Transcriber’s Note: Italics are indicated with _underscores_, except in
the title of the book, where the underscores indicate underlining.
[Illustration: (cover)]
[Illustration: LILLIAN RUSSELL.]
CHICAGO
BY
DAY _AND_ NIGHT
THE
PLEASURE SEEKER’S GUIDE
TO THE
PARIS OF AMERICA.
300 PAGES.
69 ILLUSTRATIONS.
CHICAGO:
THOMSON AND ZIMMERMAN,
234 AND 236 LA SALLE ST.,
1892.
Copyrighted 1892,
BY THOMSON AND ZIMMERMAN.
[_All rights reserved._]
[Illustration: The Gist of it.]
PART I.
INTRODUCTORY.
CHAPTER I.--Where to Stay--A Concise Description of the Hotels of
Chicago, their Characteristics, their Prices, with some Account
of the People Who Patronize Each--The Great Palmer House Tragedy.
CHAPTER II.--The Theatres--A Complete Description of the City’s
Splendid Play Houses and the Attractions They Present--Beautiful
Belles of Burlesque.
CHAPTER III.--The Great Auditorium and the New German Theatre--Two
New Edifices of which all Chicagoans are Proud.
CHAPTER IV.--Two Unique Playhouses. Being the Madison Street Opera
House and Park Theatre, where the Shows are not Painfully
Orthodox and Feminine Beauty is the Chief Attraction.
CHAPTER V.--Free and Easy Shows--Where Etiquette is not always
Strictly Observed. Being Music and Dance Halls, and Such Like
Free and Easy Resorts--“Papa” Engel’s “Variety” Palace.
CHAPTER VI.--Churches and Church Services. A Full Account of
Chicago’s Handsomest and Most Popular Churches, their Location
and their Pastors.
CHAPTER VII.--The Panoramas and Libby Prison--Places of Delightful
but Quiet Entertainment that the Stranger cannot Afford to Miss.
CHAPTER VIII.--Perils and Pitfalls--A Chapter that All Should Read,
inasmuch as it Tells of the Traps Set by the Wicked for the
Unwary.
CHAPTER IX.--As to Adventuresses--The Seductive but Conscienceless
Creatures whose Wiles Work Mischief with those who Do Not Play
the Prudent Part and Keep them at a Distance.
CHAPTER X.--The Tiger and its Haunts--Gambling Games Great and Small
wherein the Process of Parting the Fool and his Money is Carried
on with Facility and Dispatch.
CHAPTER XI.--Masquerades and Similar Entertainments wherein the Giddy
Find Delight. Fun and Revelry the Order of the Night.
CHAPTER XII.--On Shopping--A Few Pertinent Pointers for Purchasers.
CHAPTER XIII.--Caroussels--A Unique Form of Diversion that is
Patronized by Many.
CHAPTER XIV.--Turkish Baths--Massage--Manicures--The First the
Winebibber’s Salvation, the Second a Doubtful Luxury, the Third a
Charming Experience.
CHAPTER XV.--Hackmen and their Ways--A Few Hints as to the Proper Way
to Treat “Cabby”--His Legal Rates of Fare, etc.
CHAPTER XVI.--The City’s Moral Code--A Complete Refutation of the
Libelous Assertion that Chicago is the Wickedest City in the
World.
CHAPTER XVII.--The Parks and Boulevards--Which Perhaps Constitute the
City’s Grandest Feature.
CHAPTER XVIII.--Racing--The Three Great Race Tracks where One May See
Unrivaled Contests in Equine Speed--The Glories of Derby Day and
the Gay Cavalcade on the Avenues.
CHAPTER XIX.--Open Air Attractions. Which Bring the Pleasure
Seeker Entertainment and the Delights of Fresh Air at the Same
Time--Mighty Pyrotechnical Displays.
CHAPTER XX.--An Ideal Afternoon--The Prettiest Drive That Mortal May
Wish to Take, With Possibly Other Charms Thrown in.
CHAPTER XXI.--On the Water--The Aquatic Side of the Paris of
America--Trips of all Sorts on the Lake.
