Part 2: 11: Disease

 

11. There was disease, from complications from workplace accidents that proved fatal to more serious diseases.

Walter Dewenes of 515 Market had been in the country only about a month when a rail fell on his hand at his job at the EJ&E railroad, became infected and he died of tetanus. (1) His only other relative in the US was a brother living in Rockford.

J. Kappe was killed on the EJ&E tracks in Sept 1901. A liquor bottle was found in his pocket, and it was assumed he was drunk, and failed to heed the warning calls. He lived at 913 Market, and left a wife and five small children. (2)

A Maki was impaled by a bar after being struck by engine on the tracks at the wire mill. He was “a foreigner, twenty-three years old, and single.” (3)

Frank Kuchin, 68, of 579 Market was struck by an iron bar protruding from a passing train as he walked beside the Northwestern tracks and was thrown onto the tracks and his right foot severed. He sued the railroad, and two years later, in May 1953, was awarded $37,000 in federal district court. (4) The ruling was overturned on appeal in January of 1954, the US appeals court finding no negligence on the part of the railroad.(5) 

Peter Melansky of 702 Market Street was found dead near the Northwestern train tracks south of South street the week of Christmas, 1912. He was estimated to be 35 at the time of his death, leaving a son in Kenosha and two daughters in Russia. He had worked at the Sugar Refinery. His head had been split open by a passing train. (6)

The wife of Joe Sapienza suffered two great tragedies due to workplace accidents. She had been married to Joe Alepo and lived at 523 Market, when he was killed while unloading rails for the Chicago & Northwest railway. While trying to steady the beams as they were being lowered by a crane, one rail swung loose and was struck by a passing train, swinging the other end toward Alepo, killing him instantly. His wife “struggled along in her widowhood for several years” until she married Joe Sapienza, also of Market street. About four months after the wedding, Sapienza fell to his death when a rotten plank gave way under him as he work dismantling the sugar refinery. (7)

A day of fishing on a summer day in June, 1961 turned tragic for Raleigh Dickens, 49, of 524 Market when he fell off the dam at the Fox River at Wilmot, Wisconsin, just across the Illinois state line and was swept through the floodgates. His body was recovered by other fishermen. (8)

John Graham died in the cold of Feb 1, 1913.He had been found the previous Saturday with his hands frozen, his fingernails dropping off. Once owner of an express business, he “of late was in financial straits, and often slept out of doors… too much alcohol, taken to keep him warm during the cold weather, offset the doctor’s” efforts to save him. He was 35, single and survived by brother living in nearby Geneva. (9)

In an effort to reduce disease, health inspectors mandated screen doors be put in place in grocery stores to reduce fly contamination, but found that merchants on Market street “are the worst offenders,” in compliance. (10) Health inspector compels the use of screen doors). Larger structural problems of city drinking water becoming contaminated  led to an outbreak of typhoid in 1917. (11)

One month after giving birth to her daughter, Mrs. Pearl Davis of 579 ½ Market died on August 11, 1954. Police first suspected she had died from narcotic abuse, but the coroner Robert Babcox confirmed she had in fact died from polio. Pearl was 21. She was the first fatality of the 23 polio cases reported in Lake County that year, up from 19 cases the year before. (12)

The stress and struggle seems to have taken its toll.

At 802 Market street, Mrs. Agnes Bushman found the boarder Anton Yurewicz lying in their back yard in mid November, 1906. Thinking he was sleeping off a drunk, Mrs. Bushman called her husband, who discovered that Yurewicz was dead. It was determined soon after that he had died of heart disease, not directly from the blow he received at Joe Saliska’s saloon a short time earlier though “the attending excitement was probably instrumental in hastening his death.” (13)

In 1909 Joe Zorc after having been out of work six months, started working at a local factory just three weeks when drinking ice cold water while working at a furnace, became “disoriented of mind” and leapt from the second story window, injuring his back. He was expected to recover. He was unmarried at the time of this incident. (14)

[The 1920 census lists Joseph Zorc, age 49 living at 812 Market Street with his 34 year old wife Mary, and their 4 children, Tony, 13, Pauline, 9, Joseph, 7, Antonette, 3. By the 1930 census, Mary is listed at a Market street address (580) as being widowed, with the younger three children still living with her. She was at the same address in 1940, at age 54, with only son Joe, then 28 still living with her.]

