 |
| (JWB, 2008) |
Found on the pages of The Chicago Tribune, these are just some of the events that occurred on this date as the city grew . . .
March 15,
1877
The Chicago
Tribune reported that “It
is the general opinion, that, before the lapse of much time, the problem of
shipping fresh meat in good condition from the farthest Western points to the
Eastern seaports will have been solved, and that the shipments of live stock
will continue to decrease until it ceases altogether.” Within ten years the paper’s prediction
became fact, and Chicago’s southwest side was changed forever. Since it was calculated that the
average head of beef lost from fifty to sixty pounds in weight from the range
to its final destination, the development of the reefer car was an important
one.
March 15,
1886
With labor unrest
brewing in Chicago, The Tribune turned to happier news in reporting that one of the oldest
citizens in Illinois was a Douglas Country resident, John Hawkins, “a colored
man living near Hindsboro, who is 105 years old.” The paper also reported that Mr. Hawkins had a wife who was
84 years younger than he was and who “recently presented him with an heir.”
March 15,
1912
Big announcement in
this day’s Tribune: “The realization of the city plan
commission’s ideas on the Chicago harbor seems probable as a result of a new agreement
reached by fourteen of the large railroads entering Chicago, announced
yesterday by Attorney Will H. Lyford following a conference with Lieut. Col.
George A. Zinn of the army engineers.”
The major project
included a six-track belt line and two large clearance yards, the largest of
which would encompass 1,000 acres extended from 63rd to 71st
Streets. (Today Clearing yard is a
massive double hump yard that is the largest and probably the busiest in the
entire Chicago area.) The four railroads not entering into the agreement were
the Northwestern, the St. Paul, the New York Central and the Baltimore and
Ohio.
It was estimated
that approximately 30,000 carloads of freight, averaging 20 tons apiece, came
into the city each day. The new
arrangement would provide for a more efficient transfer of through freight,
tonnage that previously had to travel through the heart of the city.
The portion of the
plan that was never completed called for the development of a Chicago River
harbor for local freight and passenger service. The Northwestern ran a railroad spur all the way to the end
of the north bank of the river and was “vitally interested” in the completion
of a plan that never made it off the drawing board.
*
* * *
*
 |
| (Google Photo) |
From the Tribune’s sports pages came a story from Waco, Texas,
the home of the White Sox spring training camp and “a boy of 20 years who has
more grit than the manager of any other player on the squad knows.”
The boy’s name was
“Buck” Weaver who “at the same time he [was] using every bit of his energy to
get a place as a regular in the big league he [was] grieving over his mother’s
death, which happened suddenly on the day he left to join the team.”
Before the summer
of 1910 Buck Weaver had never left his home in Stowe, Pennsylvania, but he came
west to play ball in San Francisco and over the winter worked at a California
ranch to make a little money and keep in shape. On the day that he was to travel to camp in Waco, his
father’s telegram arrived informing him of his mother’s death. Rather than take a long train ride back
to Pennsylvania for the funeral, Buck hopped the train for Texas and training
camp.
According the
reporter in Waco “Weaver came in here the day the main squad arrived, and,
without mentioning the death of his mother to Manager Callahan or to any of the
players, he got into his baseball suit and started after the job as shortstop
for Comiskey’s team. Not a man on the squad displayed as much enthusiasm in the
work.”
As the most
promising recruit on the roster, Buck Weaver went about his business, later
confessing “when he was alone in his room he couldn’t help but weep over the
matter. However, he knew he could
do no good by going home and he was determined to make good as a ball player .
. .”
Buck Weaver grew up
quickly, switching from shortstop to third base in 1917. He was the only third baseman in the
league against whom Ty Cobb refused to bunt. In the 1919 World Series he batted .324, banging out 11 hits
and playing errorless ball at third base.
Based on his record
in the 1919 series, he was almost certainly falsely accused of participating in
the “fix” that became the Black Sox scandal. Banned from baseball for life by
Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, he filed for reinstatement six separate
times before dying at the age of 65 on January 31, 1956.
From this time one
when I hear about the Black Sox scandal of 1919, the first thing I will think
of will be the 20-year-old kid from Pennsylvania who wanted to play in the bigs
so bad that he put on the uniform and went out to field fungoes while his mother’s
funeral was taking place back home.