CHAPTER XXII.--The Restaurants of Chicago--Places Where the Best of
Provender is to be Had at Moderate Rates--The Fascinating Table
D’Hote.
CHAPTER XXIII.--The Haymarket Monument, with a Succinct Account of
One of the Most Thrilling Periods in Chicago’s History.
CHAPTER XXIV.--Cheyenne--A Unique Spot in the City’s Centre that it
is Safer to Read About than to Visit.
CHAPTER XXV.--Candies and Flowers--Some Beautiful Chicago Shops.
CHAPTER XXVI.--Summer Night Concerts--The Delights of Music Enjoyed
by the People During the Dog Days.
CHAPTER XXVII.--Special Features--The Elevated Railroads; the County
Jail; the Masonic Temple and Other Sights Worth Seeing.
CHAPTER XXVIII.--A Few Final Words--Mainly in an Advisory Strain.
PART II.
THE GREAT WORLD’S FAIR.--Being a Complete History of the Stupendous
Exposition that will be Thrown Open in 1893, when the Peopled
World Will be Called Upon to View the Progress of the Future
Metropolis--How the Exposition will be Opened in the Fall of the
Present Year--The Colossal Buildings and Their Contents--Hints
for the Wayfarer to Follow in His Strolls About the City During
Fair Time.
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Lillian Russell Frontispiece
A Group of Footlight Favorites 220
Popular Playhouses 40
A Summer Concert Garden 168
Masquerades Dream 118
Bird’s Bye View of the World’s Fair 260
Auditorium Proscenium Arch 200
Panoramas, Casino and Libby Prison 80
MINOR ILLUSTRATIONS.
I. The Compiler at Work 21
II. The Guest Registering 24
III. Driving About the Town 27
IV. Harvey’s “Wayside Inn” 30
V. At the Theatres 34
VI. At the Stage Entrance 38
VII. The Auditorium Tower 43
VIII. Astride of the Moon 49
IX. Two Unique Play Houses 51
X. At Free and Easy Shows 53
XI. Types at Engel’s 60
XII. Churches 69
XIII. Professor Swing in the Pulpit 75
XIV. John Brown’s Forge 79
XV. Perils and Pitfalls 81
XVI. Buying Banana Stalks 83
XVII. The Adventuress 87
XVIII. Catching On 92
XIX. The Tiger’s Implements 97
XX. A Minion of the Tiger 99
XXI. Victims of the Tiger 101
XXII. Satellites of the Tiger 104
XXIII. A Masquerade Sprite 114
XXIV. The Fair Shopper 120
XXV. On the Caroussel 123
XXVI. In the Turkish Bath 127
XXVII. The Pretty Manicure 129
XXVIII. The Guileless Hackman 134
XXIX. The Woman’s Temple 130
XXX. The Pretty Wheelwoman 144
XXXI. Looking at the Race 157
XXXII. The Huckster 162
XXXIII. The Circus Sprite 164
XXXIV. An Ideal Afternoon 166
XXXV. On the Water 183
XXXVI. Music Hath Charms 171
XXXVII. The Waiter 187
XXXVIII. A Petit Souper 191
XXXIX. An Anarchist 194
XL. The Haymarket Monument 198
XLI. A Cheyenne Fairy 201
XLII. Cheyenne Types 203
XLIII. Candies and Flowers 206
XLIV. Elevated Railroads 216
XLV. The Author Moralizes 223
WORLD’S FAIR PICTURES.
I. Administration Building 224
II. Figure from the Mining Building 234
III. Figure from the Liberal Arts Building 242
IV. Benjamin Franklin 247
V. A Dedicatory Scene 251
VI. A Chicago Hussar 257
VII. Group From the Woman’s Building 261
VIII. Group From the Woman’s Building 263
IX. Group From the Liberal Arts Building 265
X. Scene in the Chinese Tea Palace 266
XI. Scene in the Moorish Village 268
XII. An Opium Fiend 275
XIII. Finis--The Author at Rest 281
INTRODUCTORY.
