Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Arnold Damen, S. J: A Chapter in the Making of Chicago
One dark April night, just fifty years ago, a group of persons were hurrying through a street of Chicago's south, side'. In the midst Of this group was a little boy of nine years, who was put to it to keep the pace Of his elders, whom he was accompanying. And the going was not without its hazards, for it must be remembered that the sidewalks Of Chicago in those days were, like delicate lace work, largely composed of interstices. TO hurry along its streets at night called for a degree Of daring and indicated that some hap pening of importance was under way.
All nights in Chicago were, of course, dark, the feeble gas lamps at intervals merely marking a spot where one might ultimately arrive if one were careful. But this night, the boy remembers, was black. Under foot, mud on the sidewalks, mud in the street; over head, almost scraping the roofs of the houses, wallowed folds Of heavy clouds with terrifying growl ings coming from their caverns. Every few seconds hideous forked lightnings streaked out as though dart ing and searching about for somebody to shrivel to a cinder. One of the scenes they lit up, the boy recalls, was the city morgue at Eighteenth Street, a spot wild horses could not have dragged him by any night he was alone. Ghosts were popularly believed to walk there, and pop-eyed boys told hair-raising tales of having seen and been chased by them.
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