By William Tyre
Junior Portrait
This year marks the 120th anniversary of the death of Marshall Field, Jr. Passing away at the age of just 37 from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound, the story dominated newspaper headlines for five days as he hovered between life and death. But the sad tale didn’t end there. Stories about what really happened to Field have circulated for decades and continue to be debated among local historians.
Junior with mother and sister Ethel
Marshall Field, Jr. was born on April 21, 1868, while the family was in New York City. The previous year, his father had formed Field, Leiter & Company with partner Levi Leiter, and the company earned $12 million, the equivalent of more than $260 million today. In 1873, after living on South Michigan Avenue (and escaping the Great Chicago Fire), the family relocated to their palatial new Second Empire style mansion at 1905 S. Prairie Avenue, designed by New York architect Richard Morris Hunt.
Field Mansion
Junior enjoyed a privileged upbringing, being educated by private tutors and at the prestigious Harvard School, located at Indiana Avenue and 21st Street. On January 1, 1886, his mother hosted a lavish party for her 17-year-old son and his 13-year-old sister Ethel. The theme was “The Mikado,” an immensely popular operetta by Gilbert & Sullivan, and the house was transformed into a Japanese wonderland.
Ethel Field and Friends
More than 200 friends attended the party in full Japanese dress, and the food and favors were the finest money could buy. Newspapers reported the fete cost $75,000, more than $2.5 million today. In 1887, Junior entered Harvard, but had to withdraw at the end of his second year due to ill health.
Albertine Huck
On October 23, 1890, Marshall Field Jr. married Albertine Huck, the daughter of one of Chicago’s most successful beer barons. The wedding, held in the Field mansion, caused a bit of a stir as Junior converted to Catholicism in advance of the wedding, which was presided over by Chicago’s first Archbishop, Patrick Feehan. The organist and choir from Holy Name Cathedral provided the music. The couple left for an extended honeymoon in Europe, not returning for a year.
Junior’s parents purchased the house at 1919 S. Prairie Avenue, immediately to the south of their own home, for the new couple, who soon added a private chapel. The large red brick home had been built in 1883 for William Murray and designed by Solon S. Beman. Junior and Albertine preferred spending their time among the American set in Paris and London, only residing in Chicago for a few months each year. The family grew to include son Marshall III in 1893, Henry in 1895, and Gwendolyn in 1902.
Albertine with Marshall III and Henry
In the year of their daughter’s birth, the couple decided to significantly remodel and enlarge the house, made possible when Marshall Sr. deeded a 20-foot strip of property to his son, allowing the house to grow to the north. D. H. Burnham & Co. received the commission, and by the time it was finished, the house boasted nearly 25,000 square feet of space including a squash court in the former hayloft, and a state-of-the-art garage for Field’s collection of automobiles.
1919 S Prairie Avenue
He worked for a brief time in the wholesale division of Marshall Field & Co., but his poor health encouraged him to give up work and spend time traveling. The couple eventually selected a country estate at Leamington, England, near his sister’s home, for their primary English residence. In 1904, he suffered a nervous breakdown while in Philadelphia which threatened his life. Although he survived, friends noted that he never fully recovered from the incident.
Wednesday, November 22, 1905, began as a typical day in the Field Jr. household. How he spent the first part of his day is not known, “as he is in no business and makes no particular place his headquarters.” He returned home mid-afternoon, headed to his room on the second floor, and presumably began to examine a revolver he had recently purchased. His wife and children were away, leaving only Lowe – the butler, Miss Penfield – his elder son’s nurse, and a few other servants about the house. Around 5:30pm, they heard an explosion which at first was thought to be a gunshot from an intruder. An anguished cry from Junior’s dressing room followed, and the nurse and butler rushed to the room. The Chicago Tribune reported what happened next:
“Mr. Field was found half fallen from the chair, with one hand clutching at its arm and the other pressed against his side. The revolver lay on the floor at his feet. He looked up as the nurse and the butler ran to his side and endeavored to pull himself up. Lowe put his arm about the injured man under his shoulders and endeavored to assist him.
“What has happened?” he gasped, as Mr. Field groaned in the effort to recover himself.
“I shot myself,” said Mr. Field, slowly and with difficulty. “I shot myself with that revolver – accidentally.”
His strength and his consciousness were going fast and Lowe looked about for a place where he could lay him. Then, with the aid of Miss Penfield, the butler carried him to a couch at one side of the dressing room.
“A doctor, quick,” cried the nurse.
They placed the groaning man on the couch and while Miss Penfield endeavored to release the clothing around the wound, which they saw dangerously located at the abdomen, Lowe dashed to the telephone.”
