 |
| The route of Charley Adams -- Michigan Avenue as it appeared in 1902, two years after the race to Monroe |
Big excitement on
Michigan Avenue on April 6, 1900 as Charley
Adams, a horse owned by three-year-old Barbara Belle Muller, created havoc
on the street, dashing without direction from the Logan Monument in Grant Park
all the way to Monroe Street. The Tribune described the horse as a
“beautiful sorrel, with long, flowing tail and mane” with a “most intelligent
head” and “eyes . . . full of good nature”.
[Chicago Tribune, April 7, 1900]
Little Barbara
Belle had received the horse from her grandfather on her first birthday. When he was a small colt Charley Adams “showed signs of being a pet, and the older he became
the more of a pet he became.” When he
arrived in Chicago from farm country 60 miles south of the city, Barbara
Belle’s daddy decided to make a “theater horse” of him and by the time April of
1900 rolled around the horse had roles in at least four plays in the city.
At one o’clock in
the afternoon on April 6 the horse was sent to the Logan statue, in the
guardianship of two young men, both dressed in full jockey regalia. Alas, “the man with the camera was slow, and
the jockey made Charley Adams nervous
by insisting upon his remaining in one spot.”
Supposition quite
removed from journalistic investigation takes over the story at this
point. Barbara Belle’s father had “one
drawer in his office in the barn filled with sugar, from which Charley Adams
helps himself when his sweet tooth needs filling. The horse has the freedom of the office,
making himself at home there much as a dog would.”
“Perhaps,”
reported The Tribune, “Charley Adams
thought of the white lumps in the desk.”
Tired of the
photo session, Charley Adams “whirled
suddenly, and . . . dropped his head and started north in the street. He ran as if a pair of spurs were being
thrust into his flanks.”
For nearly a mile
Charley Adams “at race track speed” scattered “people on foot and on wheels”
while “drivers turned their horses to the curb to give a clear course.” Although his mouth was bleeding, the show went
on and Charley Adams, a lifetime stage hoofer, returned to the Logan statue
after his run to freedom “like a respectable theater horse, and never winked
while his picture was being taken.”
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment