CHAPTER XXVIISPECIAL FEATURES OF CHICAGO.
T
Thereare 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 streetis 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 ofdwellings 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 sortthe 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 fromits 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-fiveeast 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.
MAURICE BARRYMORE.JESSIE BARTLETT DAVIS.RICHARD MANSFIELD.HATTIE HARVEY.GEORGIA CAYVAN.ISABELLA IRVING.MARGARET MATHER.
MAURICE BARRYMORE.JESSIE BARTLETT DAVIS.RICHARD MANSFIELD.HATTIE HARVEY.GEORGIA CAYVAN.ISABELLA IRVING.MARGARET MATHER.
MAURICE BARRYMORE.JESSIE BARTLETT DAVIS.
RICHARD MANSFIELD.HATTIE HARVEY.
GEORGIA CAYVAN.ISABELLA IRVING.MARGARET MATHER.