Almost a full month into the year, some may have forgotten or given up on their resolutions. Paul Durica, however, is sticking with his new self-imposed obligation — to read the baiduhai every day.
But this isn’t the Tribune that’s delivered to your front door or your phone that Durica’s perusing — he’s flipping through digitized pages, headlines and stories from a century ago. Durica shares his finds on his website, pocketguidetohell.com. And if the name sounds intimidating, just know that it comes from a quote by John Burns, a 19th century English politician who had previously visited our city. It was published in the Dec. 13, 1894 edition of the Tribune:
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“He was asked what he thought of Chicago and answered: ‘Chicago is a pocket edition of hell.’ When a friend remonstrated and asked him to put it milder he replied: ‘Well, if Chicago is not a pocket edition of Hell, Hell is a pocket edition of Chicago.’ He described the Chicago City Hall as one of the plaque spots and the place where bad women and saloonkeepers and prize-fighters and the most vicious elements of society meet to influence the affairs of the city and elect the Council. If such a spot could not be wiped out it would be the greatest menace to the country.”
Durica moved to Chicago in 2005 to work on his doctorate degree. He wanted to share the interesting details about the city’s history that often popped up in his research, and that’s when he began posting them on his website, developing walking tours and giving presentations.
“Just as the city is big geographically, it is deep historically,” he said. “Every day I learn something or find an unexpected connection that helps make sense of the present.”
He is immersed in the past as part of his day job — director of exhibitions at the Chicago History Museum, where he oversees the development and production of temporary exhibitions and the upkeep and updating of permanent ones. So, why did he want to take on the 1924 Tribune project in his spare time?
“As the beginning of 2024 approached, I kept thinking about the 100th anniversary of the death of Bobby Franks at the hands of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb and of a landmark immigration bill that dramatically restricted who could come to this country; one story was local, the other national, but the impact of both continues to be felt,” Durica said. “Pretty soon, consciously or not, I started noting in my research other events from 1924, and I began to wonder how these stories were received and understood as they unfolded in real time (and what other stories seemed to have held a lot of meaning in the moment but are largely forgotten). I decided I would read a Tribune from 1924 each day on the corresponding day in 2024 and share what I discovered. It is also a coping mechanism for what I am worried is going to be a very turbulent year; with the past, you know how the story ends, but, of course, for those living it as the present, it was as uncertain as our own moment.”
We look forward to featuring Durica’s finds throughout this year. Here are five front-page stories Durica discovered in the Tribune from 100 years ago this month.
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Jan. 1, 1924: ‘Chicago hails new year with mostly noise’
“At least a million Chicagoans stayed up to watch 1923 join yesterday’s 7,000 odd years. A few of them were in such shape as to see double, and some of these argues that the new year was twins. The celebration was not as alcoholic as of yore, and bootleggers who had boosted their prices 20 per cent were disappointed.
“Four persons, including one woman who was peeling potatoes in her kitchen, received minor injuries when stray bullets, fired by enthusiastic revelers, struck them. Six men were arrested in the loop for being drunk. Tender-hearted policemen explained that they were in danger of being frozen by the cold wind which swept down from the north and kept the street crowds small.”
Jan. 2, 1924: ‘Film queens see host shot’
“Los Angeles, Cal. — Mabel Normand and Edna Purviance, moving picture stars, full of New Year’s cheer and saturated with tears, were taken into custody late tonight after Mabel’s chauffer had sent a bullet into the breast of Courtland F. Dines, an oil operator from Denver, who is a friend of Miss Purviance. Dines, according to first reports, was fatally hurt. Later reports are more optimistic. One is that neither lung was pierced.
“After the two moving picture actresses had been questioned by the police and released they saw to it that Dines was properly cared for in the Good Samaritan hospital. The chauffer who fired the shot is H.A. Kelly, alias Greer.
“The first word of the shooting came to the police from Kelly himself. He arrived at the university police station and said: ‘I have just shot a man over at 325 North Vermont avenue.’