Junior’s uncle, Henry Dibblee, was called and arrived within a few minutes. Dr. Robert Harvey and Dr. Arthur Bevan, who both lived in the neighborhood, rushed to the scene, and noted the gravity of the situation and the need to get him to Mercy Hospital as quickly as possible to operate and remove the bullet. The ambulance arrived just as Mrs. Field returned to the house with her son. She joined her injured husband in the ambulance, which arrived at the hospital a few minutes after six. A team of four doctors commenced the operation, and found that the bullet had missed the intestines entirely, but had perforated the liver and spleen, and lodged near the spine, just under the surface of the skin, allowing for it to be easily removed from behind. There was extensive hemorrhaging in the abdominal cavity. The surgery was completed in about 30 minutes.
Marshall Field Sr. and his new wife, the former Delia Caton, whom he had married just 2-1/2 months earlier, were in New York. Upon being notified of the accident, they secured a special train and arrived the next afternoon. Junior’s wife kept vigil at her husband’s bedside.
Mercy Suite
Almost immediately, rumors began to circulate as to what had happened. Although the doctors and servants were consistent in repeating the details, newspapers began to speculate the gunshot may not have been accidental. The Chicago Examiner reported:
“He is morose, melancholic, his body appears anemic, his muscles flaccid, his eyes lacking the luster of health and his laugh the ring of enjoyment. For years he has brooded over what some of his friends have thought was a secret grief.”
Henry Dibblee quickly dismissed the suggestion, calling it “false and ridiculous.” The upward trajectory of the bullet also supported the fact that it would have been nearly impossible for Junior to have purposely shot himself at that angle, the more plausible explanation being that he had dropped the revolver and it discharged.
Two reporters received a tip that Junior had spent Tuesday evening at the Everleigh Club, Chicago’s most exclusive brothel, located at 2131-33 S. Dearborn Street, and had remained there until 9:00am on Wednesday. The allegation was never confirmed, the Everleigh sisters insisting Junior had never been to their establishment. But the Everleigh Club would be connected to the incident again years later.
Junior Standing
Over the next few days, every edition of every Chicago newspaper carried updates on Junior’s condition. Headlines ranged from respectful to sensational. The Chicago American, known for its banner headlines, was especially bold in its announcements:
MARSHALL FIELD, JR. FIGHTS FOR LIFE
YOUNG MR. FIELD SINKING!
YOUNG FIELD’S LIFE HANGS BY A THREAD
MARSHALL FIELD, JR., NEAR DEATH
Junior lost his battle at 4:55pm on Monday, November 27, with his wife and father at the bedside. The official cause of death was paralysis of the bowels, resulting from the wound to the spine. His strength rapidly declined during the early afternoon, and Rev. Hugh McGuire, pastor of St. James’ Catholic Church, arrived and delivered last rites. A nun, Sister Vivian, placed her crucifix in Junior’s hands where it remained until the end came.
After being asked if he was in any pain, and responding “yes, a little,” he turned to his wife and father and tried to smile.
“Then slowly the look grew vacant and little by little life faded out. At 4:55 Dr. Billings, who stood with watch in hand, leaned over the form, felt the pulse, and whispered that life was no more.”
Albertine Field, pale and exhausted after five days at her husband’s side, was taken to her father-in-law’s house to rest.
The funeral took place two days later, Wednesday, November 29, the day before Thanksgiving. Father McGuire led the services at Junior’s late residence, and the choir of St. James’ sang. Two large crosses of white roses and two orchid wreaths rested on the coffin, which was covered with a blanket of violets. The wholesale and retail houses of Marshall Field & Co. in Chicago and its branches around the world all closed for the day. The Field Museum, of which Junior was a second vice president, also closed.
After the service, carriages transported the family, the ten pallbearers, and close friends to Graceland Cemetery for interment. Junior was laid to rest in the family plot near the grave of his mother Nannie who had died in 1896, and his older brother Louis, who had died as an infant in 1866.
The inquest took place on Friday, December 1. The coroner’s jury quickly returned a verdict that Junior had shot himself unintentionally while examining a revolver. Coroner Hoffman spoke at the conclusion, noting:
“I desire to make a statement for the protection of my office and for the sake of the family and friends of Mr. Field. Because of his position, his wealth, and his prominence many superfluous rumors have been circulated as to how this shooting occurred. I say superfluous, because, although they came from many sources, I have been unable to find any foundation for them. Since the day of the shooting, I have spent days and nights hunting down the rumors and have found that there was no cause for their circulation. I have been assisted by one of my best deputies and every report has been run down and proved false.”
In late December, it was announced that Junior had left no will and that his father was appointed guardian of his three grandchildren. The personal estate was valued at $1,450,000 and the real estate at about $75,000.
Albertine soon took the children to England but returned to Chicago in February 1907 to close up the estate and comply with the order from the probate court to sell her Prairie Avenue residence at auction for the benefit of her children. The home was valued at $66,000 but when bids stopped at $14,500, her attorney, William G. Beale, purchased the house for $40,000 to satisfy the court. In late 1909, he sold the property for the same amount to Dr. Milton Pine, who established his Gatlin Institute “as a sanitarium for victims of the drug and liquor habit.” Albertine returned to England where she married Malwin Drummond in 1910; she died in 1915 at the age of 42.
