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| The old State Street bridge, destroyed by the Chicago fire in 1871 (www.historicbridge.org) |
Tonight Nik
Wallenda will be doing his high-wire daredevil thing, crossing the river
between State and Dearborn on a tightrope after walking from the east tower to
the west tower of Marina City . . . blindfolded. There will be plenty of exciting action – the
skies are clear, the wind has died down, and the city is pumped up.
There was plenty of
action at the State Street bridge on this date, November 2, in 1867 as two
assistant bridge tenders got into a tussle at 1:00 in the morning. “That a murder was not committed, was in no
way the fault of the combatants, for there was neither a lack of intent, nor
were the weapons employed impotent to produce such a result,” reported The Tribune. [Chicago
Tribune, November 2, 1867]
Apparently
assistant bridge tender John Gannon was off-duty during the early part of the
night and came to the bridge around midnight “somewhat the worse for the liquor
he had imbibed during his vacation.”
Upon his arrival Edward Williams, the assistant on duty, who had “also
imbibed somewhat freely” jumped on him “in terms more forcible than elegant”
for reporting to work in a condition that would prevent him from responsibly
carrying out his duties.
Words were
exchanged, which quickly led to a “desperate struggle . . . in the little
bridge-house about which a number of persons . . . began to collect.” Mr. Williams, “being evidently the soberest
of the two,” grabbed hold of a club and knocked his opponent to the floor. Mr. Gannon did not stay down for long, and
the struggle continued.
At some point Mr.
Williams grabbed hold of an axe and “with this he dealt a crushing blow on his
adversary’s skull” which “more than sufficed to bring Gannon down.” Williams was just about to administer the
finishing blow when the head bridge-tender, Thomas Lewis, ran into the bridge house
and wrestled the lethal weapon out of his employee’s hands. The police arrived and Williams was hauled
off to the Armory.
Mr. Gannon was in a
pretty bad way, “covered with gore from his head to his feet, suffering from a “fearful
gash” to the back of his skull. The
bridge house was a mess with “the walls, the floor, the bed, and everything about
the place . . . thickly covered with blood.”
Quite a night on the river. Ending its report The Tribune observed, “Altogether, the two constitute an exemplary pair of bridge-tenders, who ought to receive promotion.”
Quite a night on the river. Ending its report The Tribune observed, “Altogether, the two constitute an exemplary pair of bridge-tenders, who ought to receive promotion.”
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2 comments:
Love flowery Tribune prose. And, Mr. Jim, yours is quite graceful also.
Thank you . . . although I'm not quite sure how I feel about being flowery.
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