Click on the picture to see a larger version.

(1) Shortly before 1 a.m., the three cab bandits find Robert Campion at State Street and Madison and hire him to drive them to the Alexandria Hotel.

(2) At about 1 a.m. Campion arrives at the Alexandria Hotel at Rush and Ohio. He is beaten and robbed of $25, his gold watch and his cab.

(3) At about 2 a.m. the bandits attack William Willard at North Clark and Kinzie Streets. He is beaten and robbed of ten dollars.

(4) At about 2:45 a.m. the bandits attack George Morris on South Halsted

(5) Fred Nichols is attacked at West 18th and Johnson Streets.

(6) Policeman Edward T. Murphy spots the speeding cab near Archer and South Halsted Streets, at almost the same place where George Morris was robbed. He shoots at the fleeing bandits and kills James Kane.

(7) John Simonds and Robert O'Brien abandon the cab, with Kane's body inside, across the street from the Pullman mansion.

The blue dots locate the Chicago Street police station (right) and the 22nd Street police station (left).

Source:

Base map: Rand, McNally and Co.'s street number guide map of the principal part of Chicago. Chicago : Rand McNally & Co., c1902. Digital version via University of Chicago Library web site.

The Cab-Hold-Up Affair / 16

Map of Chicago and the Cab Hold-Up Affair

The map at left shows downtown Chicago as it was at the time of the cab hold-up affair. The red dots locate the principal events.

The cab hold-up affair was a one-day wonder and quickly disappeared from the headlines. It became one of those forgotten bits of yesterday's news that sometimes float to the surface thanks to the digitization of news archives.

The world in which it took place more than a century ago seems remote from us now. Nevertheless, in its impulsiveness, in its pointless violence, in its disdain for innocent people and in its sad consequences the cab hold-up affair is very much akin to crimes committed against cab drivers -- and other victims -- down to the present day.