You can read previous posts about Smokey Row and the Women of Smokey Row by visiting my website, www.patcamallierebooks.com.

As bad as crime was in Smokey Row, it did not adversely affect the life of most Lemonters, since the revelry stayed mostly on three downtown streets. Also, its profits contributed to the welfare of the town through license fees and taxes from the establishments to the tune of $500,000 a year by 1894. Each license cost five hundred dollars, a large sum in those days. The village found itself torn between the money these enterprises brought and the disorder and lawlessness they caused. Without the revenue from Smokey Row, the village of Lemont would not have been able to construct the Village Hall and the school on McCarthy Road, the electric streetlights and street signs, at a time when most of the country was in an economic recession.

Mayor John McCarthy wasn’t too worried either. He enjoyed the crowd and the big spenders the strip brought to town. He wanted to take advantage of the income and excitement that would likely die on its own once the canal was finished. With only three policemen in Lemont, little could be done anyway.

Reverend J. Franklin Clancy was thirty-three years old when he arrived at the Lemont Methodist Church in 1894 with his wife. They found a devoted congregation and a beautiful stone church with new Italian stained-glass windows. However, from the quiet church one could look down on Canal Street and part of Smokey Row. Crime was rampant on the street, and the town did little to control it. Clancy soon realized that some of the youth did not attend Sunday school or services. There were far too many more exciting pleasures in town. In his opinion, gambling and drinking were creating unhappy families and broken homes.

A Sunday closing law was on the books, but it wasn’t being enforced. This was because quarry and canal workers, as well as unskilled laborers, worked long hours six days a week, leaving Sunday the only day for socializing. Immigrant groups, such as German and Irish workers, made up a large part of the residents, and their social life traditionally occurred in family pubs. They protested that the closings were directed against them.

Clancy began his campaign by conducting meetings at the very gates of Smokey Row, in canal worker camps, and in the town, handing out small Bibles to working men. His preaching tours began at the Palace Saloon, and all along the route at eighty or more establishments he spoke of the evils of gambling, drink and other sins. Some patrons listened attentively, but he was more often subject to heckling, especially from the “ladies” of the strip. The liberal newspapers at the time painted Clancy as a fanatical temperance crusader and Mayor McCarthy as a practical politician. The conservative papers described Clancy as an idealistic young man and McCarthy as an evil, corrupt official.

On September 6, 1895, Clancy persuaded a Chicago judge to issue warrants for the arrest of Mayor McCarthy on charges of bribery, as well as twenty-eight saloon keepers and inmates of disorderly houses. A ten-car train had been side-tracked on nearby River Road to await transport of those swept up in the raid.

Once begun, word quickly spread through town that a raid was in progress. Customers fled from the dives by a variety of escape routes. Women in stages of nudity hurried down the towpath, awkwardly trying to dress as they ran barefooted, carrying their shoes and stockings. Lemonters came from throughout town to watch the excitement.

By six p.m. the prisoner train was filled and ready to head for Chicago. Friends, tavern keepers who had not been arrested, and members of the watching crowd boarded another train on a second line, intending to support the offenders. This second train of onlookers arrived at the courthouse before the prisoners, where they gathered to welcome them, waving and cheering them on.

All the offenders were taken to court. The seats were soon filled with joking and laughing Lemonters. The judge set bonds at five hundred dollars each, which were posted by Lemont’s alderman (Who could well afford to do so!). All prisoners were released within an hour and were back in Lemont by 1:00 a.m.

The rest of that night the streets in Smokey Row were so crowded that it was hard to pass. It seemed that each person who returned from the city brought a friend back with him, and extra parties were held at every place and into the next day.

McCarthy was released the next morning on $5,000 bond. A year later, his charges were dismissed.

As courageous as Reverend Clancy had been, he had angered some townspeople, and a number of unsuccessful plots against him were uncovered later that year. As a result, it was necessary for his congregation to provide a bodyguard. For a time, Clancy welcomed parishioners on the steps of the church each Sunday, standing next to a man holding a double-barreled shotgun. [821 words]

To be continued…

References: Thanks to Lemont and It’s People by Sonia Kallick and to The Lemont Area Historical Society for information used in this series of blog posts.

Where you will find me!

On November 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. you will find me at Franciscan Village’s Vendor Fair, 1270 Village Drive in Lemont.

I’ll be signing books there along with Sister Jeanne Marie, whose help was invaluable when I was writing The Miracle at Assisi Hill about Venerable Mother Mary Theresa Dudzik, the founder of the Franciscan order who built Franciscan Village. Sister will have other writings about Mother Theresa Dudzik there for purchase.

AND

On Saturday, November 8, you’ll find me at the Downers Grove Library, for:

Local Author Panels:

Tips and Tricks to Getting Your Book Published.

The panel discussions will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Join Local Authors from our Local Author Collection to hear their thoughts on writing and finding the best avenue for getting your book published. Attend one panel or stay for a few and engage with select authors highlighted from DGPL’s collection. No books will be sold at this event.

The library is at 1050 Curtiss Street in Downers Grove.

News

Those of you who have read my memoir, Staying Alive is a Lot of Work: Me and My Cancer, or who follow me on Facebook, will know that I am a survivor of head and neck cancer.

In my last blog, I announced my selection as an Ambassador for the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, an organization that works closely with the American Head and Neck Society, and with SPOHNC, Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer. The mission of these organizations is to provide awareness of Head and Neck Cancers and to provide support to the victims and caregivers of this nasty disease. As a survivor of head and neck cancer myself and an Ambassador, I will help in this mission.

On October 2, I represented the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance at the David Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago as part of a panel discussion at the International Tracheostomy Symposium titled Beyond Survival: Redefining Quality of Life in Tracheostomy Care. I met many wonderful people from around the world who are sharing their incredible talents and devotion. I am proud to say that they told me I held my own during our panel discussion on quality of life. Here’s a picture of me with Amy Freeman-Sanderson, who came all the way from Sydney, Australia to lead the panel.

Also proud to announce that I have completed training and am now certified as a Mentor Angel by Imerman Angels. Imerman Angels is an organization that matchs cancer patients with mentors who work one-on-one to provide comfort and understanding to cancer patients of all types.

Praise for Last Call at Smokey Row

Delighted with this review:

What a lovely and thoughtful look at the characters who find themselves drifting together at a small-town bar. Aware of it or not, whether likely to succeed or not, each one searches for what’s missing in their lives. A careful, well-written exploration of how we escape our pasts and try to move forward with new people and new pursuits. Not all goes according to plan, of course, and a delicious thread of intrigue grows to a very clever ending. Satisfying at so many levels.

– Sandra Cavallo Miller, author of OUT OF PATIENTS