Some children playing by the lakeshore one Aug day in 1904 discovered the body of Joesph Brisach lying beneath a group of willows. Joseph was 62, and was a barber on Market street, where he lived at 819. “The body was lying in an easy position, upon a bed of newspapers and everything indicates that the man simply laid down, fell asleep and never awoke.” (15)

 “The body of missing George Thornbough of Market street Waukegan was sighted floating in the lake Monday morning by light keeper W P Larson at 7:30 (May 13, 1910)… …Was George Thornbough’s mind affected by an alleged beating which it is claimed he received at the hands of a North Chicago policeman last October, and did the mental affliction cause him to commit suicide? These were questions which were raised at the inquest yesterday afternoon and no satisfactory answer could be found. .. The clubbing is alleged to have caused a swelling the size of a hen’s egg behind one ear and it is also claimed that he acted more or less queerly ever after the beating. When asked on what charge he was arrested, the police of North Chicago stated yesterday afternoon that they could not remember,..(16)

[George Thornbough, according to the 1910 census was 39 years old when he died from suicide. He had been born in England and had immigrated to the US in 1887.
His wife in 1910 was Alice Thornbough, age 34, born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Alice’s mother was Mary Shupe, (nee Smith, born in Germany) possibly the widow of Jacob C Shupe (died 23 Oct 1895, age 42, carpenter, buried Kenosha,) Mary Shupe was 46 in 1900 and living with her daughter and grand-daughter at 927 Market. Mary Shupe died in 1908.

Alice and George had been married in 1896. They had 4 children in 1910: Esther, 13, Gilbert, 8, Marjorie, 4 and Leslie, 1.

Joe Kautenberg lived in the same building as Alice and George Thornbough at 811 in 1910..

The Kautenbergs were a large extended family. Joe’s father and mother Rosena had emigrated from Germany in 1864, though all of the children were born in Illinois. Joe’s father had been working as a gateman at the Belvedere street crossing of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad when he was struck and killed by a train in 1904. He was approx. 59 years old when he died.

Joe was the third of five children: William, born in 1868, George, 1872, Joe, 1874, Fred, 1875 and finally the girl Francis, born in 1879.
(Francis was to marry Lawrence Knowles and continue to live on Market street until around 1920, by then a widow. By 1930 and 1940 she was living with her brother Fred, single, and her sons David and Clarence on Ash street. David died in 1939 at the age of 39.Francis died March 11, 1959, at the age of 80.)

Joe Kautenberg at 6 foot tall must have been a man of some strength. In an incident reported in 1907, he fought a dog to its death with his bare hands on the forty steps rail crossing near Market street. Heading home after his night-shift work at the refinery one Friday morning, he was followed by a stray dog that attacked after he refused to be shoed away. The lurid press account reads like an exaggerated Jack London story, proclaiming Kautenberg “the strongest, most daring and adventurous man in Waukegan” for battling the dog with his bare hands, including twisting off the dog’s head. Some Italian witnesses did not seem to share the admiration of Kautenberg’s efforts, since the dog may have belonged to them. (17)

On June 11, 1914, Alice Thronborough, then 43 married Joe Kautenberg, then 47.

In 1913 Joseph Kautenburg ran a saloon at 236 Market at the northwest corner of Lake, what had been the Rob Tyrell salon in the first decade of the 20th century. By May of 1914, Kautenberg had moved his saloon up the hill to downtown, at 208 South Genesee Street. A few years later, when Waukegan voted itself “dry,” his saloon closed for good.

By 1920, Joe and Alice had a son of their own, young Joe, aged 5. Joe Sr lists his occupation in 1920 as watchman at the electric plant, where Gilbert, by then 18, also worked.

By 1930, the older children were no longer living at 811 with Joe and Alice, only young Joe, then age 14.