Gatlin Institute
The story might have ended there except for a news story that had garnered significant attention two years earlier. In November 1913, exactly eight years after Junior had died, Mrs. Vera Scott, then living in Los Angeles, confessed that she had fatally shot him, and later killed her second husband, Ross Pressor. She told a tall tale, noting that she had worked on the stage under the name of Viola Gilmore and had come into contact with a number of rich men. She met Junior in the Annex Grill at Marshall Field & Co. when she was using the name Vera Leroy, and was the “mysterious and beautiful Vera, the French girl” that had been mentioned in connection with his death.
She went out with Junior several times and on their last time together, he took her to a private room at the Everleigh Club. She didn’t like his conduct, and she grabbed his revolver telling him to stand aside, when the gun accidentally discharged. Field, realizing the gravity of the situation, asked her to quickly call two cabs, one for him and one for her. Marshall Field Sr. located her the next day, giving her $10,000 and telling her to leave the city. She eventually went to New York, collecting $26,000 from the family before leaving the country.
But was there any truth to her story, which she later denied? Those familiar with the Everleigh Club noted Vera was well-known at the club, and “seemed to possess a veritable genius for entangling the gilded youth who insisted on sewing his wild oats.” A waiter recalled her showing him a large quantity of cash shortly before she left for Kansas City, but not explaining how she came into possession of it.
Her story was published in major papers around the country, but not a single newspaper in Chicago picked it up. An article in The Day Book, an adless daily Chicago newspaper that prided itself on not being under the obligation of its advertisers, printed an extensive article that noted that whether Vera Scott was telling the truth or not didn’t matter. The bigger story was that the Chicago newspapers didn’t run the story – which would have been of great interest to the locals – because the newspapers feared losing the precious advertising dollars from Marshall Field & Co. The article went on to say that was the reason the newspapers didn’t print the Everleigh Club rumors at the time Junior was shot.
Everleigh Club
The story surfaced again in 1934, when Charles Washburn published Come Into My Parlor, the story of the Everleigh sisters. He supported the official story that the shooting was accidental and had taken place in Junior’s home, as originally reported. He went one step further, noting that if Junior had been shot at the Everleigh Club, all of his father’s millions couldn’t have kept everyone silent. His most interesting claim, from the Everleigh Sisters themselves, was that the story had been circulated by the sisters’ rivals in the red light district known as the Levee, to frame them and cause harm to their reputation.
The story has continued to reappear from time to time. Dan Rottenberg wrote an extensive piece, “Good Rumors Never Die: Marshall Field, Jr., was killed by a prostitute in a bordello . . . wasn’t he?” in the February 1984 issue of Chicago Magazine. Karen Abbott rehashed the story in her 2007 volume, Sin and the Second City, and Richard Lindberg discusses it in his Citadels of Sin: Chicago Vice Under the Gaslight 1860-1920, due to be released in early 2026.
House in the 1990s
As for Junior’s house at 1919 S. Prairie Avenue, it is one of the few mansions remaining on the legendary street, but it has had a hard life. After use by the Gatlin Institute, it became a urological hospital, and then a convalescent home until being closed down in the mid-1970s. It then sat empty for 25 years, with boarded up windows, and a roof that slowly started caving in. Had it not been designated a Chicago landmark in 1979 as part of the Prairie Avenue Historic District, it would have been demolished. When new million dollar townhouses were built to the north of the house in the early 2000s, the developers put pressure on the city to force the owner of the Field Jr. house to sell. They did, reluctantly, and the house was converted into six luxury condominium units.
House Today
The house was under conversion on the 100th anniversary of the shooting – November 22, 2005. Workers had left for the day, and the house was dark when a few curious onlookers arrived to stand in front of the house at the exact hour Junior had shot himself. All of a sudden, an eerie green glow emanated from the windows as seen in the image below. Could it be the unsettled spirit of Marshall Field Jr. reliving the tragic accident that tore him from his wife and children a century earlier? We may never know.
House on November 22. 2005
The story of Marshall Field, Jr. and his untimely demise is just one of several explored during the annual “Shadows on the Street: Haunted Tours of Historic Prairie Avenue,” offered by Glessner House on Friday and Saturday, October 24-25. Tours are offered every 15 minutes starting at 6:30pm. Readings of Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying stories and poetry are offered by actors from Lifeline Theater on Saturday October 25 at 5:00 and 8:00pm.
To learn more, and purchase tickets, visit https://www.glessnerhouse.org/events.
Other mysteries to be explored during the Shadows tours include:
-Mysterious footsteps of Edson Keith heard every year on a certain date
-Rattling windows in the Kimball mansion
-The ghost in the cupola of the Clarke-Ford House
-The cause of the flickering lights in a Cullerton Street rowhouse
-The series of tragic events that make the site of the Philander C. Hanford house the most haunted in the neighborhood
Hanford House, by Jack Simmerling
