Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC 29403
www.historypress.net
Copyright 2009 by Troy Taylor
All rights reserved
Images are courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted.
First published 2009
e-book edition 2012
ISBN 978.1.61423.298.8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Taylor, Troy.
Murder and mayhem on Chicagos North Side / Troy Taylor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
print edition ISBN 978-1-59629-644-2
1. Murder--Illinois--Chicago--History. 2. Crime--Illinois--Chicago--History. I. Title.
HV6534.C4T39 2009
364.15230977311--dc22
2009005835
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
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INTRODUCTION
Chicago is a city that was born in blood. The first settlers who came to the shores of Lake Michigan were brutally slaughtered during an Indian massacre, and even the man considered by many to be Chicagos founding father murdered another man during a land dispute. It was a gruesome start for a city that was already rooted in chaos.
Chicago was not planned in the way that other great American cities were. Its birthplace was not carefully chosen, and the streets were not laid out with care. Chicago began as nothing more than empty wilderness and open prairie, a desolate and isolated region on the shore of a great lake. The land on both sides of the Chicago River was low and wet, a brackish area of swamp and mud. A large portion of it spent part of the year under the murky waters of the lake. The mouth of the river itself was choked with sand, allowing passage of nothing larger than a canoe. The streambed was filled with rice and wild onions, an aromatic vegetable that would give Chicago its nameor perhaps not.
Nobody really knows for sure why the city was called Chicago. On the banks of the river grew wild onionor perhaps it was garlicwhich the Indians allegedly called chickagou. Some claim that the name of the city came from the Indian word sheecaugo, meaning playful waters, or from the word chocago, meaning destitute. Others suggest it came from the word shegahg, which meant skunk, or from an Indian chief named Chicagou. And the list goes on. In general, though, most just interpreted the name to mean bad smell, and for some reason, the moniker stuck.
Chicago went from being a spot on the map through which French explorers passed to an active settlement in the early 1800s. By this time, America was expanding its borders, and settlers, trappers, traders and soldiers came to the region, establishing a small settlement and a frontier outpost called Fort Dearborn.
In 1804, a man named John Kinzie arrived in the region. He bought out the property of Jean Lalime and, over the course of several years, became the self-appointed civilian leader of the settlement. He was known for his sharp dealings with the local Indians over trade goods and furs. He also established close ties with the Potawatomi Indians and even sold them liquor, which created tension among the other settlers. Kinzie managed to become very successful, and this seemed to anger Jean Lalime, the man who had sold Kinzie his business. The two became bitter rivals, and eventually the hard feelings boiled over into violence when Lalime was stabbed to death.
Once that blood was spilled, it seemed that Chicago acquired a taste for it.
In August 1812, tension erupted into violence on the Illinois frontier. War had broken out once more between America and Great Britain, and the conflict had created unrest among the local Indian tribes, namely the Potawatomis and their allies who had hard feelings toward the American settlers. The commander at Fort Dearborn was ordered to evacuate the outpost, and while journeying to Fort Wayne in Indiana, the majority of the companymen, women and children alikewas massacred on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Chicago may have gotten off to a bloody start, but actual crime came slowly to the region. The first Chicago settlers were a rough lot, but there was no record of criminal activity in the area until the first population boom of the early 1830s. Thousands swarmed into the region from the east, and among these was Chicagos first thief. In addition, the mob of new arrivals brought the first man to be housed in the city jail. This drifter, known only as Harper, was apparently arrested in the early fall of 1833 as a vagrant. Thanks to Illinois law at the time, vagrants could be offered for sale into slavery. Public sentiment was opposed to the sale of a white man, and even though a large crowd attended the auction, the only bid came from George White, a black man who was employed as the town crier. Harper was sold to him for a quarter, and White led him away at the end of a chain. What became of Harper after that is unknown, but its thought that he escaped that night and quickly fled the city.
The name of Chicagos first thief has never been recorded, but he reportedly stole thirty-four dollars from a fellow boarder at the Wolf Tavern. Constable Reed arrested him, and the missing funds were discovered when the man was taken to Reeds carpentry shop and ordered to strip. The money was found wadded up in the toe of one of the mans socks. The defendant was held over for trial, which took place at the tavern, and after much argument and speech-making, he was found guilty. He was released on a nominal bail, pending a motion for a new trial by his boisterous attorney, Giles Spring, and he promptly disappeared.
By the late 1830s, Chicago newspapers were publishing an increasing number of accounts detailing thefts, holdups, drunken disturbances, street brawls and small riots. Other cities began to notice, and in the summer of 1839, a newspaper in Jackson, Michigan, commented that the population of Chicago is principally composed of dogs and loafers.
One of these loafers was a young Irishman named John Stone who went to the gallows and became the first legal execution in Chicago history. Stone arrived in America at the age of thirteen and came to Chicago in 1838, after having served prison time for robbery and murder in Canada. He worked off and on as a woodcutter but spent most of his time in saloons and in the citys first billiard hall. In the spring of 1840, Stone was arrested for the rape and murder of Mrs. Lucretia Thompson, the wife of a Cook County farmer. In May, he was tried and convicted of the crime. On Friday, July 10, Stone was taken by wagon to a spot on the lakeshore about three miles south of the courthouse. About two hundred mounted citizens and sixty armed militiamen, under the command of Colonel Seth Johnson, escorted him to the gallows. He was hanged in front of a large crowd of interested spectators, and after his death, his body was taken by Doctors Boone and Dyer and dissected for medical study.
