Whiteside

Beer King Watched Fortunes Fizzle

The History of Joliet – Chapter 35 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “The good ol’ days are now only memories.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News On Saturday, Jan. 17, 1920, a newspaper headline in the Joliet Evening Herald-News summed it all up: “U.S. Dry Today.” The 18th Amendment, which was approved in 1917, went into effect along with its accompanying Volstead Act. The act provided penalties for violations of making and selling liquor. The Prohibition era had started. “The final celebration of the passing of the wet era did … Read more

Hit-and-run Marked City’s First Auto Death

The History of Joliet – Chapter 37 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “The red car crashed into the seven people who were crossing the street. But the driver just kept going.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News “It may seem unfortunate to this man that he is the first to be convicted of such a crime in Will County. …  Automobile drivers must realize they do not have exclusive right or control over the highway …” — Judge Frederick HILL, Will County Circuit Court, Feb. 26, 1925. And 32-year-old Victor … Read more

Maximum Security is No Match

The History of Joliet – Chapter 34 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “Through the years, there were many escapes from Stateville. But not all of them were well planned.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News In the summer of 1919, the toughest inmates in the old Joliet prison were moved to the big circular cellhouse at Stateville. The new prison was still under construction. But its builders said that round cellhouse was absolutely escape proof. Then surrounded by only a wooden stockade, Stateville had been on the state’s drawing boards … Read more

Grand Army Upheld Ideals After Civil War

The History of Joliet – Chapter 36 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “There never was a time when the Grand Army was grander than it is today.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News In the fall of 1923, a group of old soldiers gathered here in Joliet to remember those days that forever had bound them together. All had white hair. The youngest among them were “three score and ten plus,” The Herald News reported. They were the last of this state’s Civil War Union Army veterans gathered at what … Read more

Warden’s Wife Killed in 1915 Local Mystery

The History of Joliet – Chapter 30 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “The man who killed my wife must die, but I must be sure that I have the right man.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News They called her “the little mother at the big stir.” Odette Maizee Bordeaux ALLEN was also known as the angel of Joliet because of her beautiful singing voice. The talented singer had been a star on the stage in New Orleans before she married Warden Edmund “Ned” ALLEN. As a widower with small … Read more

Buffalo Bill Not Tall in the Saddle

The History of Joliet – Chapter 31 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “The life he is leading will kill him if he keeps it up much longer.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News On the Saturday morning of March 31, 1915, a big man with long hair, mustache and goatee rode a white horse through the streets of downtown Joliet leading a circus parade. He was wearing fancy fringed buckskins decorated with a pair of bone-handled Colt revolvers. Buffalo Bill had come to Joliet. But William Frederick CODY, the famed … Read more

Joliet Helped Tame West

The History of Joliet – Chapter 23 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “He was forseeing enough to understand that there would be an immense industry built on barbwire fencing.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News Barbed wire helped to settle the American frontier. And much of the barbed wire that stretched across the nation was produced by Hiram SCUTT in Joliet. Early settlers used thorns and sticky shrubs along with rail and rock fences to keep in their livestock. But that all changed in 1873 when Joseph GLIDDEN invented barbed … Read more

Dangerous Celebration at War’s End

The History of Joliet – Chapter 33 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “When the guns started going off at 3 a.m., one man rushed outside because he thought a neighbor had finally caught that chicken thief. ‘The chicken thief turned out to be the Kaiser,’ the man told the Joliet Evening Herald-News.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News When the guns started going off at 3 a.m., one man rushed outside because he thought a neighbor had finally caught that chicken thief. But he found that guns were being fired … Read more

Joliet Chief Pegged It: Inside Job

The History of Joliet – Chapter 24 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “The bandits had killed the express manager and gotten away with $22,000 cash and a bag full of jewelry.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News From the very beginning, Joliet Police Chief Frank MURRAY told the Pinkerton detectives that the train robbery was an inside job. That’s what the clues and facts added up to, he said. MURRAY, appointed police chief by Mayor Thomas KELLY in the spring of 1884, had been brought in to reform the city. … Read more

Temperance vs. Whiskey Row in Joliet

The History of Joliet – Chapter 27 By John Whiteside of The Herald News (used with permission) Submitted by Nancy Vargo “Joliet has seldom if ever known such an anti-saloon movement.” By John WHITESIDE of The Herald News In the final months of the 19th century, the residents of Joliet were screaming that they were angry. Their anger centered around the saloons along Whiskey Row. And at the same time, the city was visited by a president. The saloons in Joliet were out of control. Drinking and brawls, muggings and robberies were disrupting too many lives in Joliet. Minors were … Read more