Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1919-12-20
c. q. WILEY DRIVES HISTORIC
CAR.

VIM
Maybe you have seen ia power |
full black motor car, partly inclosed,
says the Chicago Daily News, with q
sloping nose like q ducks-sweeping
down Michigan boulevard? It's had
thrilling war adventures, has that
staggering bus, and it's entitled to
wound stripes. And what astonishing
tales It could narrate, II It had speech,
about the secret palaver that went on
inside while the world shook to its
foundations.
Caught in the chaos at the outbreak
OF the war this automobile, Renault,
was forced to work hard for the Ger
mans. Just as the thousands of girls
and old women in Lille were made to
labor. incidentally, while the confes.
sions Of Erich Ludendorff-"the brains
of the boche," as he was called at the
Quai d'Orsay--are appearing now in
The Daily News, II may interest you
that this Chicago motor car served
him for q conveyance for two years on
many battle fronts.
It's home from the wars now. The
battle scars are mended, the French
engine drones with the oldtime sing
song. and instead of a stiff necked
Prussian at the wheel there's ruddy
checked Yankee with the Yankee
name of Will Lincoln who navigates
through the opera crowds and the
State street shopping jams.
c. i. Wiley, 1850 Grand boulevard,
hardwood lumber merchant, and his
wife were touring Germany in the
spring of 1914. They were near
Frankfort.on.the.Main.
The rumpus started and the German
efficiency experts grabbed everything
in sight They took away Mr.. Willey's
costly Renault limousine. He in vain
protested that he was an American
citizen.
The Chicago automobile trundled
German staff officers of naughty rank.
carried them to the vicinity Of many
battle fronts,
There's nobody to tell the precise
story, but apparently British aviator
few low, way back behind the Ger
man lines.
The Chicago car appears TO have
been q good target. The roof OF the
limousine was perforated, the insides
ripped up, hood denied. One can only
hope what happened to the occupants
Ludendorff saw it and coveted 1t
IL became his G. II. @. car, was
stamped with his name, bore his flaf
and had the right OF way. Many o.
the German attacks were no doubt dis
cussed and planned in the car as 4
plowed through the mud from head
quarters to various reserve areas IL
Belgium.
For two years the car was used
night and day. The speedomete
clicked off 10000 miles, the fender
were crushed, the sides caked will
yellow Belgium mud
Through the American consul, MI
Wiley, back in Chicago, besought tn
German government TO return his NJ
tomobiIe It was returned, bulle
SCARED and war battered. Mr.. Willie
refused to accept It and the German
were compelled to repair the machin
throughout at an expense OF $4,000
Then It cost Mr.. Wiley nearly $500
to get the car home.
And now it's back in Chicago, Fror
its dapper appearance you'd neve
think II had ever left the loop. Nj
Wiley died in 1916, and the car
used daily by his son, Charles B. WI
ley, 1921 South Michigan avenue,
prominent sportsman and president
the c. L. Wiley Company, 1858 Sout
Robey street.
TITS a fine car" said Mr.. Wiley Il
day. "But ! wish It had crashed int
a wide, deep water.flled ditch one
those fine days when Mr.. Ludendor
was taking a spin"
~
John T. Driscoll has done much I
wards the upbuilding OF Chicago an
especially OF the great West Sid