Homicide in Chicago: 1870-1930 July 25, 1899
Murphy, James, 28 years old, shot dead, saloon 1210 Wabash Av., by Lorezo Sodini, proprietor. Murphy refused to pay for drinks and ran out of saloon and threw stone through window. Sodini ran out and fired at him, killing him instantly. Harrison St. Station. Held by Coroner's Jury, July 29. Acquitted Dec. 9, 1899, by jury in Judge Baker's court.
Case number: 1498
posted by tcp
on Jul 2, 2004 -
1 comment
Chicago is sinking at the rate of about a millimeter a year(or about 4 inches per century), and it's being caused by melting Canadian glaciers that cause the land to shift.
posted by geeknik
on May 21, 2004 -
16 comments
Chicagoans show off their kanji character tattoos. We Chicagoan's know our hot dogs. Kanji characters, not so well.
Japanese tattoos don't always mean what their wearers think they do. With the assistance of Mariko Sasaki, a researcher at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago, we examined the tattoos of five Chicagoans. [via Chicago Tribune] Login: anonymous/anonymous
posted by KevinSkomsvold
on Apr 9, 2004 -
95 comments
Physicist Robert Wood is reviving a 120 year old theory that the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was started by
cometary debris from Beila's comet that had previously been observed to fragment after a close encounter with Jupiter. Wood's orbital analysis puts a fragment of Beila near Earth at the time of the fires. The theory would explain a number of previously unexplained events like multiple eyewitness accounts of fire falling from the sky, and how a single-source blaze from a barn spread to include a large portion of the city. Perhaps most importantly, the
Great Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin that killed 1,200 people ignighted on the some night. However the comet theory has been discarded by
Peshtigoand Chicago Fire historians who note that the upper midwest was dry with a multitude of smaller fires in the same season. The truth may never be known but the speculation is interesting.
posted by KirkJobSluder
on Mar 7, 2004 -
2 comments
Music club caught in racist flap : After being promoted for many weeks, the plug is pulled on the Death In June/Der Blutharsch/Changes concert in Chicago for reasons of racism. Aside from Changes (which does support separatism), when does imagery go too far? Bruce Bottle of Chicago's
The Empty Bottle explains the reasons why they cancelled the show, and opens up a can of worms in the process.
posted by starscream
on Dec 17, 2003 -
28 comments
"We're walking from Chicago to San Francisco. Many have responded with, "
You guys are stupid!" Some, on the other hand, have said, "Wow, that's cool!" Either way, we hope you'll keep coming back to see what will happen next in our walking adventures."
Current mileage, photo galleries, and journal entries abound -- and really, when was the last time
you walked 627 miles (inside of 60 days)?
posted by wells
on Jul 24, 2003 -
20 comments
The Top 25 Arts Destinations. AmericanStyle magazine asked its readers to "list their top choices for arts travel destinations" in the United States. The
winner was
not New York. Sacrilege? Or not? A list of the best galleries is included for each of the top ten.
(via ArtsJournal)
posted by Ljubljana
on Jun 3, 2003 -
14 comments
Free Speech Button Police -- Chicago-area schools debate ban on teachers wearing "No War" buttons vs. the ubiquitous flag lapel pins. What are the limits to teachers' political fashion statements -- are students a captive audience? More inside.
posted by serafinapekkala
on Apr 29, 2003 -
49 comments
The
Chicago River was essentially the city of Chicago's cesspool until the construction of the Chicago Ship & Sanitary Canal, which connected the Chicago River to the Mississippi Basin in 1900. Now there's
serious talk of intentionally returning a section of the river to a cesspool-like state, by dumping untreated sewage and (possibly) toxic chemicals into the river. The purpose: to prevent invasive species such as the
Asian Carp and the
Round Goby from using this connection to cross between the Great Lakes and Mississippi basins. Is it ever possible to avoid unintended consequences in environmental engineering? And is it necessary to "go nuclear", so to speak, to try to correct them?
[Second link RealAudio; transcript here.]