Alice died 26 Sep 1932 at age 56.Joe died in 1936, aged 64

 

Notes

(1) Lock jaw claims victim Libertyville independent,  July 15, 1910 p8

(2) Lake County Independent, Sept 13, 1901, P4

(3) Lake County Independent, Sept?, 1905, P4

(4) Vitctim in rail accident wins award of $37,500 Chicago Tribune, Thu May 14, 1953, p13

(5) Appeals court reverses jury award of $37,500 Chicago Tribune, Wed Jan 13, 1954, p22

(6) Man is killed on Waukegan tracks  Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, December 27, 1912, p8

(7) Killed in a 40 foot plunge as scaffold breaks Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun June 12, 1914, p6

(8) Chicago Tribune, Mon June 19, 1961, p1

(9) First victim of cold dies in hospital Libertyville independent, Feb 1, 1913 p 8

(10) Health inspector compels the use of screen doors Libertyville independent July 26, 1912, p9

(11) At present there is an out- break of typhoid at North Chicago and Waukegan, JUNE, 1917 Journal (American Water Works Association), Vol. 4, No. 2 pp. 231-238)

(12)  Chicago Tribune, Tues Aug 17, 1954, p10

(13) Blow and whiskey cause of death Libertyville Independent, Nov 16, 1906, p10

(14) Deranged Austrian jumps from window Libertyville Independent, June 25, 1909, p8

(15)  Thornborough body found in lake,  Libertyville Independent,  May 13, 1910, p1

(16) Aug 19, 1904, Libertyville Independent, p5)

(17) Terrible fight with Tramp dog, Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, Sept 6, 1907, p.8]

 

Appendix

(1) Lock jaw claims victim Libertyville independent,  July 15, 1910 p8

Lock jaw claims victim

Saturday morning at the hospital Walter Dewenus died of tetanus. He had been in this country just about a month and his only relative on this side of the ocean is a brother living in Rockford.

Dewenus lived at 515 Market street and was employed on a section gang of the E J and E railroad. About two weeks ago a rail was dropped on his hand through an accident on the part of his fellow laborers and two fingers were crushed. The man was in splendid physical condition and rapid healing seemed assured, but he must evidently tried to remove his bandage himself or allowed the wound to become affected in some way for tetanus, better known as lock-jaw, set in resulting in his death.

The inquest was held Sunday morning at 9 am

 

(2) Lake County Independent, Sept 13, 1901, P4

J. Kappe, an Austrian was killed Sunday while walking on the electric road tracks just north of Lake Forest. Kappe was seen coming up the tracks, the motorman reversed, rang the bell and yelled, but the car was going down grade and the man was struck before it could be stopped. He died within a few minutes.. The accident occurred about 9:30 o’clock. Kappe leaves a wife and five small children at 913 Market street, this city. On his person was found a bottle of liquor and it is presumed he was intoxicated.

 

(3) Lake County Independent, Sept?, 1905, P4

Another fatality occurred at the wire mill last Thursday night when a workman, A Maki by name, was run over and instantly killed by a small switch engine used in the yards of the mills. The man was standing on the track with a heavy iron bar used to start cars by hand at the time of the accident and did not see the engine coming although he was warned by working men standing near. The bar was thrust through his abdomen making a gaping wound. He was dead when picked up. The deceased was a foreigner, twenty-three years old, and single.

 

(4) Victim in rail accident wins award of $37,500 Chicago Tribune, Thu May 14, 1953, p13

Victim in rail accident wins award of $37,500

Frank Kuchin, 68, of 579 Market Street Waukegan was awarded $37,500 in a sealed verdict returned yesterday before Judge Joseph Sam Perry in federal district court, in a suit against the Chicago and North Western railway company. Kuchin was struck by a bar of iron protruding from a box car as he walked beside the North Western tracks in Waukegan on May 30, 1951 and was thrown under the wheels. His right foot was severed.

 

(5) Appeals court reverses jury award of $37,500 Chicago Tribune, Wed Jan 13, 1954, p22

Appeals court reverses jury award of $37,500

The United States Court of Appeals yesterday reversed the award of a jury in federal district court of $37,500 to Frank Kuchin, of 579 Market Street Waukegan, for injuries suffered when he was struck by an iron bar projecting from a box car as he walked beside the North Western tracks in Waukegan on May 30, 1951. In ordering a judgment for the railroad, the court concluded there had been no evidence of negligence on the part of the road.

 

(6) Man is killed on Waukegan tracks  Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, December 27, 1912, p8

Man is killed on Waukegan tracks

Dead body lying on the track was discovered by train crew this morning.

