By 1857, when John Wentworth was mayor, "The Sands" had obtained such an evil reputation that the mayor determined to clear the tract of its objectionable occupants, who had no legal title to any portion of the land, as the place had become the scene of constant disorder and a menace to the peace of the city. Mayor Wentworth ordered a raid on the Sands, and the police, led by the mayor himself, descended upon the place, razed many of the shanties to the ground, and ordered many of the others to be burned. This put an end to this "plague spot," as it was called, for the time at least, and the lawless inhabitants were driven away to make trouble elsewhere. This action of Mayor Wentworth was regarded as one of the notable acts of his administration. AN INCIDENT IN THE EXPULSION OF THE SQUATTERS One of the owners of the land upon which the shanties of the squatters were built was a man who did not discriminate very closely as to the character of the occupants so long as they would pay rent as some of them did. Hearing of the proposed demolition of the shanties the owner had instructed his agent to mark with red chalk those houses whose occupants had not paid rent, in the expectation that the police would destroy them only, and leave the others. On the day when the demolition was to take place "Long John" appeared on the scene in a carriage to superintend operations. One Bill Reese a famous character of those days, approached the carriage and said: "Long John, old man, I did not know that you could be 'played for a sucker' and become a rent collector." Reese then informed the mayor that the houses the occupants of which had not paid their rent were all marked with red chalk, as a sign to the police that they were the only ones to be demolished. The bluff old mayor could not recall that any such conditions had been mentioned in his order and he waxed furious in his wrath. "Bill," he said, "is there no more red chalk in town?" Upon this hint some red chalk was quickly procured, and under the mayor's direction every house in the district inhabited by the squatters was marked, recalling Morgiana's famous device of a similar character in the Arabian Nights' story of the "Forty Thieves.” Very soon thereafter a force of policemen and firemen appeared and were seen to be tearing down all the houses as they came to them without distinction. The owner's agent came running to the mayor appealing to him to save the houses of the rent payers; but Wentworth, with the strength of a giant, threw him down in one corner of the hack, at the same time remarking that it pained him to see him so much excited. Every house of course bore the red chalk marks, and they all went down in the general destruction. After the operation was completed the mayor turned to the agent, now entirely subdued, and said: "Give my compliments to your boss and tell him that 'Long John' is the best rent collector in Chicago, but his terms are very high." We now come to the time when "The Sands," now much increased in extent, again became the scene of a determined attempt to establish claims to title and occupancy, which is described in the next paragraph. CAPTAIN STREETER ARRIVES ON THE SCENE In July, 1886, while navigating the lake in a small sailing craft in the vicinity. of that portion of the north shore just described, Captain Streeter was driven ashore in a storm on “The Sands," at a point near the foot of Superior street; and after the storm had subsided he found that his vessel was lying high and dry at some distance from the open water. Finding it impossible to get the vessel afloat he used it as a dwelling, while in the meantime the sand continued to accumulate until he found himself at an increased distance inland. In fact Some of the adjacent land owners suspecting that he intended to make a permanent residence on the spot, and thus establish a color of title to the land, attempted by usual court processes to expel him from the neighborhood. Streeter did assert a claim by "right of discovery" as he said, and his actions and exploits during the following years became the subject of much newspaper comment and description. It was found, however, to be a very difficult matter to eject Streeter, and for some years he and a few followers held the authorities at bay. The tract of made land, extending from the Chicago river to Chicago avenue, and from the old shore line to the new line at the edge of the water a quarter or a third of a mile to the eastward, was called by Streeter the "District of Lake Michigan." He pretended that this district was not in the state of Illinois, and that he owed no allegiance to any authority except that of the United States. In common parlance the tract was referred to as "Streeterville." Of course Streeter's fantastic claims, though pressed on the Washington authorities, received no recognition. Following his claim of ownership to the "District of Lake Michigan" Streeter subdivided the tract into lots and found buyers for many of them among such persons as were willing to accept a title from such a dubious source. Streeter had long since exchanged his stranded boat for a more substantial shanty near the water's edge, and having gathered a few followers about