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Newsboys’ Dinner

November 26, 2015 by Administrator Leave a Comment

Newsboys’ Dinner

Chicago Tribune November 28, 1895

HE FEEDS THEM ALL

Clothier Woolf Gives His Thanksgiving Dinner.

POOR ARE HIS GUESTS.

Hundreds of Hungry Men and Boys Given Food.

WAIFS OWN THE TABLES.

What They Think of Their Generous Benefactor.

PROGRAMS FOR THANKSGIVING

It was a happy scene last night and a tearful one at I. Woolf & Co.’s clothing store, Halsted and West Madison streets, when upward of 10,000 of the city’s poor sat down to a regular old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner, and with full hearts and fuller stomachs expressed their gratitude to providence and Mr. Woolf for the spread.

It was the thirteenth of the so-called newsboys’ dinner given by the house, but this year it was not strictly a newsboys’ affair, nor was it an event limited to the waifs. A general invitation was issued to all the poor of Chicago, irrespective of age, race, or color, and the gathering was a notable one, not merely from its size, but from the strange assemblage of unique characters. Dirty-faced little urchins of the alleys, who talked slang and ate with their fingers, sat side by side with impoverished men of culture, who said “please” and “thank you” and fed themselves with a fork. Haggard and sickly mothers were there with their mere tots of children. Gray-haired men and women came and brokenly offered a half apology for their presence. Guests who spoke English in passing pie and celery were thanked in German, and over the way some one asked “Have a banan?” and got the answer, “Bet yer life, Cully.”

Menu for the 18th Annual Newsboys’ Dinner
November 28, 1900

Crowds Are Thick.
By 6 o’clock—the hour set for the meal—fully 5,000 people surged about the doors of the clothing house. A dozen policemen kept order as well as they could, and wondered where all the people came from. After several “shifts” have been admitted at the side door and passed, fully satisfied—some called themselves cold-storage houses—out at the front, there seemed little diminution in the host of would-be banqueters. It was fully 11 o’clock when all were fed and sent away happy.

A tempting repast it was, too, to which they were admitted. The goods had been stored away, and the counters removed from the central part of the main floor. In their place was a triple row of specially constructed tables, neatly covered with marbled oilcloth. In each if the three front windows was a similar table. All were decorated with vases of flowers, and in addition there were pyramids of cakes and festoons of fruit. Plates were laid for 1,000, and they were laid with as much precision and with as much artistic effect as in a first-class hotel. Turkeys ready for the knife, were placed at intervals down the tables, and—this was a point specially commended by the guests—everything was within reach. One hundred and two clerks, with white aprons and jackets, did the bidding of the motley crowd.

That crowd was a crowd of epicures—for a day. It was their feast and they made it known. All Mr. Woolf had to do was to furnish the food and service and foot the bills. Of course the tables in the windows were the posts of honor and the elite of the newsboys’ circle aspired for the seats. Turkey, they thought, would taste better if they could eat it while making faces at the throng who watched with hungry eyes and watering mouths without.

Has a Monster Menu/
The menu was one of heroic size. One had to see the outlay to grasp its proportions. From the following all the et ceteras are eliminated:

“Kids,” said a local celebrity, “dat was a great blow-out,” holding his sides. “Almost a bust-out. Criticisms not in order. It won’t be ‘lowed. It was a feast fit fer de gods—who, who said anything about galleries? Niothin’s too good for us kids of de street, and”—the police sang out, “Move on.”

Woolf’s Clothing Advertisement

Der Westen — January 27, 1901

Remarkable Career Isaac Woolf’s Life Shows How an Energetic Man Can Prosper

Among the many remarkable merchants of State Street, Chicago’s famous business center, there are few who can point to a greater and more successful accomplishment than Isaac Woolf, founder of the large clothing house of the same name, and who rose from newsboy to merchant prince.

Proud as he is of his achievement, Mr. Woolf is a bit too modest to talk about himself, and it was only after considerable entreaty that a reporter of the Staats-Zeitung was able to gather a few facts about his life.

Some twenty years ago Woolf started his career as a newsboy. Insignificant as this beginning may seem, Woolf’s strong will enabled him to start the Woolf Clothing Company on the corner of Halsted and Madison streets. True, it was a modest beginning, – no indication whatsoever of future development. Yet, a keen observer, had there been one around, would have noticed in that 2modest beginning the seed of a large enterprise of the future.

Woolf was a firm believer in the policy that a customer is always right, and he spared no effort to prove it. He was always present and enjoyed a bit of conversation with his customers, a habit which made him many a friend. It is doubtful whether a man can be found in Chicago today, who has more friends than Woolf among all classes of the city’s population.

For seventeen years, since he established his business, Woolf has never failed to give an annual Thanksgiving dinner to the newsboys, and this one act alone may have a great deal to do with his popularity among those who know him. This dinner, one might say, is an integral part of his business and grows with it, becoming increasingly important to the ever spreading army of homeless, hungry newsboys. Every Thanksgiving day. Mr. Woolf takes great delight in seeing to it that none leave his store without having partaken from a large brown turkey and other delicacies.

For the newsboy, Woolf’s day, as this day is called, is the most important event of the year. And rightly so, if we consider the fact that Woolf’s latest Thanksgiving dinner was a huge affair in which 12,000 people ate. Just imagine a man who shares what he has with 12,000 youngsters, and it will dawn upon you why “Ikey” Woolf, the newsboy, became the towering merchant prince.

Two years ago Woolf moved his store to State Street, and this change gave rise to considerable confusion among his old customers and friends, who mistook Sol Woolf’s place at Jackson and State for his store due to the similarity in the names. The Woolf-Clothing Company overcame this difficulty by buying Sol Woolf’s stock at a 50% reduction and offering it to the public at purchase price. This, of course, was a business transaction that made the Woolf Clothing Company very popular among State Street shoppers, a popularity which it enjoys to this day.

Excerpted from Men’s Wear Semi-Monthly, January 6, 1909

news

FAILURE OF THE WOOLF CLOTHlNG CO., CHICAGO

In November last the company disposed of its store at Madison and Halsted streets, where the business was originally started by Isaac Woolf a quarter of a century ago, to Solomon & Simons, an Iowa firm, for $42,500 cash. A two days’ sale realized $2,500, and the $45,000, it was stated, was paid to credit ors. Since the death of Isaac Woolf it was said In various quarters the business of the company has not made the progress which his personal attention brought about.

