Daily Kennebec journal., 1893-08-16

rrvwinx Affairs. Hat Chicago, gr~assR
tkan any of them. Is hut Of yesterday and
il raises = smile 20 read In Ford's History
of Illinois tia, In his administration Nan
vco was meeh larger than shis city snd tn
Ilncoin's life ths; the political influence
Of yaadaiiz Vas great when tAAt OF Chi
eaSe was net even taken into account
What Al amazing growth that wAs
when the fertile Illinois Imagination
actually rxn cat Of names for new cities,
villages and townships and seizlnS an an
cient geography recklessiy bestowed 30
names as widely separated cities on new
line OF setfIemerts What . queer state
where ssan mzy sleep in Paris. break
fast in Moscow xnI dine in Cairo. may
drive in & few hoars from Carthage 70
war.aw, fy rapidly 10 ST Petersburg and
Lordgsu, take sapT~r in Eden and sisep In
Paradise. Plenty Of good Indian names.
too, which would have given iocal Haror
TO the nomenclature, and on various cid
maps the nzine Of TIM place is sy<lt IN
seventeen different ways. the main line of
Development. running down through
Eschikagou, Eehicaqa. Chikasu and Chi
eaEoa 10 its present title.
Well, in iT.s there was At least one man
here, William Murray. In l.f9 there we're
TWO or three In 1872 there was quite
settlement and IN the once very popular
sIory entitled ''Hariscrntble" the plot
turns upon the massacre Of these who
lived on an outlying farm In 1887 the
place Was incorporated and contained
AID people Soon after the Illinois Cen
trai railway was an assured snccess. apd
the world knows the rest What are
Tyre, Venice and Amsterdam 20 such .
growth as thats In is4s first heard the
name Of Chicago when my fathers neigh
bcrs, away down in western Indiana, be-
gan 10 haul their wheat here and 70 haul
back the three prime necessarles OF thai
time, salt, leafher and nackereL Now
the city's limit stretches almost 70 the In
diana line and wheat Is even cheaper than
il then was. But the farmers do not have
TO haul 1t 50 far
Away from the immediate vicinity Of
jackson park one sees nothing in Chicago
70 indicate that q Worlds fair is going On
unless some of the arnu<ementr may be
said TO do So Libby prison is here. and
Uncle Toms Cabin and all sorts of pano-
rauias Of battles and other historic events
And there is an entirely new play which
ali the visitors from the rural regions
think they must see. In it is Columbus
and the Indians, George Washington and
the ballet girls are mixed up with lovely
operate display and enlirening music,
with the usual catching songs and phrases
and the usual happy disregard Of historic
sequence But the people like it,
In historical relics Of every kind Chicago
is singulariy poor. The Indians made 8
pretty fair clean up in lsi2. Three great
fires in succession took most Of the old
structures, and in 1871 the truly great fire
swept all the rest. A ride out the Twelfth
street cars viii take one to an alley Lear
the corner Of jefferson and Dekoven
streets and on that alley is a frame shed
exactly where the famous O'Learys had
their shed in ISL. On Oct. s. that year.
exactly at s:45 p. III. ttor railroad man
was noting the time when he saw III the
fire burst through the roof of that shed.
There was no COW in the shed and no milk
ing going on and the O'Learys were in
bed. The old legend is but a legend, but
still the spot is historic. for there the great
fire started Near the northeast corner o.
North Clark street and Fullerton avenue
still stands the old Huck house looking
iusr as 1; did when the women covered II
with wet clothing and saved il. for at that
point the most northern spark OF the great
fire was put ont. Chicago is, indeed. =
very new place, very much newer than
Denver or san Francisco, Salt Lake City
or other far western places, probably the
very newest real city in the word