[Illustration]
At a Time when the attention of the world is concentrated upon Chicago,
as it is at present, it is fitting that the stranger within its gates,
as well as the uninitiated native, should be made aware of the various
attractions, of all sorts and conditions, possessed by the future
metropolis of the United States. Chicago has been called the Paris of
America, that title having been bestowed upon it by some bright-minded
and discerning person who evidently knew whereof he spoke. That the
title is indisputable goes without saying. In no other city of its
size on the continent is the same variety of amusements to be found
as in this one. All tastes may be promptly satisfied, all preferences
catered to. If, when confronted by the marvelously variegated array
of recreations and pursuits that this great city has to offer, the
stranger or the periodical visitor should turn away dissatisfied,
imagining that he has failed to discover anything especially suited to
his fancy, his mental and physical organism must be sadly askew. It is
his fault and not Chicago’s.
From now on, and for the next year or so, this mighty city by the
lake will swarm with myriads of men and women of all races, tribes
and languages, being brought hither by the Great Exposition that is
destined to be the marvel of all nations. That some of this floating
mass will remain here is beyond question. In that case the population
will swell until the two million mark is passed, and in the proportion
that the population increases, so also will increase the attractions of
the city that harbors it.
It is the purpose of the present work to set forth, in a terse but
comprehensive manner, the various sorts of entertainment offered by the
Coming Metropolis. The Author, while sufficiently modest to keep his
identity a secret, makes bold to assert that no person who scans the
pages of this book will be able, after he has done so, to lay claim to
ignorance of the means whereby to procure entertainment or solace for
such hours of idleness as he may find on his hands during his stay in
this city. The present area of Chicago is a fraction over 180 square
miles. What its area will be next year, or ten years hence, nobody can
predict. For the present it is sufficient to know that within that
area of 180 square miles there dwells a community active, energetic,
mercurial--eager in business and therefore keen in its thirst for
recreation outside of business hours.
The present work is undertaken in no spirit of levity or
thoughtlessness. Its author is a man-of-the-world who, recognizing
the desire of the average man to be amused when the cares of business
are done, and being fully cognizant of the qualifications of this
city in the amusement line, aims to instruct the uninitiated wayfarer
in the paths he may follow with the most satisfaction to himself and
the greatest benefit to his system. If but one reader confesses his
indebtedness to this work for enlightenment in the smallest degree, its
purpose will have been achieved.
With renewed assurances, therefore, that the seeker after light upon a
great city’s manner of amusing itself will not seek in vain, the Author
makes his bow to the reader and tenders him an invitation to accompany
him through the following pages.
CHAPTER I.
WHERE TO STAY.
[Illustration]
The question of location must of course be decided by the individual
taste of the visitor. It would be strange indeed if, with a
transient population roughly estimated at 200,000, the city did not
possess hotels of all grades and descriptions, from which the most
captious-minded person might take his choice and procure satisfaction.
Chicago, at the present writing, contains at least 1,500 hotels, with
constant additions each year. There is no more difficult task than
to tell a man with any accuracy what hotel will suit him best. A
caravansary that would delight one man would disgust another and _vice
versa_. The most satisfactory plan, therefore, and the safest, is to
give a brief pen-sketch of the leading hotels, with some idea of the
special characteristics of each and the style of entertainment they
afford.
The Lake Front hotels--the Richelieu, Auditorium, and Leland--enjoy
the cream of the _new_ transient patronage. By “new,” is meant those
people who have never before visited Chicago, and who naturally select
the houses with the prettiest sites. The Auditorium (Michigan Avenue
and Congress Street), despite its gorgeousness and the flourish of
trumpets with which it was opened, does not indulge in ruinous rates.