Isaac Woolf was known as the newsboys’ friend because he provided a Thanksgiving dinner for them. He provided a fund for their annual dinner after his death and the newsboys got their Thanksgiving dinner in 1907. hut there was no feast for them this year. It was said that the company had not been able to secure a suitable place to hold the dinner.

The Chicago Reoord-Herald, commenting on the failure, said in part:

The financial depression of a year ago, together with the loss of the directing hand of the company’s founder. Isaac Woolf, are blamed for the failure. It Is said the company has been financially involved for more than a year, and that efforts to bridge the difficulties, according to the creditors’ lawyers, have been in vain.

Chicago Tribune November 20, 2011

Three cheers for newsboys’ friend on Thanksgiving

By Stephan Benzkofer

As Thanksgiving approaches, government agencies, religious groups and social service organizations make an extra effort to make sure everybody has a good meal on the holiday. Businesses pitch in too, providing much-needed services and rallying their employees to the cause.

In the early 1800s, it was a lone clothier, Isaac Woolf, who answered the call. The beneficiary of his amazing generosity was the army of street urchins who hawked newspapers and shined shoes. Woolf was born in London but immigrated to the U.S. and grew up in Lafayette, Ind., where he helped his parents by working as a newsboy.

The city streets teemed with newsboys and girls, ragpickers and bootblacks, as the shoeshiners were called. Some of these children, who could be as young as 4 or 5, were orphans but many came from poor families who needed every penny they could earn.

Woolf served 100 children at his first dinner in 1883 at his store’s original location at Madison Avenue and Halsted Street. (In 1895, he opened a downtown store at the southwest corner of State and Monroe streets, where it was famous for a huge horseshoe arching over the door.) In 1888, he fed 2,500 children. In 1892, he served 4,000. The store was cleared out to make room for tables, which could seat 400 at a time. A special police detail handled the crowd and managed shift changes. In 1895, under the headline, “He Feeds Them All,” the Tribune related how Woolf opened up the dinner to the general public, and “upward of 10,000” were served. The paper reported that 400 turkeys were eaten, along with eight barrels of mashed potatoes and 1,000 gallons of milk.

Then tragedy struck. In October 1906, Woolf died unexpectedly. He was 54. His brother, Benjamin, managed to pull off the 25th anniversary newsboys’ dinner the next month, and even the 26th annual in 1907, but that was it. Woolf’s Clothiers went bankrupt in 1908.

Each of those waifs, urchins and newsies considered Isaac Woolf their personal friend, the Tribune reported. It was common for the kids to offer up “three cheers” for him at the end of the meals, and one year, this call and response:

“What’s the matter with Woolf?”

“O, he’s all right!”

1932 NFL Championship Game

November 26, 2015 by Administrator Leave a Comment

Go to Football

Chicago Tribune, December 12, 1932

From Milwaukee Journal, December 12, 1932

Green Bay Will Still Take Trip to Hawaii

Chicago Scores All Its Points in Fourth Quarter on Tiny Engebretsen’s Place Kick From 14-Yard Line and Bronco Nagurski’s 56-Yard Dash; Arnie Herber Fumbles on One-Yard Line

(CHICAGO) – A week ago it was Portsmouth’s Spartans who used the Packers to vault into first place in the National league. Sunday it was the Chicago Bears. With a 9 to 0 victory on a snow covered, windswept field, the Bears jumped into a tie for the championship and next Sunday, at Cubs’ park, will meet Portsmouth in the playoff. Twice now the Packers have been the stepping stone by which another team has ascended the heights. But unlike the weary, bedraggled old men who took such a lacing at Portsmouth a week ago the Packers Sunday were the Packers of old. They bounced back in no uncertain way after their trouncing on the banks of the Ohio, although few expected them to, and they played enough football to deserve almost a better fate than the 9 to 0 licking. All through the first half they harassed the Bears and twice missed what looked like sure touchdowns only because of the cold and wet ball. On one occasion Arnie Herber fumbled the slippery pill on the one-yard line and on another Wuert Englemann, out in the clear about 15 yards from the goal with nobody near him, dropped a pass right up his mitts.

SCORE IN FOURTH QUARTER
The Bears scored all their points in the fourth quarter. They got three points when Tiny Engebretson, the old 225-pound Northwestern tackle, whirled a place kick through the snow and uprights from the 14-yard line, and six points more when the big snowplow, Bronko Nagurski, broke through left guard, swung to his left and outplowed Verne Lewellen through little snow drifts in a race to the goal 56 yards away. Although beaten the Packers will go through with their trip to California and Hawaii as planned. All but five of the regular squad, Verne Lewellen, Lavvie Dilweg, Cal Hubbard, Paul Fitzgibbons and Dick Stahlman, will make the trip to Hawaii where on Christmas Day the team will play the University of Hawaii and on New Year’s Day an all-star island eleven. The five will join their mates in California on the return trip, however, and play in the Knights of Columbus charity game against an all-star coach team in San Francisco January 22 and in another charity game, against the Southern California all-stars, at Los Angeles January 29. The team will sail from Los Angeles Friday night. The Bears were as happy as school kids in a snow fight after Sunday’s game, for by winning, as mentioned before, they tied Portsmouth in the National league race. Each team finished the regular season with six victories and one defeat for a percentage rating of .857. Green Bay, in third place, won 10 games and lost three for a standing of .769.

A FIELD OF SNOW
Sunday’s finale was played under impossible conditions. The field was blanketed with snow, although some attempt had been made to sweep it off, and it made the play a mess. The boys, most of who wore gloves, came out of each scrimmage looking like snowmen. After each play Referee George Lawrie had to wipe off the ball with a towel. All phases of the play naturally suffered. The men skidded and slipped, dropped passes, fumbled. But it had to be expected on this field. Considering the conditions, Herber, Nesbitt and Molesworth all did excellent punting, although it was far below what they would have done with a dry field. After a first quarter of punts, in which Hinkle’s superior kicking gradually threw the play into Chicago’s territory, the Packers in the second quarter made their first bid to score. They started in midfield, and on two passes, both Herber to Grove, they reached Chicago’s three yard line. Hinkle on the first play here hit a stone wall, but Herber on the next, despite an offside by the Bears, smashed to within six inches of the goal. With the field as it was, the Packers here might just as well have declined the penalty, it seemed, and taken the gain. But they didn’t. They took the penalty, which left them on the one yard line. And on the next play Herber fumbled. Kopcha recovered and Nesbitt at once punted out of danger.

