The Yellow Kid Rides Again

Jan. 25, 2013
He was Chicago's most notorious con-man--and the subject of an Oscar-winning film classic.

The case of the 'auto vampires'

Jan. 18, 2012
The news in Chicago in January 1923 was about vampires. No, not that kind.The problem was "vampire autos."Cars were just beginning to crowd the city then. Traffic laws were primitive, and drivers were usually careless.

The con-man buried in Lincoln Park

Jan. 11, 2012
If you've read Huckleberry Finn, you know about the King and the Duke.

The human comedy

Sep. 16, 2011
The Great Depression was a grim time. Yet even then, people needed to laugh. In September 1936, Chicagoans were chuckling over two stories.

Chicago's key club scam

Sep. 12, 2011
Like any city, Chicago likes to have visitors who come to town and spend money. But the Convention and Tourism Bureau was probably not happy about the story featured in the Tribune on September 12, 1967. A new scam was giving the city a bad name.It worked like this.