Ogden Gas scandal
{{Short description|American political scandal}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
The Ogden Gas scandal was a political scandal in Chicago in February and March 1895{{sfn|Hogan|p=87|ps=none}} that concerned the formation of the Ogden Gas Company for the purposes of forcing an existing gas franchise holder to purchase it and thereby enrich members of the city government.{{cite encyclopedia |date=2004 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Chicago |publisher=Chicago Historical Society |title=Gray Wolves |last=Flanagan |first=Maureen A. |url=http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/540.html}} Of the ten aldermen who had voted for the ordinance forming the company and ran for re-election in April, only two received another term; another six pro-ordinance aldermen declined to run.{{sfn|Hogan|p=74|ps=none}} Democratic Mayor John Patrick Hopkins declined to run for reelection and supported Democratic candidate Frank Wenter, who was heavily defeated by Republican George Bell Swift.{{sfn|Hogan|p=75|ps=none}} Upon taking office Swift signed ordinances repealing the franchises of the company and shortly thereafter revoked the company's permits to do business.{{sfn|Hogan|p=75|ps=none}}
Background
John Patrick Hopkins was born in Buffalo, New York, and dropped out of school at the age of 13.{{sfn|Hogan|p=12|ps=none}} He met and befriended Roger Sullivan, and the two constructed a political machine.{{sfn|Hogan|pp=12–13|ps=none}}
Passage of ordinances
On February 25, 1895, the Chicago City Council met and discussed many trivial items on the agenda; the companies later subject to scandal did not appear.{{sfn|Hogan|p=66|ps=none}} Hopkins left early in the meeting and gave the gavel to alderman Mike Ryan, who recognized fellow alderman John McGillen.{{sfn|Hogan|pp=66–67|ps=none}} McGillen introduced an ordinance to grant a franchise to the Norwood Construction Company for the construction of an electric plant, before substituting for it an ordinance granting the Cosmopolitan Electric Company a 50-year franchise.{{sfn|Hogan|p=67|ps=none}} The Cosmopolitan Electric Company's franchise passed despite the concerns of several aldermen unaffiliated with the scheme and the fact that the company itself was unknown to the council.{{sfn|Hogan|p=67|ps=none}}
Ryan gave the gavel to McGillen, who recognized alderman John Powers.{{sfn|Hogan|p=67|ps=none}} Powers introduced a motion to reconsider a failed 1892 franchise to the City and County Gas Company.{{sfn|Hogan|p=67|ps=none}} After an attempt to delay this was shelved, Powers substituted for it a franchise to the Ogden Gas Company, which also passed despite objections.{{sfn|Hogan|p=67|ps=none}}
Aftermath
The ordinance was called "the most disgraceful act" in the history of the City Council by a local paper.{{sfn|Hogan|p=12|ps=none}} Attempting to determine the identities of those who operated the mysterious companies became fashionable throughout Chicago.{{sfn|Hogan|p=68|ps=none}}
Hopkins's career was ruined in the aftermath of the scandal.{{sfn|Hogan|p=12|ps=none}} He was castigated by opponents as the most corrupt mayor in Chicago's history to that date.{{sfn|Hogan|p=12|ps=none}} He died of Spanish flu in 1918.{{sfn|Hogan|p=12|ps=none}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Works cited
- {{cite book |last=Hogan |first=John F. |title=Chicago Shakedown: The Ogden Gas scandal |date=2018 |publisher=The History Press |location=Charleston, South Carolina |ref={{harvid|Hogan}} |isbn=9781467139519}}