PACKERS POUND RIGHT BACK
Undaunted, the Packers set sail as soon as they got the ball again and on a pass, Herber to Blood, they brought it right back to the 12 yard line. Herber slipped in attempting to pass two plays later, however, and lost 15 yards. That was all. The Packers never threatened again. It was the Bears’ turn to do things in the second half and the Bears did. Early in the third quarter a 15 yard pass, Doehring to Grange, followed by a 40 yard run, brought the ball to Green Bay’s 13 yard line. Grange had an open field ahead as he raced for the goal but McCrary nailed him from behind. On three plays here the Bears picked up only seven yards, and on fourth down Johnsos tried a placekick that squirted harmlessly to one side. Once more, however, the Bears pounded back and reached Green Bay’s 10 yard line on a pass, Doehring to Johnsos. But Nagurski fumbled two plays later and Cal Hubbard recovered. With these two Chicago threats squelched, it appeared as though the game might end in a scoreless tie, but Herber fumbled a punt on his 24-yard line early in the fourth quarter and Oakie Miller recovered for the Bears. A pass, Doehring to Brumbaugh, and an eight-yard gain over center by Nagurski brought the ball to Green Bay’s 11 yard line, and four plays later, after Grange and Nagurski had picked up six yards more, Engebretson dropped back and booted the field goal. Brumbaugh held the ball.

DANDY KICK
The kick was a beauty. Engebretson couldn’t have done better with a dry ball and a dry field. Those three points were enough to win, as later events proved, but just to sew up the game beyond any possible doubt Nagurski smashed over center with a few minutes left to play and raced 56 yards to the goal. A forward pass, Doehring to Grange, brought the ball to the one-yard line as the game ended. Five thousand fans braved the weather and staved through to the finish, for despite the condition of the field, this was a ball game.

	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
Green Bay Packers	0	0	0	0	0
Chicago Bears	0	0	0	9	9

4th – CHI – Tiny Engebretsen, 24-yard field goal BEARS 3-0
4th – CHI – Bronko Nagurski, 56-yard run (Kick failed) BEARS 9-0

Chicago Tribune, December 19, 1932

BEARS WIN, 9-0; PRO FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS

GRANGE SCORES ON FORWARD IN FINAL QUARTER

Spartans Then Yield a Safety.

BY WILFRID SMITH
The professional football championship of the United States is the property of the Chicago Bears. They won that title last night at the Chicago Stadium by defeating the Spartans of Portsmouth, O., 9 to 0, before a near capacity crowd of 11,198. Officials announced that the gross receipts were in excess of $15,000.

For three periods the teams waged a scoreless duel, in which the Bears had the better of the gains in yardage. Then with ten minutes to play, Bronko Nagurski tossed a short pass to Red Grange, who was standing in the Spartan end zone.

The touchdown was that the Bears needed to assure them of the championship. Tiny Engebretsen, however, place kicked the ball between the wooden uprights and into the mezzanine for the full value of Red’s score.

Safety Follows Touchdown.
Then, just before the end, Mule Willson of the Spartans, ready to punt from behind his own goal line, fumbled Clare Randolph’s pass from center and the ball rolling out of the end zone automatically gave the new champions two more points.

Grange and Nagurski received the roaring tribute of the crowd, which had begun to believe that for a third time the Bears and Spartans were to play a game, but it was Dick Newbitt who presented the scoring opportunity. Nesbitt raced back from his position at defensive right half back, leaped high into the air and intercepted a forward pass by Ace Gutowsky. He came down running and with the aid of excellent blocking, carried the ball to Portsmouth’s 7 yard line.

Bronko Pounds Away.
The touchdown immediately was protested by Coach Potsy Clark of Portsmouth, who rushed in the field shouting that Nagurski was not five yards behind the line of scrimmage and that the forward pass was illegal. Referee Bobby Cahn of New York ruled that Bronko had complied with the rules.

Nesbitt and Keith Molesworth of the Bears, and Gutowsky of Portmouth repeatedly kicked over the lines so that the punt receivers had no opportunity to bring the ball down the field.

The playing field also was not to the liking of John Doehling, the Bears’ long distance forward passer, whose first throw nearly landed in the mezzanine. However, the playing conditions met with the approval of the fans. The game was completed in almost record time, and although the yard lines were not marked the spectators had no difficulty following the progress of the ball.

The 1932 NFL playoff game was moved indoors because of bad weather. But Chicago Stadium was not designed to handle football games, so the playing field had to be shortened, and no field goals were allowed.

Spartan Attack Required.
The Spartans threatened several times in the first half, but their best opportunity came in the final minute of the second quarter. Had they capitalized then the championship might have been carried back to Ohio. This opening was created when John Cavoskie intercepted a forward pass for Carl Brumbaugh and raced 30 yards to the Bears’ 6 yard line.

Glenn Pressnell, who was the outstanding ground gainer for the Spartans, hit the center of the line for a yard. Gutowsky followed with a yard at guard. Presnell and Gutowsky completed the series of four plunges, but they still were short of the goal and the ball changed hands. Before the Bears could start to play the gun ended the half.

Neither team attempted drop kicks nor place kicks although each was in scoring distance. This form of attack was banned by agreement.

Hard, Accurate Tackling.
the line play and the open field tackling were accurate and hard. Both teams took advantage of the firm dirt, which covered the terrazza floor of the Stadium, to get the best results from their running plays. Grange was knocked out in the first quarter, but he recovered in time to return to assist the Bears to their first championship since 1924, which was one year before Grange completed his competition for Illinois and cast his lot with the professionals. Joe Kopcha, regular guard, was injured in the last period.

The game was played with a minimum of penalty. Portsmouth received the only major loss when it was set back 15 yards in the last period for holding. Previously the Spartans were penalized three times for offside. The Bears were offside once and lost a total of 15 yards more for extra time out and for delay. Two of the Spartans’ five yard penalties, for incompleted forward paces in a series, led indirectly to a safety.

Let’s Pass Escape.
The Spartans were trailing 7 to 0 and incompleted passes set them back to their own 5 yard line on a fourth down. Wilson then let the pass from Randolph slip through his fingers, the ball bouncing out to the end zone for two points for the new champions.

The Bears made eight first downs to five for Portsmouth. The Spartans attempted 12 forward passes, of which two were completed for a total of 28 yards. Five were intercepted. Three of the Bears’ 16 forward passes were completed for a gain of 18 yards, included was the winning touchdown pass from Portsmouth’s 2 yard line. Three of the Bears’ passes were intercepted.

