Elgin's 1907 mayor goes on drinking spree -- again

"I can't believe Elgin Mayor Price was drunk at a city council meeting." "Did you hear Elgin is thinking of building a golf course at Wing Park?" "I thought those Scandinavians would get organized in politics before long." Here's a look at those stories and others that made news during December 1907.

• After drawing the public ire for a drunken escapade at Lords Park earlier in the summer, Elgin Mayor Arwin Price made news again when he arrived at city hall just before the council meeting and feel asleep in an armchair outside the chambers.

Unhappy with how the event was characterized in the local newspapers, the irate executive made his feelings known when he encountered the reporter the following afternoon in the police station. Price not only reportedly beat and choked the young man, but threw him against a gas jet -- an attack that was reportedly halted by officers at the scene.

The mayor then followed the employee the one block walk to the newspaper office expressing his disdain with abusive language along the way. Although a friend encouraged Price to return home, the top official reportedly spent the evening at "other places frequented by him." "I may take a drink occasionally, but I am not everlastingly drunk," Price said in his defense. "The fellow persisted in writing stories about him," added a supporter.

• "We're thirsty and need more drinking fountains," Elgin High School students said in a petition to the board of education. With more than 500 students in the building, the school's fountains were simply not enough to meet their needs. When someone gets a drink at one of the two fountains on the first floor, the low water pressure prohibited anyone from using the second floor fountain, they added. Previous petitions presented to the school administration were ignored, said the students.

• Love, it seems, can blossom in almost any location. An Elgin woman who worked as a domestic employee in the Kane County jail became acquainted with a man who was serving a 60-day sentence for theft. The relationship eventually led to a proposal and the two made plans to marry following his release. The one-time inmate later took up employment on a local farm.

• "We are going to have a golf course at Wing Park next year if we can secure the appropriation," said Elgin Mayor Arwin Price. The 60-acre strip of property of the current entrance would be ideal for the course, he added. Proponents also noted that the ground could be "plowed, rolled and seeded for about $2,000." Members of the Elgin Country Club were said to be in support of the Wing Park plan, feeling it would increase public interest in the growing sport.

• Elgin citizens had the choice of dozens of clubs from which to join, but some felt there was still the need for one more -- a walking club. In spite of the cooler weather, proponents said they planned to engage in a number of walks for exercise. One of the first was a round trip between Elgin and Dundee that one member claimed to have made in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

• An Elgin "wife-trading" scandal that made headlines earlier in the year was back in the news again when it was learned that both couples had recently got divorces. Illinois law at the time prevented divorced persons from remarrying for one year, so each man said they would "board" in the house of their respective wife-to-be until the 12-month time period had elapsed.

• Almost 300 people from local temperance and religious societies united to watch for infractions of local liquor ordinances, particularly the Sunday closing laws. The group not only sent minors into bars to see if they would be served but also posted observers outside of every liquor establishment to look for other violations. The efforts of one "spotter" near a downtown bar were not particularly appreciated by a group of patrons who decided to attack the intended do-gooder.

• Elgin officials launched what they called a "crusade" to rid the city of "bunkhouses" where some of the city's newer immigrant laborers lived. The rooms in one boarding house visited by city officials were "covered with filth" and said to be "revolting." The roof also leaked and the windows and doors were loose, allowing the elements to enter.

• Finally, with one out of three Republican voters in Kane County of Scandinavian descent and one out of five from Sweden, supporters said it was time to organize a Swedish-American Republican Club. "No man of Swedish descent has ever held public office in Kane County," said one of the organizers. More than 50 percent of the office holders in the county were of Irish descent, something they also hoped to change.