Cook County Truck Gardeners' and Farmers' Association

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COOK COUNTY TRUCK GARDENERS’ AND FARMERS’ ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED

The history of the above organization is most interesting. From a few farmers seeking temporary relief, they have grown into a body sought by politicians far and wide. Its primary object being good roads, it is the first body of its kind to work out this problem, thus setting the example for others to follow.

At the first meeting for the election of officers, George H. Klehm was nominated for President of the organization. Being a merchant, he recommended that a. farmer would be more appropriate for the position.

Its first officers were: John H. Ruesch, President; Henry Gerken, Secretary, and P. R. Barnes, Attorney, who safely led them through first entanglements. They decided to be strictly non-political and non-sectarian.

George H. Klehm, An Early Worker

The memory of Henry Wulff, former alderman of the Twenty-seventh Ward, will be gratefully recalled as one of its good factors, securing reduction of taxes on farm property within the city limits. He saved farmers nearly $100,000 in unjust taxation. Early workers were: George H. Klehm, John E. Ruesch, William Wodrich, Herman Rugen, known as the “pickle king,” Wm. Rohde, John Guenther, August Sass, Ehler Kath, August Finger, Henry Loutsch, Henry Holste, Herman Schwake, Philip Smith. They organized about January 1902, and incorporated February 1903. About 105 farmers gathered together, to protest against the Chicago Health Department, because some of whom had been arrested for hauling fertilizer to their farms from the city, without a license. The next day, the original one hundred and fifty from Jefferson Park and Niles Center and roundabouts, got together and considered what could best be done to avert this injustice to them.

They engaged the service of P. R. Barnes, as counsel, met in Thompson's Hall, Jefferson Park, where Mr. Henry Wulff, Alderman of the Twenty-seventh Ward. recommended that they test the law as to the right of the City Health Department to put them under a scavenger act, thus saving them five dollars per year each, for hauling fertilizer through the streets.

The Health Department of the City of Chicago withdrew all pending suits. This was the initial suggestion for them to organize for greater work.

The Randolph Market being too small and the roads impassable, they permanently elected officers.

With the assistance of the Real Estate Board, after five years, they were able to enlarge the market and extend it three blocks west, making a second successful move. Then they met with the

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various aldermen of the city and demanded that the main roads, within the limits, be made more passable. This was granted at the same time they had introduced the ordinance passed against the hucksters and “forestallers,” thus making their market one for producers only.

The organization has grown from two locals with 150 members to 20 with over 1,600 members. Henry Gerken, of Jefferson Park, well known, has been secretary for over twelve years. He has been so ever ready service, that when he resigned they insisted upon retaining him as associate secretary.

They have formed alliances with every progressive organization in the State, they attend meetings in other States for ideas, they protect and collect for its members, damage suits are speedily and justly settled. It will be recalled that there was a sensational and unprovoked cold blooded murder of one member. Farmer Fred Guelzow was found dead one morning on the Lincoln Avenue Road, October 29th, 1911. It was most brutal and fiendish. Frank and Walter Shiplanski, Thos. Schultz, and Philip Summerling were hanged, two on account of their ages, 16 and 18, were imprisoned for life. State's Attorney Edward S. Day prosecuted the case.

Coroner P. M. Hoffman

Hearing of a movement being on foot to set these murderers free, Coroner Peter M. Hoffman, George H. Klehm, Assistant State's Attorney Edward S. Day and George Steil made a trip to Springfield against five attorneys for the prisoners, demanded the fulfillment of the laws of the State, which they obtained.

Mr. George Steil, of Des Plaines and Morton Grove, was born in the town of Maine, July 1874, also of pioneer parents. His father, John H., emigrated from Hanover, Germany, in 1852, his mother, Miss Mary Rubo Steil, is a daughter of influential residents of Piano, Illinois.

George Steil

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the public. He married Miss Christina Kath, of Chicago, who makes an ideal partner and shares his public interests.

Peter Hollenbach, the seed man who makes onion sets a specialty, laughingly says that the prosperity of the Niles Township farmers is due to the good onion sets and seeds which he sells them. His business in this line has grown to such a large extent that the onion sets from Morton Grove are being shipped to all points in the United States.

Charles Hollenbach, his son, is well known throughout the onion set growing districts of Cook County, and is as equally well known in the distant parts of the United States where these onion sets are finally shipped to, and used. Charles Hollenbach is the son who established this end of the business.

John Kolle, of 151 North Desplaines Street, has been selling his high-grade Havana cigars to his Niles Township patrons for the past five years.

The good and satisfactory big smoke that users get out of his. “R. K.” cigars has made it the favorite with auto parties, and in this way his brands have advertised themselves.

Anyone visiting at Peter Berg's, 5225 Lincoln Avenue, will see one of the most complete and interesting collections of Indian arrowheads ever found in Chicago.

This historical spot is the general stopping place for Niles Township farmers to congregate since 1873, it being half way between the Harms' toll gates, at Peterson and Belmont Avenues.

It appears that this locality is rich in Indian legendry and tradition. More arrow-heads are still being added to his collection.