him held the "fort," as he called it, against all who would dispute his claim. In 1900, the property owners, having formed a "protective association," built another shanty in the vicinity of Streeter's, and installed a couple of watchmen as a kind of besieging force. On one occasion a few rifle shots were exchanged and one of the watchmen employed by the property owners was killed. Streeter had thus rendered himself amenable to a criminal charge and the police promptly arrested him and his whole party. It was now possible to prosecute the interlopers as criminals, and accordingly they were placed on trial and three of them, including Streeter himself, were sentenced to various terms in the penitentiary. This put an end to the occupancy of the tract by unlawful means. The war was continued, however, in a fusillade of printed circulars, open letters, and much bombastic talk reported in the newspapers, by Streeter's followers, and by Streeter himself after he had served his term in the penitentiary. Little, however, is heard of the matter in later days, there being little or no life left in the contentions so vigorously made during a period of some twenty years. While Streeter was incarcerated in the penitentiary his wife, who had remained in the occupancy of the shanty, died under distressing circumstances of loneliness and neglect, and although there had been no public sympathy with Streeter in his absurd claims there was a very general sympathy felt for him in the loss of his devoted consort. After having completed his term in the state's prison Streeter engaged in the ordinary activities of private life. SKETCH OF POTTER PALMER Potter Palmer was born in New York state in 1826. His boyhood was spent on a large stock farm owned by his father. After receiving a common school education young Palmer, at the age of eighteen, entered a country store as a clerk, and in three years became manager of the establishment. Upon reaching his majority Mr. Palmer went into business for himself from which time he was steadily successful. In 1852, he came to Chicago and opened a dry goods store. He startled his competitors, it was said, by inaugurating new policies in merchandising and these resulted in a greatly increased trade for his store. He announced "that any patron who had bought goods at this store and desired to exchange them for other goods, or to return them and have the purchase money refunded, would be accommodated; and that goods might be taken home and inspected before purchase." Through these new methods his business prospered, though it was freely predicted that they would bring ruin to his business. "At the end of ten years he was known as the individual proprietor of the largest mercantile business in the Northwest." He then sold his business to Marshall Field and Levi Z. Leiter. After a period spent in travel Mr. Palmer returned to Chicago and invested largely in real estate. These investments led in the end to his becoming the most forceful leader in the upbuilding of the city. In 1869, Mr. Palmer began the erection of the first structure known as the Palmer House, at the northwest corner of State and Quincy streets. It was eight stories high and contained two hundred and twenty-five rooms. This hotel was opened on the 26th of September, 1871, only thirteen days before the great fire which left it a smouldering heap of ruins. After the fire Mr. Palmer decided to rebuild his hotel but chose a new site on the southeast corner of State and Monroe streets. It was built in a strictly fireproof manner and remains today one of the safest and most popular hotels in the city, though of course greatly surpassed in size and elegance by the modern structures of later years. Mr. Palmer's principal achievement was changing the entire channel of the retail business of the city from Lake street, which runs east and west, to State street, running north and south. State street at that time was a narrow, ill-paved and illdrained street, lined with unsightly, irregular structures. Mr. Palmer purchased about a mile of frontage on this street, and in less than four years, after many difficulties, he accomplished the object he had in view. State street was widened twenty-seven feet, and he erected some thirty-two of the finest commercial buildings in the city, including the first Palmer House. When the great fire swept the city it seemed at first as if the fortune of Mr. Palmer and the future of the city had gone down in one common ruin. But Mr. Palmer had won a great reputation as a man of high integrity during the previous years of his busines life in Chicago, and he was able to make a loan from a large life insurance company, the largest that at that time had been made to any individual,-$1,700,000. In a few years Mr. Palmer had completely recovered his financial footing, and at his death on the 4th of May, 1902, was rated as a millionaire. Mr. Palmer served as a South Park Commissioner during the early constructive period of the South Side system, from February, 1871 to April, 1874. During the many years that he was a resident of Chicago Mr. Palmer took part in most of the projects for the improvement of the city, and for the advancement of its industrial, artistic