Albert Alonzo "Doc" Ames (January 18, 1842 – November 16, 1911) held three consecutive terms as mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Ames was known for his service to his country and assistance of the poor, sometimes giving medical treatment to those who could not afford it. However, he became exceedingly more famous by creating the most corrupt government in the city's history. The story became known across the United States when muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens wrote an article in 1903 about the corruption and the efforts of a local grand jury to stop it. The article was later included in a collection of similar exposes in the book The Shame of the Cities, published in 1906.
Contents |
Ames was born in Garden Prairie, a city residing in Boone County, Illinois on January 18, 1842. Ames was the forth child to a family, soon to be, of seven. At the young age of ten, Ames relocated with his father, Dr. Alfred Elisha Ames, and mother, Martha A. Ames, to Fort Snelling located in the Minnesota Territory.[1] At this time during the spring of 1852, Minnesota was still young—the locality was nameless and resided in a portion of the Fort Snelling reservation. Ames attended local public schools, which were partially run by the federal government. His particular public school was at the time a department of the Washington school, located on the block now occupied by the city hall and court house.
Starting in 1857, while still in high school, Ames became employed as a "printer's devil" and a newspaper carrier for the Northwestern Democrat. The Northwestern Democrat, published by W.A. Hotchkiss, was the first paper issued in Minneapolis that served the west side of the river; the original publishing building still stands on the southeast corner of Third Street and Fifth Avenue South. It was through his efforts as a "printer's devil" that Ames attained his first dollar. After graduating from high school at the age of sixteen, Ames jumped on the opportunity to become immersed in the medical field along side his father. Though he received much of his experience and training by observing and working with his father, Ames attended Rush Medical College in Chicago and received his M.D. on February 5, 1862 at the age of 20. Soon after, April 21, 1962 to be exact, the established Dr. Ames married Sarah Strout, the daughter of Captain Richard Strout of Minneapolis.
In August 1862, after graduating with his M.D, Dr. Albert Alonzo Ames returned to Minneapolis to start practicing medicine. However, this aim was cut short due to rising Indian troubles on the frontier. The new doctor was not able to settle down for long with his degree. In August 1862, Ames, along with a few others, raised Company B of 9th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry and became involved in the Dakota War of 1862. This small war erupted between the white settlers of Minnesota and the local Dakota population. Dr. Ames was appointed orderly sergeant and was ordered to gather up the men for active duty. During this spur of enlistments, the men of the 9th regiment were allowed fifteen days of leave in order to gather their things and settle their affairs before each was rushed to the front lines where the Indian's were rapidly advancing on Minneapolis.
In the fall of 1863, Dr. Ames accompanied his regiment south to Fort Rigdely, a hot spot for Indian invasion. Luckily, during his participation with Company B, Ames gained experience in surgery which helped advance his talent and studies. A few days later, Ames was commissioned assistant surgeon to the Seventh Minnesota Regiment Infantry Volunteers. After witnessing combat at the Battle of Acton in 1863, Ames was shipped south to provide medical services during the American Civil War.[2] He served with this regiment for three years, eventually being promoted to the rank of Surgeon Major in July 1864. He returned to Minneapolis when combat ceased on August 18, 1865.
Following the war, Albert Alonzo Ames briefly returned to Minnesota to engage in the medical field with his father. Though his intentions in Minnesota might have not been those of a political endeavor, his popularity with the soldiers was such that he received recognition and appointment to the state legislature. In November 1866, Dr. Ames was elected to serve in the state legislature, on a soldiers' ticket, as a representative from Hennepin County; however, two years later, he took a leap and traveled west to California.[3] Here he joined the newspaper business, becoming managing editor of the Alta California—the leading newspaper on the pacific coast. Albert Alonzo Ames maintained his residence out west from 1868 until 1874, the year his father became terminally ill. After his father's death, he was persuaded by relatives to take over his father's medical practice. For the next 25 years, "Doc" Ames continued to live in Minneapolis.
Albert Alonzo Ames maintained an interest in politics, conforming with the beliefs of the "war democrats".[4] In 1876, Ames was elected centennial mayor of Minneapolis; however, if he wanted to be reelected, Ames must re-run each year. The following year, in 1882, he ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor. Therefore, in 1882 he was reelected to the same office, the position of centennial mayor of Minneapolis; again, in 1886, he was reappointed for a third time. For each of Ames's mayoral terms, he served as a Democrat.
Though Ames showed success during his service as mayor, he was not as successfully with his national endeavors. In 1886, Albert Alonzo Ames accepted the nomination for Governor. With this, he asked the Democratic convention to pledge party support for a bill establishing a Soldier's Home in Minnesota. The resolution was recognized by members of the party and received support from the left and the right. A.R McGill, his republican opponent, was named governor elect by a very small margin. This sparked controversy over who was the actual winner, and was contested until Ames decided the effort was not worth the time.[5] Though he did not win the election, the Republicans accepted his suggestions about a Soldiers Home and appointed a retreat for the aged and indigent veterans to be placed where the Minnehaha river and Mississippi river converge. He then ran as the Democratic nominee for congress and lieutenant governor; these attempts failed, largely due to the fact that Democrats were the majority in Minnesota.[6] Thoughtfully, in the late 1890s, Ames directed a more independent stance regarding politics—following Jeffersonianism and allowing his viewpoints to be directed chiefly by his sympathy for the masses. In 1900, he was elected as a Republican, taking office in 1901.[7]
Planning for the new administration began soon after election results were known from the 1900 election. Doc Ames organized his advisers and announced he would install his brother Fred W. Ames as the city's chief of police. Once in office, the Ames brothers flushed out the police force, replacing experienced officers with known crooks. New openings were even offered up to the highest bidder. The new police force became a supporter and purveyor of organized crime, extorting money from illegal businesses of various kinds. They also released many criminals from the city's jail, and promoted Minneapolis to robbers across the country. Ames had been suspected of scandalous behavior in his preceding terms as mayor; but due to his actions in 1901 and 1902 as part of a "reform" administration, Ames's behavior would prove he was corrupt himself.
Through his final term as governor, illegal businesses multiplied. There were more saloons, opium joints, gambling parlors, and houses of prostitution blossoming throughout the city of Minneapolic. It was even speculated that women were setting up candy stores to run a legitimate business to children and workers out front, but provide sexual services to any man who would pay in the back. The head of a major gambling syndicate in the city became a detective in the Minneapolis Police Department. The police would go and collect "fines" from these businesses in a way that would more closely resemble the intake of Mafia protection money today. Prostitutes were said to have made monthly trips to the city court's clerk to pay $100 and to have been strong armed into buying tickets to the police baseball games. Vast amounts of money were taken in at all levels. However, the rampant criminal activity soon began to swirl out of control as the cops and politicians began to swindle each other.
In April 1902, a new grand jury came together. The jury handled many normal activities, but under the leadership of foreman Hovey C. Clarke, an investigation began into the Minneapolis city government and its officials. Through the summer, the grand jurors paid private detectives, both locally known men and others from out of town, with their own personal money to document everything suspicious that was found. By the end of the summer, these investigators submitted numerous indictments; and when the county prosecutor proved unwilling to do his duty, Clarke excused him and took over the role. The grand jurors even succeeded in tracking down a few crooks and witnesses who had fled the state. In one trial, a man thought to have been a thousand miles away in Idaho or Mexico, suddenly appeared, leading the defendant to jump to his feet in the courtroom and then, later in the evening, flee the city.
Ames was finally located and cornered; therefore, he fired his brother as chief of police before resigning and then left for the remote town of West Baden, Indiana. He was arrested in Hancock, New Hampshire, in February 1903,[8] and was returned to Minnesota a few months later. He ended up standing trial and was convicted of receiving a bribe. Ames then was sentenced to six years in State prison on these charges.[9] Haphazardly, the sentence was overturned on appeal and, after two mistrials, all legal action against him was ceased. Through all this, Albert Alonzo Ames served no time in jail. His brother Fred was sentenced to several years in the state prison, and many others were also put behind bars. City council member D. Percy Jones took over as acting mayor until the term was complete. Jones succeeded in cleaning up much of the mess in about four months of work and non-corrupt actions. The next elected mayor, J. C. Haynes, continued the cleanup process.
After the end of the final trial, no further charges were filed and Dr. Ames returned to Minneapolis to practice medicine. He died quite suddenly during the night on November 16, 1911. After a service inside his home by the Unitarian Church, his body was cremated in Minneapolis's Lakewood Cemetery. Albert Alonzo Ames left his widow a sum of $1,410.94 and a sum of $1 million dollars to each of his surviving children.
Addressing an assembly of Ministers and Laymen who demanded that he enforce the Sunday closing law for saloons.[10]"The trouble with you people is that you are trying to improve on the plan of the Creator and the Christianity of Christ. If you had been running things when our first parents were setting up housekeeping, you would not have removed Adam and Eve from the garden - you would have uprooted the Tree of Knowledge and let Adam and his wife live along without temptation."
| Preceded by Orlando C. Merriman |
Mayor of Minneapolis 1876 – 1877 |
Succeeded by John De Laittre |
| Preceded by A. C. Rand |
Mayor of Minneapolis 1878 – 1882 |
Succeeded by George A. Pillsbury |
| Preceded by George A. Pillsbury |
Mayor of Minneapolis 1886 – 1889 |
Succeeded by E. C. Babb |
| Preceded by James Gray |
Mayor of Minneapolis 1901 – 1902 |
Succeeded by David P. Jones |