posted by Johnny Assay
on Mar 4, 2003 -
9 comments
Shortly after Jack The Ripper retired, a man named Henry Holmes moved to Chicago. Using insurance fraud money, in 1892 he built an elaborate mansion with over 60 rooms. This mansion, which became known as The Murder Castle, was perhaps the first extraordinary building in a city that has become known for its architecture, from Frank Lloyd Wright to the Sears tower. In his home, which he ran as a hotel for the unfortunate traveler, Holmes murderd & disposed of as many as 200 victims over the course of the next four years... (more inside)
posted by jonson
on Feb 3, 2003 -
26 comments
Twenty-five years after the Mirage. Wade past the Bob Greene digression up high to the meat of this piece -- a look back at the Chicago Sun-Times' landmark investigative project, the Mirage Tavern. The premise: What if a newspaper opened a bar? Who would come calling? In this case, a parade of petty scammers on a variety of public and private payrolls, each with their hand out for a shakedown. It was a singular look at corruption at the small-business level, a 25-day series people actually read and chuckled over, and yet it was denied the Pulitzer Prize and marked a watershed moment, after which undercover journalism was seen as fundamentally dishonest
posted by nance
on Oct 4, 2002 -
31 comments
A Tale of Two Cities: Chicago and New York This exhibition of more than 150 black-and-white photographs represents a cross-section of the thousands of significant buildings that are protected by local landmark designation in Chicago and New York City. The story of how this came to pass is both as similar and as different as the cities themselves.
posted by vacapinta
on Sep 7, 2002 -
3 comments
Reality catches up a bit with scifi through a new Chicago startup called Arryx, who is developing the first commercial tractor beam. Tractor beams are
nothing new at mefi, but this is a major step up from
last year's story. One, it's graduated the technology from the nanoscopic application to cellular-level microscopic levels. Two, this is destined to be an actual commercial product. The technology is licensed to the company from the university where it was developed, my very own alma-mater,
The University of Chicago :)
[link via ArsTechnica]
posted by LuxFX
on Sep 1, 2002 -
3 comments
Palestinian comic booted from Jackie Mason's comedy show Ray Hanania, a Palestinian comic in Chicago, was set to open for headlining act Jackie Mason. A few hours before the show, Mason had him booted. "It's not exactly like he's just an Arab-American. This guy's a Palestinian," said Jyll Rosenfeld, Mason's manager. "Jackie does not feel comfortable having a Palestinian open for him." Ouch. (Imagine if the tables were turned: "Ray does not feel comfortable having a Jew open for him")
Too bad, really. If there's one thing the I/P conflict needs, it's more humor. Like this
Muslim-Jewish Comedy Night.
posted by laz-e-boy
on Aug 28, 2002 -
68 comments
Mob kills men after traffic accident . This story is a little disturbing; it's been on CNN etc., but here in Chicago it's the hourly top story. A van driven by two middle-aged men moving furniture jumped a curb and pinned three girls against a step. In retaliation, a crowd of a dozen or more yanked the men from their van and beat them with fists and even bricks. Both died. The police have fanned out looking for witnesses and evidence, with a few arrests, but no charges as of yet. [more inside]
posted by dhartung
on Aug 1, 2002 -
75 comments
Chicago Rat Patrol. No, not
this kind of rat patrol; for this crew,
rat spotting is just a sideline. What these guys skulk in alleys for, though, is
discarded bike parts to kludge, especially in strange and
unexpected proportions. Most of them work. As a result of their experiments, they're attuned to the
kitbashed contraptions used by (mostly) economically marginal folk. Additionally, or superfluously, they're sort of
anarchist anti-corporate critical-mass types. Updated until almost a year ago.
Note: Geocities site. Tread lightly. And stay away from the "Rodeo" link, where there's a quicktime video, until tomorrow.
posted by dhartung
on Jul 26, 2002 -
4 comments
Bike the Ike! About 700 riders from Chicago Critical Mass rode on the Eisenhower Expressway for a mile at the last ride. Dangerous and insane, yes, but the cyclist in me thinks it's the bee's knees. Ah, to ride on the 10 all the way to the beach...
posted by RakDaddy
on Jul 9, 2002 -
25 comments
"America As It Was: A Tour Of The USA In Vintage Postcards" is a vast, amazing collection, quaintly presented by my new heroine: an Atlanta real estate agent and church volunteer called
Pat Sabin who dreams of one day visiting Chicago and whose(some would say surprising) love for
all things webby is an example to us all. Please don't be put off by the homey graphics and folksy language - it really is a rich, rich resource! [
My favourite postcard turns out to be from James Lilek's New York collection. Go figure. All I can say is God bless the meetings of unlikely minds!)]
