[4] John Patrick Hopkins was born in Buffalo, New York, and dropped out of school at the age of 13.
[6] On February 25, 1895, the Chicago City Council met and discussed many trivial items on the agenda; the companies later subject to scandal did not appear.
[9] Powers introduced a motion to reconsider a failed 1892 franchise to the City and County Gas Company.
[9] After an attempt to delay this was shelved, Powers substituted for it a franchise to the Ogden Gas Company, which also passed despite objections.
[9] The ordinance was called "the most disgraceful act" in the history of the City Council by a local paper.