Last night’s victory gave the Bears a total of seven for the season. They were defeated once, by Green Bay, 2 to 0, and six other other contests ended in ties. The Spartans, with six victories and two defeats, finished in third place in the National league, a step behind Green Bay, who held the championship for three years.

	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
Portsmouth Spartans	0	0	0	0	0
Chicago Bears	0	0	0	9	9

4th – CHI – Grange 2 pass from Nagurski (Engebretsen kick), CHI 7–0
4th – CHI – Safety, Wilson tackled in end zone, CHI 9–0

Top Row—Dr. J. F. Davis, C. Tackwell, John Sisk, John Doehring, Bill Buckler, Paul Franklin, Tiny Engebretsen, A. Lotshaw, Ralph Jones.
Middle Row—Charles Bidwell, George Trafton, Don Murray, L. Burdick, Gil Bergerson, Bronko Nagurski, Luke Johnson, Bert Pearson, George Halas.
Front Row—Dick Nesbitt, Bill Hewitt,Carl Brumbaugh, Keith Molesworth, Red Grange, George Corbett, Ookie Miller, Jules Carlson, Joe Kopcha.

Leopold & Loeb

November 18, 2015 by Administrator Leave a Comment

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Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (a son of a Sears Vice President) were geniuses. Mr. Loeb graduated from the University of Michigan in 1923 at the age of 18—the youngest graduate the school had ever had. They felt that their combined high intelligence could commit the Perfect Murder. For seven months they worked out a plan. Bobby Franks, a 14 year old boy was their chosen victim. Bobby’s father was a millionaire who also happened to be a distant cousin of Mr. Loeb and lived in the Hyde Park area.

On 21 May 1924, the pair picked up Bobby near his home, beat him to death, disfigured his face with acid and stuffed his body in a sewer pipe. The murderers then sent a ransom note demanding $10,000 in unmarked bills.

There were three incidences that linked the pair to the murders:

1) A pair of horn-rimmed glasses that were found near the body. These glasses fell out of the pocket of Mr. Leopold. The glasses were of a common prescription and initially there was nothing about them that can link Mr. Leopold to the incident. However, further inspection of the glasses revealed a custom hinge that only three people had received prescriptions for which proved he was at the site.

2) The ransom note was created on the same typewriter that notes were made from a member of Leopold’s law study group.

3) The most incriminating evidence came from the Leopold family chauffer. His statement contradicted Loeb’s story that he was out driving girls around Lincoln Park in his car. The chauffer insisted that his car never left the garage.

Chicago Tribune reporter, Maurine Watkins, managed to sneak her way into the funeral of Bobby Franks, the boy murdered by Leopold and Loeb, as a mourner, and she interviewed the educated young killers just hours before they confessed. Ms. Watkins later covered the famous Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan murder trials.

Eight of Robert “Bobby” Franks friends from the Harvard private school he attended acted as pallbearers at the 14-year-old’s funeral on May 25, 1924.

The boys hired Clarence Darrow, whose case focused on the horrors of the death penalty. Since both boys confessed to the crime, the only decision to be made was the punishment. In this highly publicized hearing that took place at the County Courthouse on Hubbard and Dearborn. The boys were sentenced to life imprisonment. Mr. Loeb was murdered in prison in 1936, while Mr. Leopold was released on parole in 1958. Mr. Leopold wrote a book, moved to Puerto Rico and taught mathematics. He died 30 August 1971.

Nathan Leopold’s Glasses.

Chicago Tribune June 1, 1924

Confession Bares Crime Plot of Amazing Depth, Cruelty

Last night the signed confessions of Nathan E. Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb were sealed by State’s Attorney Crowe and placed in a safety deposit vault, there to remain until the two millionaires’ sons are brought to trial for the murder of young Robert Franks. They may be read to the grand jurors, but the contents, word for word, will not be given to the public until they become a part of the court record of murder trial without a parallel in criminal annals.

But quotations taken here and there from the statements, liberally from memory, by State’s Attorney Crowe and his assistants give some idea of the amazing business=like manner in which the youthful scholars planned and executed their crime and the equally amazing frankness with which they recounted the details of the thing “that would give one a thrill.”

The murderers and those who solved the crime, snapped at the state’s attorney’s office after the confessions had been made;

Left to right (seated)—Richard Loeb, Assistant State’s Attorney John Sharbaro, State’s Attorney Robert E. Crowe, Nathan E. Leopold, Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph P. Savage.
Standing—Lawrence Cuneo, secretary to Mr. Crowe; Sergt. Thomas O’Malley, Assistant State’s Attorneys Milton D. Smith and Bert A. Cronson, Sergt. William Lang, Sergt. George Moxley, Assistant State’s Attorney Robert E. McMillan, Capt. William Schoemaker, Chief of Detective Michael Hughes, Attorney Samuel A. Ettleson, Sergt. James Gourtland, Sergt. William Crot, Sergt. Frank Johnson, Sergt. John Q. Johnson.

Planned Since Last Fall.
“We had planned since last fall—some time in November, I think—to kidnap some rich boy, kill him and get money from his father for ransom. We planned all the details weeks ahead and thought we had everything airtight against discovery. We had several boys in mind. We didn’t know which one we would kidnap when we started out. The Franks boy just happened along and we got him.”

Leopold had posed as a Mr. Ballard, opening an account at a Peoria bank, and young Loeb as Mr. Mason, doing the same thing ayt a Morris bank—two “business men,” one of whom had given a reference for the other in obtaining the use of the rented car in which the crime was committed.

“We planned to pour hydrochloric acid on his face so his features would be unrecognizable. We bought a chisel at a store on the Grove near 43d street and wrapped it in tape. We planned to hit him over the head and stuff a gag in his mouth. If we couldn’t kill him that way we were going to use ether.

He Was Weak.
“It was easier than we thought. He was weak. When he started to resist we hit him on the head and stuffed the gag into his mouth. We didn’t need to use the ether. He must have been dead within five minutes after we started—while we were still going on 50th street.”

{Which one hit him? That was the only point in the confession in which the old human falling of attempting “to pass the buck” cropped out. The boys each accepted half the blame, but they had to be brought together before this one was cleared up.}

“You hit him first, Dick,” Leopold said.

“No, Babe, don’t you remember? I was driving. I couldn’t have hit him first vecause he was in the back seat with you? I was the one that called him by name and got him into the car. You didn’t know him. Don’t you remember?”

That point was cleared up. Then the letter:

“O, we had that all written in a stamped envelope before we started out. We didn’t know who we were going to send it to. That’s why we addressed it ‘Dear Sir’ instead of ‘Dear Mr. Franks.’ We put the address on after we ditched the body and dropped it in a box across from the subpostal station in 55th street.”