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Jun 25, 2002 -
5 comments
The Business Software Alliance is now running new radio ads in the Chicago Area (on 101.1 FM and other channels) saying, "Is your boss riding you hard all day? Want to get your boss back? Call the BSA and tell us your boss is pirating software!" Is this
extortion or a necessary wake-up call?
posted by Maxor
on Jun 13, 2002 -
17 comments
SFMOMA appoints Neal Benezra as new director. Benezra was formerly the deputy director and curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Art Institute of Chicago, and replaces David Ross, who left the museum in a hurry last August to become chairman of the board of
Eyestorm. During his tenure, Ross spent $140 million on acquisitions for the museum; Elaine McKeon, chairwoman of the Museum's board told the NYTimes that "We will still continue purchasing works of art, but we are going to move more slowly." Benezra has ties to Hunk and Moo Anderson, and wrote the catalog essay for the 2000 show of the Anderson collection. Could this mean that the Anderson collection will eventually be gifted to SFMOMA? (
sfgate story,
nytimes story)
posted by msippey
on Mar 14, 2002 -
4 comments
Police officers and FBI agents find cyanide in a Chicago subway. A Wisconsin computer worker who dubbed himself Dr. Chaos was charged Monday with possessing a chemical weapon.
The suspect was wanted on several warrants from Wisconsin for allegedly staging attacks on a television station transmitter, electric power substations and natural gas pipelines.
When police shut down the subway tunnels for three hours Saturday night, they publicly said they were searching for the possessions of a homeless man who had been living in the tunnel.
posted by andre_111
on Mar 12, 2002 -
8 comments
Announcing CivicNet, a Metropolitan Area Network (or MAN). In short, it is broadband for the masses in the Chicago area to be developed over a span of 10 years (if you're lucky). To be clear: I am not the man.
posted by moz
on Jan 7, 2002 -
9 comments
A particularly chilling case of road rage has been the focus of the Chicago biking community for the past couple of years. Yesterday, the jury
came down with a first-degree murder verdict for Carnell Fitzpatrick, who, in April of 1999, deliberately drove down and killed bike messenger Tom McBride after an altercation at a stoplight.
The rights of bicyclists in urban areas has always been a contentious issue. Because of this verdict, drivers will no doubtedly show more restraint in taking their anger out on street cyclists, though likely more out of fear than respect. While I'm happy to see a victory for the cyclists, it's that last part that worries me.
posted by sandor
on Dec 5, 2001 -
41 comments
OK, this is yesterday's news, but this
airline incident happened Monday over the skies of Chicago. I heard the sonic boom as the F-16's scrambled to intercept the plane, which at first gave me a false sense of security. But now I'm wondering about 2 things about this incident; First, how the hell did this guy get in the cockpit? Haven't they fixed the doors yet (at least with a deadbolt)? Secondly, if this plane was indeed a threat, what would the F-16's do? Shoot the plane down over a very populated area? It seems our new airline security plans still have some major holes!
posted by Sal Amander
on Oct 9, 2001 -
16 comments
Stories like this one always seems to bring a smile to my face. For the record, this is the second time in the last few years that some stupid (or very desperate) criminal has tried to rob a doughnut shop in the Chicago land area. You'd think that the concept alone would stop a would-be assailant, but I guess truth
is stranger than fiction.
posted by Bag Man
on Jul 31, 2001 -
15 comments
And I thought Florida only had this problem. The Chicago Tribune reports that nearly 8% of votes in Illinois' 1st Congressional District went uncounted in the 2000 presidential election. It also adds:
voters in low-income, high-minority districts nationwide were more likely to have undercounted ballots than were those in affluent, predominantly white districts, the study showed. Is there a nation-wide epidemic of undercounting? Or is it a problem limited to few localized areas? Or is it an underhanded way to deny the underprivileged of their vote? From the looks of it, at least additional investigation needs to be done.
posted by Bag Man
on Jul 9, 2001 -
15 comments
The Maltesos. Well, there's no Webistics, and Big Pussy hasn't turned up floating down the Fox River, but here's your modern American mob family, suburban style. Betty Loren-Maltese, longtime mayor of the Town of Cicero, which abuts Chicago's West Side, has been indicted for looting the town's health insurance system to the tune of at least $10 million. The US Attorney says it is the largest dollar amount in any single organized crime investigation. [more inside]
posted by dhartung
on Jun 16, 2001 -
8 comments
Those loveable losers, the Cubbies, are six games up in the standings and have been in first place for most of the season. Are these guys for real? Or will Slamm'n' Sammy and Co. fall to
the curse of the goat once again? They're made a believer out of me, but being a Cubs fan I know their failure in '69 hangs over these guys like an evil shadow.
posted by Bag Man
on Jun 13, 2001 -
14 comments
The Baffler's Chicago home base was destroyed in a fire recently. Information on how to help is available at The Baffler's home page, linked above...
posted by preguicoso
on Jun 7, 2001 -
2 comments
Boeing chooses Chicago for new corporate headquarters. This, despite O'Hare's growing reputation for cancellations and delays, and the gridlocked
politics that prevent a near-term solution to the air transportation problems in Chicago.
posted by ktheory
on May 10, 2001 -
10 comments
