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diff --git a/old/51912.txt b/old/51912.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cb594fa..0000000 --- a/old/51912.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10655 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boss, and How He Came to Rule New York, by -Alfred Henry Lewis - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Boss, and How He Came to Rule New York - -Author: Alfred Henry Lewis - -Release Date: May 1, 2016 [EBook #51912] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOSS *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - - - -THE BOSS, AND HOW HE CAME TO RULE NEW YORK - -By Alfred Henry Lewis - -Author Of "Peggy O'Neal," "President," "Wolfvilledays," Etc. - -A. L. Burt Company, Publishers, New York - -1903 - - -[Illustration: 0005] - - - - -THE WORD OF PREFACE - -It should be said in the beginning that these memoirs will not be -written by my own hand. I have no skill of pen and ink, and any relation -of length would be beyond my genius. The phrasing would fall to be -disreputable, and the story itself turn involved and to step on its own -toes, and mayhap with the last of it to fall flat on its face, unable -to proceed at all. Wherefore, as much for folk who are to read as for -my own credit, I shall have one who makes print his trade to write these -pages for me. - -Nor shall I advance apology in this. If I plan for the construction of -a house, I call to my aid architects and artisans in wood and stone and -iron. I am not disgraced for that out of my own hands and head I do not -throw up the walls and lay on the roof of the edifice. Why, then, when -now I am about the paper-telling of my life, should I blush because I am -driven to seek the aid of him who makes an inkpot his profession? I am -like a lumber-yard or a stone-quarry, and full of the raw material for -this work; but I require one drilled of saw and chisel to carry off the -business of my housebuilding. - -It would be the thing natural, should you who open these leaves put the -question of motive and ask why, when now I am retired, and should be -cautious with my threescore years, I come forth with confidences which, -aside from the mere sorrow of them, are like to prove less for my honor -than I might wish. Why is it that I who have removed my loneliness -and my millions to scenes of peace at least, may not leave well enough -alone? Why should I return with disclosures touching Tammany and the -inner history of that organization, when the dullest must apprehend only -trouble and pain as the foolish fruits of such garrulity? - -To the cheer of ones still on the firing lines of Tammany effort, let me -promise to say no more of them than belongs of necessity to the story -of my own career. I aim towards the painting of no man's picture save -my own. Also from first to last I will hold before the face of each old -friend the shield of an alias and never for a moment in name or feature -uncover him to the general eye. - -As to why it pleases me to give the public my Tammany evolution, and -whether I hope for good or ill therefrom, I am not able to set forth. -There is that within my bosom to urge me to this work, that much I know; -the thing uncertain being--is it vanity, or is it remorse or a hunger -for sympathy to so ride me and force my frankness to top-speed? There -comes one thought: however black that robe of reputation which the truth -weaves for me, it will seem milk-white when laid side by side with what -Mendacity has invented and Malice sworn to as the story of my career. - -Before I lift the latch of narration, I would have you pardon me a first -defensive word. Conceiving that, in the theory of politics, whatever the -practice may discover, there is such a commodity as morals and such a -ware as truth, and, remembering how much as the Chief of Tammany Hall I -have been condemned by purists and folk voluble for reform as a fashion -of City Satan, striving for all that was ebon in local conditions and -control, I would remind the reader--hoping his mind to be unbiased and -that he will hold fairly the scales for me--that both morals and truth -as questions will ever depend for their answer on environment and point -of view. The morality of one man is the sin of another, and the truth in -this mouth is the serpent lie in that. Having said this much, let me now -go forward without more of flourish or time to be eaten up with words. - - - - - -THE BOSS - - - - -CHAPTER I--HOW THE BOSS CAME TO NEW YORK - - -MY father was a blacksmith, and he and my mother came out of Clonmel, -where I myself was born. There were four to our family, for besides my -father and mother, I owned a sister named Anne, she being my better in -age by a couple of years. Anne is dead now, with all those others I have -loved, and under the grass roots; but while she lived--and she did not -pass until after I had reached the size and manners of a man--she abode -a sort of second mother to me, and the littlest of my interests was her -chief concern. - -That Anne was thus tenderly about my destinies, worked doubtless a deal -of fortunate good to me. By nature, while nothing vicious, I was as -lawless as a savage; and being resentful of boundaries and as set for -liberty as water down hill, I needed her influence to hold me in some -quiet order. That I have the least of letters is due wholly to Anne, for -school stood to me, child and boy, as hateful as a rainy day, and it was -only by her going with me to sit by my side and show me my blurred way -across the page that I would mind my book at all. - -It was upon a day rearward more than fifty years when my father, -gathering together our slight belongings, took us aboard ship for -America. We were six weeks between Queenstown and New York; the ship my -father chose used sails, and there arose unfriendly seas and winds to -baffle us and set us back. For myself, I hold no clear memory of that -voyage, since I was but seven at the time. Nor could I have been called -good company; I wept every foot of the way, being sick from shore to -shore, having no more stomach to put to sea with then than I have now. - -It was eight of the clock on a certain July night that my father, having -about him my mother and Anne and myself, came ashore at Castle Garden. -It being dark, and none to meet us nor place for us to seek, we slept -that night, with our coats to be a bed to us, on the Castle Garden -flags. If there were hardship to lurk in thus making a couch of the -stone floors, I missed the notice of it; I was as sound asleep as a tree -at midnight when we came out of the ship and for eight hours thereafter, -never once opening my eyes to that new world till the sun was up. - -Indeed, one may call it in all candor a new world! The more since, by -the grace of accident, that first day fell upon the fourth of the month, -and it was the near, persistent roar of cannon all about us, beginning -with the break of day, to frighten away our sleep. My father and mother -were as simple as was I, myself, on questions of Western story, and -the fact of the Fourth of July told no news to them. Guns boomed; flags -flaunted; bands of music brayed; gay troops went marching hither and -yon; crackers sputtered and snapped; orators with iron throats swept -down on spellbound crowds in gales of red-faced eloquence; flaming -rockets when the sun went down streaked the night with fire! To these -manifestations my father and the balance of us gave admiring ear and -eye; although we were a trifle awed by the vehemence of an existence -in which we planned to have our part, for we took what we heard and -witnessed to be the everyday life of the place. - -My father was by trade a blacksmith, and one fair of his craft. Neither -he nor my mother had much learning; but they were peaceful, sober folk -with a bent for work; and being sure, rain or shine, to go to church, -and strict in all their duties, they were ones to have a standing with -the clergy and the neighbors, It tells well for my father that within -the forty-eight hours to follow our landing at Castle Garden, he had a -roof above our heads, and an anvil to hammer upon; this latter at a -wage double the best that Clonmel might offer even in a dream. And so -we began to settle to our surroundings, and to match with them, and fit -them to ourselves; with each day Clonmel to gather a dimness, and we to -seem less strange and more at home, and in the last to feel as naturally -of America as though we had been born upon the soil. - -It has found prior intimation that my earlier years ran as wild as a -colt, with no strong power save Anne's to tempt me in a right direction. -My father, so far as his mood might promise, would have led me in paths -I should go; but he was never sharp to a condition, and with nothing to -him alert or quick he was one easily fooled, and I dealt with him as I -would. Moreover, he had his hands filled with the task of the family's -support; for while he took more in wage for his day's work than had ever -come to him before, the cost to live had equal promotion, and it is -to be doubted if any New York Monday discovered him with riches in his -pocket beyond what would have dwelt there had he stayed in Clonmel. But -whether he lacked temper or time, and whatever the argument, he cracked -no thong of authority over me; I worked out my days by patterns to -please myself, with never a word from him to check or guide me. - -And my mother was the same. She had her house to care for; and in a -wash-tub day, and one when sewing machines were yet to find their birth, -a woman with a family to be a cook to, and she of a taste besides to see -them clothed and clean, would find her every waking hour engaged. -She was a housekeeper of celebration, was my mother, and a star for -neighboring wives to steer by; with floor and walls and everything about -her as spick and span as scouring soap and lye might make them. Pale, -work-worn, I still carry her on the skyline of my memory; and I recall -how her eye would light and her gray cheek show a flush when the priest -did us the credit of supper at our board, my father pulling down his -sleeves over his great hairy arms in deference to the exalted station of -the guest. It comes to this, however, that both my father and my mother, -in their narrow simplicities and time taken up with the merest arts of -living, had neither care nor commands for me. I came and I went by -my own clock, and if I gave the business thought, it was a thought of -gratitude to find myself so free. - -To be sure I went now and then to my lessons. Anne had been brisk to -seek forth a school; for she refused to grow up in ignorance, and even -cherished a plan to one day teach classes from a book herself. Being -established, she drew me after her, using both persuasion and force to -that end, and to keep me in a way of enlightenment, invented a system -of rewards and punishments, mainly the former, by which according to my -merit I was to suffer or gain. - -This temple of learning to which Anne lured me was nothing vast, being -no bigger than one room. In lieu of a blackboard there was a box of -clean white sand wherewith to teach dullards of my age and sort their -alphabet. That feat of education the pedagogue in charge--a somber -personage, he, and full of bitter muscularities--accomplished by tracing -the letter in the sand. This he did with the point of a hickory ruler, -which weapon was never out of his hand, and served in moments of -thickness as a wand of inspiration, being laid across the dull one's -back by way of brightening his wits. More than once I was made wiser in -this fashion; and I found such stimulus to go much against the grain and -to grievously rub wrong-wise the fur of my fancy. - -These hickory drubbings to make me quicker, falling as thickly as -October's leaves, went short of their purpose. On the heels of one of -them I would run from my lessons for a week on end. To be brief with -these matters of schools and books and alphabets and hickory beatings, -I went to my classes for a day, only to hide from them for a week; as -might be guessed, the system collected but a scanty erudition. - -It is a pity, too: that question of education cannot too much invite an -emphasis. It is only when one is young that one may be book-taught, just -as the time of spring is the time for seed. There goes a byword of an -old dog and a new trick, and I should say it meant a man when he is -thirty or forty with a book; for, though driven by all the power of -shame, I in vain strove with. - -What was utmost in me to repair in middle years the loss of those -schooldays wasted away. I could come by no advance; the currents of -habitual ignorance were too strong and I made no head against them. You -think I pause a deal over my want of letters? I tell you it is the thing -I have most mourned in all my life. - -When a fugitive from lessons, I would stay away from my home. This was -because I must manage an escape from Anne; should she find me I was -lost, and nothing for it save to be dragged again to school. The look of -grief in her brown eyes meant ever defeat for me. My only safety was to -turn myself out of doors and play the exile. - -This vagabondage was pleasant enough, since it served to feed my native -vagrancy of temper. And I fared well, too; for I grew into a kind of -cateran, and was out of my sleeping lair with the sun to follow the -milkman and baker on their rounds. Coming betimes to the doors of -customers who still snored between their sheets, these merchants left -their wares in areas. That was all my worst need asked; by what time -they doubled the nearest corner I had made my swoop and was fed for the -whole of a day. - -Moreover, I knew a way to pick up coppers. On a nearby corner in the -Bowery a great auction of horses was going. Being light and little, and -having besides a lively inclination for horses, I was thrown upon the -backs of ones put up for sale to show their paces. For each of these -mounts I came the better off by five cents, and on lucky days have made -as much as the half of a dollar at that trade. As for a bed, if it were -summer time, what should be finer than the docks? Or if winter, then the -fire-rooms of the tugs, with the engineers and stokers whereof I made -it my care to be friendly? I was always ready to throw off a line, or -polish a lantern, or, when a tug was at the wharf, run to the nearest -tap-room and fetch a pail of beer; for which good deeds the East River -went thickly dotted of my allies before ever I touched the age of ten. - -These meager etchings give some picture of what was my earlier life, the -major share of which I ran wild about the streets. Neither my father nor -my mother lived in any command of me, and the parish priest failed as -dismally as did they when he sought to confine my conduct to a rule. -That hickory-wielding dominie, with his sandbox and alphabet, was a -priest; and he gave me such a distaste of the clergy that I rolled away -from their touch like quicksilver. Anne's tears and the soft voice of -her were what I feared, and so I kept as much as possible beyond their -spell. - -Coming now to a day when I began first to consider existence as a -problem serious, I must tell you how my lone sole claim to eminence -abode in the fact that, lung and limb, I was as strong and tireless as -any bison or any bear. It was my capital, my one virtue, the mark that -set me above my fellows. This story of vast strength sounds the more -strange, since I was under rather than above the common height, and -never, until when in later life I took on a thickness of fat, scaled -heavier than one hundred and forty pounds. Thus it stood, however, that -my muscle strength, even as a youth, went so far beyond what might be -called legitimate that it became as a proverb in the mouths of people. -The gift was a kind of genius; I tell of it particularly because it -turned to be the ladder whereby I climbed into the first of my fortunes. -Without it, sure, I never would have lifted myself above the gutter -levels of my mates, nor fingered a splinter of those millions that now -lie banked and waiting to my name and hand. - - - - -CHAPTER II--THE BOSS MEETS WITH POLITICS - - -IT was when I was in my fifteenth year that face to face I first met -politics. Or to fit the phrase more nearly with the fact, I should say -it was then when politics met me. Nor was that meeting in its incident -one soon to slip from memory. It carried for a darkling element the -locking of me in a graceless cell, and that is an adventure sure to -leave its impress. The more if one be young, since the trail of events -is ever deepest where the ground is soft. It is no wonder the business -lies in my mind like a black cameo. It was my first captivity, and there -will come on one no greater horror than seizes him when for the earliest -time he hears bars and bolts grate home behind him. - -On that day, had one found and measured me he would not have called me -a child of thoughts or books or alcoves. My nature was as unkempt as the -streets. Still, in a turbid way and to broadest banks, the currents of -my sentiment were running for honesty and truth. Also, while I wasted no -space over the question, I took it as I took the skies above me that law -was for folk guilty of wrong, while justice even against odds of power -would never fail the weak and right. My eyes were to be opened; I was -to be shown the lesson of Tammany, and how law would bend and judges bow -before the mighty breath of the machine. - -It was in the long shadows of an August afternoon when the Southhampton -boat was docked--a clipper of the Black Ball line. I stood looking on; -my leisure was spent about the river front, for I was as fond of the -water as a petrel. The passengers came thronging down the gang-plank; -once ashore, many of the poorer steerage sort stood about in misty -bewilderment, not knowing the way to turn or where to go. - -In that far day a special trade had grown up among the piers; the men to -follow it were called hotel runners. These birds of prey met the -ships to swoop on newcomers with lie and cheat, and carry them away -to hostelries whose mean interests they served. These latter were the -poorest in town, besides being often dens of wickedness. - -As I moved boy-like in and out among the waiting groups of immigrants, -a girl called to me. This girl was English, with yellow hair, and cheeks -red as apples. I remember I thought her beautiful, and was the more to -notice it since she seemed no older than myself. She was stark alone and -a trifle frightened. - -"Boy," said Apple Cheek, "boy, where can I go for to-night? I have -money, though not much, so it must not be a dear place." - -Before I could set my tongue to a reply, a runner known as Sheeny Joe -had Apple Cheek by the arm and was for leading her away. - -"Come with me," said Sheeny Joe to Apple Cheek; "I will show you to a -house, as neat as pins, and quiet as a church; kept it is by a Christian -lady as wears out her eyes with searching of the scriptures. You can -stay there as long as ever you likes for two shillin' a day." - -This was reeled off by Sheeny Joe with a suave softness like the flow of -treacle. He was cunning enough to give the charge in shillings so as to -match the British ear and education of poor Apple Cheek. - -"Where is this place?" asked Apple Cheek. I could see how she shrunk -from Sheeny Joe, with his eyes greedy and black, and small and shiny -like the eyes of a rat. - -"You wouldn't know the place, young lady," returned Sheeny Joe; "but -it's all right, with prayers and that sort of thing, both night and -mornin'. It's in Water Street, the place is. Number blank, Water -Street," repeated Sheeny Joe, giving a resort known as the Dead Rabbit. -"Come; which ones is your bundles? I'll help you carry them." - -Now by general word, the Dead Rabbit was not unknown to me. It was -neither tavern nor boarding house, but a mill of vice, with blood on -its doorstep and worse inside. If ever prayers were said there they must -have been parcel of some Black Sanctus; and if ever a Christian went -there it was to be robbed and beaten, and then mayhap to have his throat -cut for a lesson in silence. - -"You don't want to go to that house," said I, finding my voice and -turning to Apple Cheek. "You come to my mother's; my sister will find -you a place to stay. The house he's talkin' about"--here I indicated -Sheeny Joe--"aint no tavern. It's a boozin' ken for crimps and thieves." - -Without a word, Sheeny Joe aimed a swinging blow at my head: Apple Cheek -gave a low scream. While somewhat unprepared for Sheeny Joe's attack, -it falling so sharply sudden, I was not to be found asleep; nor would -I prove a simple conquest even to a grown man. My sinister strength, -almost the strength of a gorilla, would stand my friend. - -Quick as a goat on my feet, and as soon to see a storm coming up as any -sailor, I leaped backward from the blow; and next, before Sheeny Joe -recovered himself, I was upon him with a wrestler's twitch and trip -that tossed him high in the air like a rag. He struck on his head and -shoulders, the chimb of a cask against which he rolled cutting a fine -gash in his scalp. - -With a whirl of oaths, Sheeny Joe tried to scramble to his feet; he was -shaken with rage and wonder to be thus outfaced and worsted by a boy. As -he gained his knees, and before he might straighten to his ignoble feet, -I dealt him a crashing blow between the eyes, or rather, on the bridge -of the nose, which latter feature for Sheeny Joe grew curved and beaky. -The blow was of the sort that boxers style a "hook," and one nothing -good to stop. Over Sheeny Joe went with the kicking force of it, and lay -against the tier of casks, bleeding like tragedy, beaten, and yelling -"murder!" - -Sheeny Joe, bleeding and roaring, and I by no means glutted, but still -hungry for his harm, were instantly the center of a gaping crowd that -came about us like a whirlpool. With the others arrived an officer of -the police. - -"W'at's the row here?" demanded the officer. - -"Take him to the station!" cried Sheeny Joe, picking himself up, a -dripping picture of blood; "he struck me with a knuckle duster." - -"Not so fast, officer," put in a reputable old gentleman. "Hear the -lad's story first. The fellow was saying something to this girl. Nor -does he look as though it could have been for her benefit." - -"Tell me about it, youngster," said the officer, not unkindly. My age -and weight, as against those of Sheeny Joe, told with this agent of -the peace, who at heart was a fair man. "Tell me what there is to this -shindy." - -"Why don't you take him in?" screamed Sheeny Joe. "W'at have you to do -with his story?" - -"Well, there's two ends to an alley," retorted the officer warmly. "I'll -hear what the boy has to say. Do you think you're goin' to do all the -talkin'?" - -"The first thing you'll know," cried Sheeny Joe fiercely, "I'll have -them pewter buttons off your coat." - -"Oh, you will!" retorted the officer with a scowl. "Now just for that -I'll take you in. A night in the jug will put the soft pedal on that -mouth of yours." With that, the bluecoat seized Sheeny Joe, and there we -were, one in each of his hands. - -For myself, I had not uttered a syllable. I was ever slow of speech, and -far better with my hands than my tongue. Apple Cheek, the cause of the -war, stood weeping not a yard away; perhaps she was thinking, if her -confusion allowed her thought, of the savageries of this new land to -which she was come. Apple Cheek might have taken herself from out the -hubbub by merely merging with the crowd; I think she had the