October 28, 1893: The Assassination of Mayor Carter Harrison

October 28, 1893: Mayor Carter Harrison of Chicago is assassinated in his home. He was 68. A distant relative of Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, he had been elected to Congress in 1874 and 1876, and to the Mayoralty in 1879, 1883 and 1893.

His 1st 2 terms as Mayor saw the Chicago White Stockings, forerunners of the Cubs, win National League Pennants in 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885 and 1886. His 3rd term saw the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 -- somewhat belatedly celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus "discovering America."

The assassin was Patrick E. Prendergast, a 25-year-old Irish immigrant newspaper distributor. He supported Harrison's return to office, and expected to be rewarded with an appointment to municipal office. As Charles Guiteau thought when he supported James Garfield's election as President in 1880, he was ignored, and he determined to kill the man he once supported.

Prednergast knocked on the door of Harrison's house, asked the maid to wake him so that he could see him. She did, and Prendergast shot him. Harrison lived long enough to ask who he was, and there appears to be no evidence that Harrison had ever even heard of him. Prendergast turned himself in, confessed, and was executed the following July.

Harrison's son, Carter Henry Harrison IV, better known as Carter Harrison Jr., would match his father by being elected Mayor 3 times, the 3rd time well after the 2nd: 1897, 1901 and 1911.

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October 28, 1893 was a Saturday. There were college football games played on this day:

* In the city in question, the University of Chicago beat the University of Cincinnati, 26-0 at Marshall Field in Chicago.

* In the State in question, the Chicago Athletic Club beat the University of Illinois, 10-4 at Illinois Field in Champaign. (Scoring was a little different at the time.)

* Harvard beat Brown, 58-0 at Jarvis Field in Boston.

* Princeton beat Wesleyan, 76-0 at Andrus Field in Middletown, Connecticut.

* Yale beat Army, 28-0 on The Plain in West Point, New York.

* The University of Pennsylvania beat Lafaeyette, 82-0 at the University Grounds in Philadelphia.

* Lehigh beat Navy, 12-6 at Worden Field in Annapolis, Maryland.

* And in the rivalry that would one day be known as the Little Brown Jug, Minnesota beat Michigan, 34-20 at Regents Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.