Elmer Washburn

General Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department Mayor Joseph Medill had been persuaded by the city's Committee of Seventy, a citizen's group, to fire General Superintendent of Police William Wallace Kennedy and replace him with Washburn. Formally, on July 29, 1872, Kennedy resigned as Chicago's General Superintendent of Police, and the mayor appointed Washburn as interim General Superintendent of Police. On August 12, 1872, he was made permanent General Superintendent.

Washburn helped thwart the attempted theft of Abraham Lincoln's corpse. He also played a role in prosecution of Whiskey Ring members.

Subsequent life and career Washburn became involved in the Union Stock Yards, heading the Chicago Live Stock Exchange and serving as president of the Union Stock Yards National Bank for many years. He also served as head of Chicago's Live Stock Exchange. Washburn unsuccessfully ran in the 1891 Chicago mayoral election, in which he placed fourth and was defeated by his cousin once-removed Hempstead Washburne.

Electoral history