Today in Chicago History: 6 inmates escape Cook County Jail
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Feb. 11, according to the Tribune's archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
High temperature: 70 degrees (1999)
Low temperature: Minus 14 degrees (1885)
Precipitation: 0.83 inches (2009)
Snowfall: 8.3 inches (1956)
Vintage Chicago Tribune: World's Columbian Exposition, 1893 and Century of Progress, 1933-1934
1891: Ground was broken in Jackson Park for construction of buildings for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
1966: Martin Luther King Jr. threatened boycotts against local industries (starting with bread, milk, soup and soft drink companies) — an extension of his Operation Breadbasket campaign in Atlanta — who refused to hire Black workers.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. leads 'the first significant freedom movement in the North'
Jesse Jackson headed the initiative and became its national director in 1967.
2006: Six inmates — two charged with murder — escaped from Cook County Jail. After plotting the scheme for months, six men — Tyrone Everhart of Markham; and Francisco Romero, Arnold Joyner, Michael McIntosh, Eric Bernard and David Earnest, all of Chicago — made their move. The men, who set a fire and overpowered at least two guards, allegedly had the assistance of at least one guard in the Special Incarceration Unit, where inmates with discipline problems spend 23 hours a day in their cells. All were recaptured in a little more than 24 hours.
The incident occurred only hours after the capture of another inmate, Warren C. Mathis, who escaped from the jail the previous day. Mathis rode out of jail aboard a truck, which contained inmates' dirty laundry.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Jailbreak!!!
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