It is a very large hotel and accommodations may be had therein from $4
per day up. Perhaps it is this moderate charge that makes it so great a
favorite with the theatrical profession, the more prosperous members of
which enjoy the comfort it affords. Well-to-do managers, famous stars,
and sometimes interrogatively opulent soubrettes and chorus girls seek
lodging at the Auditorium, and some very pretty romances are narrated
of flirtations more or less interesting which the “blooded” habitues
of this swell hotel “strike up” with the fair footlight favorites who
enjoy its hospitality. It is worth the price of a day’s board, or at
least a dinner, sometimes, to take a stroll in the corridors and catch
the fragments of delicious lays that are being caroled forth by the
song birds who are practicing their chosen art in the sanctity of their
various chambers. Especially is this the case during a season of grand
or light opera in the great theater adjoining the hotel, in which case
the latter is sure to be thronged with singers of both sexes, and of
all grades of artistic and professional prominence. There is a roomy
balcony over the entrance to the Auditorium which, on pleasant days,
is thronged with gaily dressed people of both sexes, who sit there and
enjoy the dual delight of drinking in the balmy air and watching the
cavalcade on the broad avenue below.
A block north of the Auditorium is the Richelieu, the famous hostelry
the destinies of which are presided over by the renowned “Cardinal”
Bemis. For people of means, to whom money is less of an object than
the engagement of luxuries, the Richelieu, they say, is the place par
excellence at which to stop. Some notable people have honored the
Richelieu with their presence, and one is just as liable to run plumb
against a real, live English Lord or Italian Marquis within its doors
as against a plain, everyday American citizen. Sara Bernhardt selects
the Richelieu when in the city; so does Mrs. Langtry when the confines
of her private car become too narrow for comfort. The Richelieu is
famous for the rare pictures that adorn its walls, some of which are
worth small fortunes, and also--whisper this with bated breath, Oh, ye
irreverent!--for its wine cellars, which are stocked with some of the
rarest and costliest vintages to be found on the entire continent. On
state occasions, when the Cardinal is entertaining some choice party of
notables, he is wont to disappear suddenly, absent himself for about
fifteen minutes and then reappear with a quaint-shaped bottle or two
in either hand covered with cobwebs. Those who sample the contents
of said bottles close their eyes, pat their stomachs softly as the
divine liquid glides down their throats, and then shed tears of joy and
gratitude to the Cardinal for having given them the happiest moment of
their lives. If you are a _connoisseur_ of wines and wish to test your
art in judgment thereof, cultivate the acquaintance of the Cardinal,
and perhaps he will go down into the cellar for you.
[Illustration]
Mr. Warren Leland, who recently sold the hotel of that name, always
said he had the prettiest house in Chicago, and there are some people
who agree with him. The Leland rates, on the American plan, are from $3
to $5 per day up; the European, $1.50 up. The Leland is known as the
“home hotel” of Chicago, and there is a tradition abroad to the effect
that people who once patronize it never go elsewhere.
“THE BLOODED DISTRICT”--Before proceeding to the consideration of
other prominent hotels, it may be interesting to inform the reader
that the district which we are about to leave, and of which the three
hostelries enumerated form the nucleus, has achieved some fame in the
annals of the town as “the blooded district”--so-called for the reason
that the “high-rolling” young men of the city have made it a sort
of headquarters or rendezvous, both before and after the hours when
sober-minded and steady-going folk are fast asleep. The Auditorium,
Richelieu, and Leland _Cafes_, together with Devine’s wine-room on
the other side of Jackson Street, and Colonel John Harvey’s “Wayside
Inn” in the alley, form a sort of circuit or beat, which these “rapid”
young men (i.e. the “bloods”) travel at all times, including such hours
as the sale of cheering beverages is forbidden by city ordinance.
Of these, Harvey’s is perhaps the most unique resort, though if one
cannot find his friends in one of the places named after midnight he
is tolerably certain to encounter them in one of the others. Colonel
Harvey is the father of the pert little soubrette, Hattie Harvey, of
whom the great _diva_, Patti, became so desperately enamored as to
invite her to her castle in Wales, and admirers of the young lady are
fond of dropping in to discuss her merits with her papa, the Colonel,
who, it goes without saying, is the most devoted of her admirers. If
you praise Hattie’s beauty to the Colonel he will mix for you, with his
own hands, one of his choicest drinks; if you swear on your honor that
she is destined to become the greatest actress of the century, he will
probably crack a bottle. The door of Harvey’s “Wayside Inn” is tightly
closed at midnight, but the initiated may gain ready admittance by
learning the pass-word of the night and roaring it, in tones more or
less musical, through the key-hole. You can always tell whether there
is any fun going on in Harvey’s by the galaxy of hackmen who stand in
line at the curb, waiting for the “boys” to emerge in the small hours
of the morning. But we may now leave the “blooded district” and take a
glance at other South side hotels.