coolness to -do this, but was too loyal. She owned the spirit, as it stood, to come -forward when I would not say a word to tell the officer the story. Apple -Cheek was encouraged to this steadiness by the reputable old gentleman. - -Before, however, Apple Cheek could win to the end of the first sentence, -a burly figure of a man, red of face and broad as a door across the -shoulders, pushed his way through the crowd. - -"What is it?" he asked, coming in front of the officer. "Turn that man -loose," he continued, pointing to Sheeny Joe. - -The red-faced man spoke in a low tone, but one of cool command. The -officer, however, was not to be readily driven from his ground; he -was new to the place and by nature an honest soul. Still, he felt an -atmosphere of power about the red-faced personage; wherefore, while he -kept strictest hold on both Sheeny Joe and myself, he was not wanting of -respect in his response. - -"These two coves are under arrest," said the officer, shaking Sheeny Joe -and myself like rugs by way of identification. - -"I know," said the other, still in the low cool tone. "All the same, you -turn this one loose." - -The officer still hesitated with a look of half-defiance. With that the -red-faced man lost temper. - -"Take your hands off him, I tell you!" cried the redfaced man, a spark -of anger showing in his small gray eyes. "Do you know me? I'm Big -Kennedy. Did you never hear of Big John Kennedy of Tammany Hall? You -do what I say, or I'll have you out in Harlem with the goats before -to-morrow night." - -With that, he of the red face took Sheeny Joe from between the officer's -fingers; nor did the latter seek to detain him. The frown of authority -left his brow, and his whole face became overcast with a look of surly -submission. - -"You should have said so at the jump," remarked the officer sullenly. -"How was I to know who you are?" - -"You're all right," returned the red-faced one, lapsing into an easy -smile. "You're new to this stroll; you'll be wiser by an' by." - -"What'll I do with the boy?" asked the officer. - -"Officer," broke in the reputable old gentleman, who was purple to the -point apoplectic; "officer, do you mean that you will take your orders -from this man?" - -"Come, my old codger," interrupted the red-faced one loftily, "stow -that. You had better sherry for Fift' Avenue where you belong. If you -don't, th' gang down here may get tired, d'ye see, an' put you in -the river." Then to the officer: "Take the boy in; I'll look him over -later." - -"An' the girl!" screamed Sheeny Joe. "I want her lagged too." - -"An' the girl, officer," commanded the red-faced one. "Take her along -with the boy." - -Thus was the procession made up; the officer led Apple Cheek and myself -to the station, with Sheeny Joe, still bleeding, and the red-faced man -to be his backer, bringing up the rear. - -At the station it was like the whirl and roar of some storm to me. It -was my first captivity--my first collision with the police, and my wits -were upside down. I recall that a crowd of people followed us, and were -made to stand outside the door. - -The reputable old gentleman came also, and tried to interefere in behalf -of Apple Cheek and myself. At a sign from the red-faced man, who stood -leaning on the captain's desk with all the confidence of life, that -potentate gave his sharp command. - -"Screw out!" cried he, to the reputable old gentleman. "We don't want -any of your talk!" Then to an officer in the station: "Put him out!" - -"I'm a taxpayer!" shouted the reputable old gentleman furiously. - -"You'll pay a fine," responded the captain with a laugh, "if you kick up -a row 'round my station. Now screw out, or I'll put you the wrong side of -the grate." - -The reputable old gentleman was thrust into the street with about as -much ceremony as might attend the delivery of a bale of goods at one's -door. He disappeared, declaring he would have justice; at which a smile -widened the faces of the sophisticated officers, several of whom were -lounging about the room. - -"He'll have justice!" repeated the captain with a chuckle. "Say! he -aought to put that in the Joe Miller Joke-book." Then to the red-faced -man, who still leaned against the desk, the image of autocracy sure of -itself: "What is it to be, Mr. Kennedy?" - -"Why," quoth the red-faced one, "you must lock this boy up. Yes, an' the -girl, too; she had better go in for the night. I'll take a look into th' -business, an' let the judge know in the mornin'." - -"I don't think, captain," interposed the officer who brought us from the -docks, "there's any use locking up these people. It was nothin' but a -cheap muss on the pier." - -"Say! I don't stand that!" broke in Sheeny Joe. "This party smashed me -with a bar of iron. The girl was in the play; an' I say they're both to -go in." - -"You 'say,'" mocked the captain, in high scorn. "An' who are you? Who is -this fellow?" he demanded, looking about him. - -"He's one of my people," said the red-faced man, still coolly by the -desk. - -"No more out of you!" snarled the captain to the kindly officer, as the -latter again tried to speak; "you get back to your beat!" - -"An' say!" cried the red-faced man, slowly rousing from his position -by the desk; "before you go, let me give you a word. You're a sight too -gabby; you had better think more and say less, or you won't last long -enough as a copper to wear out that new uniform. An' if anybody asks, -tell him it was Big Kennedy that told you." - -They led me to a cell, while poor Apple Cheek, almost fainting, was -carried to another. As I was being taken away, Anne came rushing in. Bad -news is a creature of wings, and Anne had been told my adventures by -a small urchin who ran himself nearly to death in defeating two fellow -urchins for the privilege before I had reached the station. - -Anne did not observe me as she came in, for I stood somewhat to the -rear, with several turnkeys and officers between. I could see the white -face of her, and how the lamps of a great alarm were lighted in her -eyes. Her voice was so low with terror I could not hear her words. -Evidently she was pleading, girl-fashion, for my liberty. The tones of -the captain, however, rose clear and high. - -"That'll do ye now," said he in a manner of lordly insolence, looking -up from the desk to which he had returned. "If we put a prisoner on -the pavement every time a good-looking girl rushed in with a yarn about -bein' his sister, we wouldn't need no cells at all. This boy stays till -the judge takes a look at him in the mornin'. Meanwhile, you had better -get back to your window, or all the men will have left the street." - -At this, a mighty anger flamed up in my heart. I tore away from the -officer who had me by the shoulders, and, save that three others as -practiced in the sleight of it as football players instantly seized me, -I should have gone straight at the captain's neck like a bulldog. - -"I'll have his life!" I foamed. - -The next moment I was thrown into a cell. The door slammed; the lock -shot home; with that, my heart seemed to turn to water in my bosom and I -sank upon the stone floor of my cage. - - - - -CHAPTER III--THE BOSS SEES THE POWER OF TAMMANY - - -THAT night under lock and key was a night of laughed and screamed like -bedlam. Once I heard the low click of sobs, and thought it might be poor -unhappy Apple Cheek. The surmise went wide, for she was held in another -part of the prison. - -It was in the first streaks of the morning before I slept. My slumbers -did not last long; it seemed as though I had but shut my eyes when a -loud rap of iron on iron brought me up, and there stood one armed of a -key so large it might have done for the gate of a giant's castle. It was -this man hammering with his weapon on the grate of my cell that roused -me. - -"Now then, young gallows-bird," said the functionary, "be you ready for -court?" - -The man, while rough, gave me no hard impression, for he wore a tolerant -grin and had eyes of friendly brown. These amiable signs endowed me with -courage to ask a question. - -"What will they do with me?" I queried. I was long delirium. Drunken men -babbled and cursed and shouted; while a lunatic creature anxious, for I -had no experience to be my guide. "What will they do? Will they let me -go?" - -"Sure! they'll let you go." My hopes gained their feet. "To -Blackwell's." My hopes lay prone again. - -The turnkey, for such was the man's station, had but humored me with -one of the stock jokes of the place. On seeing my distress, and perhaps -remembering that I should be something tender if years were to count, -and no frequent tenant of the cells with sensibilities trained to the -safe consistency of leather, he made me further reply. - -"No, I'll tell you the truth, youngster. If you plead guilty, an' -there's no one there but the cop, it'll be about ten dollars or twenty -days on the Island. But if Sheeny Joe comes 'round to exhibit his nose, -or Big Kennedy shows up to stall ag'inst you, why I should say you might -take six months and call yourself in luck." - -There was nothing to brighten the eye in the story, and my ribs seemed -to inclose a heart of wood. - -With a vile dozen to be my companions, frowsy, bleary creatures, some -shaking with the dumb ague of drink whose fires had died out, I was -driven along a narrow corridor, up a pair of stairs, and into a room of -respectable size! Its dimensions, however, would be its only claim to -respectability, for the walls and ceiling were smoke-blackened, while -the floor might have come the better off for a pailful of soap and -water. - -Once within the room I found myself in a railed pen. Against the wall, -with a desk before him and raised above the herd by a platform, sat the -magistrate. There was a fence which divided the big room, and beyond and -leaning on it lolled the public, leering and listening, as hard an array -as one might wish to see. One might have sentenced the entire roomful to -the workhouse and made few mistakes. - -Inside this fence, and gathered for the most part about the magistrate, -were those who had business with the court; officers, witnesses, friends -and enemies of the accused, with last although not least a collection of -the talent of the bar. Many of these latter were brisk Jews, and all of -them were marked by soiled linen, frayed elbows, greasy collars, and an -evident carelessness as to the state of their hands and faces. There -were boys to wait on these folk of law, a boy to each I should say. None -of these urchins was older than was I, and some no more than twelve. -They carried baize bags, chatted gravely while waiting the call of their -masters, and gave themselves strutting airs and brows of consequence. -These engaging children, in a spirit of loyalty, doubtless, showed -themselves as untainted of water as were their betters. - -While I rehearse these sordid appearances as developed in the dim lights -which through the grimy windows fell across the scene, you are not to -suppose the notice of them preyed upon me. I was, in that hour, neither -so squeamish nor so observant as to make particular note of them, nor -was I to that degree the slave of soap in my own roving person, as to -justify the risk of strictures which might provoke retort. Besides, I -was thinking dolefully on that trip to Blackwell's Island whereof the -future seemed so full, and my eyes scanned the judge on the bench rather -than lesser folk who were not so important in my affairs. - -While in the mills of great misery, still I was steady enough. I turned -my gaze upon the magistrate, and sought in his looks and words, as he -went about the sorry destinies of other delinquents, some slant of what -I might look forward to for myself. The dignitary in question showed -lean and sallow and bald, with a sly face and an eye whereof the great -expression was one of sleepless self-interest. He did not come upon you -as either brave or good, but he had nothing brutal or vindictive, and -his timid mealy voice was shaken by a quaver that seemed a perpetual -apology for what judgments he from time to time would pass. His -sentences were invariably light, except in instances where some strong -influence from the outside, generally a politician or the agent of a big -company, arose to demand severity. - -While within the railed pen with those other unfortunates whom the -dragnets of the police had brought to these mean shores, and in an -interval when my fascinated eyes were off the magistrate, I caught sight -of Anne and my father. They had seats inside the fence. The latter's -face was clouded with simple trouble; he wore his Sunday coat, and -his hands, hard and showing the stains of his forge, roved in uneasy -alternation from his pockets to his lapels and back again. Anne's young -eyes were worn and tired, for she had slept as little as had I and wept -much more the night before. I could not discover Apple Cheek, although I -looked about the room for her more than once. I had it in my hopes -that they had given Apple Cheek her freedom, and the thought was a -half-relief. Nothing of such decent sort had come to pass, however; -Apple Cheek was waiting with two or three harridans, her comrades of the -cells, in an adjoining room. - -When my name was called, an officer of the court opened a gate in the -prisoner's pen and motioned me to come forth. - -"Hurry up!" said the officer, who was for expedition. "W'at's the -trouble with your heels? You aint got no ball an' chain on yet, you -know." - -Then he gave me a chair in front of the magistrate, where the man of -power might run me up and down with his shifty deprecatory eye. - -"There was a girl brought in with him, your honor," remarked the officer -at the gate. - -"Have her out, then," said the magistrate; whereupon Apple Cheek, a bit -disheveled and cheeks redder than ever with the tears she had shed, was -produced and given a seat by my side. - -"Who complains of these defendants?" asked the magistrate in a mild -non-committal voice, glancing about the room. - -"I do, your honor." - -It was Sheeny Joe who came pushing to the fore from a far corner. His -head had received the benefit of several bandages, and it gave me a -dullish joy to think it was I to furnish the reason of them. - -The magistrate appeared to know Sheeny Joe, and to hold him in regard -at that. The moment my enemy declared himself as the complainant, and -no one springing up to take my part, the magistrate bent upon me a -stony glance that spoke plainly of those six months concerning which the -turnkey told. I gave up everything, myself and Apple Cheek, as surely -lost. - -"Tell your story," said the magistrate to Sheeny Joe. His manner was -full of commiseration for that unworthy. "What did he assault you with?" - -"With a blackjack, your honor, or a piece of lead pipe," replied Sheeny -Joe. "He struck me when I wasn't lookin'. I'm busy trying to tell the -girl there w'at hotel she wants. He gives it to me over the head from -behind; then as I wheels, he smashes me across the nose. I couldn't see -with w'at, but it was a bar of some kind, mebby iron, mebby lead. As I -goes down, I hears the sketch--the girl, I mean--sing out, 'Kill him!' -The girl was eggin' him on, your honor." - -Sheeny Joe unwound this string of lies without hitch or pause, and -withal so rapidly it fair stole my breath away. I felt the eyes of the -magistrate upon me; I knew my danger and yet could come by no words -for my own defense. I make no doubt, had it not been for a diversion -as unlooked-for as it was welcome, I would have been marked for prison -where I stood. - -"I demand to be heard," came suddenly, in a high angry voice. "What that -rogue has just uttered is all a pack of lies together!" - -It was the reputable old gentleman of the evening before who thus -threw himself in the way of events. Being escorted through the press of -onlookers by an officer, the reputable old gentleman stood squarely in -front of the magistrate. - -"I demand justice for that boy," fumed the reputable old gentleman, -glaring at the magistrate, and growing crimson in the face; "I demand -a jury. As for the girl, she wasn't ten minutes off the boat; her only -part in the offense would seem to be that this scoundrel," pointing to -Sheeny Joe, "was striving to lure her to a low resort." - -"The Dead Rabbit a low resort!" cried Sheeny - -Joe indignantly. "The place is as straight as a gun." - -"Will you please tell me who you are?" asked the magistrate of the -reputable old gentleman. He had resumed his non-committal look. The -confident vigor of the reputable old gentleman disconcerted him and made -him wary. - -"I am a taxpayer," said the reputable old gentleman; "yes," donning an -air as though the thunders and lightnings of politics dwelt in the word, -"yes, your honor, a taxpayer. I do not know this boy, but here are his -father and sister to speak for him." Then, as he caught sight of the -captain who had ordered him out of the station: "There is a man, your -honor, who by the hands of his minions drove me from a public police -office--me, a taxpayer!" - -The captain grinned easily to find himself thus distinguished. The grin -irritated the reputable old gentleman, who was even more peppery than -reputable. - -"Smile, sir!" cried the reputable old gentleman, shaking his wrathful -finger at the captain. "I shall have you before your superiors on -charges before I'm done!" - -"That's what they all say," remarked the captain, stifling a yawn. - -"One thing at a time, sir," said the magistrate to the reputable -old gentleman. His attitude was wheedling and propitiatory. "Did I -understand you to say that the gentleman and the lady at your back are -the father and sister of this boy?" - -My father and Anne had taken their stations to the rear of the reputable -old gentleman. The latter, looking around as if to identify them, -replied: - -"If the court please, I'm told so." - -"Your honor," broke in Sheeny Joe with a front of injury, "w'at's that -got to do with his sandbaggin' me? Am I to be murdered w'en peacefully -about me business, just 'cause a guy's got a father?" - -"What were you saying to this girl?" asked the magistrate mildly of -Sheeny Joe, and indicating Apple Cheek with his eye where she sat -tearful and frightened by my side. "This gentleman"--the reputable old -gentleman snorted fiercely--"declares that you were about to lure her to -a low resort." - -"Your honor, it was the Dead Rabbit," said Sheeny Joe. - -"Is the Dead Rabbit," observed the magistrate, to the captain, who was -still lounging about, "is the Dead Rabbit a place of good repute?" - -"It aint no Astor House," replied the captain, "but no one expects an -Astor House in Water Street." - -"Is it a resort for thieves?" - -The magistrate still advanced his queries in a fashion apologetic and -subdued. The reputable old gentleman impressed him as one he would not -like to offend. Then, too, there was my father--an honest working-man by -plain testimony of his face. On the other hand stood Sheeny Joe, broken -of nose, bandaged, implacable. Here were three forces of politics, -according to our magistrate, who was thinking on a re-election; he would -prefer to please them all. Obviously, he in no sort delighted in his -present position, since whichever way he turned it might be a turn -toward future disaster for himself. - -"Is the Dead Rabbit a resort for thieves?" again asked the magistrate. - -"Well," replied the captain judgmatically, "even a crook has got to go -somewhere. That is," he added, "when he aint in hock." - -Where this criss-cross colloquy of justice or injustice might have left -me, and whether free or captive, I may only guess. The proceedings were -to gain another and a final interruption. This time it was the red-faced -man, he who had called himself "Big Kennedy," to come panting into the -presence of the court. The red-faced man had hurried up the stairs, -three steps at a time, and it told upon his breathing. - -The magistrate made a most profound bow to the red-faced man. -Remembering the somber prophecy of him with the big key, should "Big -Kennedy show up to Stall ag'inst me," my hope, which had revived with -the stand taken by the reputable old gentleman, sunk now to lowest -marks. - -"What will you have, Mr. Kennedy?" purred the magistrate obsequiously. - -"Is the court going to dispose of the cases of this boy and this girl?" -interrupted the reputable old gentleman warmly. "I demand a jury trial -for both of them. I am a taxpayer and propose to have justice." - -"Hold up, old sport, hold up!" exclaimed the redfaced man in cheerful -tones. He was addressing the reputable old gentleman. "Let me get to -work. I'll settle this thing like throwin' dice." - -"What do you mean, sir, by calling me an old sport?" demanded the -reputable old gentleman. - -The red-faced man did not heed the question, but wheeled briskly on the -magistrate. - -"Your honor," said the red-faced man, "there's nothin' to this. Sheeny -Joe there has made a misdeal, that's all. I've looked the case over, -your honor; there's nothin' in it; you can let the girl an' the boy go." - -"But he said the Dead Rabbit was a drum for crooks!" protested Sheeny -Joe, speaking to the redfaced man. - -"S'ppose he did," retorted the other, "that don't take a dollar out of -the drawer." - -"An' he's to break my nose an' get away?" complained Sheeny Joe. - -"Well, you oughter to take care of your nose," said the red-faced man, -"an' not go leavin' it lyin' around where a kid can break it." - -Sheeny Joe was not to be shaken off; he engaged in violent argument with -the red-faced man. Their tones, however, were now more guarded, and no -one might hear their words beyond themselves. While this went forward, -the magistrate, to save his dignity, perhaps, and not to have it look as -though he were waiting for orders, pretended to be writing in his book -of cases which lay open on his desk. - -It was Sheeny Joe to bring the discussion between himself and the -red-faced man to an end. Throughout the whispered differences between -them, differences as to what should be my fate, Sheeny Joe showed hot -with fury, while the red-faced man was cool and conciliatory; his voice -when one caught some sound of it was coaxing. - -"There's been enough said!" cried Sheeny Joe, suddenly walking away from -the red-faced man. "No duck is goin' to break my nose for fun." - -"The boy's goin' loose," observed the red-faced man in placid -contradiction. "An' the girl goes to her friends, wherever they be, an' -they aint at the Dead Rabbit." Then in a blink the countenance of -the redfaced man went from calm to rage. He whirled Sheeny Joe by the -shoulder. "See here!" he growled, "one more roar out of you, an' I'll -stand you up right now, an' it's you who will take sixty days, or -my name aint Big John Kennedy. If you think that's a bluff, call it. -Another yeep, an' the boat's waitin' for you! You've been due at the -Island for some time." - -"That's all right, Mr. Kennedy!" replied Sheeny Joe, his crest falling, -and the sharpest terror in his face, "that's all right! You know me? Of -course it goes as you say! Did you ever know me to buck ag'inst you?" - -The red-faced man smiled ferociously. The anger faded from his brow, -and leaving Sheeny Joe without further word, he again spoke to the -magistrate. - -"The charges ag'inst these two children, your honor, are withdrawn." He -spoke in his old cool tones. "Captain," he continued, addressing that -dignitary, "send one of your plain-clothes people with this girl to find -her friends for her. Tell him he mustn't make any mistakes." - -"The cases are dismissed," said the magistrate, making an entry in his -book. He