The ransom letter.

And the clothing:

“We drove around with him in the car for nearly four hours until it got heavy dusk. Then we began undressing him in the car; took off everything but the underwear and stockings before we got to the culvert. We took those off there. We missed one of his stockings in the dark, but we didn’t discover that until we were burning the clothes in Dick’s basement. We weren’t worried much about that, anyway.”

The shoes were buried at a spot more than two miles south of Hammond.

“The blanket that we had wrapped around him was burned on the lake shore at 73d street. It was full of blood and we didn’t want to bring that back with us.”

With all the clothes destroyed, the only thing left was the typewriter.

“We took that over and threw it into the lagoon near the yacht harbor in Jackson Park. Babe took the keys out first and we scattered them all over. We had already thrown the ribbon into the lagoon higher up. Then we tossed in the frame.”

Nathan Leopold’s Underwood typewriter after it was found in the Jackson Park Lagoon on June 7, 1924.

Loeb Financed Job.
Loeb admitted he financed the “job.”

“I still had $2,000 in my checking account and let Babe have $400 to deposit in Peoria so he could establish credit with the Rent-A-Car company. I posed as a Mr. Mason and gave a reference for him over a phone from a cigar store on Wabash avenue near 14th street. It worked slick. I beat the woman to the phone when it rang.”

Why did they do it?

“Well, it was the kind of a thing there would be a thrill in and we wanted some easy money. We made a few mistakes. I should have picked up my glasses. I didn’t know I dropped them. We thought we had the whole thing airtight, but it wasn’t. That’s all.”

This diagram shows the route of the kidnappers and confessed killers of the Franks boy, Leopold and Loeb. The crime was done quickly. The kidnapping took place late in the afternoon. The numbers trace the rapid steps of the young criminals. As soon as it grew dark, the body was hidden, the clothes burned, the death car washed, the senior Franks telephoned to that his boy was alive, the ransom letter posted, the typewriter thrown away, and the death car was returned to its garage, so that at 10:30 Leopold could be out riding in his own car with two girls.

Miss Susan Lurie, a co-ed of the University of Chicago, told last night of Nathan Leopold’s attention to her and of his keen mind. “I said to him,” she related, “‘You confess the Franks murder and I’ll claim the reward.’ We had been reading a newspaper about it. He laughed and said it would be a good joke. What a grim joke it turned out to be.”

Sausage Vat Murder

November 18, 2015 by Administrator Leave a Comment

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One of the most bizarre murders in Chicago history was the “Sausage Vat Murder. ‘ Louisa Luetgert , the wife of sausage maker, Adolph Louis Luetgert, disappeared on May 1, 1897. Adolph told his children that their mother had gone to visit her sister on the previous night but never came back. After a few days, Louisa’s brother, Diedrich Bicknese went to the police to report her disappearance. Luetgert then claimed to the police that she ran away with another man.

This case was one of the first trials widely covered by the media. Newspapers from Chicago would report on it daily and some of them would try to eavesdrop on the jury deliberation. At the time, the case was called the celebrity case and is credited with putting murder trials in the media. This case also was one of the first to use forensic experts to solve a crime.

Today, the factory still stands on the south side of the 1700 block of West Diversey Parkway; however, it has been converted into condominiums similar to the other town homes and condominiums which now are beside it.

Chicago Tribune, October 19, 1897

LUETGERT’S RISE IN BUSINESS.

Personality, Habits, Dogs, and Infuence Make Him an Object of Interest to Neighbors.

Luetgert, king of the sausagemaking industry, has been the object of talk and speculation for the last five years. His unique personality, his queer habits, his half wild dogs. his giant stature, and the millions of pounds of sausage that were carted away from his great factory at Diversey and Hermitage avenues made the Germans and Poles of his neighborhood call him a king.

They gave him a wide berth when he went along the sidewalk with his Great Dane dogs panting after him. When he spoke to them they pulled off their hats. He employed more men than any one for almost a mile around, and the neighborhood looked on his factory as the place where all the money in circulation originated.

Miillions of pounds of sausage were carted away from the huge brick buildings and sent all over the country, and the people about the factory conceived wild ideas of Luetgert’s wealth. It was told around that he was a millionaire. His wealth was piling tip so fast he did not know where to put it, they said.

These people never had heard that Luetgert put every cent he owned into his big plant and that he had borrowed money to complete it. The Polish and German laborers in the neighborhood did not know that to sell millions of pounds of sausages requires thousands of dollars of capital.

Luetgert built the best house in the neighborhood, but no one appeared to envy his wife. Luetgert’s employes noticed that in spite of the domestics who worked at the house Mrs. Luetgert tolled early and late and spent little of her husband s earnings. She saved with him that his business might prosper.

During the twenty years since Luetgert and Louise Bicknese were married in St. John’s Lutheran Church, La Salle avenue and Ohio street, where her gold wedding ring was first worn, Mrs. Luetgert had toiled with her husband and had planned with him. Luetgert was a prosperous saloon-keeper when they were wedded, and Louise Bicknese was a pretty German domestic, who knew scarcely a word of English.

Thrifty and Not Happy.
Luetgert’s saloon business was highly profitable. He and his wife were thrifty. They were not happy, but both were anxious to get rich, and Mrs. Luetgert scrubbed, and was content to live in small rooms over the saloon while the profits piled up. The saloon was located in Webster avenue. This was in 1880.
louise
At last Luetgert and his wife had saved enough money to buy out a meat route, and Luetgert gave up his saloon. The family went to live over the market, and this prospered better than the saloon had done.

Luetgert began by peddling meat at the back doors of his friends’ homes. He saw possibilities in sausagemaking, and gradually he went into the business of making summer sausages. At first this was carried on in a back room of the market. After a while it outstripped the regular meat business, and Luetgert saw business and profits come in almost faster than he could take care of them. The factory was located then in Sheffield avenue, near Diversey.

Six years ago Luetgert and his wife, by hard work and scant living, had saved $80,000. The sausage business was still growing. and both had visions of a business that would rival the Armours.

Differ on Business Plans.
Luetgert and his wife had widely different notions as to how large a sausage plant ought to be built. Luetgert had visions of a six-story building, with railroad tracks running to it and loaded cars at the doors. Mrs. Luetgert wished her husband to invest $40,000 in the new plant and the balance of their savings in some other investment. Luetgert had his own way.

