Decline of Hinky Dink

Hinky Dink loved people. Bums, tarts, gangsters, panhandlers, the inhabitants of the flophouses of Chicago's ill-famed First Ward-they were what Hinky Dink meant by people. Also they meant votes.

So many a sentimental tear rolled down stubbled jowls into nickel beer last week in Chicago. The Hon. Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna announced he did not choose to run again for First Ward Alderman. Chicago historians hailed the passing of a lusty, gusty 50-year era; a time that began when Hinky Dink's great pal John J. ("Bathhouse John") Coughlin was Alderman. They called him Hinky Dink, or The Hink, because he was so short.

Let the Bums Sleep. Bathhouse John died in 1938. The Hink's wife is dead, too, and he is now a lonely man. At 84, he is a mite deaf, but clear of eye and head.

He talks little ("Speechmaking is no good, only gets you in trouble; I allus left that to John"), but he has a lot to think about. Before the great fire in 1871, he had a newsstand at Madison and Dearborn. Soon he had enough money to open a saloon near the Business Man's Exchange, south of Van Buren street-it had "the longest bar in the world." For a nickel The Hink sold schooners as big as buckets to bums, roustabouts, prostitutes. They could always put the bite on him for two bits; he let the bums sleep in the back room. Once in a while he would go back to touch them on the head. He wanted to make sure they were not dead.

Beautiful Corruption. On election days they voted as Hinky Dink wanted. In time he became a political power; inevitably he met and made a friend of Bathhouse John, then a rubber at the old Palmer House baths. The Bath was elected Alderman in 1892; five years later Hinky Dink followed him into the council as second Alderman. But a 1923 reorganization allowed only one Alderman per ward.

Hinky and John then made a deal: John could have the office, Hinky would be ward boss; John could make the speeches, Hinky could have the influence. This partnership worked beautifully. The ward had as corrupt voting practices as any in the U.S. Hinky Dink picked all the ballot watchers and judges. Al Capone's machine would vote for Hink's men; Hink would tell his counters to "count straight-and a little more" for Capone's favorites.

Hinky Dink took over when Bathhouse John died. When The Hink leaves the city council next spring, his aged friend John Budinger will succeed him. But things are not the same: the old leaders are gone, the face of the ward is changing. There is a new subway; a general clean-up is forcing the bums out of the ward. It is getting respectable, if not high-toned. Said the Chicago Daily News: "Chicago will be different without The Hink. It is no longer as young, as lusty, as dynamic as it was when The Hink was in his prime. It is no longer so cocky, so aggressively sure of itself. It has troubles. It is plagued by problems. The lusty, old devil-raising days seem past beyond recall."

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