Athletes with Chicago connections traveled to Paris a century ago to compete in the Summer Olympics — and several brought gold medals home.
That’s what our friend Paul Durica, director of exhibitions for the Chicago History Museum, discovered as he continues to wade daily through page after page of the Chicago Tribune from each day in 1924. Many more can be found on his website, pocketguidetohell.com.
Here are a few of his finds from July 1924:
July 1924: Future ‘Tarzan’ wins gold at Summer Olympics
A 20-year-old Chicagoan fibbed his way into the Olympics and won three gold medals at the swimming competition in Paris.
Johnny Weissmuller had broken multiple world records since he began competing with the Illinois Athletic Club in 1921, but his birthplace had been questioned. That is until he presented a birth certificate saying he was born in the United States (he wasn’t, but his brother was).
The swimmer went on to win three gold medals and a bronze in water polo in the 1924 Paris Olympics then two more gold medals in 1928, before starring in “Tarzan” films.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Summer Olympians from the area who won gold
“Johnny Weissmuller, the Illinois Athletic Club star, was the sensation of the day, “ the Tribune reported from France on July 21, 1924. “He smashed the Olympic record when he won the 100 meter free style event in :59 seconds, and helped to set a new world mark when he, Breyer, O’Connor, and Glancy, the American relay team, finished well out ahead in the 800 meter relay in :53 2.5.”
Weissmuller’s teammates Sybil Bauer, who shattered a world record in the 100-meter backstroke, and Ethel Lackie also won big.
July 18, 1924: Zoo news — elephant gets a name
Chicago Boy Scouts collected pennies to buy a 25-year-old pachyderm — the zoo’s second elephant and successor to Duchess.
The name, a reference to a Boy Scout slogan, was selected among 12,000 suggestions and a $25 prize (or almost $460 in today’s dollars) was awarded to Winnifred C. Hanley.
Deed-a-Day suffered from a suspected stomach ailment 18 years later. After she was put down, it was discovered she “died from trash fed to it by a doting public.”
After it was announced the zoo had purchased another elephant from Brookfield Zoo, Tribune editorial cartoonist John McCutcheon publicized Deed-a-Day’s demise with a July 7, 1943, front-page cartoon — under the headline “The scum of creation” — ridiculing those who had fed broken glass, bottle caps, rubber balls and more to her.
July 21, 1924: Leopold and Loeb plead guilty
Some figured Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb’s trial would hinge on an insanity defense. In Illinois, the legal definition of insanity was a defendant’s inability to understand the charges he faces. Acting or talking crazy didn’t count, and Cook County State’s Attorney Robert E. Crowe said his psychiatrists would testify that Leopold and Loeb were in full possession of their mental faculties.
Clarence Darrow was hired by the confessed killers’ families for their defense. He made a surprise tactical move as the trial began.
“We withdraw our plea of not guilty and enter a plea of guilty,” Darrow told Judge John Caverly.
By entering guilty pleas, Darrow didn’t have to persuade 12 jurors to spare his clients the hangman’s noose. In a trial’s sentencing phase, the judge has the ultimate say.
July 22, 1924: Smallest yacht wins longest freshwater race in the world
Sari, a tiny sloop captained by Benjamin Carpenter Jr., “outsailed and outfought” 22 other ships to win the 17th annual Mackinac cup race in the most thrilling finish “since the first battle up the 331 miles of Lake Michigan in 1904,” the Tribune reported.
Twenty-nine crafts — the largest fleet in the race’s 20-year existence — took off from Belmont Harbor on July 19, 1924.
The vessel traveled a course in darkness, accentuated by blinding flashes of lightning, past dangerous reefs and points, “to snatch what had seemed certain victory from Dorello, the first boat to finish nearly nine hours previous,” according to the Tribune.
July 24, 1924: ‘Bungalow’ firehouse needs no sliding pole
Plans for a new fire station at West 25th Street and South Lowe Avenue were different — the building’s design would occupy a single level.
Expected to cost $44,000 (or about $808,000 in today’s dollars), the bungalow omitted a key feature — the sliding pole.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Inventions and innovations by Black Chicagoans
“Motorization, which forced the fire department horse into oblivion, has made radical and economical changes in station design possible and as a result the sliding poles are useless,” the Tribune reported.
This type of pole was invented by Capt. David Kenyon and Chicago’s Engine Co. 21 crew, who were the city’s first Black firefighters.
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