The Foley Greenhouse Manufacturing Company of 31st street and Spaulding avenue, Chicago, is the only establishment in Chicago devoted exclusively to the manufacture of greenhouse material. For the past twenty years they have been supplying Niles Township florists and vegetable growers with their goods.

Because of their prompt work and excellent material they have within recent years greatly added to their list of patrons.

It is not alone to florists and vegetable growers that the Foley Greenhouse Manfg. Company is well known, but they supply many well known private estates, such as the William Wrigley, Jr., at Lake Geneva, remarkable for its beautiful grounds and conservatories.

Their shipments are to all parts of the globe and below are some of the educational, correctional and state institutions whose greenhouses have been erected with Foley material:

The Foley Greenhouse Mainlining Company operate on their own two switch tracks and are able to handle large orders

GEORGE WIELAND'S NEW RANGE, NILES CENTER, ILL.

This view shows the Wieland range in the course of erection. The houses are each 34ft. wide by 400ft. long. Foley Pipe Frame Construction with Channel Gutters and Foley Patented Bar brackets. Roses will be grown in the new range.

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promptly. They relieve buyers of all detail, since they design and handle everything from start to finish, installing heating plants, and all intricate equipments. They erect conservatories and greenhouses ready for the grower to start planting.

When a citizen of Cook County thinks of horse thieves, he is very likely to think of a broad plain, "somewhere in the West," dotted with cactus and enlivened by a cowboy of evil visage, leading a string of the stolen animals.

Previous to 1912, as a matter of record, more horses were stolen in Cook County than in the "cowboy states" of Texas, Wyoming and the two Dakotas combined. This astounding state of affairs was due to the fact that public officials and police officers were unable to comprehend the extent of the traffic, and were often unwilling to give the situation the vigorous attention which the facts warranted; proof of this lies in the fact that convictions for this offense prior to 1912 were so few as to be almost negligible.

Hon. Maclay Hoyne, States Attorney

It is to Maclay Hoyne and the various "Local Organizations for the Prevention of Horse Stealing" that the horse owners of Cook County are indebted for the suppression of systematic and wholesale traffic in stolen animals. Among those who contributed their time and efforts in assisting Mr. Hoyne to stamp out this evil and extensive practice were John Schiedt, of Madison, Illinois, Jabez C. Howe, of Homewood, Illinois, Porter White, R. G. Wallace, of Chicago Heights and John Norton and Henry Zumallen, of Thornton.

In October 1913, the “round-up” of the horse thieves began in earnest. The events which followed in this Cook County drama were more vivid and exciting than the most extravagant tales surrounding the western desperado of popular fiction. When a raid was made upon the farmers living in the vicinity of Chicago Heights, where fifteen valuable horses were stolen, they made complaint to Mr. Hoyne personally, and he immediately set the machinery of the law in motion to recover the property, and punish the criminals concerned in the theft. A clue was obtained from the Pennsylvania Railroad, where it was learned that a car had been engaged to transport fifteen horses from Chicago to Pittsburgh. The car was carefully watched, with the result that twelve of the horses were recovered, and the five men having them in possession were arrested and formally charged with the crime of horse stealing. After diligent investigation, fifty witnesses were listed to testify against the accused.

It was during this trial that the horse thieves of Cook County first came to respect and fear the power of the law. Detective Sergeant William Murnane was assigned by Mr. Hoyne to watch the five prisoners during their confinement in the County Jail. This foresight led to the discovery of a woman who was a constant caller at the jail as the wife of one of the most notorious horse thieves in the United States. Her movements were carefully watched, and valuable information secured concerning the organized band of criminals who had proven so dangerous and expensive to the farmers of Cook County. Armed with this information, Assistant State's Attorney Dwight McKay, who assisted Mr. Hoyne in trying the case, subjected her to a grilling cross-examination, which disclosed her perjury, and resulted in her being held on this charge by Judge Brentano. She was taken into custody, and volunteered to tell the States Attorney the secrets of the gang and the extent of their operation. Her confession showed her to be the wife of Frank Gordon, alias Smalley, alias 0'Gorman, who was then in San Francisco conducting a western branch office of the "business." She further told of Harry Lutz, alias Burkhart, alias Hartman, alias Dunlap, who was “in charge of affairs” in Chicago. He admitted, however, that Abe Lubin and his son Max were the master brains of this string of thieves.

The mails were carefully watched, and when Gordon attempted to resume communication with his wife he was traced to his hiding place in California by attaches of Mr. Hoyne, and there placed under arrest. After his return to Chicago, he was tried and convicted to serve the maximum sentence—sixty years in Joliet Penitentiary.