appeared relieved with the change in the situation; almost as -much, if that were possible, as myself. "The cases are dismissed; no -costs to be taxed. I think that is what you desire, Mr. Kennedy?" - -"Yes, your honor." Then coming over to where I sat, the red-faced man -continued: "You hunt me up to-morrow--Big John Kennedy--that's my name. -Any cop can tell you where to find me." - -"Yes, sir," I answered faintly. - -"There's two things about you," said the red-faced man, rubbing my -stubble of hair with his big paw, "that's great in a boy. You can hit -like the kick of a pony; an' you can keep your mouth shut. I aint heard -a yelp out of you, mor'n if you was a Boston terrier." This, admiringly. - -As we left the magistrate's office--the red-faced man, the reputable old -gentleman, my father, Apple Cheek, and myself, with Anne holding my -hand as though I were some treasure lost and regained--the reputable old -gentleman spoke up pompously to the red-faced man. - -"I commend what you have done, sir; but in that connection, and as -a taxpayer, let me tell you that I resent your attitude towards the -magistrate. You issued your orders, sir, and conducted yourself toward -that officer of justice as though you owned him." - -"Well, what of it?" returned the red-faced man composedly. "I put him -there. What do you think I put him there for? To give me the worst of -it?" - -"Sir, I do not understand your expressions!" said the reputable old -gentleman. "And I resent them! Yes, sir, I resent them as a taxpayer of -this town!" - -"Say," observed the red-faced man benignantly, "there's nothin' wrong -about you but your head. You had better take a term or two at night -school an' get it put on straight. You say you're a taxpayer; you've -already fired the fact at me about five times. An' now I ask you: -Suppose you be?" - -"Taxpayer; yes, sir, taxpayer!" repeated the reputable old gentleman, -in a mighty fume. "Do you intend to tell me there's no meaning to the -word?" - -"It means," said the red-faced man in the slow manner of one who gives -instruction; "it means that if you're nothin' but a taxpayer--an' I -don't think you be or you'd have told us--you might as well sit down. -You're a taxpayer, eh? All right; I'm a ward-leader of Tammany Hall. -You're a taxpayer; good! I'm the man that settles how much you pay, d'ye -see!" Then, as though sympathy and disgust were blended: "Old man, you -go home and take a hard look at the map, and locate yourself. You don't -know it, but all the same you're in New York." - - - - -CHAPTER IV--THE BOSS ENTERS THE PRIMARY GRADE OF POLITICS - - -PERHAPS you will say I waste space and lay too much of foolish stress -upon my quarrel with Sheeny Joe and its police-cell consequences. And -yet you should be mindful of the incident's importance to me as the -starting point of my career. For I read in what took place the power of -the machine as you will read this printed page. I went behind the bars -by the word of Big John Kennedy; and it was by his word that I emerged -and took my liberty again. And yet who was Big John Kennedy? He was the -machine; the fragment of its power which molded history in the little -region where I lived. As mere John Kennedy he would be nothing. Or at -the most no more than other men about him. But as "Big John Kennedy," -an underchief of Tammany Hall, I myself stood witness while a captain of -police accepted his commands without a question, and a magistrate found -folk guilty or innocent at the lifting of his finger. Also, that sweat -of terror to sprinkle the forehead of Sheeny Joe, when in his moment of -rebellion he found himself beneath the wrathful shadow of the machine, -was not the least impressive element of my experience; and the tolerant -smile, that was half pity, half amusement, as Big Kennedy set forth -to the reputable old gentleman--who was only "a taxpayer"--the little -limits of his insignificance, deepened the effect upon my mind of what -had gone before. - -True, I indulged in no such analysis as the above, and made no study of -the picture in its detail; but I could receive an impression just as -I might receive a blow, and in the innocence of my ignorance began -instantly to model myself upon the proven fact of a power that was above -law, above justice, and which must be consulted and agreed with, even -in its caprice, before existence could be profitable or even safe. From -that moment the machine to me was as obviously and indomitably abroad as -the pavement under foot, and must have its account in every equation -of life to the solution whereof I was set. To hold otherwise, and -particularly to act otherwise, would be to play the fool, with failure -or something worse for a reward. - -Big Kennedy owned a drinking place. His barroom was his headquarters; -although he himself never served among his casks and bottles, having -barmen for that work. He poured no whisky, tapped no beer, donned no -apron, but sat at tables with his customers and laid out his campaigns -of politics or jubilated over victory, and seemed rather the visitor -than the proprietor in his own saloon. He owned shrewdness, force, -courage, enterprise, and was one of those who carry a pleasant -atmosphere that is like hypnotism, and which makes men like them. His -manner was one of rude frankness, and folk held him for a bluff, blunt, -genial soul, who made up in generosity what he lacked of truth. - -And yet I have thought folk mistaken in Big Kennedy. For all his loud -openness and friendly roar, which would seem to tell his every thought, -the man could be the soul of cunning and turn secret as a mole. He was -for his own interest; he came and went a cold calculating trader of -politics; he never wasted his favors, but must get as much as he gave, -and indulged in no revenges except when revenge was needed for a lesson. -He did what men call good, too, and spent money and lost sleep in its -accomplishment. To the ill he sent doctors and drugs; he found work and -wages for idle men; he paid landlords and kept the roofs above the heads -of the penniless; where folk were hungry he sent food, and where they -were cold came fuel. - -For all that, it was neither humanity nor any milk of kindness which -put him to these labors of grace; it was but his method of politics and -meant to bind men to him. They must do his word; they must carry out his -will; then it was he took them beneath the wing of his power and would -spare neither time nor money to protect and prosper them. - -And on the other side, he who raised his head in opposition to Big -Kennedy was crushed; not in anger, but in caution. He weeded out -rebellion, and the very seed of it, with as little scruple and for the -same reason a farmer weeds a field. - -It took me years to collect these truths of Big Kennedy. Nor was their -arrival when they did come one by one, to make a shade of change in my -regard for him. I liked him in the beginning; I liked him in the end; -he became that headland on the coasts of politics by which I steered my -course. I studied Big Kennedy as one might study a science; by the lines -of his conduct I laid down lines for my own; in all things I was his -disciple and his imitator. - -Big Kennedy is dead now; and I will say no worse nor better of him than -this: He was a natural captain of men. Had he been born to a higher -station, he might have lighted a wick in history that would require -those ten thicknesses of darkness which belong with ten centuries, to -obscure. But no such thing could come in the instance of Big Kennedy; -his possibilities of eminence, like my own, were confined to Tammany and -its politics, since he had no more of education than have I. The time -has gone by in the world at large, and had in Big Kennedy's day, when -the ignorant man can be the first man. - -Upon the day following my release, as he had bid me. - -I sought Big Kennedy. He was in his barroom, and the hour being -mid-morning I was so far lucky as to find him quite alone. He was quick -to see me, too, and seemed as full of a pleasant interest in me as -though my simple looks were of themselves good news. He did most of the -talking, for I sat backward and bashful, the more since I could feel his -sharp eyes upon me, taking my measure. Never was I so looked over and -so questioned, and not many minutes had come and gone before Big Kennedy -knew as much of me and my belongings as did I myself. Mayhap more; for -he weighed me in the scales of his experience with all the care of gold, -considering meanwhile to what uses I should be put, and how far I might -be expected to advance his ends. - -One of his words I recall, for it gave me a glow of relief at the time; -at that it was no true word. It was when he heard how slightly I had -been taught of books. - -"Never mind," said he, "books as often as not get between a party's legs -and trip him up. Better know men than books. There's my library." Here -he pointed to a group about a beer table. "I can learn more by studyin' -them than was ever found between the covers of a book, and make more out -of it." - -Big Kennedy told me I must go to work. - -"You've got to work, d'ye see," said he, "if it's only to have an excuse -for livin'." - -Then he asked me what I could do. On making nothing clear by my -replies--for I knew of nothing--he descended to particulars. - -"What do you know of horses? Can you drive one?" - -My eye brightened; I might be trusted to handle a horse. - -"An' I'll gamble you know your way about the East Side," said he -confidently; "I'll answer for that." Then getting up he started for the -door, for no grass grew between decision and action with Big Kennedy. -"Come with me," he said. - -We had made no mighty journey when we stopped before a grocery. It was -a two-store front, and of a prosperous look, with a wealth of vegetables -and fruits in crates, and baskets, and barrels, covering half the -sidewalk. The proprietor was a rubicund German, who bustled forth at -sight of my companion. - -"How is Mr. Kennedy?" This with exuberance. "It makes me prout that you -pay me a wisit." - -"Yes?" said the other dryly. Then, going directly to the point: "Here's -a boy I've brought you, Nick. Let him drive one of your wagons. Give him -six dollars a week." - -"But, Mr. Kennedy," replied the grocer dubiously, looking me over with -the tail of his eye, "I haf yet no wacancy. My wagons is all full." - -"I'm goin' to get him new duds," said Big Kennedy, "if that's what -you're thinkin' about." - -Still, the grocer, though not without some show of respectful alarm, -insisted on a first position. - -"If he was so well dressed even as you, Mr. Kennedy, yet I haf no -wacancy," said he. - -"Then make one," responded Big Kennedy coolly. "Dismiss one of the boys -you have, d'ye see? At least two who work for you don't belong in my -ward." As the other continued doubtful Big Kennedy became sharp. "Come, -come, come!" he cried in a manner peremptory rather than fierce; "I -can't wait all day. Don't you feed your horses in the street? Don't you -obstruct the sidewalks with your stuff? Don't you sell liquor in your -rear room without a license? Don't you violate a dozen ordinances? Don't -the police stand it an' pass you up? An' yet you hold me here fiddlin' -and foolin' away time!" - -"Yes, yes, Mr. Kennedy," cried the grocer, who from the first had sought -to stem the torrent of the other's eloquence, "I was only try in' to -think up w'ich horse I will let him drive alreatty. That's honest! sure -as my name is Nick Fogel!" - -Clothed in what was to me the splendors of a king, being indeed a full -new suit bought with Big Kennedy's money, I began rattling about the -streets with a delivery wagon the very next day. As well as I could, I -tried to tell my thanks for the clothes. - -"That's all right," said Big Kennedy. "I owe you that much for havin' -you chucked into a cell." - -While Grocer Fogel might have been a trifle slow in hiring me, once I -was engaged he proved amiable enough. I did my work well too, missing -few of the customers and losing none of the baskets and sacks. Grocer -Fogel was free with his praise and conceded my value. Still, since he -instantly built a platform in the street on the strength of my being -employed, and so violated a new and further ordinance upon which he -for long had had an eye, I have sometimes thought that in forming his -opinion of my worth he included this misdemeanor in his calculations. -However, I worked with my worthy German four years; laying down the -reins of that delivery wagon of my own will at the age of nineteen. - -Nor was I without a profit in this trade of delivering potatoes and -cabbages and kindred grocery forage. It broadened the frontiers of my -acquaintance, and made known to me many of a solvent middle class, and -of rather a higher respectability than I might otherwise have met. It -served to clean up my manners, if nothing more, and before I was done, -that acquaintance became with me an asset of politics. - -While I drove wagon for Grocer Fogel, my work of the day was over with -six o'clock. I had nothing to do with the care of the horses; I threw -the reins to a stable hand when at evening I went to the barn, and left -for my home without pausing to see the animals out of the straps or -their noses into the corn. Now, had I been formed with a genius for it, -I might have put in a deal of time at study. But nothing could have been -more distant from my taste or habit; neither then nor later did I engage -myself in any traffic with books, and throughout my life never opened a -half-dozen. - -Still, considering those plans I had laid down for myself, and that -future of politics to which my ambition began to consider, I cannot -say I threw away my leisure. If my nose were not between the pages of -a book, my hands were within a pair of boxing gloves, and I, engaged -against this or that opponent, was leading or guarding, hitting or -stopping, rushing or getting away, and fitting to an utmost hand and -foot and eye and muscle for the task of beating a foeman black and blue -should the accidents or duties of life place one before me. - -And I prospered with my boxing. I think I owned much native stomach for -the business, since in my sullen fashion I was as near the touch of true -happiness when in the midst of a mill as ever I hope to stand. My heart, -and with that word I mean courage, was of fighting sort. While I was -exceedingly cautious, my caution was based on courage. Men of this stamp -stay until the last and either conquer or fall. There be ones who have -courage, but their construction is the other way about. Their courage is -based on caution; such if hard bested run away. Should you seek the man -who will stand to the work of battle to the dour end, pick him whose -caution, coming first in the procession of his nature, is followed by -his courage, rather than that one whose caution follows his courage to -tap it on the shoulder, preach to it of peril, and counsel flight. - -You are not to assume that I went about these boxing gymnastics because -of any savageries or blood-hunger dominant in my breast, or was moved -solely of that instinct by which the game-cock fights. I went to my -fist-studies as the result of thought and calculation. In my slow way -I had noted how those henchmen of the inner circle who surrounded Big -Kennedy--those who were near to him, and upon whom he most relied, -were wholly valued by him for the two matters of force of fist and that -fidelity which asks no question. Even a thicker intellect than mine -would have seen that to succeed as I proposed, I must be the gladiator. -Wherefore, I boxed and wrestled and perfected my muscles; also as -corollary I avoided drink and tobacco as I would two poisons. - -And Big Kennedy, who had a little of his eye on me most of the time, was -so good as to approve. He applauded my refusal of alcohol and tobacco. -And he indorsed my determination to be a boxer. - -"A man who can take care of himself with his hands," said he, "an' who -never lets whisky fool him or steal his head, can go far in this game of -politics. An' it's a pretty good game at that, is politics, and can be -brought to pay like a bank." - -It chanced that I met with an adventure which added to my celebration -in a way I could have wished. I was set upon by a drunken fellow--a -stranger. He was an invader, bent upon mischief and came from an -adjacent and a rival ward. I had offered no provocation; why he selected -me to be his victim and whether it were accident or design I cannot say. -Possibly I was pointed out to this drinking Hotspur as one from whose -conquest honor would flow; perhaps some enemy of the pattern of Sheeny -Joe had set him to it. All I know is that without challenge given, or -the least offer of warning, the creature bore down upon me, whirling his -fists like flails. - -"You're the party I'm lookin' for!" was all he said. - -In the mix-up to follow, and which I had neither time to consider -nor avoid, the visitor from that other ward was fully and indubitably -beaten. This was so evident that he himself admitted it when at the -finish of hostilities certain Samaritans gave him strong drink as a -restorative. It developed also that my assailant, in a shadowy subdued -way, was a kind of prizefighter, and by his own tribe deemed invincible. -My victory, therefore, made a noise in immediate circles; and I should -say it saved me from a deal of trouble and later strife, since it served -to place me in a class above the common. There came few so drunk or -so bold as to ask for trouble with me, and I found that this casual -battle--safe, too, because my prizefighter was too drunk to be -dangerous--had brought me a wealth of peace. - -There dawned a day when Big Kennedy gave me a decisive mark of his -esteem. He presented me to his father. The elder Kennedy, white-haired -and furrowed of age, was known as "Old Mike." He was a personage of -gravity and power, since his was the only voice in that region to which -Big Kennedy would yield. Wherefore to be of "Old Mike's" acquaintance -shone in one's favor like a title of knighthood. - -Big Kennedy's presentation speech, when he led me before his father, -was characteristic and peculiar. Old Mike was in the shadow of his front -porch, while three or four oldsters of the neighborhood, like a council -or a little court about a monarch, and all smoking short clay pipes, -were sitting about him. - -"Here's a pup," cried Big Kennedy, with his hand on my shoulder, "I want -you to look over. He's a great pup and ought to make a great dog." - -Old Mike glanced at me out of his twinkling gray eyes. After a moment he -said, addressing me: - -"Come ag'in." - -That was all I had from Old Mike that journey. - -Big Kennedy it should be said was a model for all sons. He kept his -father in ease and comfort in a house of his own. He was prone to have -Old Mike's advice, particularly if what he proposed were a step novel or -one dangerous in its policy, and he never went to anything in the face -of Old Mike's word. It wasn't deference, it was faith; Big Kennedy -believed in the wisdom of Old Mike and relied upon it with a confidence -that was implicit. I shall have more to tell of Old Mike as my story -unrolls to the eye. If Big Kennedy were my example, Old Mike should be -called my mentor. Taking the cue from Big Kennedy, I came to own for Old -Mike that veneration which the youths of Ancient Greece felt for their -oracles, and as utterly accepted either his argument or conclusion. It -stood no wonder that I was impressed and played upon by this honor of an -introduction to Old Mike. To bring you before Old Mike and name you for -his consideration was the extremest proof of Big Kennedy's regard. As -I've said, it glittered on one like the chain and spurs of knighthood, -and the fact of it gave me a pedestal among my fellows. - -After my bout with that erring one who came out of his own ward to sup -grief at my hands, there began to collect about me a coterie of halfway -bruisers. This circle--and our enemies were quick to bestow upon it the -epithet of "gang"--never had formal organization. And while the members -were of the rougher sort, and each a man of his hands, the argument of -its coming together was not so much aggression as protection. - -The town forty years ago was not a theater of peace and lambs'-wool -safety. One's hand must keep one's head, and a stout arm, backed by -a stout heart, traveled far. To leave one's own ward, or even the -neighborhood where one lived, was to invite attack. In an alien ward, -one would be set upon and beaten to rags before one traveled a mile. -If one of the enemy were not equal to the business, others would lend a -hand. Whether it required one or two or three or twenty, the interloper -was fated to heir a drubbing. If his bones were not broken, he was -looked upon as fortunate, while those who had undertaken to correct his -wanderings went despised as bunglers who had slighted a task. - -Now and then a war-party would make a sortie from their own region to -break windows and heads in the country of an enemy. Such hands often -descended upon the domain of Big Kennedy, and it was a notion of defense -against these Goths which brought the militant spirits I have mentioned -to my shoulder. It was we who must meet them, when they would make -desolate our territory. The police were of no use; they either walked -the other way in a spirit of cautious neutrality, or were driven into -hiding with a shower of stones. - -By the common tongue, this coterie to collect at my back was named the -"Tin Whistle Gang." Each member carried a whistle as part of his pocket -furniture. These were made of uniform pattern, and the same keen note, -like the screech of a hawk, was common to all. - -The screaming fife-like song would bring out the Tin Whistles as hotly -bent for action as a colony of wasps. In those days, when might was -right, the sound of these whistles was a storm signal. Quiet people shut -their doors and drew their bolts, while apothecaries made ready to sell -lint and plasters. - -It is required that I speak of the Tin Whistles in this place. I was now -for the first time to be called into political activity by Big Kennedy. -I was eighteen, and of a sober, steady, confident cast, and trustworthy -in a wordless way. Because I was sober of face and one not given to talk -or to laughter, men looked on me as five years better than my age; I -think these characteristics even imposed on Big Kennedy himself, for he -dealt with me as though I were a man full grown. - -It was in the height of a campaign. Two days before the balloting, Big -Kennedy sent for me. There was a room to the rear of his bar. This room -was a holy of holies; no one entered there who was not established in -the confidence of Big Kennedy. It was a greater distinction even than -the acquaintance of Old Mike. Knowing these things, my brow flushed when -Big Kennedy led me into this sanctum of his policies. - -"Now, if I didn't trust you," said Big Kennedy, looking me hard in the -eye, "if I didn't trust you, you'd be t'other side of that door." I said -nothing; I had found that silence pleased Big Kennedy, and I learned -early to keep my tongue between my teeth. Big Kennedy went on: "On -election day the polls will close at six o'clock. Half an hour before -they close, take that Bible Class of yours, the Tin Whistles, and drive -every one of the opposition workers an' ticket peddlers away from the -polling place. You'll know them by their badges. I don't want anyone -hurt mor'n you have to. The less blood, the better. Blood's news; it -gets into the papers. Now remember: half an hour before six, blow your -whistle an' sail