John Edward Traeger
(November 13, 1859–October 16, 1946) was an American politician who served as
Cook County Sheriff,
Cook County Coroner
The Cook County Medical Examiner is the coroner of Cook County, Illinois. Occupants are credential medical examiners, appointed by president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, subject to confirmation by the Cook County Board of Commission ...
, and
Chicago City Treasurer. He also served as Chicago city comptroller, Chicago city collector, Lake, Illinois city collector, and as a member of the Cook County Jury Commission.
Early life
Traeger was born November 13, 1859.
Traeger was educated in
Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles.
...
.
In 1884, Traeger got married.
Beginning in the late 1880s, Traeger began residing on Chicago's
South Side.
Traeger became employed in the
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
meatpacking
The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...
business.
In 1904, he became vice president of the newly organized Stockmen's Trust and Savings Bank, a job that he would hold for decades.
Lake Town Collector
Being elected in 1897 and reelected in 1898 and 1899,
Traeger served as the town
collector for
Lake Township, Cook County, Illinois
Lake Township, also known as the Town of Lake, was a former civil township in Cook County, Illinois, which now forms the south-west portion of Chicago. It was bounded by present-day Pershing Road (3900 South) on the north, State Street (0 Eas ...
, from 1897 through 1899.
Cook County Coroner
In 1900, with the backing of
Carter Harrison Jr.
Carter Henry Harrison IV (April 23, 1860 – December 25, 1953) was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic politician who served a total of five terms as mayor of Chicago (1897–1905 and 1911–1915) but failed in his attempt to becom ...
and
Robert E. Burke, Traeger was nominated by the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
for the
Cook County coroner
The Cook County Medical Examiner is the coroner of Cook County, Illinois. Occupants are credential medical examiners, appointed by president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, subject to confirmation by the Cook County Board of Commission ...
election.
He was the only Democrat to win election to a countywide office that year.
Traeger took office in December 1900.
On December 30, 1903, the county saw great tragedy when the
Iroquois Theatre caught fire, killing more than 600 people.
Traeger arrived at the theater soon after the fire had started, and would work throughout the following night to remove deceased and injured victims from the building.
As coroner, he was responsible for the
inquest
An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...
into the fire.
The day after the fire, Traeger empaneled a
jury
A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...
.
The formal inquest was launched January 7, 1904, being held in the chambers of the
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is gaveled into session regularly, usually mont ...
. It lasted 29 days.
Traeger played a role in the introduction of safety measures such as steel curtains for theaters and a role mandating that
fire escape doors must be unlocked.
Other deadly disasters that occurred in Cook County during his tenure as coroner included the St. Luke's Sanitarium fire and the 1904 Doremus train wreck.
In 1904, Traeger was nominated for reelection as treasurer. His
Republican opponent was
Peter M. Hoffman
Peter M. Hoffman was an American politician who served as Cook County Sheriff, Cook County Coroner, and as a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. His political career ended after a corruption scandal arose during his term as Cook Cou ...
, who was a very popular politician. Traeger lost the 1904 election to Hoffman by a broad 60,000 margin.
Chicago City Collector
In June 1905, Mayor
Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne appointed Trager as Chicago city collector.
Traeger held this position through March 1907.
During his tenure, he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for
Cook County sheriff in 1906. Instead, James J. Gray received the nomination at the Democratic Party's county convention.
Chicago City Treasurer
In April 1907, Traeger was elected
Chicago city treasurer. He was the only Democratic nominee to win a citywide office in that year's Chicago municipal elections. Traeger, one of the county's most popular
German American
German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...
figures, was seen as benefiting from the support of the same German American electorate that overwhelmingly supported Republican
Fred A. Busse
Fred A. Busse (March 3, 1866 – July 9, 1914) was the mayor of Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois, from 1907 to 1911.
Biography
Busse became a local Republican leader, first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1894 and a ...
in
the coinciding mayoral election. Notably, after the 1907 municipal elections, the offices of mayor, city treasurer, county coroner, and county sheriff all became held by German Americans. Trager's Republican opponent in the 1908 treasurer election had been considered a weak candidate.
The ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' would later credit him as being the first Chicago city treasurer, "to collect interest for the order to benefit of the various
pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
funds."
In the
1911 Chicago mayoral election
In the 1911 Chicago mayoral election, Democrat Carter Harrison Jr. was elected to his fifth non-consecutive term as mayor, tying the then-record set by his father Carter Harrison Sr. for the most Chicago mayoral election victories. Harrison def ...
, Trager backed Carter Harrison Jr. in his successful Democratic
primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
challenge to the
incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...
Dunne.
Chicago City Comptroller
After Harrison became mayor again, having won the 1911 mayoral general election, he appointed Traeger as Chicago city comptroller.
First tenure as Cook County Sheriff
Traeger considered either running for mayor in
1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
*January 1 ...
, or for
Cook County Treasurer
The Cook County Treasurer is the treasurer of county government in Cook County, Illinois
Office description
The Cook County Treasurer oversees what is the United States' second-largest system of property tax collection and distribution. The off ...
in 1914. He instead, successfully, ran for Cook County Sheriff as the Democratic nominee.
Activities between tenures as sheriff
Trager left office as Sheriff in 1918, but he would return to that office ten years later. In the interim period, he remained involved in government and politics. Traeger was a delegate to the 1920 Illinois
constitutional convention Constitutional convention may refer to:
* Constitutional convention (political custom), an informal and uncodified procedural agreement
*Constitutional convention (political meeting), a meeting of delegates to adopt a new constitution or revise an e ...
.
In 1923, mayor
William Emmett Dever appointed Traeger to Chicago's
zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
appeal board. He retained this position until his 1928 election to another term as sheriff.
Second tenure as Cook County Sheriff
In 1928, Traeger won the
special election for Cook County sheriff. He won the Democratic nomination, running unopposed in the primary. In the general election, he defeated Republican nominee George H. Weideling.
This made Traeger the first person to be elected to two terms as Cook County sheriff.
Trager took his
oath of office
An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Such ...
on November 28, 1928, but did not formally take office until 10:30 on December 3, 1928.
After taking office, he hired his son John Ernest Traeger as assistant sheriff.
Traeger encountered a scandal when Cook County judges, including
John P. McGoorty, advised him against continuing with
patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
hires he had been undertaking, replacing county jail employees with inexperienced political hires.
Trager left office in December 1930.
County Jury Commissioner
Traeger was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Cook County Jury Commission, taking office on January 25, 1935. He was immediately made chairman of the committee. He would serve four terms,
holding the office until his death.
At the end of his tenure, he was the oldest individual serving as a Cook County official.
Personal life
Traeger's son, John Ernest Traeger, served 18 years as a member of the
Cook County Board of Commissioners
The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district, and a president who is elected county-wide, all for four-year terms. Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, is the Uni ...
,
as well two years on the Cook County Board of Assessors,
Cook County assistant sheriff (during Traeger's second term as Cook County Sheriff), and a stint as chief deputy clerk of the
Cook County Superior Court
The Superior Court of Cook County was a court in Cook County, Illinois.
It was preceded by earlier courts. 1845 saw the creation of the County Court of Cook County. In 1849, this was renamed The Cook County Court of Common Pleas. In 1859, this was ...
.
Death
On October 3, 1946, while boarding a
Halsted Street
Halsted Street is a major north-south street in the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois.
Location
In Chicago's grid system, Halsted Street marks 800 West, west of State Street, from Grace Street (3800 N) in Lakeview south to the city limits at t ...
streetcar at 55th street, Traeger fell, suffering
lacerations to his
scalp.
He received treatment at Chicago's Evangelical Hospital, and was released from the hospital. However, his condition worsened, and he would die October 16, 1946 at Evangelical Hospital at the age of 88.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Traeger, John E.
Illinois Democrats
1859 births
1946 deaths
Tax collectors
Cook County Coroners
Comptrollers in the United States
Sheriffs of Cook County, Illinois
City Treasurers of Chicago