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Gordon was now not only willing but anxious to tell what he knew about the ring whose operations had so recently been interrupted by the Public Prosecutor of Cook County. Most interesting of his disclosures was the information that Lutz had escaped from Chicago at the time of the recent arrest; that he had robbed his partner in San Francisco, and gone into hiding there. Mr. Hoyne then sent a representative west to find the fugitive; this detective trailed Lutz from place to place, drawing closer with each succeeding day, and near Stockton, California, he was apprehended as he was about to escape into the hills. He was placed in jail awaiting extradition papers, informed of the conviction of Gordon, and invited to tell what he knew, but the thought of facing his former confederate then did not appeal to Lutz. With the cunningness of old, sharpened by desperation, he instigated the plot with three other prisoners to murder the jailer and his assistant and again escape the tentacles of the law, which had finally fastened upon him. Happily, the plot was discovered in time to prevent the crime of murder being added to the long list of Lutz' felonies. The plotters were put under additional guard, and all possible escape by violence removed. But the resourceful thief had still another weapon to use against his captors. He secured funds and threatened a writ of habeas corpus, the customary ruse of every crook who fears to return to the scene of his crime and face trial. Assistant State's Attorney Dwight McKay was immediately sent to California, where he obtained extradition papers from Governor Johnson, and reached Stockton in time to thwart the habeas corpus proceedings. To do this, it was necessary to take Lutz by automobile twenty miles outside of Stockton, where a through train for Chicago was stopped, and the prisoner placed aboard. This was the closing chapter in Lutz' long career of thievery, for he was soon tried and convicted, like Gordon, to sixty years in Joliet.

With these dangerous characters brought to justice, Mr. Hoyne directed his forces against the infamous Lubins, father and son, without whose conviction the gang was sure to be re-organized. Max Lubin was caught within two weeks, and received the full sentence of the law, but "Fate" decreed that Abe Lubin should be the only one of the band to escape his punishment from the state. This veteran organizer of thieves fled to the eastern states where he was hunted for two years, living under the shadow of his crimes, moving from place to place, changing his name and identity as often as he changed his whereabouts. At last his health gave way, and after strenuous efforts on the part of the Cook County officials, a warrant was served upon him. A Chicago officer was dispatched to bring him back to Illinois, but the trip was in vain. The veteran outlaw died after the warrant was read to him, and before he could be returned.

These episodes in the criminal history of Cook County are little known to the people. Horse stealing in Cook County does not appeal to the average newspaper reader as entitled to much consideration. Consequently the Chicago press has touched lightly upon this subject, which is of such grave importance to the residents of outlying towns.

Mr. Hoyne deserves the gratitude of our people for his untiring efforts to protect the horse owners of the community, for the fact remains that since he waged war on this band, organized horse stealing in Cook County has become a thing of the past.

This is only one of the many great accomplishments in behalf of the people of Cook County by Mr. Hoyne as States Attorney of Cook County during the past four years. Mr. Hoyne has by his record attained the distinction of being the most fearless, conscientious, honest and fair minded prosecutor Cook County has ever had the good fortune to have.

By Hugo Krause,
Superintendent of the Municipal Pier, Chicago.

There are two measures of every true success in life. One is "What have you done for your own advancement?" and the other.is "What have you done for others who are associated with you or dependent upon you?"

The first may be answered by a reference to your bank account, but the second can be shown only by the respect and esteem in which you are held by your fellow citizens.

The poet says:
 

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But how is the average business man to determine what worthy acts of benevolence to undertake in the name of applications for assistance that beset him on every hand? The answer is, first take personal recognition of the most worthy and most helpless, wherever you can, without serious interference with your business; the second is, ally yourself with some organization or collection of individuals who will do the work for you.

Both of these methods should be pursued by every man who professes to be broadly religious and who takes a pride in himself and his city. And no city can be truly beautiful where little children are abused and neglected, where thousands of horses are overworked, overloaded and overdriven, and fed and housed with little regard to "their natural requirements, and where human brutes mistreat the dumb and the helpless.

State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty; incorporated; for the prevention of cruelty to children and animals; 120 South State St., Telephone Central 6220.

Good Roads a Blessing to Man and Beast

One of the first things, then, that every good citizen should concern himself with is to see to it that such acts of abuse are stopped, by education if possible, and by force if necessary. If your city has an Anti-Cruelty or Humane Society, become a member of it, and help it along; if not, see that one is formed and properly maintained. It is one of the strongest moral forces in the community, and it does, or should do, the most necessary, unselfish, and practical work, for which its members are rewarded not by the praise of those they have befriended, but by an inward satisfaction which nothing can surpass.

Let every citizen see to it that his city is the best that it can be made, and that he himself is the best his nature can produce. Let him also remember that that citizen is the best who has the best heart, the best character, the largest degree of true charity and sympathy, and who withholds from none of his fellow creatures, whether human or dumb, the respect, privileges, and protection he claims for himself. That is the citizenship to which we must educate ourselves; that is the citizenship to which we must aspire for our own sake as well as for that of our fellow men.

State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Examining Physicians:

State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Board of Directors:

State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Publicity Department:

State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Chief Investigator: Morton Kallis

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Picture of E. Palma Beaudette

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State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Assistant Chief Investigators:

State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Veterinary Staff:

Special officers of this organization have been appointed in Niles Township, of which George H. Klehm, George Landeck, Joseph Hoss and Jos. P. Brooks are the chiefs. It is your civic duty to co-operate with them in reporting cases.

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