Five years ago the land at Diversey avenue and the Northwestern railroad tracks was secured by Luetgert, and the largest sausage works in the country erected. The huge six-story brick building at that time loomed up on the prairie for several miles around and became the center of a cluster of small frame houses. Luetgert’s sausage-making was transferred to the new plant, and he bounded into an immense business at the start. His competitors through the country also denominated him the “sausage king.”

During the year of the World’s Fair Luetgert cleared $75,000 from his sausage business. At that time he was reputed to be worth about $300.000. Mrs. Luetgert, it is said, never ceased to chide her husband for putting all his savings in the plant, even when profits piled up with dazzling swiftness.

When Luetgert bounded into his great business he also bounded into popularity in the neighborhood. He was pointed out as the most prosperous German in the northwestern part of the city, who had made all his money in fifteen years. and as he relaxed from his frugal habits he found plenty of friends willing to help him relax still more. His popularity was not confined to his own sex.

Trouble in Family.
Mrs. Luetgert, with the most comfortable house for a mile around, was not envied, however. When she saw the change In her husband’s habits she fretted and chided, till Luetgert finally went to live among his dogs in the factory. He fitted up a sleeping-room in his office, and his bulky frame never was seen in the house except at meal times.

Luetgert had invested practically every penny he and his wife saved in his sausage plant. He borrowed almost as much more to complete it, and as most of his business was done on credit, when the hard times came he had no capital with which to go on. When he was obliged to borrow right and left, Mrs. Luetgert lost no chance to remind him that if he had followed her advice he would have been all right.

Luetgert’s Evil Eye
Chicago Journal
26 August 1897

Last February Luetgert’s factory closed down. When profits ceased to pile up Mrs. Luctgert’s scoldings and the family jars increased. Mary Siemering had in the meantime come to live with the Luetgerts and Luetgert’s fondness for her, it is said. increased the bitterness between him and his wife.

Luetgert’a employees at the factory were. in the main ignorant Poles and Germans, most of them unable to speak English. The grocery and retail market which were run in connection with the sausage factory, however, gave employment to a number of intelligent men, among them Fred Mlller, Mrs. Luetgert’s nephew.

Financial ruin stared Luetgert In the face by the middle of April. The sausagemaker and his wife saw that the factory was almost certain to pass into the hands of the Sheriff, for notes were falling due, there was no income to pay them from. and butchers and market men who were in Luetgert’s debt were unable to help him out of difficulty in the hard times. Mrs. Luetgert. who had seen her advice thrown to the winds, and her dire predictions all come true, lost no opportunity to scold her husband for his folly. The reports of the Luetgert family disturbances increased throughout the neighborhood and were the object of many conferences among Mrs. Luetgert’s relatives.

Luetgert’s social habits,in which, it was said, his wife was not included, were believed to be at the bottom of all the difficulty. His friendship for Christine Feldt, Mary Siemering, and Mrs. Agatha Tosch, it is said, had changed his wife into a petual scold.

Here are some of the interesting parts of the chronology and history of the Luetgert case:

May 1, 1897—Date of murder.
May 8—Reported by Bicknese to the police.
May 8 to 15—Searches in the river, clayholes, in Kankakee, Wheaton, and Elgin by the police.
May 15—Rings found in the vat and Mary Siemering arrested.
May 17—Defendant arrested at 2 p.m. on warrant issued by Justice Kersten. Habeas corpus proceedings before Judge Chetlain for release of Mary Siemering. Petition dismissed.
May 18—Defendant arraigned before Justice Kersten.
May 18, 19, and 20—Habeas corpus proceedings before Judge Huchinson finally dismissed.
May 22 to 29—Hearing before Justice Kersten. Held to grand jury.
June 4 and 5—Hearing before grand jury.
June 6—Indictment returned.
June 9 to 20—Habeas corpus proceedings for bail before Judge Gibbons. Bail refused.
August 23—Trial before Judge Tuthill.
October 11—At noon, evidence concluded. Arguments begun.
October 16—Submitted to jury.
October 21—Jury disagreed and discharged, Number of days, 61; of hours, 182.
November 24—Case called for second trial before Judge Horton. Change of venue taken from Judges Horton and Baker. Sent to Judge Gary.
November 26—Case called before Judge Gary.
December 13—Jury completed and sworn.
December 16—Juror Boasberg challenged and discharged.
December 17—Juror Anners impaneled: opening statements made.
January 31—Evidence concluded.
February 1 to 9—Arguments from both sides, and case submitted to jury. Number of days, 72 of hours, 324 1-3. Luetgert was on stand for 18½ hours, was asked 1,771 questions by Mr. Harmon, 1,238 by Mr. Deneen. Total number of witnesses, 140. Total number of pages in record, 4,629.

Luetgert made the following answers the number of times stated:

“I don’t recollect”—116
“I don’t know”—54
“It is possible”—47
“I don’t remember”—18
“I guess so”—10
“Not to my knowledge”—9
“I won’t put any time on it”—6
“I won’t be positive”—5

February 9—Verdict of guilty returned. Sentence, life imprisonment.

Chicago Tribune July 28, 1899

A. L. LUETGERT IS DEAD.

WIFE-MURDER’S LIFE SENTENCE ENDS EARLY AT JOLIET.

Heart Disease Overcomes Him as He Is About to Eat Breakfast In His Cell—Cheering Letter That Might Have Saved Arrives Too Late—Will Be Buried in Waldheim Probably on Sunday—State’s Attorney Deneen May Reveal Trial Secrets.

Adolph Louis Luetgert, the sausage=maker convicted of wife murderer and serving a lifetime sentence in the State penitentiary at Joliet, died suddenly yesterday of heart disease. He expired in his cell at the breakfast hour. He never uttered a word after he was seized with the choking at his heart, and he died five minutes later as the gong was sounding for the convicts to turn out of their cells to their daily tasks, that begin at 7 o clock. Mr. Luetgert had not complained of feeling ill. He seemed to be in good health when he emerged from his cell at 6 o’clock and when he returned to it in half all hour later carrying his breakfast in a pan as did the other convicts. He must have been seized with the fatal malady soon after entering his cell, for he did not eat any of his breakfast.

The body of the big prisoner still rests on a slab In the little morgue In the prison yard nnd a fellow convict stands sentinel by the winding sheet. It is expected the remains will be brought to Chicago taken either to the house of William Charles at 443 Diversey boulevard or to some undertaker’s place. The funeral probably will take place tomorrow or Sunday and the interment will be in Waldheim, where the decedent had bought a family lot and in, which his first wife was buried about twenty years ago.