March 15,
1936
Also on this date
it was announced that invitations to the electrocution of Bruno Richard
Hauptmann would be mailed over the weekend. The execution for the convicted killer of the Lindbergh baby
was also scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31.
Charles Lindbergh,
Jr. was kidnapped on March 1, 1932 from his parent’s home at which a ransom
note demanding $50,000 was left.
The young boy’s body was found on May 12, 1932 about four miles from the
Lindbergh home. Subsequently,
$14,500 of the delivered ransom was found in Hauptmann’s garage. Eight handwriting experts testified at
Hauptmann’s trial, pointing out the similarities between words and letters in
the ransom note and the defendant’s own writing.
Hauptmann was
executed on April 3, 1936 although there is still controversy concerning the
fairness of the process that was followed to secure his conviction.
*
* * *
*
 |
| (JWB, 2010) |
On the sports pages
of The Tribune
for this date came breathless coverage of the Chicago Backhawks, “. . . neat,
orderly young men who enjoy having everything shipshape, will roll up their
sleeves tonight at Boston in the opening chore of a four game spring cleaning
campaign which they hope will bring them first place in the American section of
the National Hockey league.”
With four games
left in the season the Hawks had played 44 games, won 24 and racked up a total
of 50 points. The team trailed
Detroit, the league leader, by just one game at this point. Unfortunately, the Hawks did not get to
the championship. Detroit, in its
second appearance in the championship series, ended up beating the Toronto
Maple Leafs in the finals, 3-1.
March 15,
1961
On the editorial
page of The Tribune
came a piece concerning the development of Chicago’s Calumet Harbor. In words that sound eerily prescient,
the editorial began, “The Kennedy administration has had a good deal to say
about spending billions of tax dollars to provide jobs and end the business
recession.”
The opinion piece
went on to point out that the harbor development program would create 3,000
jobs during the construction period and 1,000 full time jobs after the program
was completed. In the project the
last mile of the river would be straightened and two old center-pier bridges
would be removed. A new bridge
would also be built to replace the two that would be demolished. Once the river was straightened and the
bridges removed, the proposal was to deepen the river channel from 21 feet to
27 feet.
The project was
first proposed in the early 1930’s, and Congress approved the project in
1935. The piece ended with this
thought, “Chicago is the logical terminal
of the seaway route. The
city’s officials and representatives n Congress should see to it that all the
facilities are provided to let Chicago take advantage of its geographical
position.”
*
* * *
*
And on the sports
pages it was announced that Zeke Bratkowski was traded to the Los Angeles
Rams. The deal completed a
transaction begun in January in which Bill Wade, the Los Angeles quarterback,
was signed by the Bears. Under the
agreement Los Angeles was due a high draft choice or a player from the Bears
roster.
“The Brat” had
excited Bear fans in his rookie season of 1954 when he took over for the
injured George Blanda. He led the
Bears to five wins in their last six games. The following year he enlisted in the Air Force and in 1957,
when he returned, he struggled to find his earlier form.
It was William
James Wade who led the Bears to their 1963 championship season. In his 15 year N.F.L. career Zeke
Bratkowsi passed for 10,345 yards and 65 touchdowns. After three years with Los Angeles, Vince Lombardi brought
him to Green Bay for the 100 dollar waiver fee.
*
* * *
*
 |
| (Google Photo) |
Also on the sports
pages of The Tribune
came news of a legitimate Cubs hero, the five-foot nine-inch second baseman for
the team, Don Zimmer. After the
Cubbies fell behind Los Angeles on a three-run home run by Ted Kluszewski, Don
Zimmer hit a single and four home runs to lift the team to a 9-5 victory.
In addition to Mr.
Zimmer’s offensive outburst, Al Heist and News Mathews hit triples, Ron Santo
hit two doubles and Billy Williams and Ed Bouchee each hit doubles.
The Cubs went on to
finish the season with a 64 and 90 record, settling into a comfortable 29 games out of first
place, edging out the Phillies club that finished 46 games behind league-leading Cincinnati.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment