January 15, 1916 – The “Foolkiller,” a submarine
that has been embedded in the mud at the bottom of the Chicago River at Wells
Street yields a grisly find upon its being raised – the skull of a dog and the
bones of a man. The small submersible
was originally built in the early 1870’s but had not been seen in a quarter-century.
A diver for the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, William Deneau, discovers
the craft somewhat earlier while working in the effort to locate bodies from
the ill-fated Eastland, the steamer that had capsized six months earlier. The identity of the victim found aboard the
submarine was never discovered, and there is even some conjecture that the
bones might have been planted aboard as part of a scheme to place the whole
tableau on public exhibition. That
happened shortly thereafter as customers could pay a dime to see the exhibit at
208 South State Street, a display that was moved at least twice – to Oelwein, Iowa
where it was billed “The Submarine or
Fool Killer, the first submarine ever built,” It shared the exhibit space among
other top draws, including “The Electric Girl, The Vegetable King, [and] Snooks,
the smallest monkey in the world”
[mysteriouschicago.com] The Fool
Killer was last heard of when it appeared at Chicago’s Riverview Park where it
sat forlornly while the “Last Days of Pompeii,” a “gorgeous fireworks
spectacle” with 600 performers was staged alongside the river at Western and
Belmont.
Also on this date from an earlier blog . . .
January 15, 1954 -- The Chicago city council authorizes the purchase of the Reid-Murdoch building at 325 N. State Street in order to consolidate traffic courts and the police traffic division. The matter had been pending since November 3 when voters authorized a 4 million dollar bond issue for acquiring the building and remodeling it. More on the history of the Reid-Murdoch building can be found here: http://www.connectingthewindycity.com/…/reid-murdoch-buildi… and here: http://www.connectingthewindycity.com/…/reid-murdoch-buildi…
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