Word: dinking
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Tiny (5 ft. 4 in.), gimlet-eyed Hinky Dink Kenna had run the roaring First Ward-the Loop and the near South Side-with grasping fingers and a cunning brain, for almost half a century. He had started his climb to power early; he was orphaned and a newsboy at twelve, two years before the Great Fire. When he was 24 he owned a saloon (with a dice game upstairs) and was edging into Democratic politics...
Beer & Free Lunch. Hinky Dink and his lifelong partner, Bathhouse John Coughlin, had set out to rule these rich and raffish stews of the new metropolis. Bathhouse John, once a rubber in a Turkish oath, was the front man. He was a huge, bumbiing. handsome ruffian, full of pomp, speech and warm red blood. Tight-lipped Hinky Dink was the boss. They were elected aldermen; together they controlled the vote, became loved, feared, respected...
They were full of calculated benevolence. At Hinky Dink's saloon, the Workingmen's Exchange, beer was served in two-handled, 28-oz. mugs, and no hungry man was ever turned away from the lavish free lunch. The pair staged an annual First Ward ball which was attended by thousands of whores, pickpockets, hopheads, politicians and pimps. Their guests drank free champagne, brawled, engaged in orgiastic dancing, and cheered as Bathhouse John led the Grand March wearing a bright green cutaway, mauve vest, lavender pants and a high silk...
...Hinky Dink kept sober (his wife was a temperance worker), honored his word, and ruled with an iron hand. He made and unmade mayors and chiefs of police. Year after year he used his power brazenly, openly, ruthlessly to squeeze bribes from all who sought municipal favor...
...Payoff: Twelve Cigars. Times changed. Prohibition put Hinky Dink out of his saloon; Al Capone stole much of his power. Bathhouse John died in 1938, old and broke. But Hinky Dink stayed on at his old stand in the First Ward. Then, in 1943, diabetes and old age beat him down. He retired to a hotel room. His fortune (estimated at $2,000,000) afforded him but little comfort beyond the dozen $1 cigars he smoked every day. He died attended only by a male nurse...