and social life. He was one of the incorporators of the Board of Trade, one of the first subscribers to the May Festivals, one of the three creators of the Interstate Industrial Exposition, and was a director in the World's Columbian Exposition. President Grant offered Mr. Palmer the cabinet portfolio of Secretary of the Interior but he declined the honor. THE SUNSET CLUB The object of the Sunset Club, organized in 1889, was stated to be, "To foster rational good-fellowship and tolerant discussion," and its requirements for membership were that any "genial and tolerant fellow" might join on approval of the executive committee, and the payment of the nominal dues. Mr. William W. Catlin, a young man of great energy and tact and much interested in the questions of the day, was the moving spirit; and the career of the Club, extending through several years of activity, was a tribute to his ability in the conduct of such an organization. The Club disbanded in 1895, but was revived again in 1898, and finally disbanded in 1901. The series of "Year Books" issued by the Club contain a great number of the printed addresses made at the sessions of the Club, covering a wide variety of topics. A humorous "declaration of principles," consisting of some thirty or more statements, nearly all in the negative form, as "No club house, No constitution, No dress coats, No preaching, No resolutions, No vituperation, No personalities. No late hours," etc., were printed on its programmes. A newspaper wag called it "an Unprincipled Club," because of the declaration formulated by "Father" Catlin, as above stated. There was usually a large attendance at its dinners, and old timers recall those occasions as highly enjoyable as well as profitable. The Sunset Club was modeled after the Twilight Club of New York, with "some improvements," such as allowing speakers twenty minutes instead of five minutes as at the Twilight Club, and changing its scope somewhat. "All sorts and all conditions of men belong to the Sunset Club," said a writer in the Chicago Herald. "It is the only club of the kind in Chicago where all meet on a level. Its discussions have the effect of making the radicals less radical, and the conservatives more liberal in their views. It is the broadest organization in the world." The founder, Mr. Catlin, said of it that it was "the only club where men of the widest, opposite and most radical views meet on the same platform, and discuss questions in which they take a vital interest, without once displaying any bitterness or descending into personality." Edmund Clarence Stedman, the poet and critic, wrote a letter in approval of the Club and its principles, and suggested the following as a suitable motto: "At set of sun one lone star rules the skies, Night spreads a feast the day's long toil has won; CHAPTER LI TRACK ELEVATION-LIFE SAVING SERVICE, ETC. GRADE CROSSINGS IN CHICAGO- FIRST ELEVATION OF TRACKS IN 1892-ILLINOIS CENTRAL FIRST TO ELEVATE TRACKS-LAKE SHORE AND ROCK ISLAND ELEVATE RIGHT OF WAY-CHICAGO & NORTH-WESTERN ENTER UPON EXTENSIVE SYSTEM OF ELEVATION-SUCCESSION OF ORDINANCES PASSED FORT WAYNE ELEVATES TRACKS THE CITY'S MOST DEADLY CROSSING-BENEFITS OF TRACK ELEVATION- PROGRESS MADE IN EIGHTEEN YEARS-SKETCH OF CARTER H. HARRISON, THE ELDER-THE INHERITANCE TAX LAW-ESTATES WHICH HAVE PAID AN INHERITANCE-TAXSKETCH OF EUGENE FIELD-HIS WONDERFUL DIVERSITY OF GIFTS-HUMOR AND PATHOS OF HIS WRITINGS SOME OF HIS POEMS THE UNITED STATES LIFE SAVING SERVICE THE STATIONS AND THEIR EQUIPMENT SOME NOTABLE RESCUES-DISASTERS TO THE STEAMER CALUMET." 66 TRACK ELEVATION PECIAL legislation was not necessary to enable the city of Chicago to require of the railroads having terminals in the city that they should elevate their tracks, and thereby eliminate grade crossings. The police power granted by the charter of the city, which gave the city government the right to take such measures as would guarantee to its citizens protection to life and limb and to promote the general welfare, was sufficient authority. The elimination of railroad grade crossings was begun in the earlier history of Chicago by the erection of viaducts. This unsatisfactory and impracticable method was continued until 1892, when after several years of agitation and discussion by those who believed in track elevation as the remedy on the one hand, and by the railroads who claimed that the cost was prohibitive and ruinous to them on the other, a commission was appointed by Mayor Washburne, approved by the City Council February 15, 1892, known as the Terminal Commission. The viaduct policy had become unpopular. "The height at which it was necessary to erect the viaducts above the original grade of the streets," says the Report of the Track Elevation Department, issued on January 1, 1909, "required the construction of long approaches, not only in the streets provided with viaducts, but in those that intersected the site of the approaches as well." Thus property contiguous to the right-of-way of railroads seemed likely in time to be "enmeshed. with a network of approaches, which would not only offer long and heavy grades to street traffic but would considerably depreciate the value of the property affected." 183 |