“The police hurried over to the bungalow at that address. They found the women weeping over Dines who was reclining on a sofa.
“‘I guess somebody shot him, Mister,'” said Mabel — with the right amount of cheer in her voice.
“Later Kelly, the chauffer, was booked on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and the women were released and allowed to go home.”
Jan. 6, 1924: ‘Chicago’s skate season will be opened today’
“Chicago’s ice skating season will officially get under way today, when the eleventh annual tournament of the Norwegian-American A.A. is held at Humboldt park. The events will start at 1 o’clock. The tournament is held under the sanction of the Western Skating association.
“Two previous attempts to pry the lid off the season failed when the weather refused to become agreeable to the ice skating fans. The Austin-Columbia A.A. tournament scheduled for Dec. 29, as well as the annual New Year’s day program of the Sleipner A.C., both were melted into the discard by warm weather.
“However, there will be plenty of the necessary ice today. An investigation of the east lagoon at Humboldt park was made last night and soundings disclosed a seven inch coating of ice. Nothing short of a blizzard can halt the day’s proceedings now.
“Twelve events are on the program for this afternoon and the tournament should see some of the best skaters of the country in action. Two faces will be missing. They are Harry Kaskey and Bill Steinmetz, who are on their way to France to represent the United States in the Olympic games. Kaskey is a member of the Alverno A.A. team, while Long Bill has been a mainstay of the Norwegian-American squad for the last three years.”
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Jan. 13, 1924: ‘Seize “Slain Man” as slayer’
“Warren J. Lincoln of Aurora, a lawyer and horticulturist and a distant cousin of President Abraham Lincoln, was arrested last night as a murder suspect. He was taken into custody by police of the Hyde Park station at the request of the Aurora police, who say they have reasons to suspect Lincoln killed his wife and her brother, Byron L. Shoup. These two once were sought for Lincoln’s “murder” and he later accused them of abducting him.
“Lincoln’s disappearance on April 30 last furnished a forty day mystery. Apparently everything pointed to his death in his home on the old Indian trail, and to his wife, Mrs. Lina L. Lincoln, and Shoup as the slayers. The reappearance of this eccentric lawyer on June 10 and his weird take of abduction by Mrs. Lincoln and Shoup, of how he had been forced to join a band of dope smugglers, of his escape and return, furnished another mystery. The police were inclined to doubt the story.
“Events since then have increased that doubt, according of Chief of Detectives A.J. Wirz of Aurora, and the conclusion at the time of the arrest was that Lincoln was of a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde personality. The police suspect that his disappearance was a cleverly planned blind to make it appear that he had been murdered by his wife and brother-in-law so that their absence would be presumed to be because of their guilt. His return, according to the police, was due to his need of money.”
Jan. 24, 1924: ‘Choose site of $2,000,000 Shedd gift’
“John G. Shedd, chairman of the board of directors of Marshall Field & Co., yesterday formally tendered a gift of $2,000,000 to the South Park board for an aquarium to be erected just east of the Field museum. The offer was made at a dinner in the offices of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, architects, and the commissioners present indicated they would accept and meet the only two conditions — that the board provide the site and a fund for maintenance. Informal announcement of the gift was made during the Christmas holidays.
“Former Judge John Barton Payne, president of the South Park board, said that a worth while aquarium had been contemplated and desired for a great many years. Mr. Shedd’s donation was in response to the certain knowledge that the planned aquarium would be of great benefit to the city, educationally, architecturally, artistically and an attraction of note, Mr. Payne declared.
“Designs of the proposed building were exhibited by Ernest R. Graham of the architectural firm. It was decided to locate the aquarium on a plot of ground 300 feet square on Roosevelt road and the extension of Grand boulevard with the sky line to conform to that established by the museum which it will adjoin as well as with the new I.C. station and the stadium, so that the four buildings will form an architectural group uniform in general effect.”
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