Residence on company’s private right of way has not yet been explained

Later: the body of the man found in a ditch along the right-of way of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad Thursday morning was identified late Thursday afternoon as Peter Melansky of 702 Market street.

An effort is being made by deputy coroner Edward Conrad to ascertain just how Melansky met death. His body was discovered by an engineer of the south bound train who saw the body in the ditch and telephoned his find from the station at Lake Bluff. The man’s brains were found between the tracks 300 feet south of South avenue. His cap was picked up near the Clayton street crossing. He has one son living in Kenosha and two daughters in Russia. He was an employee of the Corn Products Refining company and was last seen at his home at 6 o’clock Wednesday night.

An unidentified man, apparently about 35 years of age was struck and instantly killed by a Chicago & Northwestern train just south of South avenue on the company’s private right of way either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. His body was discovered by a train crew this morning and was removed to the Conrad & Hart undertaking rooms. All efforts at proving the man’s identity were unavailing up to noon, although his remains had been viewed by many people who thought possibly that they might recognize in him some friend.

It may never be possible to tell just how the man met his death. Weather he was a passenger on a train and fell off, rolling under the wheels or whether he was walking along the tracks when struck probably always will be a matter of conjecture, although the latter theory seems the most likely.

The man appeared to be a worker for he was dressed in course garments. Some think that he was walking along the tracks, taking a short cut, when struck. The fact that his body was frozen when picked up indicates that he had lain there some time.

The death was instantaneous there is not the slightest doubt as the car wheel crushed off the upper portion of his head. The authorities are making every effort to determine his identity but fear that he may have been some wayfarer who was not known here.

 

(7) Killed in a 40 foot plunge as scaffold breaks Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun June 12, 1914, p6

Killed in a 40 foot plunge as scaffold breaks

Market street man was so seriously injured he died on the way to hospital

Accident is cause given

Declared that he stepped upon a decayed plank after he had been warned.

Waukegan, June 8

Joeseph  Sapienza 44 years old a resident of Market street was fatally injured Saturday afternoon shortly before three o’clock when the breaking of a decayed plank in a scaffold at the sugar refinery caused him to plunge forty feet to the ground. He died twenty-five minutes after the accident while on the way to the hospital and without having regained consciousness. Sapeinza was married only three or four months ago and his wife id prostrated from the grief.

Sapienza with a number of other laborers was engaged in removing steam pipes in the dismantling that is in progress at the refinery. They occupied a position upon a scaffold fully forty feet above the ground. This scaffold extended between two buildings.

An examination had shown that many of the planks on the scaffold were in a decayed condition and the order had been given for them to be replaced. This was being done. The laborers started at one end, removing the old planks and replacing them with new ones as they went along. All the workmen, it is declared had been warned that the old planks were decayed and unable to sustain their weight.

All of the men with the exception of Sapienza it is declared heeded the warning but the latter is said to have stepped upon one of the old planks that appeared to be all right. A second later he was plunging toward the ground.

A heavy iron bar projected from the building about half way down. The victim’s body struck the rod completely crashing in the right side of his chest. His death was due to internal injuries he received in this manner.

Dr. Gourley, the coroner’s physician was summoned immediately. Dr. Gourly upon arrival applied restoratives as a temporary relief and then had the fellow placed in an ambulance and rushed to the hospital with all possible speed. He leaped into his automobile and was at the hospital waiting for the injured man when the ambulance arrived. He found upon examination however that the victim had passed away.

Three other men who were working near Sapienza at the time he took his fatal plunge were so affected at the sight that they nearly lost their balance and followed him. Sickened at the sight, they clung to the supports on the scaffold until they had recovered their composure somewhat.

The inquest was set for ten o’clock this morning at the Conrad and Hart undertaking establishments.

A queer chain of unfortunate circumstances had surrounded the marital life of Mrs. Joe Sapienza. The man killed Saturday was her second husband and her second spouse to meet a violent death. Her first husband was Joe Alepo. The couple lived together at 523 Market Street. One day four years ago the man was engaged in his duties as a section hand on the Chicago & Northwestern railway. He was assisting in unloading a carload of rails at a point between Madison and Clayton streets on the right of way. Alepo was guiding the rails as they were being lowered to the ground with a crane. A rail was hanging from the hook of the crane when a passenger train came into view. As the passenger train neared the spot one end of the rail swung into the path of the engine. Alepo grasped the other end in an effort to swing it out of the way. It was then that the engine struck the rail and the other end striking the unfortunate man in the head and crushing his skull. He was killed almost instantly.