Cheering Letter Comes Too Late.
One hour after Luetgert died a letter reached the prison whose coming a day sooner might have prolonged the sausage-maker’s life. It was from Lawrence Harmon, his attorney, and it contained the information that the order of the Probate Court appointing Diedrick Bicknese guardian of his two children had been set aside on Wednesday. The appointment of Bicknese, who Was the brother of the woman for whose murder Luetfert was sentenced, and who was the most active of the prosecuting witnesses, was a source of grave annoyance to the prisoner. To make it worse, Luetgert was informed that Bieknese had induced the boy, Louis Luetgert, to sign a statement that his mother was dead, so as to establish a reason for the appointment of him as guardian. This terribly enraged Luetgert, and the distress of mind he suffered recently is said to have been the immediate cause of his death. The letter from Attorney Harmon that came too late contained the most cheering news of any letter sent to him since he went to prison, for it
also contained the assurance that the money necessary to appeal his case to the Supreme Court would be obtained in a few days.

Find the Prisoner Dying.
The first intimation that Mr. Luetgert was suffering in the morning was when Keeper Giessler was attracted to his cell by the sound of groaning. The keeper ran along the balcony to locate the sound until he came to Luetgert’s cell, which is next to the end. Looking in, he saw the big prisoner lying on his cot and moving his arms and legs convulsively. The pan containing his breakfast—some Irish stew and three slices of white bread—was on the floor. Keeper Blone and other keepers hastened to the cell and carried the man out. His face was purple, and he was apparently In violent agony. He was carried in a hurry to the infirmary and Dr. O’Malley was called, but when Luetgert was laid on a lounge in thle he sighed once and was dead. An inquest was held at 9:30 by Coroner Downey of Will County, and the verdict rendered was that death was probably due to heart trouble.

Afterwards Dr. O’Malley. assisted by Dr. F. W. Werner. made an autopsy. and then reported to Warden Murphy that death was due to angina pectoria. Dr. O’Maliey said the autopsy also showed that the liver was greatly enlarged. . The heart was not only enlarged. but in such a condition of degeneration that mental strain would have caused his death at any time.

Uncle and 5on Arrive.
Warden Murphy sent telegrams to Arnold C. Luetgert, son oF Mr. Luetgert by his first wife, and to Arnold Luetgert, a brother living at 5017 Justus street. The brother went to the prison at 2 o clock, accompanied by H. Nolting, an undertaker at 4829 South Ashland avenue. As the son had not arrived, the brother decided he would not take charge of the body. He was one of the last to visit the celebrated prisoner among his relatives. He saild he often had heard his brother say he would die of heart disease. The inference that suicide was the cause of death he vehemently repudiated.

Arnold C. Luetgert, the son, arrived on the 6 o’clock train from Chicago. accompanied by Lawrence Harmon. his father’s attorney. They went directly to the p;rison to take charge of the remains. Young Luetgert said he would make ail of the arrangements for the funeral, and he resented the idea of his uncle coming with an undertaker.

“He did not do much for him while he was living,” said the son, ” and he need not bother himself now that my father is dead. I wili make the arrangements for the funeral. I will know some time tomorrow. The interment will be In Waldheim, I suppose, next Sunday.”

Regret of Attorney Harmon.
Attorney Harmon said he had just completed arrangements to have the record in the case prepared for the Supreme Court and would have begun work on it in a short time.

“I believed he was innocent,” said Mr. ‘Harmon, “and I believe it. I would have fought that case to the end, but it is ended sooner than I expected. I had just got a friend of Luetgert to put up the $1,500 necessary to prepare the record. and everything pointed to a hearing by the Supreme Court soon.”

Chaplain Matlack and Deputy Warden Luke. who had become well acquainted with the prisoner, said he never had lost an opportunity at any time of telling them he believed his wife was living. It is not known that he ever wavered from this statement while in prison. Whatever were his great life secrets, they will go with him into the grave of convict 5,969. for he kept his secrets as well as when he was Adolph Louis Luetgert, the sausagemaker and the “King of the Subdivision.”

Deneen Talks of the Death.
“I am sorry Luetgert is dead for more than one reason.” said State’s Attorney Deneen. “We were anxious that the case should go to the Supreme Court and be passed on there, and had been doing all we could to help the defense secure a record of the case for that reason. The trial attracted so much attention over all the world, and the chain of circumstantial evidence was so unusual, that, If it had gone before the Supreme Court and appeared in the records of that tribunal, it would have become one of the most important legal records in existence. A decision on some of the points involved would have been of great value in criminal cases. As for the other aspect of Luetgert’s death, there isn’t anything to be said. Mrs. Luctgert is dead. There is no doubt on that score. We were convinced of that before he was ever put on trial, from his own implication.”

It is hinted that Mr. Deneen has many secrets of the Luetgert trial that he may make public soon. Ho was asked if it were true that a friend of Mr. Luetgert had told him the big sausagemaker had confessed to him that he killed his wife.

“I do not care to drag in the names of men who are still alive,” Mr. Deneen replied.

Assistant State’s Attorney McEwen said: “I am not likely to forget the two trials in a hurry. They were the hardest kind of work and full of excitement and sensations. By the way, here is something strange: we had cards in that trial that were never played, reserve ammunition that we did not use. Did not, because we dared not. Yes, sir, we had knowledge of things and circumstances most momentous in their bearing on the case and yet so hampered and so undefined. I might say, that we dared not introduce them. I could talk for hours on the secrets of the Luetgert case—the things that never were and never may be revealed.”

Career of A. L. Luetgert.
Adolph L. Luetgert, five years ago, was the greatest sausage manufacturer in the United States. He was one of the best known characters in the northwest section of the city, as much from his unusual personality as from the fact that his factory was the greatest affair of the kind in the country. His queer habits, the half-wild dogs with which he always was surrounded, as well as the millions of pounds of sausage that were carted away from his great factory at Diversey and Hermitage avenues, made the less conspicuous German and Polish residents of the neighborhood call him a King.

When the hard times came Luetgert had no capital to continute his business. The money he had borrowed his profits to disappear, and in February, 1897. the factory closed down.

Luetgert’s domestic difficulties had increased in the meantime. Mary Siemering, a comely relative of Mrs. Luetgert, had come to live with the family as a servant. and Luetgert’s admiration for her caused Mrs. Luetgert, who was not comely, to increase her scolding. Her husband also was friendly with Mrs. Agatha Tosch, wife of the saloonkeeper opposite, and Mrs. Christine Feldt, a widow with considerable property. Mrs. Luetgert lost no opportunity to chide him for these acquaintances.

