Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area from July 6-12, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Are we missing an important event? Email me.

— Kori Rumore

July 6, 1932: Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges was shot in the left side and left hand by 21-year-old dancer Violet Popovich Valli, who also shot herself at the Hotel Carlos. She later appeared at a local theater as Violet ”I Did It For Love” Popovich.

July 7, 2000: The Bulls wooed free agent Tracy McGrady upon his arrival at O’Hare International Airport with team mascot Benny the Bull, the Luvabulls cheerleaders, a small band playing “Sweet Home, Chicago” and a media horde. It was the second time the team showed interest in McGrady. Michael Jordan reportedly nixed an earlier deal.

The pomp and circumstance didn’t work — McGrady went to the Orlando Magic instead.

July 8, 1989: Nirvana played Club Dreamerz on Milwaukee Avenue. A 1973 Fender Maverick guitar lead singer Kurt Cobain played during the show sold for almost $500,000 during a 2022 auction.

July 9, 1995: Jerry Garcia's final show with the Grateful Dead took place at Soldier Field in front of a sold-out crowd. Tribune critic Greg Kot wrote Garcia's voice "sounded tired, he muffed lyrics and he sometimes dispensed with entire verses altogether in a remote performance." Garcia died exactly a month later from a heart attack.

July 10, 1912: Black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson opened Cafe de Champion, 41 W. 31st St. in Bronzeville. But only three months after opening to fanfare, his wife, Etta, committed suicide in the couple’s apartment above the venue while revelers partied below. The shooting made the front page of the Tribune the next day.

In 1913, an all-white jury in Chicago convicted Johnson of traveling with his white girlfriend, Lucille Cameron, in violation of the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for “immoral” purposes.

The case would later be held up as a deplorable example of institutional racism in early 20th century America. Johnson was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in June 1913, but fled to Canada with Cameron, whom he married while free on bond. He remained a fugitive for seven years, traveling from Europe to Mexico, where he fought bulls and ran a bar called the Main Event.

President Donald Trump granted a rare posthumous pardon to Johnson on May 24, 2018.

July 11, 1915: "Jazz" was used in the Tribune to describe music for one of the first times in history.

July 12, 1979: Disco Demolition Night drew 47,795 people to Comiskey Park to watch WLUP's Steve Dahl blow up a pile of disco records between games of a doubleheader. Thousands poured onto the field, tearing it up. Ninety minutes, 39 arrests for disorderly conduct and a half-dozen injuries later, the second game was called off. It was ruled a forfeit by the American League on Friday the 13th.

Sox owner Bill Veeck didn’t agree with the ruling, which was the first forfeit in the league in five years.

“This was a regrettable incident, but not sufficient grounds for forfeit,” he told reporters. “But we won’t go out of business because of it. It seems to me a Chicago paper ran a headline sayin’ Dewey defeated Truman some years ago. Did they go out of business?”

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