His wife struggled along in her widowhood for several years up until about five months ago when she became the wife of Joe Sapienza. The tragic death of the man is recounted in foregoing paragraphs.

 

(8) Chicago Tribune, Mon June 19, 1961, p1

Raleigh Dickens, 49, of 524 Market st Waukegan was drowned in the Fox River at Wilmot, Wis, just across the Illinois state line when he fell off the dam while fishing and was swept thru the floodgates. His body was recovered by another fisherman.

 

(9) First victim of cold dies in hospital Libertyville independent, Feb 1, 1913 p 8

First victim of cold dies in hospital

John Graham who a few days ago froze both hands, died at 11 o’clock

He lived in Waukegan some time and once conducted express business.

The first victim as a result of the cold weather in Waukegan died last night at 11 o’clock in the Jane McAllister hospital. His name was John Graham, a resident of Market street.

Graham, who was 35 years old and who at one time was engaged in the express business here, was found with his hands frozen last Saturday evening. His finger nails were dropping off and the skin sloughing in several places. The story was printed exclusively in Monday’s sun. He was found by the police and given shelter. Tuesday, Dr. Foley, city physician, examined him and sent him to the hospital where he hoped to relieve him without amputation. However too much alcohol, taken to keep him warm during the cold weather, offset the doctor’s intentions and last night he succumbed.

William Graham of Geneva, a brother arrived shortly before he died. With him was Dr. F M Marstiller, the family physician. Both were present when Graham died.

Graham came to Waukegan from Geneva several years ago and conducted an express business. He seemed fairly prosperous for a time, but of late was in financial straits, and often slept out of doors.

Too liberal libations for the last several month are blamed largely for his condition, both financial and physical.

Dr J Foley, the physician who attended Graham this afternoon gave it out as his opinion that blood poisoning resulting from exposure was the cause of Graham’s death. His intemperate habits made him unable to withstand the effects of terrible exposure and the septic condition developed.

The body is at White and Tobin’s undertaking establishment and will be removed to Geneva where the funeral is to take place.

 

(10) Health inspector compels the use of screen doors Libertyville independent July 26, 1912, p9

Health inspector compels the use of screen doors

Seeing that screen doors are placed on all butcher shops and groceries

Makes other regulations

At present samples of milk are taken from every milk wagon in town to test

City health inspector Alex Crammond is busy these days seeing that the general conditions of health in this city are improved so that the danger from disease may be lessened.

Following are some of the rules he is laying down:

1.       Milkmen must be more careful in the handling of milk

2.       Screens must be placed on doors of grocery stores and the butcher shops

3.       Garbage and rubbish must not be deposited in the rear of the stores

4.       Merchants must not burn paper which collects back of their stores

5.       Butchers must be more careful about leaving meats exposed in places.

These are only a few of the things he is looking into. Before long he hopes to be able to see that grocers are not allowed to sell canned goods which have been standing on their shelves for years. He is working toward this point just as fast as he can.

With regard to enforcing the screen doors he has found that merchants on market street are the worst offenders. He has visited all of these places and in the majority of them screens have not been put up and in the other places he has been assured that they will be done at once. He has pointed out that by having screen doors it will be possible to keep out many flies and does prevent so much of the food being contaminated….

 

(11) At present there is an out- break of typhoid at North Chicago and Waukegan, JUNE, 1917 Journal (American Water Works Association), Vol. 4, No. 2 pp. 231-238)

At present there is an out- break of typhoid at North Chicago and Waukegan,

It is our opinion that this outbreak of typhoid fever was caused by two factors. The first factor was the unusual concentration of sewage about the water intake during the week of January 19-26, due to the coincident warm weather resulting in an unusual flow of surface washing, combined with the usual sewage discharge from the city, and which was driven across the intake by sewage discharge from the city, and which was driven across the intake by prevailing southerly winds, thus resulting in an increased sewage concentration of the city water. The second factor was the failure of the chlorination process to care for this increased pollution with the same efficiency that had been the case previously. It was, therefore, in our opinion a water-borne infection, based on the following reasons:

First. The explosive outbreak of diarrheal disease, followed in from three to four weeks by a tremendous increase in the typhoid morbidity.

