 22 ‘93
My dear Scott,
I am not unmindful of the more than pleasant manner in which I have been treated by your papers and assure you I appreciate your kindness.
[illegible],
Geo. B. Swift
From the get-go, it was clear that the Herald would challenge any interest Swift or his allies had for Swift to attain the mayor’s chair. The Herald had also reached and interviewed Swift that night.
In connection with the idea another fact was mentioned, namely, that after the spring election Alderman Swift was elected by the republican aldermen chairman of the council - that is their man for presiding officer in the absence of the mayor. In view of these things it was regarded as logical in some quarters that Mr. Swift should be chosen as the acting mayor. As to this, Mr. Swift said yesterday:
“Under the circumstances that face us, sad and painful circumstances, party feeling should be set aside; but party feeling, I suppose, can never be wholly stifled. I refuse to discuss the question of my own possible choice for acting mayor for many reasons, but above and before all because my dear friend and Chicago’s good and foremost citizen is not yet in his grave.
“I’ll say this, that in view of the legal uncertainties that exist, it will be the duty of whatever man is put in the place to steer an even keel and act simply as a business agent for the city during the short period that will elapse before the new mayor shall be elected at the special election. Further, I’ll say that, while the acting mayor should be cautious and businesslike, a stern sense of duty would naturally impel a right-minded man to be up and doing, should anything crooked come before him, in reference to which he might be expected by any to be either a silent or an active participant.”
Views like these are known not to be popular with the majority of the aldermen - that is a majority composing democrats and republicans alike - and because of these views it was practically resolved yesterday to set Mr. Swift aside.
Evidently, the Herald was averring that Swift was not crooked enough to qualify for the mayor’s seat.
There was another Republican alderman whom the Herald did favor. Martin B. Madden was a British-born businessman who headed the powerful Finance Committee on the City Council. The Herald may not have liked Madden’s politics, but it liked his friends, who included the aforementioned Harry Donovan and several other powerful Democrats.
Until Swift was re-elected to the Council, Madden had been the one to preside over City Council meetings in Mayor Harrison’s absence. Whether Swift’s ascension was the cause of, or evidence of, a rift in the Republican ranks, I don’t know. Whatever the case, in a rare moment of agreement between the Herald and the Tribune, the Tribune had also decided to back Madden for mayor.
Monday morning, October 30th
On Monday, October 30th, the Trib published a headline that could have been a campaign ad:
How had the Tribune come to that conclusion? It seems to have been the result of a meeting between a group of twelve aldermen that took place on Sunday, October 29th. This meeting was illegal because it was held on a Sunday, which is why the meeting notes were dated Saturday, October 28th, which was impossible since Mayor Harrison was still alive then. George B. (as I like to call him) was not in attendance at this Sunday meeting. Whether it was because it was the Sabbath or because he didn’t want his fingerprints on the meeting, I don’t know. But plenty of his friends were there.
I will cover what happened on Sunday next week. (After that, I will take an end-of-the-year break for a week.)
Having just re-read Devil in the White City again, this is such a great read to find out what happens next, so to speak. I just finished reading another fascinating book Milwaukee in the 1930s, which was written under a new deal program but shelved over politics. It was discovered in the Madison Historical Society archives and published more recently. It’s full of great little anecdotes and stories going back to the Gilded Age! One interesting connection - Washington Park in Milwaukee was designed in 1892 by Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park and World’s Fair fame. I cross country skied there with a lady friend once and remember thinking it was a beautiful park - now I guess I know why!
Oh my...I long to know what happens next. What terrific writing this is that can bring this sense of mystery alive!!