in. When you've got the other fellows on the run, -keep'em goin'. And don't let'em come back, d'ye see." - - - - -CHAPTER V--THE BATTLE OF THE BALLOTS - - -BIG KENNEDY'S commands concerning the Tin Whistles taught me that -lurking somewhere in the election situation he smelled peril to himself. -Commonly, while his methods might be a wide shot to the left of the -lawful, they were never violent. He must feel himself hard pressed to -call for fist and club. He lived at present cross-purposes with sundry -high spirits of the general organization; perhaps a word was abroad for -his disaster and he had heard some sigh of it. This would be nothing -wonderful; coarse as he seemed fibered, Big Kennedy had spun his web -throughout the ward as close-meshed as any spider, and any fluttering -proof of treason was certain to be caught in it. - -The election, while the office at local bay came to be no weightier than -that of Alderman, was of moment to Big Kennedy. Defeat would mean -his eclipse, and might even spell his death of politics. To lose the -Alderman was to let fall the reins of ward direction. The Alderman and -his turtle-devouring fellows cracked the whip over the police whom they -appointed or dismissed, and the police were a ballot-engine not to be -resisted. He who held the Alderman, held the police; and he who had the -police, carried victory between his hands. - -Doubtless it was some inner-circle treachery which Big Kennedy -apprehended. The regular opposition, while numerous and carrying on -its muster rolls the best respectability of the ward, lacked of that -organization which was the ridgepole of Big Kennedy's supremacies. -It straggled, and was mob-like in its movements; and while, as I've -written, it showed strong in numbers, it was no more to be collected or -fashioned into any telling force for political effort than a flock of -grazing sheep. If there were to come nothing before him more formidable -than the regular opposition, Big Kennedy would go over it like a train -of cars and ask no aid of shoulder-hitters. Such innocent ones might -stand three deep about a ballot-box, and yet Big Kennedy would take from -it what count of votes he chose and they be none the wiser. It would -come to no more than cheating a child at cards. - -The open opposition to Big Kennedy was made up of divers misfit -elements. At its head, as a sort of captain by courtesy, flourished -that reputable peppery old gentleman who aforetime took my part against -Sheeny Joe. A bit in love with his own eloquence, and eager for a forum -wherein to exercise it, the reputable old gentleman had named himself -for Alderman against Big Kennedy's candidate. As a campaign scheme -of vote-getting--for he believed he had but to be heard to convince -a listener--the reputable old gentleman engaged himself upon what he -termed a house-to-house canvass. - -It was the evening of that day whereon Big Kennedy gave me those orders -touching the Tin Whistles when the reputable old gentleman paid a visit -to Old Mike, that Nestor being as usual on his porch and comforting -himself with a pipe. I chanced to be present at the conversation, -although I had no word therein; I was much at Old Mike's knee during -those callow days, having an appetite for his counsel. - -"Good-evening, sir," said the reputable old gentleman, taking a chair -which Old Mike's politeness provided, "good-evening, sir. My name -is Morton--Mr. Morton of the Morton Bank. I live in Lafayette Place. -Incidentally, I am a candidate for the office of Alderman, and I thought -I'd take the freedom of a neighbor and a taxpayer and talk with you on -that topic of general interest." - -"Why then," returned Old Mike, with a cynical grin, "I'm th' daddy of -Big Jawn Kennedy, an' for ye to talk to me would be loike throwin' away -your toime." - -The reputable old gentleman was set aback by the news. Next he took -heart of grace. - -"For," he said, turning upon Old Alike a pleasant eye, although just a -dash of the patronizing showed in the curve of his brow, "if I should be -so fortunate as to explain to you your whole duty of politics, it might -influence your son. Your son, I understand, listens greatly to your -word." - -"He would be a ba-ad son who didn't moind his own father," returned Old -Mike. "As to me jooty av politics--it's th' same as every other man's. -It's the jooty av lookin' out for meself." - -This open-air selfishness as declared by Old Mike rather served to shock -the reputable old gentleman. - -"And in politics do you think first of yourself?" he asked. - -"Not only first, but lasht," replied Old Mike. "An' so do you; an' so -does every man." - -"I cannot understand the narrowness of your view," retorted the -reputable old gentleman, somewhat austere and distant. "You are a -respectable man; you call yourself a good citizen?" - -"Why," responded Old Mike, for the other's remark concluded with a -rising inflection like a question, "I get along with th' p'lice; an' I -get along with th' priests--what more should a man say!" - -"Are you a taxpayer?" - -"I have th' house," responded Old Mike, with a smile. - -The reputable old gentleman considered the other dubiously. Evidently he -didn't regard Old Mike's one-story cottage as all that might be desired -in the way of credentials. Still he pushed on. - -"Have you given much attention to political economy?" This with an -erudite cough. "Have you made politics a study?" - -"From me cradle," returned Old Mike. "Every Irishman does. I knew so -much about politics before I was twinty-one, th' British Government -would have transhported me av I'd stayed in Dublin." - -"I should think," said the reputable old gentleman, with a look of one -who had found something to stand on, "that if you ran from tyranny in -Ireland, you would refuse here to submit to the tyranny of Tammany Hall. -If you couldn't abide a Queen, how can you now put up with a Boss?" - -"I didn't run from th' Queen, I ran from th' laws," said Old Mike. "As -for the Boss--everything that succeeds has a Boss. The President's a -boss; the Pope's a boss; Stewart's a boss in his store down in City -Hall Park. That's right; everything that succeeds has a boss. Nothing is -strong enough to stand the mishtakes av more than one man. Ireland would -have been free th' long cinturies ago if she'd only had a boss." - -"But do you call it good citizenship," demanded the reputable old -gentleman, not a trifle nettled by Old Mike's hard-shell philosophy of -state; "do you call it good citizenship to take your orders from a boss? -You are loyal to Tammany before you are loyal to the City?" - -"Shure!" returned Old Mike, puffing the puffs of him who is undisturbed. -"Do ye ever pick up a hand in a game av ca-ards?" The reputable old -gentleman seemed properly disgusted. "There you be then! City Government -is but a game; so's all government, Shure, it's as if you an' me were -playin' a game av ca-ards, this politics; your party is your hand, an' -Tammany is my hand. In a game of ca-ards, which are ye loyal to, is it -your hand or the game? Man, it's your hand av coorse! By the same token! -I am loyal to Tammany Hall." - -That closed the discussion; the reputable old gentleman went his way, -and one might tell by his face that the question to assail him was -whether he had been in a verbal encounter with a Bedlamite or an -Anarchist. He did not recognize me, nor was I sorry. I liked the -reputable old gentleman because of that other day, and would not have -had him discover me in what he so plainly felt to be dangerous company. - -"He's a mighty ignorant man," said Old Mike, pointing after the -reputable old gentleman with the stem of his pipe. "What this country -has mosht to fear is th' ignorance av th' rich." - -It stood perhaps ten of the clock on the morning of election day when, -on word sent me, I waited on Big Kennedy in his barroom. When he had -drawn me into his sanctum at the rear, he, as was his custom, came -pointedly to the purpose. - -"There's a fight bein' made on me," he said. "They've put out a lot of -money on the quiet among my own people, an' think to sneak th' play on -me." While Big Kennedy talked, his eyes never left mine, and I could -feel he was searching me for any flickering sign that the enemy had been -tampering with my fealty. I stared back at him like a statue. "An'," -went on Big Kennedy, "not to put a feather-edge on it, I thought I'd run -you over, an' see if they'd been fixin' you. I guess you're all right; -you look on the level." Then swinging abruptly to the business of the -day; "Have you got your gang ready?" - -"Yes," I nodded. - -"Remember my orders. Five-thirty is the time. Go for the blokes with -badges--th' ticket peddlers. An' mind! don't pound'em, chase'em. Unless -they stop to slug with you, don't put a hand on'em." - -Being thus re-instructed and about to depart, I made bold to ask Big -Kennedy if there were any danger of his man's defeat. He shook his head. - -"Not a glimmer," he replied. "But we've got to keep movin'. They've put -out stacks of money. They've settled it to help elect the opposition -candidate--this old gent, Morton. They don't care to win; they're only -out to make me lose. If they could take the Alderman an' the police away -from me, they would go in next trip an' kill me too dead to skin. But -it's no go; they can't make th' dock. They've put in their money; but -I'll show'em a trick that beats money to a standstill." - -It was as I had surmised; Big Kennedy feared treachery and the underhand -support of the enemy by men whom he called his friends. For myself, I -would stand by him. Beg Kennedy was the only captain I knew. - -To the commands of Big Kennedy, and their execution, I turned with -as ready a heart as ever sent duck to drink. No impulse to disobey or -desert so much as crossed my slope of thought. Tammany Hall has ever -been military in its spirit. Big Kennedy was my superior officer, I but -a subaltern; it was my province to accept his commands and carry them -forward without argument or pause. - -In full and proper season, I had my Tin Whistles in hand. I did not -march them to the polling place in a body, since I was not one to -obstreperously vaunt or flaunt an enterprise in advance. Also, I was too -much the instinctive soldier to disclose either my force or my purpose, -and I knew the value of surprise. - -There were a round twenty of my Tin Whistles, each a shoulder-hitter -and warm to shine in the graces of Big Kennedy. I might have recruited -a double strength, but there was no need. I had counted the foe; the -poll-tenders of the opposition numbered but ten; my twenty, and each a -berserk of his fists, ought to scatter them like a flock of sparrows. My -instructions given to my fellows were precisely Big Kennedy's orders as -given to me; no blows, no blood unless made necessary by resistance. - -As the time drew down for action, my Tin Whistles were scattered about, -sticking close to the elbows of the enemy, and waiting the signal. The -polling booth was a small frame construction, not much larger than a -Saratoga trunk. On other occasions it served as the office of a wood and -coal concern. The table, with the ballot-box thereon, stood squarely -in the door; behind it were the five or six officers--judges and tally -clerks--of election. There was a crush and crowd of Big Kennedy's -clansmen to entirely surround the little building, and they so choked -up the path that ones who had still to vote couldn't push through. There -arose, too, a deal of shoving and jostling, and all to a running uproar -of profanity; affairs appeared to be drifting towards the disorderly. - -The reputable old gentleman, his face red with indignation, was moving -to and fro on the outskirts of the crowd, looking for a police officer. -He would have him cut a way through the press for those who still owned -votes. No officer was visible; the reputable old gentleman, even though -he searched with that zeal common of candidates anxious for success, -would have no aid from the constabulary. - -"And this is the protection," cried the reputable old gentleman, -striding up to Big Kennedy, and shaking a wrathful finger in his face, -"that citizens and taxpayers receive from the authorities! Here are -scores of voters who are being blocked from the polls and robbed of -their franchise. It's an outrage!" - -Big Kennedy smiled upon the reputable old gentleman, but made no other -reply. - -"It's an outrage!" repeated the reputable old gentleman in a towering -fury. "Do you hear? It's an outrage on the taxpaying citizens of this -town!" - -"Look out, old man!" observed a young fellow who stood at Big Kennedy's -side, and who from his blackened hands and greasy blue shirt seemed to -be the engineer of some tug. "Don't get too hot. You'll blow a cylinder -head." - -"How dare you!" fumed the reputable old gentleman; "you, a mere boy by -comparison! how dare you address me in such terms! I'm old enough, sir, -to be your father! You should understand, sir, that I've voted for a -president eight times in my life." - -"That's nothin'," returned the other gayly; "I have voted for a -president eighty times before ten o'clock." - -In the midst of the laugh that followed this piece of characteristic -wit, Big Kennedy crossed to where I stood. - -"Send your boys along!" said he. "Let's see how good you are." - -My whistle screamed the signal. At the first sharp note, a cry went up: - -"The Tin Whistles! The Tin Whistles!" - -It was done in a moment; a pair to a man, my Tin Whistles were sending -their quarry down the streets as fast as feet might follow. And they -obeyed directions; not a blow was struck, no blood was drawn; there was -a hustling flurry, and the others took to their heels. The hard repute -of the Tin Whistles was such that no ten were wild enough to face them -or meet their charge. - -As the Tin Whistles fell upon their victims, the press of men that -surged about the polling place began to shout, and strain, and tug. -Suddenly, the small building commenced to heave and lift suspiciously. -It was as though an earthquake were busy at its base. The mob about the -structure seemed to be rolling it over on its side. That would be -no feat, with men enough to set hand upon it and carry it off like a -parcel. - -With the first heave there came shouts and oaths from those within. -Then arose a crashing of glass, and the table was cast aside, as the -threatened clerks and judges fought to escape through door and window. -In the rush and scamper of it, a sharp hand seized the ballot-box. - -Ten minutes the riot raged. It was calmed by Big Kennedy, who forced -himself into the middle of the tumult, hurling men right and left with -his powerful hands as though they were sacks of bran, while he commanded -the peace in a voice like the roar of a lion. - -Peace fell; the little building, which had not been overthrown, but only -rocked and tipped, settled again to a decorous safe solidity; the judges -and the clerks returned; the restored ballot-box again occupied the -table. - -As that active one, who had saved the ballot-box when the downfall of -the building seemed threatened came edgewise through the throng, he -passed close to Big Kennedy. The latter gave him a sharp glance of -inquiry. - -"I stuffed it full to the cover," whispered the active one. "We win four -to one, an' you can put down your money on that!" - -Big Kennedy nodded, and the zealot who saved the ballot-box passed on -and disappeared. - -When the Tin Whistles fell upon their prey, I started to go with them. -But in a moment I saw there was no call; the foe went off at top flight, -and my twenty would keep them moving. Thus reasoning, I turned again to -see what was going forward about the booth. - -My interest was immediately engaged by the words and actions of the -reputable old gentleman, who, driven to frenzy, was denouncing. Big -Kennedy and all who wore his colors as scoundrels without measure or -mate. - -"I defy both you and your plug-uglies," he was shouting, flourishing his -fist in the face of Big Kennedy, who, busy with his own plans, did not -heed him. "This is a plot to stuff the ballot-box." - -The reputable old gentleman had gone thus far, when a hulking creature -of a rough struck him from behind with a sandbag. I sprang forward, and -fended away a second blow with my left arm. As I did so, I struck the -rough on the jaw with such vengeful force that, not only did he drop -like some pole-axed ox, but my right hand was fairly wrecked -thereby. Without pausing to discover my own condition or that of the -sandbag-wielding ruffian, I picked up the reputable old gentleman and -bore him out of the crowd. - -The reputable old gentleman had come by no serious harm; he was stunned -a trifle, and his hat broken. With me to hold him up, he could stand on -his feet, though still dazed and addled from the dull power of the blow. -I beckoned a carriage which Big Kennedy had employed to bring the old -and infirm to the polling place. It came at my signal, and I placed the -reputable old gentleman inside, and told the driver to take him to his -home. The reputable old gentleman was murmuring and shaking his head -as he drove away. As I closed the carriage door, he muttered: "This -is barbarous! That citizens and taxpayers should receive such -treatment------" The balance was lost in the gride of the wheels. - -The hurly-burly had now ceased; all was as calm and equal as a goose -pond. - -"So you saved the old gentleman," said Big Kennedy, as he came towards -me. "Gratitude, I s'pose, because he stood pal to you ag'inst Sheeny -Joe that time. Gratitude! You'll get over that in time," and Big Kennedy -wore a pitying look as one who dwells upon another's weakness. "That was -Jimmy the Blacksmith you smashed. You'd better look out for him after -this." My dander was still on end, and I intimated a readiness to look -out for Jimmy the Blacksmith at once. - -"Mind your back now!" cautioned Big Kennedy, "and don't take to gettin' -it up. Let things go as they lay. Never fight till you have to, d'ye -see! an' never fight for fun. Don't go lookin' for th' Blacksmith until -you hear he's out lookin' for you." Then, as shifting the subject: "It's -been a great day, an' everything to run off as smooth an' true as sayin' -mass. Now let's go back and watch'em count the votes." - -"Did we beat them?" I asked. - -"Snowed'em under!" said Big Kennedy. - - - - -CHAPTER VI--THE RED JACKET ASSOCIATION - - -BIG KENNEDY'S success at the election served to tighten the rivets of -his rule. It was now I looked to see him ferret forth and punish those -renegades who had wrought against him in the dark. To my amazement he -engaged himself in no such retaliatory labor. On the contrary he smiled -on all about him like the sun at noon. Was it folly or want of heart -that tied his hands? Assuredly it was error, and this I submitted to Old -Mike. That veteran of policy disagreed with this, meanwhile beaming upon -me in a way of fatherly cunning. - -"Jawn knows his business," said Old Mike. "Thim people didn't rebel, -they sold out. That's over with an' gone by. Everybody'll sell ye out -if he gets enough; that's a rishk ye have to take. There's that Limerick -man, Gaffney, however; ye'll see something happen to Gaffney. He's one -of thim patent-leather Micks an' puts on airs. He's schemin' to tur-rn -Jawn down an' take th' wa-ard. Ye'll see something happen to that -Limerick man, Gaffney." - -Gaffney made his money with flour and horse feed and hay and similar -goods. Also, as Old Mike said, Gaffney was ambitious. It was within the -week, when a midnight shower of stones smashed sash and glass and laid -waste that offensive merchant's place of business. Gaffney restored his -sash and glass only to invite a second midnight storm of stones. Three -times were Gaffney's windows smashed by hands unknown; and no police -officer would go within two blocks of Gaffney's. In the end, Gaffney -came to Big Kennedy. The latter met him with a hectoring laugh. - -"Why do you come to me?" asked Big Kennedy. "Somebody's been trying to -smash the windows of my leadership for over a year, but I never went -howling about it to you." - -Gaffney showed not a little shaken. He asked, in a manner sullen yet -beaten, what he should do. - -"I'd get out of th' ward," replied Big Kennedy as cool as ice. -"Somebody's got it in for you. Now a man that'll throw a brick will -light a match, d'ye see, an' a feed store would burn like a tar barrel." - -"If I could sell out, I'd quit," said Gaffney. - -"Well," responded Big Kennedy, "I always like to help a friend." - -Grocer Fogel bought Gaffney's store, making a bargain. - -This iron-bound lesson in practical politics I dwell on in full. I drew -from it some notion of the stern character of that science. Old Mike, -from the pinnacles of his hard experience, looked down to justify it. - -"Gaffney would do th' same," said Old Mike, "if his ar-rm was long -enough. Politics is a game where losers lose all; it's like war, shure, -only no one's kilt--at any rate, not so many." - -As the days drew on, I grew in favor with Big Kennedy, and the blossom -thereof took this color. - -"Why don't you start a club?" he asked one afternoon, as we sat in his -sanctum. "You could bring two hundred young fellows together, couldn't -you?" - -"Yes," I replied. I spoke doubtfully; the suggestion was of the -sharpest, and gave me no space to think. It was one, too, which asked -questions of the kind that don't answer themselves. "But where would -they meet?" I put this after a pause. - -"There's the big lodgeroom over my saloon," and Big Kennedy tossed his -stubby thumb towards the ceiling. "You could meet there. There's a dumb -waiter from the bar to send up beer and smokes." - -"How about the Tin Whistles?" I hinted. "Would they do to build on?" - -"Leave the Tin Whistles out. They're all right as shoulder-hitters, -an' a swifter gang to help at the polls, or break up the opposition's -meetin's, never walked the streets. But for a play of this kind, they're -a little off color. Your Tin Whistles can join, man by man, but if they -do they must sing low. They mustn't try to give the show; it's the -back seat for them. What you're out for now is the respectable young -workin'-man racket; that's the lay." - -"But where's the money?" said I. "These people I have in mind haven't -much money." - -"Of course not," retorted Big Kennedy confidently, "an' what little they -have they want for beer. But listen: You get the room free. Then once -a year your club gives an excursion on the river; it ought to sell -hundreds of tickets because there'll be hundreds of officeholders, an' -breweries, an' saloon keepers, an' that sort who'll be crazy to buy'em. -If they aint crazy to start with, you ought to be able to make'em crazy -th' first election that comes 'round. The excursion should bring three -thousand dollars over an' above expenses, d'ye see. Then you can give -balls in the winter an' sell tickets. Then there's subscriptions an' -hon'ry memberships. You'll ketch on; there's lots of ways to skin th' -cat. You can keep th' club in clover an' have some of the long green -left. That's settled then; you organize a young men's club. You be -president an' treasurer; see to that. An' now," here Big Kennedy took me -by the shoulder and looked me instructively in the eye, "it's time for -you to be clinchin' onto some stuff for yourself. This club's goin' to -take a lot of your time. It'll make you do plenty of work. You're -no treetoad; you can't live on air an' scenery." Big Kennedy's look -deepened, and he shook me as one who demands attention. "You'll be -president and treasurer, particularly treasurer; and I'll chip you