The venerable Palmer House stands like a bulwark at the corner of
State and Monroe Streets, its vast expanse stretching away for half a
block. The Palmer enjoys a steady patronage from people who have been
“putting up” there for years. It has a large _clientele_ of the better
class of commercial travelers. The wits of the town crack jokes at the
expense of the Palmer on the score of the number of guests of Hebraic
extraction it shelters. Be that as it may, the Palmer welcomes all
who pay their bills and those who patronize it generally possess that
admirable qualification. The Palmer’s rates are $3 to $5 per day.
[Illustration]
There is a little room on the sixth floor of the Palmer which is an
environ of romantic interest, it having been the scene of one of the
most famous tragedies in Chicago’s history. In the summer of 1882, it
was occupied by Charles Stiles, the popular and high-living “caller” of
the Board of Trade. Early one morning a veiled woman, whose tasteful
but somber raiment revealed the outlines of an entrancing figure, took
the elevator to the sixth floor and knocked at the door of Stiles’
room. He came out scantily clad in response to the summons. There was
a flash, the ringing report of a revolver, and in another instant the
young man lay dead on the floor. The woman knelt down, kissed his
forehead and submitted to arrest without a murmur. She was an Italian,
Teresa Sturlata by name, and the mistress of Stiles. His previous
abuse of her, as testified to at the trial, so influenced the jury
in her behalf that she received but the nominal punishment of one
year in the penitentiary, though her great beauty doubtless had some
influence on the leniency of the sentence. Many men went daft over the
beautiful murderess. Some of the letters that she received while in
jail were published, and precious epistles they were, too. They all
contained protestations of affection, and several offers of marriage
were included among them. The woman went to the penitentiary and served
her sentence. When released she disappeared as completely as though
the earth had swallowed her. Her present whereabouts is unknown, but
the room made famous by the great tragedy is still pointed out to new
guests at the Palmer.
The Grand Pacific, on South Clark Street, kept by Landlord Drake, is
of the same class as the Palmer, enjoying a steady patronage all the
year round. The rates are $3 to $5 per day. The Tremont, kept by Mr.
Eden (Lake and Dearborn) and the Sherman, kept by Mr. Pierce (Clark and
Randolph), are of the same grade as the Palmer and Grand Pacific.
These comprise the list of first-class down-town hotels, though several
others are in progress of construction, with a view to caring for the
thousands of strangers who will visit the World’s Fair. Notable among
these is the Great Northern, which, under the supervision of Mr. Eden,
has just been pushed to completion. It is on Dearborn Street opposite
the post office, between Jackson and Quincy, being situated, therefore,
in the very heart of the business district.
The Victoria, the new hotel on the site of the building formerly
known as the Beaurivage, Michigan Avenue and Congress Street, is a
fashionable house, patronized by the best people. The same is true of
The Wellington, corner of Jackson Street and Wabash Avenue.
The smaller hotels are much too numerous to particularize. They are
scattered in all directions and their rates for rooms vary from fifty
cents upward per day. There is no street in the business part of the
city without two or three such hotels, and the traveler must be hard
to please who cannot suit himself at one or another among so many.
The residence part of the city, particularly on the North and South
sides, is thickly dotted with first-class family hotels, where persons
contemplating an extended stay may obtain quiet accommodation in the
exact ratio for which they care to pay. The two most magnificent family
hotels are the Virginia, 78 Rush Street, and the Metropole, Michigan
Avenue and Twenty-third Street. These two houses cannot be surpassed
for style and elegance and they are patronized exclusively by people of
means.