Second. The distribution of the cases in all portions of the city reached by the general water supply, and their absence in the community lacking this supply.

Third. Its distribution regardless of the sanitary condition of the homes, location of toilets, or general sanitation.

Fourth. The absence of any evidence pointing to occupation, or age. It affected all ages, and the distribution among the sexes was approximately equal. It was more frequent in small than in large families.

Fifth. Contact cases could not be traced until the outbreak was at its height or was on the decline.

Sixth. Absolutely no evidence was discovered pointing to infected milk or other food supplies which were in common use by the entire population of the city, or even by those infected. Seventh, The prompt subsidence of the outbreak as soon as boiling of the water began to be generally practiced.

 

(12)  Chicago Tribune, Tues Aug 17, 1954, p10

Mrs Pearl Davis, 21 of 579 1/2 Market street Waukegan, mother of a 1 month old daughter, yesterday became Lake county's first polio fatality this year when coroner Robert H Babcox said he would accept a medical report showing she died Aug 11 from the bulbar form of the disease and not from narcotics, as first suspected by the police. Lake county has had 23 polio cases, including her case, since Jan 1, compared with 19 cases, including two deaths in the corresponding period last year.

 

(13) Blow and whiskey cause of death Libertyville Independent, Nov 16, 1906, p10

Blow and whiskey cause of death

Row over payment of drinks results in death of participant in trouble—post mortem shows diseased heart

While the inquest over the body of Anton Yurewicz who was found dead in the backyard of a market street house found that the deceased man died of heart disease they embodied their verdict that a blow the man is reported to have received in a row in the saloon belonging to Joe Saliska and the attending excitement was probably instrumental in hastening his death….The woman with whom be boarded, Mrs. Agnes bushman, going into the yard later found him and thought him in a drunken sleep. She called her husband and he discovered that he was dead….The verdict returned said that he had died in the rear of a residence at 802 market street…

 

(14) Deranged Austrian jumps from window Libertyville Independent, June 25, 1909, p8

Deranged Austrian jumps from window

Man out of work six months and worrying as a result acts as stoker in factory and when he takes a drink of water too much heat  overpowers jumps from window back may be hurt

Out of work six months, getting a job just three weeks ago as a stoker in one of the local factories Monday, Joe Zorc of Market street, a hard-working Austrian too a drink of ice cold water too much while working at a furnace and was this morning affected mentally to such an extent that he jumped from a second story window to the ground below his house on Market street and injured his back. He is disoriented of mind now.

He was first taken to the hospital and later to the county jail. He will recover. Zorc is a hard worker and his being out of work is believed to have started his troubles. He is unmarried.

 

(15) Aug 19, 1904, Libertyville Independent, p5)

A group of happy children playing on the lake shore near the EJ&E roundhouse Tuesday afternoon discovered a dead man lying beneath a group of willows, in one of the [prettiest spots along the whole lake shore. The children remember seeing a man lying in the same position and in the same place a day or so before, and ran at once to the roundhouse and informed the men there. The railroad men hurried to the scene and found the dead body of a man. The police were notified and after they arrived efforts were made to identify the body. After a short examination, assit .chief Tyrrell pronounced the body that of Joseph Brisach (?) who conducted a barber shop on market street, and his brother and Chas Baddaker his uncle were notified. The body was lying in an easy position, upon a bed of newspapers and everything indicates that the man simply laid down, fell asleep and never awoke. It is a sad blow to his family and many friends.

 

(16)  Thornborough body found in lake,  Libertyville Independent,  May 13, 1910, p1

Thornborough body found in lake

Reduction in pay following illness said to have caused highly esteemed engineer to grow despondent, and finally to end all with icy plunge—wife deeply sorrows over loss—body first arise today, it appears

The body of missing George Thornbough of Market street Waukegan was sighted floating in the lake Monday morning by light keeper W P Larson at 7:30 and the inquest over the remains was set for 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Mr. Larson noticed the body floating out into the lake when it was about 100 feet east of the lighthouse and twenty-five feet south of the pier.

