We know a bit about Chicago history here at the Huntington home because we've always found it uniquely fascinating given its notorious, often dark, reputation which sees elements persisting even to this day.

Probably to the chagrin of it's political and business leaders, it's still known as a gangster town.  One where Al Capone, corruption and graft reigned supreme and, by many accounts, those traits have never been fully abandoned by the City's political apparatus.

It was known as a rough and tumble, frontier, town well before the Capone days however.  Which brings us to 1903 and the closing of the Lone Star Saloon and Palm Garden by, then, Mayor Harrison.

The Lone Star Saloon was situated at South State Street and Harmon Court in an area that was then known as Satan's Mile.  The location being very different today, you would probably never find the exact spot.  But Harmon Court was just north of Roosevelt Road, with the saloon most likely on the east side of the street. 

Opposite the saloon was the old Third Avenue School which served as the principal gathering place for Chicago's mute students for a short time after the great fire. 

Here's an old map of the showing the intersection.  It's not in the best of shape, but have a look. 

 State Street & Harmon Court, Chicago, Illinois

Now, perhaps we'll talk more about the Third Ave. School on another day, as it deserves some comments on its own.  Getting back to the saloon, however, the proprietor was a man known as Michael Finn.  We'll call him Mickey, for short.  Of course, most people have heard of the term "Mickey Finn" at one time or another, and some even know that it was a form of knockout drop.

And, now you'll know that Michael Finn of the Lone Star Saloon was the man who invented the art of "slipping a Mickey".  His alledged practice was to slip the drug to unsuspecting patrons and then drag them to a back room where they would be cleaned of their money and posessions.  They would wake up in an alley, some time later, after the effects started to wear off.

I couldn't attest to how the victims felt as they came out of their unexpected slumber.  Not exactly anyway.  Suffice it to say that once, in my wreckless youth, I lost a few days after inadvertently chasing some Poteen with a hefty portion of Stout.  A horrible experience although, thankfully, one that I went through in the security of my own home and not in some dive on Satan's Mile in Chicago.

The City ultimately put an end to Michael Finn's shenanigans.  His downfall being a woman or, rather,  two of them.  "Gold Tooth"  Mary Thornton and Isabelle Fyffe, women in his employ (and I'll use that term "loosely",  if you know what I mean), testified against him and it was enough for Mayor Harrison to order the place shuttered in December, 1903.

Phineous Zivick Huntington
March 4, 2010

Long forgotten by a lot of people in a world of compact discs and the other high-tech gizmos of the day, are the earliest formats of recorded music. We’re going to pass on an entire overview until another day, but in the early 20th century, people were ecstatic over something called an "Edison" which played wax cylinders of 2 and 4 minutes with the music broadcast through a large, tin horn.

We’ve always loved the machines, basically because they don’t require Mrs. Huntington spending an hour figuring out which buttons to push to make them play music. As an added bonus, there’s no clocks to reset either.

Consequently, we’ve acquired a large collection of early, cylinder records over the years and we’re planning on sharing some of the public domain material on occassion.

Which brings us to Mr. Edward M. Favor and his 1901 recording of "Who Put The Overalls In Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder". Sure, it’s silly, but in it’s day it was a very popular song.

The song had been penned by George L. Giefer in 1898 and is considered a classic Irish folk song due, in large part, to this early recording by Edward M. Favor.

So, for your listening pleasure, is this February, 1901, release by the Edison Record Company. And, we’re adding the lyrics so you can sing along to this early, catchy, tune.

Now, keep in mind that this is from 1901 and these are what would be considered today as the politically incorrect "ethnic" lyrics.

[See post to listen to audio]

Lyrics

Mrs. Murphy gave a party just about a week a-go,
Everything was plentiful the Murphy’s they’re not slow,
They treated us like gentlemen we tried to act the same,
Only for what happened well it was an awful shame..

When Mrs. Murphy dished the chowder out she fainted on the spot.
She found a pair of overalls in the bottom of the pot.
Tim Nolan, he got rippin’ mad. His eyes were bulging out.
He jumped up on the piano and loudly he did shout…….

Chorus

Who threw the overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s chowder?
Nobody spoke so he shouted all the louder,
It’s an Irish trick that’s true,
I can lick the “mick” that threw
The overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s chowder.

They dragged the pants from out the soup and laid them on the floor.
Each man swore upon his life, he’d ne’er seen them before.
They were plastered up with mortar and were worn out at the knee,
They’d had their many ups and downs as we could plainly see.

And when Mrs. Murphy, she came to, she b’gan to cry and pout,
She’d had them in the wash that day and forgot to take them out.
Tim Nolan, he excused himself for what he said that night,
So we put music to the words and sang with all our might….

Chorus

Who threw the overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s chowder?
Nobody spoke so he shouted all the louder,
It’s an Irish trick that’s true,
I can lick the “mick” that threw
The overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s chowder.

Now wasn’t that nice?  We’re looking forward to Kid Rock reviving it some day.

We don’t know much about George L. Giefer, or Edward M. Favor, so if you have any knowlege of either gentlemen feel free to pass it along. As for Mrs. Murphy, we know enough to pass on the chowder and that’s plenty enough.

Phineous Zivick Huntington
May 5, 2007

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