Disappearance of Mrs. Luetgert.
On the night of May 1, 1897, Mrs. Luetgert disappeared. No one saw her go. All that was known was that Luetgert was with her about 10 o clock that night at the house. They were said to have left together in the direction of the factory about that hour. Mrs. Luetgert wore only a light house wrapper and slippers, although the night was cold and rainy. It never was shown that she had taken with her any of her belongings.

Luetgert did not report her disappearance to the police, and her relatives did not learn of it until almost two weeks later. Diedrich Bicknese. Mrs. Luetgert’s brother, living near Elgin. then learned she was missing and reported it to the Sheffield Avenue Police Station. Captain Schuettler and Inspector Schaack supposed she had committed suicide, and the North Branch of the river was dragged and the prairie searched wherever was a possibility of the body.

Bone Evidence
Chicago Journal
Sept. 13, 1897.

Evidence in the Vat.
In the meantime, suspicious circumstances connected with the night Mrs. Luetgert disappeared began to leak out. Luetgert’s indifference to the search for his wife, and the fact that she had last been heard of going In the direction of the factory, led the police to search the big buildings. The first trace that led to Luetgert’s arrest was found in a big wooden vat in the basement. In several inches of reddish fluid two of Mrrs. Luetgert’s finger rings were found. The was later analyzed and discovered to be the solution of crude potash that originally must have been strong enough to have dissolved human and crumbled human bone.

Under the vat were found the partly dissolved fragments of human teeth. A more extended search under the vat and in one of the smokehouses disclosed what were afterwards identified as parts of human bones, part of which evidently some one had tried to burn. All these bits of evidence took on a peculiar light when Luetgert’s employees, Odorfsky and Levandowsky, told of emptying the vat and scrubbing up bits of flesh and bone the second day after Mrs. Luelgert vanished. The testimony of these two employes and of old Frank Blalk that Luetgert had something in the vat all night on May 1 finally caused his arrest.

Luetgert’s preliminary examination took place on May 22. His former friends. Mrs. Tosch and ‘Mrs. Feldt, told how he had on various occasions wished his wife were dead. Mrs. Tosch testified that he had threatened to make way with her.

One suspicious circumstance was the fact that Charles Maeder, who was with Luetgert the night Mrs. Luetgert vanished and who was supposed to know more of his doings that night than any one else, mysteriously vanished and went to Europe. Maeder refused to come back.

Indictment and Two Trials.
Luetgert was Indicted on June 3 and brought to trial before Judge Tuthill on. Aug. 23. The first trial lasted eight weeks. Probably no murder trial in history ever attracted such attention. People talked of it in out of way places the of Europe and waited anxiously for the verdict. At the end of eight weeks the jury, after being out almost four days. falled to agree, principally through the determination of two jurors. The second trials followed about a month Inter, and, after dragging through a longer time than the first, ended in conviction and a life sentence. in both trials much depended on expert witnesses—and anatomists.

Transportation Building

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Transportation Building

Transportation Building
Life Span: 1911-Present
Location: 608 S. Dearborn
Architect: Fred V. Prather

C. C Heisen. a pioneer in Dearborn street office building construction, is erecting a twenty-two story office building at the southwest corner of Dearborn and Harrison streets, the cost, including the land, being $3,000,000.

TRANSPORTATION (Heisen) building, at 608 S. Dearborn street, on the southwest corner of W. Harrison street, built in 1911, is 22 stories high, with one basement, on rock caissons. Fred V. Prather was the architect.

Transportation Building
About 1911

Chicago Tribune September 9, 1911

PHONES REFUSED TO NEW BUILDING

C. C. Heisen Asks Court to Force Chicago Company to Supply Him Service.

ELECTRIC UNION FEARED.

The Chicago Telephone Company has declined to put telephones in the new Heisen building, now nearly completed at Harrison and Dearborn streets. The company s refusal is based on a fear of becoming involved with the electrical workers’ union, which has been at outs with C. C. Heisen, owner of the new skyscraper.

As a result Mr. Heisen and Charles Scribner’s Sons, publishers, who are tenants of tho Helsen building, petitioned the Superior court yesterday for a writ of mandamus to compel the company to install telephones on the twelfth floor of the new structure.

Company’s Duty to Public.
It is understood that the suit in court will argue that under the telephone company’s franchise from the city it is compelled to furnish telephone service to all customers, irrespective of whether the fulfillment of such prescribed duty will be pleasing to this or that labor union.

B. E. Sunny, president of the telephone company, saId last night that his company was willing to install the instruments, but that Electrical union No. 184, with which the company had a contract, would not furnish the workmen.

Transportation Building
1911-1915
J. W. Taylor

Company’s Duty to the Public.
Mr. Sunny was asked:

Is it not a fact, and also is it not the theory on which you operate, that the company’s franchise makes it obligatory on the telephone company to furnish equal service without discrimination to all customers?

Mr. Sunny replied “yes.” He added:

The company and the union have a contract that the union shall install all telephones in buildings under construction. The reason the union will not furnish us workmen to put telephones in the Heisen building is because of trouble between Heisen and the electrical union.

Will Press Case in Court.
Mr. Heisen contends that this is no excuse for the public service corporation to supply service, and he will press the matter in the courts, He says the telephones now in use in the building were installed by non-union electricians. He adds that before any telephones had been installed he wrote to J. M. Boyle, business agent of the electricians, and demanded that the union supply him with workmen for the installation of the instruments.

“I learned that Boyle served notice on the telephone company to the effect that if it even furnished the telephone instruments for my building he would call a strike of all electricians in the employ of the company,” said Mr. Heisen.

The complainants’ petition alleges that they communicated with Mr. Sunny and demanded that he order the telephones installed. They assert that their demands were denied,

Trouble Began Last Spring.
Labor trouble on the building began early last spring when the steamfitters and plumbers first engaged In their dispute. It was the scene of many labor and several riots. Jobn Ramler, a steamfitter, was shot and almost killed during one of the battles between members of his union and a crew of gunmen,

Mr. Heisen said last night that labor trouble had cost him $143,000. He attributes the present difficulties to the trouble between the steamfitters and plumbers, The electricians’ union was the only building trade organization that sympathized with the plumbers. The other trades supported the steamfitters.

The Heisen building will be finished In a month, according to its owner. It is twenty- two stories high.

Transportation Building
1915

Transportation (Heisen) Building
608 S. Dearborn