in -this piece of advice. A good cook always licks his fingers." Here he -winked deeply. - -This long speech was not thrown away. Big Kennedy, having delivered -himself, lapsed into silence, while I sat ruminating ways and means and -what initiatory steps I should take. - -"What shall we call it?" I asked, as I arose to go. - -"Give it an Indian name," said Big Kennedy. "S'p-pose you call it the -Red Jacket Association." - -Within the fortnight the Red Jackets held their maiden meeting. It was -an hour rife of jubilation, fellowship, and cheer. While abstinence from -drink was my guiding phrase, I made no point of that kind in the conduct -of others, and a nearby brewery having contributed unlimited beer those -whom it pleased lacked no reason for a light heart. - -As Big Kennedy had advised, I was chosen for the double responsibilities -of president and treasurer. I may say in my own compliment, however, -that these honors came drifting to my feet. There were reasons for this -aside from any stiffness of heart or fist-virtues which might be mine. -I have said that I was by disposition as taciturn as a tree, and this -wondrous gift of silence earned me the name of wisdom, I was looked -upon as one whose depth was rival to the ocean's. Stronger still, as -the argument by which I rose, was my sobriety. The man who drinks, and -whether it be little or much, never fails to save his great respect for -him who sets whisky aside. - -"An' now," remarked Big Kennedy, when the club had found fortunate -birth, "with these Red Jackets to make the decent front, th' Tin -Whistles to fall back on for the rough work, and Gaffney out of th' way, -I call th' ward cleaned up. I'll tell you this, my son: after th' next -election you shall have an office, or there's no such man as Big John -Kennedy." He smote the table with his heavy hand until the glasses -danced. - -"But I won't be of age," I suggested. - -"What's the difference?" said Big Kennedy. "We'll play that you are, -d'ye see. There'll be no one fool enough to talk about your age if I'm -at your side. We'll make it a place in the dock department; that'll be -about your size. S'ppose we say a perch where there's twelve hundred -dollars a year, an' nothin' to do but draw th' scads an' help your -friends." - -Jimmy the Blacksmith was an under-captain of Big Kennedy's and prevailed -as vote-master in the northern end of the ward. Within certain fixed -frontiers, which ran on one side within a block of my home, it was the -business of Jimmy the Blacksmith to have watch and ward. He had charge -of what meetings were held, and under the thumb of Big Kennedy carried -forward the campaign, and on election day got out the vote. - -Having given the question its share of thought, I determined for myself -on a forward, upward step. My determination--heart and soul--became -agate-hard to drive Jimmy the Blacksmith from his place, and set up my -own rule over that slender kingdom. - -Nor would I say aught to Big Kennedy of this private war which I -meditated. Not that he would have interfered either to thwart or aid me, -but by the ethics of the situation, to give him such notice was neither -proper nor expected. To fight Jimmy the Blacksmith for his crown was -not only right by every rule of ward justice, but it was the thing -encouraged as a plan best likely to bring the strongest to the fore. -Take what you may, keep what you can! was a Tammany statute; I would be -right enough in that overthrow of Jimmy the Blacksmith, I was bent upon, -if only I proved strong enough to bring it about. No, I was not to give -word of my campaign to Big Kennedy, it was none of his affair, and he -would prefer to be ignorant since he was bound to stand neutral. It is -policy thus to let the younger cocks try beak and spur among themselves; -it develops leadership, and is the one sure way of safety in picking out -your captains. - -There was one drawback; I didn't live within the region of which I would -make prize. However, ambition edged my wits and I bethought me of a plan -whereby I might plow around that stump. - -It was my own good fortune that I had no love, but only hate, for Jimmy -the Blacksmith. I was yet so softened of a want of years, that had we -been friends I would have withheld myself from attacking him. Youth is -generous, wherefore youth is weak. It is not until age has stopped these -leaks in one's nature, and one ceases to give and only lives to take and -keep, that one's estate begins to take on fat. Have the word, therefore, -of him whose scars speak for his experience: that one will be wise who -regards generosity as a malady, a mere disease, and sets to cure it with -every sullen, cruel drug the case demands. I say it was my good luck to -hate Jimmy the Blacksmith. He had never condoned that election-day blow, -and I must confess there was reason for this hardness. His jaw had been -broken, and, though mended, it was still all of one side and made of him -a most forbidding spectacle. And he nursed a thought of revenge in his -breast; there came a light to his eye when we met that belongs with none -save him whose merest wish is murder. I would have had more than black -looks, but his heart was of a pale and treacherous family that can -strike no blow in front, and thus far the pathway of chance had not -opened for him to come upon me unaware. For all of which, not alone my -ambition, but my safety and my pleasure urged me about the destruction -of Jimmy the Blacksmith. - -That epithet of the Blacksmith was born of no labors of the forge. Jimmy -the Blacksmith was no more a blacksmith than a bishop. If he ever did -a day's work, then the fact was already so far astern upon the tides -of time that no eye of memory might discern it. The title was won in a -brawl wherein he slew a man. True to his nature, Jimmy slunk away -from his adversary and would not face him. He returned, carrying a -blacksmith's fore-hammer. Creeping behind the other, Jimmy suddenly -cried, with an oath: - -"I'll clink your anvil for you!" - -With that word, the hammer descended and the victim fell, skull crushed -like an eggshell. It required a deal of perjury to save the murderer -from noose and trap. I should not say he was set backward by this -bloodshed, since most men feared him for it and stepped out of his way, -giving him what he asked for in the name of their own safety. It was -for this work he was called the Blacksmith, and he carried the word as -though it were a decoration. - -Such was the man on whose downfall I stood resolved and whose place I -meant to make my own. The thing was simple of performance too; all it -asked were secrecy and a little wit. There was a Tammany club, one of -regular sort and not like my Red Jacket Association, which was volunteer -in its character. It met in that kingdom of the Blacksmith's as a little -parliament of politics. This club was privileged each year to name for -Big Kennedy's approval a man for that post of undercaptain. The annual -selection was at hand. For four years the club had named Jimmy the -Blacksmith; there came never the hint for believing he would not be -pitched upon again. - -Now be it known that scores of my Red Jackets were residents of the -district over which Jimmy the Blacksmith held sway. Some there were who -already belonged to his club. I gave those others word to join at once. -Also I told them, as they regarded their standing as Red Jackets, to be -present at that annual meeting. - -The night arrived; the room was small and the attendance--except for my -Red Jackets--being sparse, my people counted for three-quarters of those -present. With the earliest move I took possession of the meeting, and -selected its chairman. Then, by resolution, I added the block in which -I resided to the public domain of the club. That question of residence -replied to, instead of Jimmy the Blacksmith, I was named ballot-captain -for the year. It was no more complex as a transaction than counting ten. -The fact was accomplished like scratching a match; I had set the foot of -my climbing on Jimmy the Blacksmith's neck. - -That unworthy was present; and to say he was made mad with the fury of -it would be to write with snow the color of his feelings. - -"It's a steal!" he cried, springing to his feet. The little bandbox of -a hall rang with his roarings. Then, to me: "I'll fight you for it! You -don't dare meet me in the Peach Orchard to-morrow at three!" - -"Bring your sledge, Jimmy," shouted some humorist; "you'll need it." - -The Peach Orchard might have been a peach orchard in the days of -Peter Stuyvesant. All formal battles took place in the Peach Orchard. -Wherefore, and because the challenge for its propriety was not without -precedent, to the Peach Orchard at the hour named I repaired. - -Jimmy the Blacksmith, however, came not. Someone brought the word -that he was sick; whereat those present, being fifty gentlemen with a -curiosity to look on carnage, and ones whose own robust health led them -to regard the term "sickness" as a synonym for the preposterous, jeered -the name of Jimmy the Blacksmith from their hearts. - -"Jimmy the Cur! it ought to be," growled one, whose disappointment over -a fight deferred was sore in the extreme. - -Perhaps you will argue that it smacked of the underhand to thus steal -upon Jimmy the Blacksmith and take his place from him without due -warning given. I confess it would have been more like chivalry if I had -sent him, so to say, a glove and told my intentions against him. Also -it would have augmented labor and multiplied risk. The great thing is -to win and win cheaply; a victory that costs more than it comes to is -nothing but a mask for defeat. - -"You're down and out," said Big Kennedy, when Jimmy the Blacksmith -brought his injuries to that chieftain. "Your reputation is gone too; -you were a fool to say 'Peach Orchard' when you lacked the nerve to make -it good. You'll never hold up your head ag'in in th' ward, an' if I was -you I'd line out after Gaffney. This is a bad ward for a mongrel, Jimmy, -an' I'd skin out." - -Jimmy the Blacksmith followed Gaffney and disappeared from the country -of Big Kennedy. He was to occur again in my career, however, as he who -reads on shall see, and under conditions which struck the color from -my cheek and set my heart to a trot with the terrors they loosed at its -heels. - - - - -CHAPTER VII--HOW THE BOSS WAS NAMED FOR ALDERMAN - - -NOW it was that in secret my ambition took a hearty start and would -vine-like creep and clamber. My triumph over Jimmy the Blacksmith added -vastly to my stature of politics. Moreover, the sly intrigue by which I -conquered began to found for me a fame. I had been locally illustrious, -if I may so set the term to work, for a granite fist and a courage as -rooted as a tree. For these traits the roughs revered me, and I may -say I found my uses and rewards. Following my conquest of that -under-captaincy, however, certain upper circles began to take account of -me; circles which, if no purer than those others of ruder feather, were -wont to produce more bulging profits in the pockets of their membership. -In brief, I came to be known for one capable and cunning of a plot, and -who was not without a genius for the executive. - -With Big Kennedy I took high position. His relations with Jimmy -the Blacksmith never had been close; he had never unbuckled in any -friendship and felt for him nothing nearer than distrust. But for me -he held another pose. Big Kennedy, upon my elevation, fair made me his -partner in the ward, a partnership wherein, to speak commercially, I -might be said to have had an interest of one-fourth. This promotion -brought me pleasure; and being only a boy when all was said, while I -went outwardly quiet, my spirit in the privacy of my own bosom would on -occasion spread moderately its tail and strut. - -Now, as time passed, I became like the shadow of Big Kennedy's authority -throughout the ward; my voice was listened to and my word obeyed. I -should say, too, that I made it a first concern to carry the interest of -Big Kennedy ever on the crest of my thought. This should be called the -offspring neither of loyalty nor gratitude; I did it because it was -demanded of my safety and to curry advantage for myself. For all that -attitude of confident friendship, I was not put off my guard. Big -Kennedy never let my conduct roam beyond his ken. A first sign of an -interest outside his own would have meant my instant disappearance. He -would have plucked me of my last plume. With a breath he could reduce me -to be a beggarman where now I gave alms. Having, therefore, the measure -of his fell abilities, I was not so blind as to draw their horns my way. - -Still, while I went tamely to heel at a word from Big Kennedy, I had -also resolved to advance. I meant before all was over to mount the -last summit of Tammany Hall. I laid out my life as architects lay out a -building; it would call for years, but I had years to give. - -My work with Grocer Fogel had ended long ago. I now gave myself entirely -to the party, and to deepen the foundations of its power. Inside our -lines a mighty harmony prevailed. Big Kennedy and those headquarters -enemies who once schemed for his defeat had healed their differences and -the surface of events showed as serene as summer seas. About this time -a great star was rising in the Tammany sky; a new chief was gaining -evolution. Already, his name was first, and although he cloaked his -dictatorship with prudence, the sophisticated knew how his will was even -then as law and through his convenient glove of velvet felt his grip of -steel. - -For myself, I closely observed the unfolding of his genius. His methods -as well as those of Big Kennedy were now my daily lesson. I had -ever before me in that formative, plastic hour the examples of these -past-masters of the art of domination. - -It was well for me. A dictator is so much unlike a poet that he is made, -not born. He must build himself; and when completed he must save himself -from being torn to pieces. No one blunders into a dictatorship; one -might as well look to blunder upon some mountain peak. Even blunders -are amenable to natural law, and it can be taken as a truism that no one -blunders up hill. - -Wherefore, he who would be dictator and with his touch determine the day -for pushing, struggling, rebelling thousands and mold their times for -them, must study. And study hard I did. - -My Red Jackets received my most jealous care. They deserved that much -from me, since their existence offered measurably for my support. When -the day arrived, I was given that twelve-hundred-dollar place with the -docks, whereof Big Kennedy had spoken, and under his suggestion and to -the limits of my strength made what employ of it I might for my own and -my friends' behoof. But those twelve hundred dollars would not go far -in the affairs of one who must for their franchises lead hither and yon -divers scores of folk, all of whom had but the one notion of politics, -that it was founded of free beer. There came, too, a procession of -borrowers, and it was a dull day when, in sums from a dime to a dollar, -I did not to these clients part with an aggregate that would have -supported any family for any decent week. There existed no door of -escape; these charges, and others of similar kidney, must be met and -borne; it was the only way to keep one's hold of politics; and so Old -Mike would tell me. - -"But it's better," said that deep one, "to lind people money than give -it to'em. You kape thim bechune your finger longer by lindin'." - -It was on the Red Jackets I leaned most for personal revenue. They were -my bread-winners. No Tammany organization, great or small, keeps books. -No man may say what is received, or what is disbursed, or name him who -gave or got; and that is as it should be. If it were otherwise, one's -troubles would never earn an end. For the Red Jackets I was--to steal -a title from the general organization--not alone the treasurer, but the -wiskinskie. In this latter role I collected the money that came in. -Thus the interests, financial, of the Red Jackets were wholly within -my hands, and recalling what Big Kennedy had said anent a good cook, I -failed not to lick my fingers. - -Money was in no wise difficult to get. The Red Jackets were formidable -both for numbers and influence, and their favor or resentment meant -a round one thousand votes. Besides, there stood the memorable Tin -Whistles, reckless, militant, ready for any midnight thing, and their -dim outlines, like a challenge or a threat, filled up the cloudy -background. Those with hopes or fears of office, and others who as -merchants or saloonkeepers, or who gambled, or did worse, to say naught -of builders who found the streets and pavements a convenient even though -an illegal resting place for their materials of bricks and lime and -lumber, never failed of response to a suggestion that the good Red -Jackets stood in need of help. Every man of these contributing gentry, -at their trades of dollar-getting, was violating law or ordinance, and -I who had the police at my beck could instantly contract their liberties -to a point that pinched. When such were the conditions, anyone with an -imagination above a shoemaker's will see that to produce what funds -my wants demanded would be the lightest of tasks. It was like grinding -sugar canes, and as easily sure of steady sweet returns. - -True, as an exception to a rule, one met now and again with him who for -some native bull-necked obstinacy would refuse a contribution. In such -event the secret of his frugality was certain to leak forth and spread -itself among my followers. It would not be required that one offer even -a hint. Soon as ever the tale of that parsimony reached the ear of a Tin -Whistle, disasters like a flock of buzzards collected about the saving -man. His windows were darkly broken like Gaffney's. Or if he were a -grocer his wares would upset themselves about the pavements, his carts -of delivery break down, his harnesses part and fall in pieces, and he -beset to dine off sorrow in many a different dish. - -And then and always there were the police to call his violative eye to -this ordinance, or hale him before a magistrate for that one. And there -were Health Boards, and Street Departments, who at a wink of Red Jacket -disfavor would descend upon a recalcitrant and provide burdens for his -life. With twenty methods of compulsion against him, and each according -to law, there arose no man strong enough to refuse those duties of -donation. He must support the fortunes of my Red Jackets or see his -own decline, and no one with a heart for commerce was long to learn the -lesson. - -The great credit, however, in such coils was due the police. With them -to be his allies, one might not only finance his policies, but control -and count a vote; and no such name as failure. - -"They're the foot-stones of politics," said Old Mike. "Kape th' p'lice, -an' you kape yourself on top." - -Nor was this the task complex. It was but to threaten them with the -powers above on the one hand, or on the other toss them individually -an occasional small bone of profit to gnaw, and they would stand to you -like dogs. I soon had these ins and outs of money-getting at the tips -of my tongue and my fingers, for I went to school to Big Kennedy and -Old Mike in the accomplishment, and I may tell you it was a branch of -learning they were qualified to teach. - -Blackmail! cry you? Now there goes a word to that. These folk were -violating the law. What would you have?--their arrest? Let me inform you -that were the laws of the State and the town enforced to syllable and -letter, it would drive into banishment one-half the population. They -would do business at a loss; it would put up the shutters for over half -the town. Wherefore, it would be against the common interest to arrest -them. - -And still you would have the law enforced? And if it were, what, let me -ask, would be the immediate response? These delinquents would be fined. -You would then be satisfied. What should be the corrective difference -between a fine paid to a court, and a donation paid to my Red Jackets? -The corrective influence in both should be the same, since in either -instance it is but a taking of dollars from the purses of the lawless. -And yet, you clamor, "One is blackmail and the other is justice!" The -separation I should say was academic rather than practical; and as for a -name: why then, I care nothing for a name. - -I will, however, go this farther journey for my own defense. I have not -been for over twoscore years with Tammany and sixteen years its head, -without being driven to some intimate knowledge of my times, and those -principles of individual as well as communal action which underlie them -to make a motive. And now I say, that I have yet to meet that man, or -that corporation, and though the latter were a church, who wouldn't -follow interest across a prostrate law, and in the chase of dollars -break through ordinance and statute as a cow walks through a cobweb. -And each and all they come most willingly to pay the prices of their -outlawry, and receivers are as bad as thieves--your price-payer as black -as your price-taker. Practically, the New York definition of an honest -man has ever gone that he is one who denounces any robbery in the -proceeds whereof he is not personally interested, and with that -definition my life has never failed to comply. If Tammany and Tammany -men have been guilty of receiving money from violators of law, they had -among their accomplices the town's most reputable names and influences. -Why then should you pursue the one while you excuse the other? And are -you not, when you do so, quite as much the criminal as either? - -When I was in the first year of my majority we went into a campaign -for the ownership of the town. Standing on the threshold of my earliest -vote, I was strung like a bow to win. My fervor might have gained a more -than common heat, because by decision of Big Kennedy I, myself, was put -down to make the run for alderman. There was a world of money against -us, since we had the respectable element, which means ever the rich, to -be our enemies. - -Big Kennedy and I, after a session in his sanctum, resolved that not one -meeting should be held by our opponents within our boundaries. It was -not that we feared for the vote; rather it swung on a point of pride; -and then it would hearten our tribesmen should we suppress the least -signal of the enemy's campaign. - -Having limitless money, the foe decided for sundry gatherings. They also -outlined processions, hired music by the band, and bought beer by the -barrel. They would have their speakers to address the commons in halls -and from trucks. - -On each attempt they were encountered and dispersed. More than once the -Red Jackets, backed by the faithful Tin Whistles, took possession of a -meeting, put up their own orators and adopted their own resolutions. -If the police were called, they invariably arrested our enemies, being -sapient of their own safety and equal to the work of locating the butter -on their personal bread. If the enemy through their henchmen or managers -made physical resistance, the Tin Whistles put them outside the hall, -and whether through door or window came to be no mighty matter. - -At times the Red Jackets and their reserves of Tin Whistles would -permit the opposition to open a meeting. When the first orator had been -eloquent for perhaps five minutes, a phalanx of Tin Whistles would arise -in their places, and a hailstorm of sponges, soaking wet and each -the size of one's head, would descend upon the rostrum. It was a -never-failing