SPECIAL FEATURES OF CHICAGO.
[Illustration]
There are not a few sights worth seeing in Chicago a detailed
description of which has been overlooked in the compilation of the
preceding chapters. It may not be amiss to set down a few of them as
briefly as may be and permit the reader to suit himself in the matter
of paying them a visit of inspection or not.
First in importance of these, perhaps, is the elevated railroad,
running from Congress street to Thirty-ninth through the alley between
State street and Wabash avenue. This is the South side line. The West
Side, or Lake street “L” road, is in rapid course of construction but
will not be finished for some time yet. Another road, along Ogden
avenue, is also projected, and though it is reasonably certain to be
built some day its completion is too far distant to merit extended
notice.
The South side “L” road commenced operations about the first of June of
the present year. Its cars are well built, roomy and well ventilated
and the run over the route to Thirty-ninth street is made in about
fourteen minutes. The road is to be extended south to the world’s fair
grounds in time for the opening of that great enterprise. Accustomed
as Chicagoans have always been to the introduction of novelties the
sight of the elevated railroad cars skimming along on a level with the
second-story windows of the houses along the route excited curiosity
and interest for several weeks, and it stands to reason that strangers,
while taking their first ride in the elevated cars, will experience the
same pleasant emotion. On the day that the road was formally opened to
travel a number of prominent citizens were invited to take the trip,
and from the accounts published at the time it is to be surmised that
many interesting sights were seen along the journey. The families
living in the rooms facing the alley were wholly unprepared for the
passage of the train, and the clear and unobstructed view that could be
had into their windows was productive of no end of merriment. Gentlemen
whose pleasures of the night before had caused them to sleep late
were surprised at their shaving mirrors, and ladies in every variety
of demi-toilette were fain to dodge behind closet doors or hastily
draw the curtains as the train loads of voyagers swept by. This sort
of thing was encountered all along the line, and, while the occupants
of dwellings whose rear windows face the alley have learned to look
for the trains by this time and guard against surprise, one is still
occasionally caught napping. The elevated railway affords a rapid and
pleasant mode of transit. Its trains run at all hours of the day and
night. The fare is five cents for the entire journey.
Although it is not altogether a pleasant place to visit the county jail
is inspected by parties of strangers who have a desire to glance at a
dark side of life in a big city. There may or may not be a number of
interesting prisoners in the jail at the time of your visit, but if
not there are spots that will be shown you by the affable clerk, Ben
Price, that are full of historical interest. “Murderer’s Row,” the
line of dingy cells in which candidates for the gallows are confined,
generally has at least one occupant, and let us hope it will be empty
when the reader sees it. The petty criminals, or those awaiting trial,
are allowed to roam during the day in the cage and converse at stated
intervals with their relatives or friends through the wire grating.
In this place Louis Lingg, the anarchist, whose dreadful suicide is
referred to in another chapter, used to enjoy weekly interviews with
his sweetheart, the young girl who is said to have given him the
bomb with which he cheated the gallows by blowing off his head. In
interviews of this sort the prisoner stands on one side of the wire
grating, the visitor on the other. “Lingg’s girl,” as the jail habitues
used to call her, is said to have given her sweetheart the bomb by
means of a kiss between the bars, passing the deadly little instrument
from her mouth to his at the moment their lips met. This is of course
only a jail story, but as there is no other known manner in which the
doomed man could have secured the bomb, it must be accepted in lieu of
a better explanation.
There is a “visiting” day at the jail each week, on which the friends
of the prisoners are permitted to bring them delicacies. Old women with
baskets in their arms trudge in and stand with tearful eyes as their
hopeful sons or grandsons greedily devour the contents. Many a pitiful
sight is to be witnessed and the visitor may, perhaps, come away with
a strengthened determination never to get into jail himself if he can
help it. A call at the sheriff’s office is all that is necessary to
secure a pass to the jail. It is situated on the north side on Michigan
street, close to Clark.
Some of the great buildings of Chicago, recently finished, are well
worth inspection. One of the newest of these, the Temple, on La Salle
street, is one of the sights of the city. Its cost was $1,100,000, and
the estimated income from its rents is $250,000 a year. Just across
the street, in the Home Insurance building, is the office of Armour &
Co. There are three hundred well disciplined employes here, and they
move about their business like clock-work. Mr. P. D. Armour, who is,
perhaps, the richest man in the west, sits at an unpretentious desk
among his “boys,” as he calls them, and spends as many hours here daily
as any of them. Other great buildings within fifteen minutes walk of
this one are the Rookery, Royal Insurance building, Republic Life
building, Tacoma building, Phœnix building, Monadnock and Kearsage
building, Manhattan building, Insurance Exchange building, Pontiac
building.
The gigantic Masonic Temple, at the north-east corner of State and
Randolph street, deserves special mention. It towers skyward until its
roof is almost lost in the clouds. The idea of a grand Masonic temple
in Chicago is twenty years old, and western Masons are responsible for
the erection of the superb structure, which is an everlasting honor to
themselves and a credit to the city. The building, which is without
doubt one of the finest in the world, was completed this spring. The
company erecting it is capitalized at $2,000,000, the price per share
being $100. It has an interior court measuring ninety feet north and
south by forty-five east and west, the walls of which are faced
with marble of variegated colors, with a bronze staircase winding its
devious way from the ground floor to the roof. There are fourteen
passenger and two freight elevators, each of which makes a round trip
every three minutes. An entire morning may be profitably passed in
inspecting this mighty structure, the magnificence of which, perhaps,
cannot be duplicated on the continent, if indeed, in the entire
universe.
[Illustration:
MAURICE BARRYMORE.
JESSIE BARTLETT DAVIS.
RICHARD MANSFIELD.
HATTIE HARVEY.
GEORGIA CAYVAN.
ISABELLA IRVING.
MARGARET MATHER.
]