The times., 1899-02-12

stands unoccupied and the different pro-
prietors have, without exception, lost all
their property and the majority have serv-
ed time in the bridewell.
Many women have come under the iniu-
ence of the sinister spell which surrounds
the business in the four mile limit. North
of the White Front on Orrington Ave-
nue.. Mrs. Ryan sold drinks to the Evan
stonians who were inclined to buy. This
place is right in the heart of the city's
business district. The initiated gained en-
trance By using precoucerted knocks. and
I the law made il especially hard to obtain
| testimony.
| However. just as Chief Bartrams AK was
! about TO fall Mrs. Ryan sold out to Mrs.
! Kate Parker and all the evidence was
/ heaped upon her head when the place was
raided two weeks later. She left Evans
ton never to return under penalty of i'm
prisonment. Mrs. Parker was followed by
! Mary Froelick who was also compelled
to leave Evanston to escape the bridewelI.
| Shortly after her departure her nephew.
| who helped her manage the place, was
! killed in runaway. the wagon containing
several cases of liquor at the time. Mrs
! OLeary and Mrs. Mcmahon are other vic
| Tins who now driven from their homes
without friends and without money.
But of all those that fate has knocked
about from prison to poorhouse and from
insane asylums to hiding places in barns
and easements John Brodkorb. W. H.
| Myers, and AdOlph Bruske are the most re-
| cent and best known violators of the law
| in Evanston. This trio were offenders OF
| great determination and persistence AMI
| it was only after bitter fight that they
fell into the hands of Chief Bartram's min
| ions.
John Brodkor5 had his place i'll Niles
/ Centre fitted with good furnishings, and to
! the uninitiated it was nothing more than
| u comfortable home. For two years the
sly dealer eluded the vigilance of the po-
lice but finally enough evidence was Sc
cured to warrant his arrest. Constable
Samuel Harrison was sent to bring him to
| the station. When he knocked at the door
Brodkorb freely admitted him. but re-
quested the favor of being allowed 10 put
ON clean linen before leaving He went
into the next room, and Immediately took
/ flight through the window in his W fe $
dress and bonnet. He was subsequently
captured but escaped a second time and
is now in 1.-The cactus plains of Texas, his
wife being left dependent on the charity
of her relatives. y short time afterwari
his bartender. Mike Higgins, grew desp7n-
dent and shot himself. Almost immediate
ly after the suicide of Higgins the place
was burned to the ground, having caught
fire from a lamp that was tipped over by
a favorite dog of the former proprietor.
W. H. Myers and Adolph Bruske have
each served Jail sentences and their prop
erty has all gone to pay the court costs.
Myers was the proprietor of the place in
no mans land" at the end of the trolley
line. and around this spot are grouped Il
series of mysteries.
Five dead men have been found in the
woods near there, and these grewsome
finds. together with train of accidents.
finally led to the downfall OF Myers. He
had named his retreat Fort Myers. and il
seems as if every character that has had
anything to do with it has met with some
peculiar accident attributed to the hoo
doc" Myers himself while unloading a
beer wagon had his leg broken, his son
within two weeks having his foot crushed
by a stationary engine. A nephew, in a
drunken stupOr. lay down on the Chicago
and Northwestern tracks and was killed.
The mantle of misfortune fell upon those
left his wife dying from exposure while
making her way to the place in a winter s
| storm.
The list of fatalities recorded at the Ev-
anston police station has steadily grown,
until even the habtues of the blind pigs
in Evanston have become superstitiOus-
in fact until the noodoo' has become al
most as effective weapon in abolishing
the Illicit sale of liquor in Evanston rs the
aggressiveness of the fOurmil league.
Whatever may have been the cause of the
long train OF disasters which have accom-
panied the attempts to engage in the bust
ness in Evanston. certain it is that the