remedy; there lived never chairman nor orator who would -face that fusillade. Sometimes the lights were turned out; and again, -when it was an open-air meeting and the speakers to talk from a truck, -a bunch of crackers would be exploded under the horses and a runaway -occur. That simple device was sure to cut the meeting short by carrying -off the orators. The foe arranged but one procession; that was disposed -of on the fringe of our territory by an unerring, even if improper, -volley of eggs and vegetables and similar trumpery. The artillery used -would have beaten back a charge by cavalry. - -Still the enemy had the money, and on that important point could -overpower us like ten for one, and did. Here and there went their -agents, sowing sly riches in the hope of a harvest of votes. To -counteract this still-hunt where the argument was cash, I sent the word -abroad that our people were to take the money and promise votes. Then -they were to break the promise. - -"Bunco the foe!" was the watchword; "take their money and 'con' them!" - -This instruction was deemed necessary for our safety. I educated our men -to the thought that the more money they got by these methods, the higher -they would stand with Big Kennedy and me. If it were not for this, -hundreds would have taken a price, and then, afraid to come back to -us, might have gone with the banners of the enemy for that campaign at -least. Now they would get what they could, and wear it for a feather -in their caps. They exulted in such enterprise; it was spoiling the -Egyptian; having filled their pockets they would return and make a brag -of the fact. By these schemes we kept our strength. The enemy parted -with money by the thousands, yet never the vote did they obtain. The -goods failed of delivery. - -Sheeny Joe was a handy man to Big Kennedy. He owned no rank; but -voluble, active, well dressed, and ready with his money across a barroom -counter, he grew to have a value. Not once in those years which fell in -between our encounter on the dock and this time I have in memory, did -Sheeny Joe express aught save friendship for me. His nose was queer -of contour as the result of my handiwork, but he met the blemish in a -spirit of philosophy and displayed no rancors against me as the author -thereof. On the contrary, he was friendly to the verge of fulsome. - -Sheeny Joe sold himself to the opposition, hoof and hide and horn. Nor -was this a mock disposal of himself, although he gave Big Kennedy and -myself to suppose he still held by us in his heart. No, it wasn't the -money that changed him; rather I should say that for all his pretenses, -his hankerings of revenge against me had never slept. It was now he -believed his day to compass it had come. The business was no more no -less than a sheer bald plot to take my life, with Sheeny Joe to lie -behind it--the bug of evil under the dark chip. - -It was in the early evening at my own home. Sheeny Joe came and called -me to the door, and all in a hustle of hurry. - -"Big Kennedy wants you to come at once to the Tub of Blood," said Sheeny -Joe. - -The Tub of Blood was a hang-out for certain bludgeon-wielding thugs who -lived by the coarser crimes of burglary and highway robbery. It was -suspected by Big Kennedy and myself as a camping spot for "repeaters" -whom the enemy had been at pains to import against us. We had it then in -plan to set the Tin Whistles to the sacking of it three days before the -vote. - -On this word from Sheeny Joe, and thinking that some new programme was -afoot, I set forth for the Tub of Blood. As I came through the door, a -murderous creature known as Strong-Arm Dan was busy polishing glasses -behind the bar. He looked up, and giving a nod toward a door in the -rear, said: - -"They want you inside." - -The moment I set foot within that rear door, I saw how it was a trap. -There were a round dozen waiting, and each the flower of a desperate -flock. - -In the first surprise of it I did not speak, but instinctively got the -wall to my back. As I faced them they moved uneasily, half rising from -their chairs, growling, but speaking no word. Their purpose was to -attack me; yet they hung upon the edge of the enterprise, apparently in -want of a leader. I was not a yard from the door, and having advantage -of their slowness began making my way in that direction. They saw that -I would escape, and yet they couldn't spur their courage to the leap. -It was my perilous repute as a hitter from the shoulder that stood my -friend that night. - -At last I reached the door. Opening it with my hand behind me, my eyes -still on the glaring hesitating roughs, I stepped backward into the main -room. - -"Good-night, gentlemen," was all I said. - -"You'll set up the gin, won't you?" cried one, finding his voice. - -"Sure!" I returned, and I tossed Strong-Arm Dan a gold piece as I passed -the bar. "Give'em what they want while it lasts," said I. - -That demand for gin mashed into the teeth of my thoughts like the cogs -of a wheel. It would hold that precious coterie for twenty minutes. When -I got into the street, I caught the shadow of Sheeny Joe as he twisted -around the corner. - -It was a half-dozen blocks from the Tub of Blood that I blew the -gathering call of the Tin Whistles. They came running like hounds to -huntsman. Ten minutes later the Tub of Blood lay a pile of ruins, while -Strong-Arm Dan and those others, surprised in the midst of that guzzling -I had paid for, with heads and faces a hash of wounds and blood and -the fear of death upon them, were running or staggering or crawling for -shelter, according to what strength remained with them. - -"It's plain," said Big Kennedy, when I told of the net that Sheeny Joe -had spread for me, "it's plain that you haven't shed your milk-teeth -yet. However, you'll be older by an' by, an' then you won't follow off -every band of music that comes playin' down the street. No, I don't -blame Sheeny Joe; politics is like draw-poker, an' everybody's got a -right to fill his hand if he can. Still, while I don't blame him, it's -up to us to get hunk an' even on th' play." Here Big Kennedy pondered -for the space of a minute. Then he continued: "I think we'd better make -it up-the-river--better railroad the duffer. Discipline's been gettin' -slack of late, an' an example will work in hot an' handy. The next crook -won't pass us out the double-cross when he sees what comes off in th' -case of Sheeny Joe." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII--THE FATE OF SHEENY JOE - - -BIG KENNEDY'S suggestion of Sing Sing for Sheeny Joe did not fit with -my fancy. Not that a cropped head and a suit of stripes would have been -misplaced in the instance of Sheeny Joe, but I had my reputation to -consider. It would never do for a first bruiser of his day to fall back -on the law for protection. Such coward courses would shake my standing -beyond recovery. It would have disgraced the Tin Whistles; thereafter, -in that vigorous brotherhood, my commands would have earned naught save -laughter. To arrest Sheeny Joe would be to fly in the face of the Tin -Whistles and their dearest ethics. When to this I called Big Kennedy's -attention, he laughed as one amused. - -"You don't twig!" said he, recovering a partial gravity. "I'm goin' to -send him over th' road for robbery." - -"But he hasn't robbed anybody!" - -Big Kennedy made a gesture of impatience, mixed with despair. - -"Here!" said he at last, "I'll give you a flash of what I'm out to do -an' why I'm out to do it. I'm goin' to put Sheeny Joe away to stiffen -discipline. He's sold himself, an' th' whole ward knows it. Now I'm -goin' to show'em what happens to a turncoat, as a hunch to keep their -coats on right side out, d'ye see." - -"But you spoke of a robbery!" I interjected; "Sheeny Joe has robbed no -one." - -"I'm gettin' to that," returned Big Kennedy, with a repressive wave of -his broad palm, "an' I can see that you yourself have a lot to learn. -Listen: If I knew of any robbery Sheeny Joe had pulled off, I wouldn't -have him lagged for that; no, not if he'd taken a jimmy an' cracked -a dozen bins. There'd be no lesson in sendin' a duck over th' road -in that. Any old woman could have him pinched for a crime he's really -pulled off. To leave an impression on these people, you must send a -party up for what he hasn't done. Then they understand." - -For all Big Kennedy's explanation, I still lived in the dark. I made no -return, however, either of comment or question; I considered that I had -only to look on, and Big Kennedy's purpose would elucidate itself. Big -Kennedy and I were in the sanctum that opened off his barroom. He called -one of his barmen. - -"Billy, you know where to find the Rat?" Then, when the other nodded: -"Go an' tell the Rat I want him." - -"Who is the Rat?" I queried. I had never heard of the Rat. - -"He's a pickpocket," responded Big Kennedy, "an' as fly a dip as ever -nipped a watch or copped a leather." - -The Rat belonged on the west side of the town, which accounted for my -having failed of his acquaintance. Big Kennedy was sure his man would -find him. - -"For he grafts nights," said Big Kennedy, "an' at this time of day it's -a cinch he's takin' a snooze. A pickpocket has to have plenty of sleep -to keep his hooks from shakin'." - -While we were waiting the coming of the Rat, one of the barmen entered -to announce a caller. He whispered a word in Big Kennedy's ear. - -"Sure!" said he. "Tell him to come along." - -The gentleman whom the barman had announced, and who was a young -clergyman, came into the room. Big Kennedy gave him a hearty handshake, -while his red face radiated a welcome. - -"What is it, Mr. Bronson?" asked Big Kennedy pleasantly; "what can I do -for you?" - -The young clergyman's purpose was to ask assistance for a mission which -he proposed to start near the Five Points. - -"Certainly," said Big Kennedy, "an' not a moment to wait!" With that he -gave the young clergyman one hundred dollars. - -When that gentleman, after expressing his thanks, had departed, Big -Kennedy sighed. - -"I've got no great use for a church," he said. "I never bought a gold -brick yet that wasn't wrapped in a tract. But it's no fun to get a -preacher down on you. One of'em can throw stones enough to smash every -window in Tammany Hall. Your only show with the preachers is to flatter -'em;--pass'em out the flowers. Most of 'em's as pleased with flattery as -a girl. Yes indeed," he concluded, "I can paste bills on 'em so long as -I do it with soft soap." - -The Rat was a slight, quiet individual and looked the young physician -rather than the pickpocket. His hands were delicate, and he wore gloves -the better to keep them in condition. His step and air were as quiet as -those of a cat. - -"I want a favor," said Big Kennedy, addressing the Rat, "an' I've got -to go to one of the swell mob to get it. That's why I sent for you, d'ye -see! It takes someone finer than a bricklayer to do th' work." - -The Rat was uneasily questioning my presence with his eye. Big Kennedy -paused to reassure him. - -"He's th' straight goods," said Big Kennedy, speaking in a tone wherein -were mingled resentment and reproach. "You don't s'ppose I'd steer you -ag'inst a brace?" - -The Rat said never a word, but his glance left me and he gave entire -heed to Big Kennedy. - -"This is the proposition," resumed Big Kennedy. "You know Sheeny Joe. -Shadow him; swing and rattle with him no matter where he goes. The -moment you see a chance, get a pocketbook an' put it away in his -clothes. When th' roar goes up, tell th' loser where to look. Are you -on? Sheeny Joe must get th' collar, an' I want him caught with th' -goods, d'ye see." - -"I don't have to go to court ag'inst him?" said the Rat interrogatively. - -"No," retorted Big Kennedy, a bit explosively. "You'd look about as well -in th' witness box as I would in a pulpit. No, you shift th' leather. -Then give th' party who's been touched th' office to go after Sheeny -Joe. After that you can screw out; that's as far as you go." - -It was the next evening at the ferry. Suddenly a cry went up. - -"Thief! Thief! My pocketbook is gone!" - -The shouts found source in a broad man. He was top-heavy with too much -beer, but clear enough to realize that his money had disappeared. The -Rat, sly, small, clean, inconspicuous, was at his shoulder. - -"There's your man!" whispered the Rat, pointing to Sheeny Joe, whose -footsteps he had been dogging the livelong day; "there's your man!" - -In a moment the broad man had thrown himself upon Sheeny Joe. - -"Call the police!" he yelled. "He's got my pocket-book!" - -The officer pulled him off Sheeny Joe, whom he had thrown to the ground -and now clung to with the desperation of the robbed. - -"Give me a look in!" said the officer, thrusting the broad man aside. -"If he's got your leather we'll find it." - -Sheeny Joe was breathless with the surprise and fury of the broad man's -descent upon him. The officer ran his hand over the outside of Sheeny -Joe's coat, holding him meanwhile fast by the collar. Then he slipped -his hand inside, and drew forth a chubby pocketbook. - -"That's it!" screamed the broad man, "that's my wallet with over six -hundred dollars in it! The fellow stole it!" - -"It's a plant!" gasped Sheeny Joe, his face like ashes. Then to the -crowd: "Will somebody go fetch Big John Kennedy? He knows me; he'll say -I'm square!" - -Big Kennedy arrived at the station as the officer, whose journey was -slow because of the throng, came in with Sheeny Joe. Big Kennedy -heard the stories of the officer and the broad man with all imaginable -patience. Then a deep frown began to knot his brow. He waved Sheeny Joe -aside with a gesture that told of virtuous indignation. - -"Lock him up!" cried Big Kennedy. "If he'd slugged somebody, even if -he'd croaked him, I'd have stuck to him till th' pen'tentiary doors -pinched my fingers. But I've no use for a crook. Sing Sing's th' place -for him! It's just such fine workers as him who disgrace th' name of -Tammany Hall. They lift a leather, an' they make Tammany a cover for th' -play." - -"Are you goin' back on me?" wailed Sheeny Joe. - -"Put him inside!" said Big Kennedy to the officer in charge of the -station. Then, to Sheeny Joe, with the flicker of a leer: "Why don't you -send to the Tub of Blood?" - -"Shall I take bail for him, Mr. Kennedy, if any shows up?" asked the -officer in charge. - -"No; no bail!" replied Big Kennedy. "If anyone offers, tell him I don't -want it done." - -It was three weeks later when Sheeny Joe was found guilty, and sentenced -to prison for four years. The broad man, the police officer, and divers -who at the time of his arrest were looking on, come forward as witnesses -against Sheeny Joe, and twelve honest dullards who called themselves a -jury, despite his protestations that he was "being jobbed," instantly -declared him guilty. Sheeny Joe, following his sentence, was dragged -from the courtroom, crying and cursing the judge, the jury, the -witnesses, but most of all Big Kennedy. - -Nor do I think Big Kennedy's agency in drawing down this fate upon -Sheeny Joe was misunderstood by ones with whom it was meant to pass -for warning. I argue this from what was overheard by me as we left the -courtroom where Sheeny Joe was sentenced. The two in conversation were -walking a pace in advance of me. - -"He got four spaces!" said one in an awed whisper. - -"He's dead lucky not to go for life!" exclaimed the other. "How much of -the double-cross do you guess now Big Kennedy will stand? I've seen a -bloke take a slab in th' morgue for less. It was Benny the Bite; he gets -a knife between his slats." - -"What's it all about, Jawn?" asked Old Mike, who later sat in private -review of the case of Sheeny Joe. "Why are you puttin' a four-year -smother on that laad?" - -"It's gettin' so," explained Big Kennedy, "that these people of ours -look on politics as a kind of Virginny reel. It's first dance on one -side an' then cross to th' other. There's a bundle of money ag'inst us, -big enough to trip a dog, an' discipline was givin' way. Our men could -smell th' burnin' money an' it made 'em crazy. Somethin' had to come off -to sober 'em, an' teach 'em discipline, an' make 'em sing 'Home, Sweet -Home'!" - -"It's all right, then!" declared Old Mike decisively. - -"The main thing is to kape up th' organization! Better twinty like that -Sheeny Joe should learn th' lockstep than weaken Tammany Hall. Besides, -I'm not like th' law. I belave in sindin' folks to prison, not for what -they do, but for what they are. An' this la-ad was a har-rd crackther." - -The day upon which Sheeny Joe went to his prison was election day. -Tammany Hall took possession of the town; and for myself, I was made an -alderman by a majority that counted into the skies. - - - - -CHAPTER IX--HOW BIG KENNEDY BOLTED - - -BEFORE I abandon the late election in its history to the keeping of time -past, there is an episode, or, if you will, an accident, which should -find relation. Of itself it would have come and gone, and been of brief -importance, save for an incident to make one of its elements, which in -a later pinch to come of politics brought me within the shadow of a -gibbet. - -Busy with my vote-getting, I had gone to the docks to confer with the -head of a certain gang of stevedores. These latter were hustling up and -down the gangplanks, taking the cargo out of a West India coffee boat. -The one I had come seeking was aboard the vessel. - -I pushed towards the after gangplank, and as I reached it I stepped -aside to avoid one coming ashore with a huge sack of coffee on his -shoulders. Not having my eyes about me, I caught my toe in a ringbolt -and stumbled with a mighty bump against a sailor who was standing on -the string-piece of the wharf. With nothing to save him, and a six-foot -space opening between the wharf and the ship, the man fell into the -river with a cry and a splash. He went to the bottom like so much -pig-iron, for he could not swim. - -It was the work of a moment to throw off my coat and go after him. I was -as much at ease in the water as a spaniel, and there would be nothing -more dangerous than a ducking in the experiment. I dived and came up -with the drowning man in my grip. For all his peril, he took it coolly -enough, and beyond spluttering, and puffing, and cracking off a jargon -of oaths, added no difficulties to the task of saving his life. We -gained help from the dock, and it wasn't five minutes before we found -the safe planks beneath our feet again. - -The man who had gone overboard so unexpectedly was a keen small dark -creature of a Sicilian, and to be noticed for his black eyes, a red -handkerchief over his head, and ears looped with golden earrings. - -"No harm done, I think?" said I, when we were both ashore again. - -"I lose-a my knife," said he with a grin, the water dripping from his -hair. He was pointing to the empty scabbard at his belt where he had -carried a sheath-knife. - -"It was my blunder," said I, "and if you'll hunt me up at Big Kennedy's -this evening I'll have another for you." - -That afternoon, at a pawnshop in the Bowery, I bought a strange-looking -weapon, that was more like a single-edged dagger than anything else. It -had a buck-horn haft, and was heavy and long, with a blade of full nine -inches. - -My Sicilian came, as I had told him, and I gave him the knife. He was -extravagant in his gratitude. - -"You owe me nothing!" he cried. "It is I who owe for my life that you -save. But I shall take-a the knife to remember how you pull me out. You -good-a man; some day I pull you out--mebby so! who knows?" - -With that he was off for the docks again, leaving me neither to hear nor -to think of him thereafter for a stirring handful of years. - -It occurred to me as strange, even in a day when I gave less time to -thought than I do now, that my first impulse as an alderman should be -one of revenge. There was that police captain, who, in the long ago, -offered insult to Anne, when she came to beg for my liberty. "Better -get back to your window," said he, "or all the men will have left the -street!" The memory of that evil gibe had never ceased to burn me with -the hot anger of a coal of fire, and now I resolved for his destruction. - -When I told Big Kennedy, he turned the idea on his wheel of thought for -full two minutes. - -"It's your right," said he at last. "You've got the ax; you're entitled -to his head. But say! pick him up on proper charges; get him dead to -rights! That aint hard, d'ye see, for he's as crooked as a dog's hind -leg. To throw him for some trick he's really turned will bunco these -reform guys into thinkin' that we're on th' level." - -The enterprise offered no complexities. A man paid that captain money to -save from suppression a resort of flagrant immorality. The bribery -was laid bare; he was overtaken in this plain corruption; and next, my -combinations being perfect, I broke him as I might break a stick across -my knee. He came to me in private the following day. - -"What have I done?" said he. "Can I square it?" - -"Never!" I retorted; "there's some things one can't square." Then I told -him of Anne, and his insult. - -"That's enough," he replied, tossing his hand resignedly. "I can take my -medicine when it's come my turn." - -For all that captain's stoicism, despair rang in his tones, and as he -left me, the look in his eye was one to warm the cockles of my heart and -feed my soul with comfort. - -"Speakin' for myself," said Big Kennedy, in the course of comment, "I -don't go much on revenge. Still when it costs nothin', I s'ppose -you might as well take it in. Besides, it shows folks that there's a -dead-line in th' game. The wise ones will figger that this captain held -out on us, or handed us th' worst of it on th' quiet. The example of him -gettin' done up will make others run true." - -Several years slipped by wherein as alderman I took my part in the -town's affairs. I was never a talking member, and gained no glory for my -eloquence. But what I lacked of rhetoric, I made up in stubborn loyalty -to Tammany, and I never failed to dispose of my vote according to its -mandates. - -It was not alone my right, but my duty to do this. I had gone to the -polls the avowed candidate of the machine. There was none to vote for -me who did not know that my public courses would be shaped and guided by -the organization. I was free to assume, therefore, being thus elected as -a Tammany member by folk informed to a last expression of all that the -phrase implied, that I was bound to carry out the Tammany programmes and -execute the Tammany orders. Where a machine and its laws are known, the -people when they lift to office one proposed of that machine, thereby -direct such officer to submit himself to its direction and conform to -its demands. - -There will be ones to deny this. And these gentry of denials will be -plausible, and furnish the thought of an invincible purity for their -assumptions. They should not, however, be too sure for their theories. -They themselves may be the ones in error. They should reflect -that wherever there dwells a Yes there lives also a No. These -contradictionists should emulate my own forbearance. - -I no more claim to be wholly right for my attitude of implicit obedience -to the machine, than I condemn as wholly wrong their own position of -boundless denunciation. There is no man so bad he may not be defended; -there lives none so good he does not need defense; and what I say of a -man might with equal justice be said of any dogma of politics. As I set -forth in my preface, the true and the false, the black and the white in -politics will rest ever with the point of view. - -During my years