He immediately notified the police…

…Was George Thornbough’s mind affected by an alleged beating which it is claimed he received at the hands of a North Chicago policeman last October, and did the mental affliction cause him to commit suicide? These were questions which were raised at the inquest yesterday afternoon and no satisfactory answer could be found.

Could not settle

In order to satisfy the mind of the widow an autopsy was conducted by the coroner on I Taylor upon the brain but owing to the decomposition which had resulted from the month during which the body had lain in the water nothing of value could be determined from the examination. Dr. Folley assisted in performing the autopsy and Dr. W C Bouton was called in to make an expert examination of the brain.

Did he act “queerly”?

Thornbough was in North Chicago during the later part of October and it is claimed that he was clubbed by a police officer. The clubbing is alleged to have caused a swelling the size of a hen’s egg behind one ear and it is also claimed that he acted more or less queerly ever after the beating. When asked on what charge he was arrested, the police of North Chicago stated yesterday afternoon that they could not remember, and all information was refused by a friend of Mrs.…

…his pay check to his wife and said “this will be the last check George will ever give you,” but nothing was thought of the remark at the time it was made.

The verdict of the coroner's jury was suicide, without the fixing of responsibility.

 

(17) Terrible fight with Tramp dog, Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, Sept 6, 1907, p.8

Terrible fight with Tramp dog

The plague of dogs in Waukegan is passing all bounds.

thursday Bob McDermott practically saved the life of little Bob Oden when the dog attacked him.

friday Morning Joe kautenberg had to fight to the death a license-less cur that attacked him.

Other incidents of a like nature have been told about before.

The city has had no dog-catcher for three years, no move has been made this year to kill off the licensless curs or impound them, and not half are licensed.

Can you beat it?

Attacked by a monstrous tramp dog, steaming blood from four wounds inflicted by the cur’s teeth, Joe Kautengerg of Marion street Friday morning fought off the ferocious beast and finally twisted its head from its body, leaving the gory mess near the Forty Steps while he sought a physician to attend his injuries.

It is such a battle as never before been waged in this city, man opposing beast, in relentless and terrific combat.

Had not Kautenberg been six feet tall and strong as a giant he could never have won the victory and might now be lying in the hospital a victim to the dog’s ravening maw.

Tramp dog did job

Mr Kautenberg, who is night foreman of the sugar house at the Corn Products plant and is related to the Kautenberg’s of Market street, had finished his turn at the sugar house and was returning home at about nine-thirty Friday morning.

As he neared the forty steps that lead up the hill from Market street he noticed that a large uncertain colored tramp dog without collar or license had been following him.

He chased the dog, which instead of going away ran with a cat-like motion toward him and finally sprang at his hand.

Kautenberg jerked the member away, but the fangs of the angered canine met in his flesh and the combat began, the conquering spirit in the man meeting the ferocity of the beast on equal ground, the man struggling without any weapon except his bare hands against the dog, provided by nature with terrible fangs, an instinct for destruction and the low ravening spirit of the beast.

Terrible battle witnessed

Italians who saw the battle say it was horrifying.

The dog bit the man four times, on either hand, and incited to fury by the sight and smell of blood made renewed efforts to get at some vital spot, it is thought.

Chokes battling beast

Kautenberg did not flinch but with a courage as rare as it is magnificent watched his chance and grabbed the throat of the beast in two powerful hands, hands with the strength of a desperate man in them.

hen he throttled the beast, thrashing him back and forth in his rage, lifting him clear of the ground, his fingers sinking deeply into the hairy and gaping throat.

The surprised canine seemed to realize that it was all over and while he continued to snap and growl, did not do so with his pristine vigour.

Breaks beast’s neck

The end came when Kautenberg deliberately twisted the head from the dog’s body, breaking its spinal cord and sending it spinning, weltering in its own gore and the pain of a death agony near the foot of the Forty Steps.

It is a combat such as entitles Kautenberg to recognition as the strongest, most daring and adventurous man in Waukegan.

Italian are angry.

His troubles were not yet over, however. Ityalians who saw the combat threatened Kautenberg with their vengeance, he said in an interview with s Sun reporter. He thinks that the dog belonged to them. They were angry with him for his action in protecting his life he knows, as a group gathered and talked excitedly and made threatening motions toward him.

He did not stop but hastened up town, where his bites were cauterized by Dr William Pearce.