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Note: The people of Chicago raised, by public subscription, a fund of$211,000 for the relief of the families of the firemen killed inthis catastrophe, and the handling and distribution of this fundgave rise to a bitter legal controversy. The trustees, headed byHarlow H. Higginbotham, insisted that the beneficiaries wereentitled only to the interest on the fund; that the principalshould be kept intact and the income divided in the form ofpensions. The courts finally decided that the entire fund shouldbe distributed among the beneficiaries at once, and that thetrustees had no right to retain it. In making this decision thecourts pointed out the danger, that, in time, all thebeneficiaries might die off, and that the trustees would then beleft in undisputed possession of $211,000 (the principal) whichthe donators did not intend should come into their permanentkeeping.In the Windy City there were few who could best Bertha Palmer ina battle of wills. Few would even try. Only twice did Bertha runup against a brick wall during the Fair. Little Egypt was thefirst brick wall that Bertha knocked into. When the Board ofLady Managers walked through the preview of the MidwayInternational Village they were appalled by the dancer.Naturally, Mayor Carter Harrison heartily approved of LittleEgypt and every other belly-button-showing exotic female at theFair. The Mayor's attitude only convinced Bertha that she hadbeen right about that man all along. Bertha immediately rushedback to her office. She drafted an official report on the dangerto morals that Little Egypt and her ilk represented. "No ordinary Western woman, wrote Bertha who was speaking forthem all, could look on these performances with anything buthorror. The girl revolves and turns, her face assuming a dreamysmile, her painted eyes half closed... as she begins thecontortions that mark all the Oriental dances; her movements aresnakelike and vulgar." That says it all, Bertha thought, andslapped the report into the hand of Harlow Higginbotham,President of the Board of Managers. The Managers took upBertha's remarks in a desultory way. Charles Yerkes, whosehobbies were collecting paintings and women, made a coupleoffcolor remarks that sent the puritanical Mister Field into afit of coughing. The objections had come too late for theManagers to cancel the binding agreements that had been drawn upwith the government of Egypt, said Mister Higginbotham. Yerkeswas pleased to hear it. Field made no comment, but contentedhimself with a loud honk of his nose. The Lady Managers wouldnot like to cause an international incident over such a trifle,would they? This was the message that Mister Higginbotham sentback to Bertha and the Lady Managers. Bertha didn't mind if theydid, but no one followed up on her idea. When opening day came,Grover Cleveland himself walked into Cairo-on-the-Midway andpaid his dime with all the other oglers, gawkers and curiosityseekers. Bertha preferred to part company with the President atthis juncture. She had better things to do. Meanwhile, Eulalia, the Spanish Infanta, decided she was nothaving fun yet. She had heard the whispered report from one ofher ladies that Bertha Palmer was the wife of an innkeeper."Innkeeper?" The word reverberated around her plush suite. Shemight have figured this out by herself by the suspicious name ofthe place that she was staying: the Palmer House. Not willing tobe caught napping a second time, Eulalia insisted upon passingon the guest list for the Higginbotham's dinner a week beforeshe attended. Bertha Palmer is unavoidable like the smell of thesquid, thought Eulalia, gloomily. Therefore she didn't bother toobject to her presence at dinner. But. . .what was this seatingchart that had the Infanta of Spain next to this Mayor Harrisonperson? No, no, the princess would only sit only next to thegobernador. Or nothing. But the gobernador at that moment wasJohn Peter Altgeld, a mild socialist who was unpopular becauseof his handling of the Haymarket defendants. He had pardoned themen. Due to this apparent political blunder, Altgeld was stayingaway from official Chicago that summer. Gobernador, gobernador,insisted Eulalia as she tapped her little foot. They compromisedand Eulalia was to be seated next to a bishop, even though shemade it clear that she would have preferred a cardinal. Butfirst there was the Palmer reception to get throughBarber writes in regard to WCE President Harlow Higginbotham�sinterception of the 100 "special issue" coins slated forEllsworth. Reports that Colonel Bosbyshell has sent a letter toHiginbotham requesting he return the coins to Ellsworth.Bosbyshell also refers to a conversation with Harlow Higinbothamregarding Columbian coins #2-101. Bosbyshell writes that heexplained to Higinbotham that these first coins were reserved"so whoever got them would feel an especial pleasure in having acertain designater."When all were appointed, the WCC commissioners met in Chicago.Allowed payment not to exceed $6 per day, the commissioners wereinstructed to find an appropriate site. The WCC was to determinethe plan and scope of the exposition, as well as to allot spacefor exhibitors, classify exhibits, and appoint judges andexaminers. The WCC was required to also appoint a Board of LadyManagers. The WCC extended invitations to foreign governments totake part in the exposition, and was generally in charge of alldealings with the representatives and exhibitors of national andforeign governments. The first commission meeting was June 26,1890.The World's Columbian Exhibition Corporation (WCEC)was, by actof Congress, to provide the buildings and grounds for theexhibits and the locations for the buildings. This localcorporation, which raised the initial $5,000,000 to secureChicago's bid, was, in essence, to provide for all necessarypreliminary work for the WCC. The WCEC was eventually headed bya Council of Administration, composed of two members of the WCCand two from the local directory. WCEC Officers:President-H. H. HiggenbothamName: "Niles" is a repeating name in this family, going back tothe marriage of the 1st Dr. Charles Higinbotham to Mary Niles, daughter of Nathanieland Mary (Hannah) Niles in South Kingston, RI in on 7 Feb 1722.Dr. Charles was of English ancestry, born in Barbados
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