Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1915 — TALLS OF GOTHAM AND OTHER CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TALLS OF GOTHAM AND OTHER CITIES

Beggars’ Feud Breeds Riot Among Chicago Cripples

CHICAGO. —Probably the oddest procession of customers In Chicago passes nightly below tbs bugs wooden "schooner” which proclaims to passers-by that the "Largest 5 Cent Beer In Town" may be had In the saloon of Isaac

Boblnsky on South Jefferson street They are the lame, the bait and the blind. Bill McGuirk is one of the most successful of Bobinsky’s patrons. Bill claims to have only one leg, and the police have found no cause to doubt his word .during the three years he has collected pennies from passers-by on Halsted stireet between Madison and Twelfth streets. Bill claims an option on the east side of the street between these bounds. ‘'Blind Joe”

bolds title to the west sidewalks by right of conquest. Down on Fourteenth street stands John Finley, whose business assets consist of the loss of one arm and deafness. The other morning McGuirk was told by one of his regular patrons that he had just given his daily nickel to a one-armed man at Halsted and Jackson streets. The loss of the nickel rankled in Bill's bosom all day. He arrived at Bobinaky's earlier than usual, and waited for the trespasser to arrive. Finley edged his way through the swinging doors at seven o’clock. A wooden leg grazed his head by a few Inches. His friends, who were waiting for an opportunity to crush the czardom of McGuirk, rallied to his support. Others aligned themselves with their old leader, Bill. A few minutes later a call was turned in at the Maxwell street station. When the police arrived they found the floor strewn with canes, crutches, artificial limbs and roller skates. A man leaned against the bar with a sign on his chest bearing the inscription: "I Am Blind." "I didn’t see nothin’, but I heard an awful lot," he said: