unions in the city) prior to the organizing drive had won it supporters in City Hall. Quesse's ties to Republican Mayor William Hale Thompson helped protect the union. The state again attempted to indict Quesse in 1924, but nothing came of the charges as Quesse's political backers helped quash the indictment. Death In the last three years of his life, Quesse built BSEIU into the most powerful labor union in Chicago. His political influence grew not only throughout the city, but the state of Illinois as well. Quesse fell ill with cancer in late 1926. In January 1927, he was hospitalized at Columbus Memorial Hospital. After his condition was recognized as terminal, he was allowed to return home on February 13. He died at 1:00 a.m. on the morning of February 16. BSEIU successors Quesse's close friend, Chicago City Alderman Oscar Nelson, who was at his side when he died, was named interim president of BSEIU. Jerry Horan, a BSEIU organizer whose primary job was to act as Quesse's chauffeur, was elected Quesse's successor as BSEIU president on September 6, 1927. William McFetridge, Quesse's nephew, became president of BSEIU in 1940. Notes References Beadling, Tom, et al. A Need for Valor: The Roots of the Service Employees International Union, 1902-1992. Washington, D.C.: Service Employees International Union, 1992. "Bombed After Defying Quesse, Woman Charges." Chicago Daily Tribune. December 19, 1920. "Bombs, 'Fines,' Laid to Janitor's Union Leaders." Chicago Daily Tribune. January 19, 1922. Bukowski, Douglas. Big Bill Thompson, Chicago, and the Politics of Image. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1998. "Chicago Janitors Guilty." New York Times. June 10, 1922. "Confess Bribe to Fix Jury." Chicago Daily Tribune. March 23, 1922. "Crowe Orders Charge Renewed Against Quesse." Chicago Daily Tribune. October 23, 1924. "Death Notices." Chicago Daily Tribune. February 17, 1927. Fitch, Robert. Solidarity For Sale. New York: PublicAffairs, 2006. "400 Janitors Vote to Go Out on Strike Today." Chicago Daily Tribune. January 17, 1917. "Gambling Salon Operates Wide Open Near City Hall." Chicago Daily Tribune. April 19, 1928.*"Horan Installed As Head of Flat Janitor Union." Chicago Daily Tribune. September 7, 1927. "Janitors Get No Pay Raise in Chief's Edict." Chicago Daily Tribune. December 28, 1920. "Janitors Will Arbitrate." Chicago Daily Tribune. November 28, 1920. Jentz, John B. "Unions, Cartels, and the Political Economy of American Cities: The Chicago Flat Janitors' Union in the Progressive Era and the 1920s." Studies in