as an alderman I might have made myself a wealthy man. -And that I did not do so, was not because I had no profit of the place. -As the partner, unnamed, in sundry city contracts, riches came often -within my clutch. But I could not keep them; I was born with both hands -open and had the hold of money that a riddle has of water. - -This want of a money wit is a defect of my nature. A great merchant late -in my life once said to me: - -"Commerce--money-getting--is like a sea, and every man, in large or -little sort, is a mariner. Some are buccaneers, while others are sober -merchantmen. One lives by taking prizes, the other by the proper gains -of trade. You belong to the buccaneers by your birth. You are not a -business man, but a business wolf. Being a wolf, you will waste and -never save. Your instinct is to pull down each day's beef each day. -You should never buy nor sell nor seek to make money with money. Your -knowledge of money is too narrow. Up to fifty dollars you are wise. -Beyond that point you are the greatest dunce I ever met." - -Thus lectured the man of markets, measuring sticks, and scales; and -while I do not think him altogether exact, there has been much in my -story to bear out what he said. It was not that I wasted my money in -riot, or in vicious courses. My morals were good, and I had no vices. -This was not much to my credit; my morals were instinctive, like -the morals of an animal. My one passion was for politics, and my one -ambition the ambition to lead men. Nor was I eager to hold office; my -hope went rather to a day when I should rule Tammany as its Chief. My -genius was not for the show ring; I cared nothing for a gilded place. -That dream of my heart's wish was to be the power behind the screen, -and to put men up and take men down, place them and move them about, and -play at government as one might play at chess. Still, while I dreamed -of an unbridled day to come, I was for that the more sedulous to execute -the orders of Big Kennedy. I had not then to learn that the art of -command is best studied in the art of obedience. - -To be entirely frank, I ought to name the one weakness that beset me, -and which more than any spendthrift tendency lost me my fortune as fast -as it flowed in. I came never to be a gambler in the card or gaming -table sense, but I was inveterate to wager money on a horse. While money -lasted, I would bet on the issue of every race that was run, and I was -made frequently bankrupt thereby. However, I have said enough of my want -of capacity to hoard. I was young and careless; moreover, with my place -as alderman, and that sovereignty I still held among the Red Jackets, -when my hand was empty I had but to stretch it forth to have it filled -again. - -In my boyhood I went garbed of rags and patches. Now when money came, -I sought the first tailor of the town. I went to him drawn of his high -prices; for I argued, and I think sagaciously, that where one pays the -most one gets the best. - -Nor, when I found that tailor, did I seek to direct him in his labors. -I put myself in his hands, and was guided to quiet blacks and grays, and -at his hint gave up thoughts of those plaids and glaring checks to which -my tastes went hungering. That tailor dressed me like a gentleman and -did me a deal of good. I am not one to say that raiment makes the man, -and yet I hold that it has much to do with the man's behavior. I can say -in my own case that when I was thus garbed like a gentleman, my conduct -was at once controlled in favor of the moderate. I was instantly ironed -of those rougher wrinkles of my nature, which last, while neither noisy -nor gratuitously violent, was never one of peace. - -The important thing was that these clothes of gentility gave me -multiplied vogue with ones who were peculiarly my personal followers. -They earned me emphasis with my Red Jackets, who still bore me aloft as -their leader, and whose favor I must not let drift. The Tin Whistles, -too, drew an awe from this rich yet civil uniform which strengthened my -authority in that muscular quarter. I had grown, as an alderman and that -one next in ward power to Big Kennedy, to a place which exempted me -from those harsher labors of fist and bludgeon in which, whenever the -exigencies of a campaign demanded, the Tin Whistles were still employed. -But I claimed my old mastery over them. I would not permit so hardy -a force to go to another's hands, and while I no longer led their war -parties, I was always in the background, giving them direction and -stopping them when they went too far. - -It was demanded of my safety that I retain my hold upon both the Tin -Whistles and the Red Jackets. However eminent I might be, I was by no -means out of the ruck, and my situation was to be sustained only by the -strong hand. The Tin Whistles and the Red Jackets were the sources of my -importance, and if my voice were heeded or my word owned weight it was -because they stood ever ready to my call. Wherefore, I cultivated their -favor, secured my place among them, while at the same time I forced them -to obey to the end that they as well as I be preserved. - -Those clothes of a gentleman not only augmented, but declared my -strength. In that time a fine coat was an offense to ones more coarsely -clothed. A well-dressed stranger could not have walked three blocks on -the East Side without being driven to do battle for his life. Fine -linen was esteemed a challenge, and that I should be so arrayed and -go unscathed, proved not alone my popularity, but my dangerous repute. -Secretly, it pleased my shoulder-hitters to see their captain so garbed; -and since I could defend my feathers, they made of themselves another -reason of leadership. I was growing adept of men, and I counted on this -effect when I spent my money with that tailor. - -While I thus lay aside for the moment the running history of events -that were as the stepping stones by which I crossed from obscurity -and poverty to power and wealth, to have a glance at myself in my more -personal attitudes, I should also relate my marriage and how I took a -wife. It was Anne who had charge of the business, and brought me this -soft victory. Had it not been for Anne, I more than half believe I -would have had no wife at all; for I was eaten of an uneasy awkwardness -whenever my fate delivered me into the presence of a girl. However -earnestly Anne might counsel, I had no more of parlor wisdom than a -savage, Anne, while sighing over my crudities and the hopeless thickness -of my wits, established herself as a bearward to supervise my conduct. -She picked out my wife for me, and in days when I should have been -a lover, but was a graven image and as stolid, carried forward the -courting in my stead. - -It was none other than Apple Cheek upon whom Anne pitched--Apple Cheek, -grown rounder and more fair, with locks like cornsilk, and eyes of -even a deeper blue than on that day of the docks. Anne had struck out a -friendship for Apple Cheek from the beginning, and the two were much in -one another's company. And so one day, by ways and means I was too much -confused to understand, Anne had us before the priest. We were made -husband and wife; Apple Cheek brave and sweet, I looking like a fool in -need of keepers. - -Anne, the architect of this bliss, was in tears; and yet she must have -kept her head, for I remember how she recalled me to the proprieties of -my new station. - -"Why don't you kiss your bride!" cried Anne, at the heel of the -ceremony. - -Anne snapped out the words, and they rang in my delinquent ears like a -storm bell. Apple Cheek, eyes wet to be a match for Anne's, put up her -lips with all the courage in the world. I kissed her, much as one -might salute a hot flatiron. Still I kissed her; and I think to the -satisfaction of a church-full looking on; but I knew what men condemned -have felt on that journey to block and ax. - -Apple Cheek and her choice of me made up the sweetest fortune of my -life, and now when I think of her it is as if I stood in a flood of -sunshine. So far as I was able, I housed her and robed her as though she -were the daughter of a king, and while I have met treason in others and -desertion where I looked for loyalty, I held her heart-fast, love-fast, -faith-fast, ever my own. She was my treasure, and when she died it was -as though my own end had come. - -Big Kennedy and the then Chief of Tammany, during my earlier years as -alderman, were as Jonathan and David. They were ever together, and their -plans and their interests ran side by side. At last they began to fall -apart. Big Kennedy saw a peril in this too-close a partnership, and was -for putting distance between them. It was Old Mike who thus counseled -him. The aged one became alarmed by the raw and insolent extravagance of -the Chief's methods. - -"Th' public," said Old Mike, "is a sheep, while ye do no more than -just rob it. But if ye insult it, it's a wolf. Now this man insults -th' people. Better cut loose from him, Jawn; he'll get ye all tor-rn to -pieces." - -The split came when, by suggestion of Old Mike and - -Big Kennedy, I refused to give my vote as alderman to a railway company -asking a terminal. There were millions of dollars in the balance, and -without my vote the machine and the railway company were powerless. The -stress was such that the mighty Chief himself came down to Big Kennedy's -saloon--a sight to make men stare! - -The two, for a full hour, were locked in Big Kennedy's sanctum; when -they appeared I could read in the black anger that rode on the brow of -the Chief how Big Kennedy had declined his orders, and now stood ready -to abide the worst. Big Kennedy, for his side, wore an air of confident -serenity, and as I looked at the pair and compared them, one black, the -other beaming, I was surprised into the conviction that Big Kennedy of -the two was the superior natural force. As the Chief reached the curb he -said: - -"You know the meaning of this. I shall tear you in two in the middle an' -leave you on both sides of the street!" - -"If you do, I'll never squeal," returned Big Kennedy carelessly. "But -you can't; I've got you counted. I can hold the ward ag'inst all you'll -send. An' you look out for yourself! I'll throw a switch on you yet -that'll send you to th' scrapheap." - -"I s'ppose you think you know what you're doin'?" said the other -angrily. - -"You can put a bet on it that I do," retorted Big Kennedy. "I wasn't -born last week." - -That evening as we sat silent and thoughtful, Big Kennedy broke forth -with a word. - -"I've got it! You're on speakin' terms with that old duffer, Morton, -who's forever talkin' about bein' a taxpayer. He likes you, since you -laid out Jimmy the Blacksmith that time. See him, an' fill him up with -th' notion that he ought to go to Congress. It won't be hard; he's sure -he ought to go somewhere, an' Congress will fit him to a finish. In two -days he'll think he's on his way to be a second Marcy. Tell him that if -his people will put him up, we'll join dogs with 'em an' pull down th' -place. You can say that we can't stand th' dishonesty an' corruption -at th' head of Tammany Hall, an' are goin' to make a bolt for better -government. We'll send the old sport to Congress. He'll give us a bundle -big enough to fight the machine, an' plank dollar for dollar with it. -An' it'll put us in line for a hook-up with th' reform bunch in th' -fight for th' town next year. It's the play to make; we're goin' to see -stormy weather, you an' me, an' it's our turn to make for cover. We'll -put up this old party, Morton, an' give th' machine a jolt. Th' Chief'll -leave me on both sides of th' street, will he? I'll make him think, -before he's through, that he's run ag'inst th' pole of a dray." - - - - -CHAPTER X--HOW JIMMY THE BLACKSMITH DIED - - -BIG KENNEDY was right; the reputable old gentleman rose to that lure -of Congress like any bass to any fly. It was over in a trice, those -preliminaries; he was proud to be thus called upon to serve the people. -Incidentally, it restored his hope in the country's future to hear that -such tried war-dogs of politics as Big Kennedy and myself were making a -line of battle against dishonesty in place. These and more were said -to me by the reputable old gentleman when I bore him that word how Big -Kennedy and I were ready to be his allies. The reputable old gentleman -puffed and glowed with the sheer glory of my proposal, and seemed -already to regard his election as a thing secured. - -In due course, his own tribe placed him in nomina-ton. That done, Big -Kennedy called a meeting of his people and declared for the reputable -old gentleman's support. Big Kennedy did not wait to be attacked by -the Tammany machine; he took the initiative and went to open rebellion, -giving as his reason the machine's corruption. - -"Tammany Hall has fallen into the hands of thieves!" shouted Big -Kennedy, in a short but pointed address which he made to his -clansmen. "As an honest member of Tammany, I am fighting to rescue the -organization." - -In its way, the move was a master-stroke. It gave us the high ground, -since it left us still in the party, still in Tammany Hall. It gave us a -position and a battle-cry, and sent us into the conflict with a cleaner -fame than it had been our wont to wear. - -In the beginning, the reputable old gentleman paid a pompous visit to -Big Kennedy. Like all who saw that leader, the reputable old gentleman -came to Big Kennedy's saloon. This last was a point upon which Big -Kennedy never failed to insist. - -"Th' man," said Big Kennedy, "who's too good to go into a saloon, is too -good to go into politics; if he's goin' to dodge th' one, he'd better -duck the' other." - -The reputable old gentleman met this test of the barrooms, and qualified -for politics without a quaver. Had a barroom been the shelter of his -infancy, he could not have worn a steadier assurance. As he entered, -he laid a bill on the bar for the benefit of the public then and there -athirst. Next he intimated a desire to talk privately with Big Kennedy, -and set his course for the sanctum as though by inspiration. Big Kennedy -called me to the confab; closing the door behind us, we drew together -about the table. - -"Let's cut out th' polite prelim'naries," said Big Kennedy, "an' come -down to tacks. How much stuff do you feel like blowin' in?" - -"How much should it take?" asked the reputable old gentleman. - -"Say twenty thousand!" returned Big Kennedy, as cool as New Year's Day. - -"Twenty thousand dollars!" repeated the reputable old gentleman, with -wide eyes. "Will it call for so much as that?" - -"If you're goin' to put in money, put in enough to win. There's no sense -puttin' in just enough to lose. Th' other fellows will come into th' -district with money enough to burn a wet dog. We've got to break even -with 'em, or they'll have us faded from th' jump." - -"But what can you do with so much?" asked the reputable old gentleman -dismally. "It seems a fortune! What would you do with it?" - -"Mass meetin's, bands, beer, torches, fireworks, halls; but most of all, -buy votes." - -"Buy votes!" exclaimed the reputable old gentleman, his cheek paling. - -"Buy 'em by th' bunch, like a market girl sells radishes!" Then, seeing -the reputable old gentleman's horror: "How do you s'ppose you're goin' -to get votes? You don't think that these dock-wallopers an' river -pirates are stuck on you personally, do you?" - -"But their interest as citizens! I should think they'd look at that!" - -"Their first interest as citizens," observed Big Kennedy, with a cynical -smile, "is a five-dollar bill." - -"But do you think it right to purchase votes?" asked the reputable old -gentleman, with a gasp. - -"Is it right to shoot a man? No. Is it right to shoot a man if he's -shootin' at you? Yes. Well, these mugs are goin' to buy votes, an' keep -at it early an' late. Which is why I say it's dead right to buy votes to -save yourself. Besides, you're th' best man; it's th' country's welfare -we're protectin', d'ye see!" - -The reputable old gentleman remained for a moment in deep thought. Then -he got upon his feet to go. - -"I'll send my son to talk with you," he said. Then faintly: "I guess -this will be all right." - -"There's somethin' you've forgot," said Big Kennedy with a chuckle, -as he shook hands with the reputable old gentleman when the latter was -about to depart; "there's a bet you've overlooked." Then, as the other -seemed puzzled: "You aint got off your bluff about bein' a taxpayer. -But, I understand! This is exec'tive session, an' that crack about bein' -a taxpayer is more of a public utterance. You're keepin' it for th' -stump, most likely." - -"I'll send my son to you to-night," repeated the reputable old -gentleman, too much in the fog of Big Kennedy's generous figures to heed -his jests about taxpayers. "He'll be here about eight o'clock." - -"That's right!" said Big Kennedy. "The sooner we get th' oil, th' sooner -we'll begin to light up." - -The reputable old gentleman kept his word concerning his son and that -young gentleman's advent. The latter was with us at eight, sharp, and -brought two others of hard appearance to bear him company as a kind of -bodyguard. The young gentleman was slight and superfine, with eyeglass, -mustache, and lisp. He accosted Big Kennedy, swinging a dainty cane the -while in an affected way. - -"I'm Mr. Morton--Mr. James Morton," he drawled. "You know my father." - -Once in the sanctum, and none save Big Kennedy and myself for company, -young Morton came to the question. - -"My father's running for Congress. But he's old-fashioned; he doesn't -understand these things." The tones were confident and sophisticated. I -began to see how the eyeglass, the cane, and the lisp belied our caller. -Under his affectations, he was as keen and cool a hand as Big Kennedy -himself. "No," he repeated, taking meanwhile a thick envelope from his -frock-coat, "he doesn't understand. The idea of money shocks him, don't -y' know." - -"That's it!" returned Big Kennedy, sympathetically. "He's old-fashioned; -he thinks this thing is like runnin' to be superintendent of a Sunday -school. He aint down to date." - -"Here," observed our visitor, tapping the table with the envelope, and -smiling to find himself and Big Kennedy a unit as to the lamentable -innocence of his father, "here are twenty one-thousand-dollar bills. -I didn't draw a check for reasons you appreciate. I shall trust you to -make the best use of this money. Also, I shall work with you through the -campaign." - -With that, the young gentleman went his way, humming a tune; and all as -though leaving twenty thousand dollars in the hands of some chance-sown -politician was the common employment of his evenings. When he was -gone, Big Kennedy opened the envelope. There they were; twenty -one-thousand-dollar bills. Big Kennedy pointed to them as they lay on -the table. - -"There's the reformer for you!" he said. "He'll go talkin' about Tammany -Hall; but once he himself goes out for an office, he's ready to buy a -vote or burn a church! But say! that young Morton's all right!" Here Big -Kennedy's manner betrayed the most profound admiration. "He's as flossy -a proposition as ever came down th' pike." Then his glance recurred -doubtfully to the treasure. "I wish he'd brought it 'round by daylight. -I'll have to set up with this bundle till th' bank opens. Some fly guy -might cop a sneak on it else. There's a dozen of my best customers, any -of whom would croak a man for one of them bills." - -The campaign went forward rough and tumble. Big Kennedy spent money -like water, the Red Jackets never slept, while the Tin Whistles met the -plug-uglies of the enemy on twenty hard-fought fields. - -The only move unusual, however, was one made by that energetic -exquisite, young Morton. Young Morton, in the thick from the first, went -shoulder to shoulder with Big Kennedy and myself. One day he asked us -over to his personal headquarters. - -"You know," said he, with his exasperating lisp, and daintily adjusting -his glasses, "how there's a lot of negroes to live over this way--quite -a settlement of them." - -"Yes," returned Big Kennedy, "there's about three hundred votes among -'em. I've never tried to cut in on 'em, because there's no gettin' a -nigger to vote th' Tammany ticket." - -"Three hundred votes, did you say?" lisped the youthful manager. "I -shall get six hundred." Then, to a black who was hovering about: "Call -in those new recruits." - -Six young blacks, each with a pleasant grin, marched into the room. - -"There," said young Morton, inspecting them with the close air of a -critic, "they look like the real thing, don't they? Don't you think -they'll pass muster?" - -"An' why not?" said Big Kennedy. "I take it they're game to swear to -their age, an' have got sense enough to give a house number that's in -th' district?" - -"It's not that," returned young Morton languidly. "But these fellows -aren't men, old chap, they're women, don't y' know! It's the clothes -does it. I'm going to dress up the wenches in overalls and jumpers; it's -my own little idea." - -"Say!" said Big Kennedy solemnly, as we were on our return; "that young -Morton beats four kings an' an ace. He's a bird! I never felt so -much like takin' off my hat to a man in my life. An' to think he's a -Republican!" Here Big Kennedy groaned over genius misplaced. "There's no -use talkin'; he ought to be in Tammany Hall." - -The district which was to determine the destinies of the reputable old -gentleman included two city wards besides the one over which Big Kennedy -held sway. The campaign was not two weeks old before it stood patent to -a dullest eye that Big Kennedy, while crowded hard, would hold his place -as leader in spite of the Tammany Chief and the best efforts he could -put forth. When this was made apparent, while the strife went forward -as fiercely as before, the Chief sent overtures to Big Kennedy. If that -rebellionist would return to the fold of the machine, bygones would be -bygones, and a feast of love and profit would be spread before him. Big -Kennedy, when the olive branch was proffered, sent word that he would -meet the Chief next day. He would be at a secret place he named. - -"An' tell him to come alone," said Big Kennedy to the messenger. "That's -th' way I'll come; an' if he goes to ringin' in two or three for this -powwow, you can say to him in advance it's all off." - -Following the going of the messenger, Big Kennedy fell into a brown -study. - -"Do you think you'll deal in again with the Chief and the machine?" I -asked. - -"It depends on what's offered. A song an' dance won't get me." - -"But how about the Mortons? Would you abandon them?" - -Big Kennedy looked me over with an eye of pity. Then he placed his hand -on my head, as on that far-off day in court. - -"You're learnin' politics," said Big Kennedy slowly, "an' you're showin' -speed. But let me tell you: You must chuck sentiment. Quit th' Mortons? -I'll quit 'em in a holy minute if th' bid comes strong enough." - -"Would you quit your friends?" - -"That's different," he returned. "No man ought to quit his friends. But -you must be careful an' never have more'n two or three, d'ye see. Now -these Mortons aint friends, they're confed'rates. It's as though we -happened to be members of the same band of porch-climbers, that's all. -Take it this way: How long do you guess it would take the Mortons to -sell us out if it matched their little game? How long do you think we'd -last? Well, we'd last about as long as a drink of whisky." Big Kennedy -met the Chief, and came back shaking his head in decisive negative. - -"There's nothin' in it," he said; "he's all for playin' th' hog. It's -that railway company's deal. Your vote as Alderman, mind you, wins or -loses it! What do you think now he offers to do? I know what he gets. He -gets stock, say two hundred thousand dollars, an' one hundred thousand -dollars in cold cash. An' yet he talks of only splittin' out fifteen -thousand for you an' me! Enough said; we fight him!" - -Jimmy the Blacksmith, when, in response to Big Kennedy's hint, he -"followed Gaffney," pitched his tent in the ward next north of our own. -He made himself useful to the leader of that region, and called together -a somber bevy which was known as the Alley Gang. With that care for -himself which had ever marked his conduct, Jimmy the Blacksmith, and -his Alley Gang, while they went to and fro as shoulder-hitters of -the machine, were zealous to avoid the Tin Whistles, and never put -themselves within their reach. On the one or two occasions when the Tin -Whistles, lusting for collision, went hunting them, the astute Alleyites -were no more to be discovered than a needle in the hay. - -"You couldn't find 'em with a search warrant!" reported my disgusted -lieutenant. "I never saw such people! They're a disgrace to th' East -Side." - -However, they were to be found with the last of it, and it would have -been a happier fortune for me had the event fallen the other way. - -It was the day of the balloting, and Big Kennedy and I had taken -measures to render the result secure. Not only would we hold our ward, -but the district and the reputable old gentleman were safe. Throughout -the morning the word that came to us from time to time was ever a white -one. It was not until the afternoon that information arrived of sudden -clouds to fill the sky. The news came in the guise of a note from young -Morton: - -"Jimmy the Blacksmith and his heelers are driving our people from the -polls." - -"You know what to do!" said Big Kennedy, tossing me the scrap of paper. - -With the Tin Whistles at my heels, I made my way to the scene of -trouble. It was full time; for a riot was on, and our men were winning -the worst of the fray. Clubs were going and stones were being thrown. - -In the heart of it, I had a glimpse of Jimmy the Blacksmith, a slungshot -to his wrist, smiting right and left, and cheering his cohorts. The -sight gladdened me. There was my man, and I pushed through the crowd to -reach him. This last was no stubborn matter, for the press parted before -me like water. - -Jimmy the Blacksmith saw me while yet I was a dozen feet from him. He -understood that he could not escape, and with that he desperately faced -me. As I drew within reach, he leveled a savage blow with the slungshot. -It would have put a period to my story if I had met it. The shot -miscarried, however, and the next moment I had rushed him and pinned him -against the walls of the warehouse in which the precinct's polls were -being held. - -"I've got you!" I cried, and then wrenched myself free to give me -distance. - -I was to strike no blow, however; my purpose was to find an interruption -in midswing. While the words were between my teeth, something like -a sunbeam came flickering by my head, and a long knife buried itself -vengefully in Jimmy the Blacksmith's throat. There was a choking gurgle; -the man fell forward upon me while the red torrent from his mouth -covered my hands. Then he crumpled to the ground in a weltering heap; -dead on the instant, too, for the point had pierced the spine. In a dumb -chill of horror, I stooped and drew forth the knife. It was that weapon -of the Bowery pawnshop which I had given the Sicilian. - - - - -CHAPTER XI--HOW THE BOSS STOOD AT BAY FOR HIS LIFE - - -WHEN I gave that knife to the Sicilian, I had not thought how on the -next occasion that I encountered it I should draw it from the throat of -a dead and fallen enemy. With the sight of it there arose a vision of -the dark brisk face, the red kerchief, and the golden earrings of him to -whom it had been presented. In a blurred way I swept the throng for his -discovery. The Sicilian was not there; my gaze met only the faces of -the common crowd--ghastly, silent, questioning, staring, as I stood with -knife dripping blood and the dead man on the ground at my feet. A police -officer was pushing slowly towards me, his face cloudy with apology. - -"You mustn't hold this ag'inst me," said he, "but you can see yourself, -I can't turn my blind side to a job like this. They'd have me pegged out -an' spread-eagled in every paper of th' town." - -"Yes!" I replied vaguely, not knowing what I said. "An' there's th' big -Tammany Chief you're fightin'," went on the officer; "he'd just about -have my scalp, sure. I don't see why you did it! Your heart must be -turnin' weak, when you take to carryin' a shave, an' stickin' people -like pigs!" - -"You don't think I killed him!" I exclaimed. - -"Who else?" he asked. - -The officer shrugged his shoulders and turned his hands palm upwards -with a gesture of deprecation. To the question and the gesture I made -no answer. It came to me that I must give my Sicilian time to escape. I -could have wished his friendship had taken a less tropical form; still -he had thrown that knife for me, and I would not name him until he had -found his ship and was safe beyond the fingers of the law. Even now I -think my course a proper one. The man innocent has ever that innocence -to be his shield; he should be ready to suffer a little in favor of ones -who own no such strong advantage. - -It was nine of that evening's clock before Big Kennedy visited me in the -Tombs. Young Morton came with him, clothed of evening dress and wearing -white gloves. He twisted his mustache between his kid-gloved finger and -thumb, meanwhile surveying the grimy interior--a fretwork of steel bars -and freestone--with looks of ineffable objection. The warden was with -them in his own high person when they came to my cell. That functionary -was in a mood of sullen uncertainty; he could not make out a zone of -safety for himself, when now Big Kennedy and the Tammany Chief were at -daggers drawn. He feared he might go too far in pleasuring the former, -and so bring upon him the dangerous resentment of his rival. - -"We can't talk here, Dave," said Big Kennedy, addressing the warden, -after greeting me through the cell grate. "Bring him to your private -office." - -"But, Mr. Kennedy," remonstrated the warden, "I don't know about that. -It's after lockin'-up hours now." - -"You don't know!" repeated Big Kennedy, the specter of a threat peeping -from his gray eyes. "An' you're to hand me out a line of guff about -lockin'-up hours, too! Come, come, Dave; it won't do to get chesty! The -Chief an' I may be pals to-morrow. Or I may have him done for an' on -th' run in a month. Where would you be then, Dave? No more words, I say: -bring him to your private office." - -There was no gainsaying the masterful manner of Big Kennedy. The warden, -weakened with years of fear of him and his power, grumblingly undid the -bolts and led the way to his room. - -"Deuced wretched quarters, I should say!" murmured young Morton, -glancing for a moment inside the cell. "Not at all worth cutting a -throat for." - -When we were in the warden's room, that master of the keys took up a -position by the door. This was not to Big Kennedy's taste. - -"Dave, s'ppose you step outside," said Big Kennedy. - -"It's no use you hearin' what we say; it might get you into trouble, -d'ye see!" The last, insinuatingly. - -"Mr. Kennedy, I'm afraid!" replied the warden, with the voice of one -worried. "You know the charge is murder. He's here for killin' Jimmy the -Blacksmith. I've no right to let him out of my sight." - -"To be sure, I know it's murder," responded Big Kennedy. "I'd be -plankin' down bail for him if it was anything else. But what's that got -to do with you skip-pin' into th' hall? You don't think I'm goin' to -pass him any files or saws, do you?" - -"Really, Mr. Warden," said young Morton, crossing over to where the -warden lingered irresolutely, "really, you don't expect to stay and -overhear our conversation! Why, it would be not only impolite, but -perposterous! Besides, it's not my way, don't y' know!" And here young -Morton put on his double eyeglass and ran the warden up and down with an -intolerant stare. - -"But he's charged, I tell you," objected the warden, "with killin' Jimmy -th' Blacksmith. I can't go to givin' him privileges an' takin' chances; -I'd get done up if I did." - -"You'll get done up if you don't!" growled Big Kennedy. - -"It is as you say," went on young Morton, still holding the warden -in the thrall of that wonderful eyeglass, "it is quite true that this -person, James the Horseshoer as you call him, has been slain and will -never shoe a horse again. But our friend had no hand in it, as we stand -ready to spend one hundred thousand dollars to establish. And by -the way, speaking of money,"--here young Morton turned to Big -Kennedy--"didn't you say as we came along that it would be proper to -remunerate this officer for our encroachments upon his time?" - -"Why, yes," replied Big Kennedy, with an ugly glare at the warden, "I -said that it might be a good idea to sweeten him." - -"Sweeten! Ah, yes; I recall now that sweeten was the term you employed. -A most extraordinary word for paying money. However," and here young -Morton again addressed the warden, tendering him at the same time a -one-hundred-dollar bill, "here is a small present. Now let us have no -more words, my good man." - -The warden, softened by the bill, went out and closed the door. I could -see that he looked on young Morton in wonder and smelled upon him a -mysterious authority. As one disposed to cement a friendship just begun, -the warden, as he left, held out his hand to young Morton. - -"You're th' proper caper!" he exclaimed, in a gush of encomium; "you're -a gent of th' right real sort!" Young Morton gazed upon the warden's -outstretched hand as though it were one of the curious things of nature. -At. last he extended two fingers, which the warden grasped. - -"This weakness for shaking hands," said young Morton, dusting his gloved -fingers fastidiously, "this weakness for shaking hands on the part of -these common people is inexcusable. Still, on the whole, I did not think -it a best occasion for administering a rebuke, don't y' know, and so -allowed that low fellow his way." - -"Dave's all right," returned Big Kennedy. Then coming around to me: "Now -let's get down to business. You understand how the charge is murder, an' -that no bail goes. But keep a stiff upper lip. The Chief is out to put -a crimp in you, but we'll beat him just th' same. For every witness he -brings, we'll bring two. Do you know who it was croaked th' Blacksmith?" - -I told him of the Sicilian; and how I had recognized the knife as I drew -it from the throat of the dead man. - -"It's a cinch he threw it," said Big Kennedy; "he was in the crowd an' -saw you mixin' it up with th' Blacksmith, an' let him have it. Them -Dagoes are great knife throwers. Did you get a flash of him in the -crowd?" - -"No," I said, "there was no sign of him. I haven't told this story to -anybody. We ought to give him time to take care of himself." - -"Right you are," said Big Kennedy approvingly. "He probably jumped -aboard his boat; it's even money he's outside the Hook, out'ard bound, -by now." - -Then Big Kennedy discussed the case. I would be indicted and tried; -there was no doubt of that. The Chief, our enemy, had possession of the -court machinery; so far as indictment and trial were concerned he would -not fail of his will. - -"An' it's th' judge in partic'lar, I'm leary of," said Big Kennedy -thoughtfully. "The Chief has got that jurist in hock to him, d'ye -see! But there's another end to it; I've got a pull with the party who -selects the jury, an' it'll be funny if we don't have half of 'em our -way. That's right; th' worst they can hand us is a hung jury. If it -takes money, now," and here Big Kennedy rolled a tentative eye on young -Morton, "if it should take money, I s'ppose we know where to look for -it?" - -Young Morton had been listening to every word, and for the moment, -nothing about him of his usual languor. Beyond tapping his white -teeth with the handle of his dress cane, he retained no trace of those -affectations. I had much hope from the alert earnestness of young -Morton, for I could tell that he would stay by my fortunes to the end. - -"What was that?" he asked, when Big Kennedy spoke of money. - -"I said that if we have to buy any little thing like a juror or a -witness, we know where to go for the money." - -"Certainly!" he lisped, relapsing into the exquisite; "we shall buy the -courthouse should the purchase of that edifice become necessary to our -friend's security." - -"Aint he a dandy!" exclaimed Big Kennedy, surveying young Morton in a -rapt way. Then coming back to me: "I've got some news for you that -you want to keep under your waistcoat. You know Billy Cassidy--Foxy -Billy--him that studied to be a priest? You remember how I got him a -post in th' Comptroller's office. Well, I sent for him not an hour ago; -he's goin' to take copies of th' accounts that show what th' Chief an' -them other highbinders at the top o' Tammany have been doin'. I'll have -the papers on 'em in less'n a week. If we get our hooks on what I'm -after, an' Foxy Billy says we shall, we'll wipe that gang off th' -earth." - -"Given those documents, we shall, as you say, obliterate them," chimed -in young Morton. "But speaking of your agent: Is this Foxy Billy as -astute as his name would imply?" - -"He could go down to Coney Island an' beat th' shells," said Big Kennedy -confidently. - -"About the knife which gave James the Horseshoer his death wound," said -young Morton. His tones were vapid, but his glance was bright enough. -"They've sent it to the Central Office. The detectives are sure -to discover the pawnbroker who sold it. I think it would be wise, -therefore, to carry the detectives the word ourselves. It will draw the -sting out of that wasp; it would, really. It wouldn't look well to a -jury, should we let them track down-this information, while it will -destroy its effect if we ourselves tell them. I think with the start he -has, we can trust that Sicilian individual to take care of himself." - -This suggestion appealed to Big Kennedy as good. He thought, too, that -he and young Morton might better set about the matter without delay. - -"Don't lose your nerve," said he, shaking me by the hand. "You are as -safe as though you were in church. I'll crowd 'em, too, an' get this -trial over inside of six weeks. By that time, if Foxy Billy is any good, -we'll be ready to give the Chief some law business of his own." - -"One thing," I said at parting; "my wife must not come here. I wouldn't -have her see me in a cell to save my life." - -From the moment of my arrival at the Tombs, I had not ceased to think of -Apple Cheek and her distress. Anne would do her best to comfort her; and -for the rest--why! it must be borne. But I could not abide her seeing me -a prisoner; not for her sake, but for my own. - -"Well, good-by!" said young Morton, as he and Big Kennedy were taking -themselves away. "You need give yourself no uneasiness. Remember, you -are not only right, but rich; and when, pray, was the right, on being -backed by riches, ever beaten down?" - -"Or for that matter, the wrong either?" put in Big Kennedy sagely. "I've -never seen money lose a fight." - -"Our friend," said young Morton, addressing the warden, who had now -returned, and speaking in a high superior vein, "is to have everything -he wants. Here is my card. Remember, now, this gentleman is my friend; -and it is not to my fancy, don't y' know, that a friend of mine should -lack for anything; it isn't, really!" - -As Big Kennedy and young Morton reached the door, I bethought me for the -first time to ask the result of the election. - -"Was your father successful?" I queried. "These other matters quite -drove the election from my head." - -"Oh, yes," drawled young Morton, "my father triumphed. I forget the -phrase in which Mr. Kennedy described the method of his success, but -it was highly epigrammatic and appropriate. How was it you said the old -gentleman won?" - -"I said that he won in a walk," returned Big Kennedy. Then, -suspiciously: "Say you aint guying me, be you?" - -"Me guy you?" repeated young Morton, elevating his brows. "I'd as soon -think of deriding a king with crown and scepter!" - -My trial came on within a month. Big Kennedy had a genius for -expedition, and could hurry both men and events whenever it suited his -inclinations. When I went to the bar I was accompanied by two of the -leaders of the local guild of lawyers. These were my counsel, and they -would leave no stone unturned to see me free. Big Kennedy sat by my side -when the jury was empaneled. - -"We've got eight of 'em painted," he whispered. "I'd have had all -twelve," he continued regretfully, "but what with the challengin', an' -what with some of 'em not knowin' enough, an' some of 'em knowin' too -much, I lose four. However, eight ought to land us on our feet." - -There were no Irishmen in the panel, and I commented on the fact as -strange. - -"No, I barred th' Irish," said Big Kennedy. "Th' Irish are all right; -I'm second-crop Irish--bein' born in this country--myself. But you don't -never want one on a jury, especially on a charge of murder. There's this -thing about a Mick: he'll cry an' sympathize with you an' shake your -hand, an' send you flowers; but just th' same he always wants you -hanged." - -As Big Kennedy had apprehended, the Judge on the bench was set hard and -chill as Arctic ice against me; I could read it in his jadestone eye. -He would do his utmost to put a halter about my neck, and the look -he bestowed upon me, menacing and full of doom, made me feel lost and -gallows-ripe indeed. Suppose they should hang me! I had seen Sheeny Joe -dispatched for Sing Sing from that very room! The memory of it, with the -Judge lowering from the bench like a death-threat, sent a cold thought -to creep and coil about my heart and crush it as in the folds of a -snake. - -There came the pawnbroker to swear how he sold me the knife those years -ago. The prosecution insisted as an inference drawn from this, that -the knife was mine. Then a round dozen stood up to tell of my rush -upon Jimmy the Blacksmith; and how he fell; and how, a moment later, I -fronted them with the red knife in my clutch and the dead man weltering -where he went down. Some there were who tried to say they saw me strike -the blow. - -While this evidence was piling up, ever and again some timid juryman -would glance towards Big Kennedy inquiringly. The latter would send back -an ocular volley of threats that meant death or exile should that juror -flinch or fail him. - -When the State ended, a score of witnesses took the stand in my behalf. -One and all, having been tutored by Big Kennedy, they told of the thrown -knife which came singing through the air like a huge hornet from the -far outskirts of the crowd. Many had not seen the hand that hurled the -knife; a few had been more fortunate, and described him faithfully as -a small lean man, dark, a red silk cloth over his head, and earrings -dangling from his ears. - -"He was a sailorman, too," said one, more graphic than the rest; "as I -could tell by the tar on his hands an' a ship tattooed on th' back of -one of 'em. He stood right by me when he flung the knife." - -"Why didn't you seize him?" questioned the State's Attorney, with a -half-sneer. - -"Not on your life!" said the witness. "I aint collarin' nobody; I don't -get policeman's wages." - -The Judge gave his instructions to the jury, and I may say he did his -best, or worst, to drag me to the scaffold. The jurors listened; but -they owned eyes as well as ears, and for every word spoken by the -Judge's tongue, Big Kennedy's eyes spoke two. Also, there was that -faultless exquisite, young Morton, close and familiar to my side. The -dullest ox-wit of that panel might tell how I was belted about by strong -influences, and ones that could work a vengeance. Wherefore, when the -jury at last retired, there went not one whose mind was not made up, and -no more than twenty minutes ran by before the foreman's rap on the door -announced them as prepared to give decision. They filed soberly in. The -clerk read the verdict. - -"Not guilty!" - -The Judge's face was like thunder; he gulped and glared, and then -demanded: - -"Is this your verdict?" - -"It is," returned the foreman, standing in his place; and his eleven -fellow jurors, two of whom belonged to my Red Jackets, nodded assent. - -Home I went on wings. Anne met me in the hallway and welcomed me with a -kiss. She wore a strange look, but in my hurry for Apple Cheek I took no -particular heed of that. - -"Where is she--where is my wife?" said I. - -Then a blackcoat man came from the rear room; he looked the doctor and -had the smell of drugs about him. Anne glanced at him questioningly. - -"I think he may come in," he said. "But make no noise! Don't excite -her!" - -Apple Cheek, who was Apple Cheek no longer with her face hollowed and -white, was lying in the bed. Her eyes were big and bright, and the ghost -of a smile parted her wan lips. - -"I'm so happy!" she whispered, voice hardly above a breath. Then with -weak hands she drew me down to her. "I've prayed and prayed, and I knew -it would come right," she murmured. - -Then Anne, who had followed me to the bedside, drew away the coverings. -It was like a revelation, for I had been told no word of it, nor so much -as dreamed of such sweet chances. The dear surprise of it was in one -sense like a blow, and I staggered on my feet as that day's threats -had owned no power to make me. There, with little face upturned and -sleeping, was a babe!--our babe! - ---Apple Cheek's and mine!--our baby girl that had been born to us while -its father lay in jail on a charge of murder! While I looked, it opened -its eyes; and then a wailing, quivering cry went up that swept across my -soul like a tune of music. - - - - -CHAPTER XII--DARBY THE GOPHER - - -FOXY BILLY CASSIDY made but slow work of obtaining those papers asked -for to overthrow our enemy, the Chief. He copied reams upon reams of -contracts and vouchers and accounts, but those to wholly match the -crushing purposes of Big Kennedy were not within his touch. The -documents which would set the public ablaze were held in a safe, of -which none save one most trusted by the Chief, and deep in both his -plans and their perils, possessed the secret. - -"That's how the game stands," explained Big Kennedy. "Foxy Billy's up -ag'inst it. The cards we need are in th' safe, an' Billy aint got th' -combination, d'ye see." - -"Can anything be done with the one who has?" - -"Nothin'," replied Big Kennedy. "No, there's no gettin' next to th' -party with th' combination. Billy did try to stand in with this duck; -an' say! he turned sore in a second." - -"Then you've no hope?" - -"Not exactly that," returned Big Kennedy, as though revolving some -proposal in his mind. "I'll hit on a way. When it comes to a finish, I -don't think there's a safe in New York I couldn't turn inside out. But -I've got to have time to think." - -There existed strong argument for exertion on Big Kennedy's part. Both -he and I were fighting literally for liberty and for life. Our sole -hope of safety layin the overthrow of the Chief; we must destroy or be -destroyed. - -Big Kennedy was alive to the situation. He said as much when, following -that verdict of "Not guilty!" I thanked him as one who had worked most -for my defense. - -"There's no thanks comin'," said Big Kennedy, in his bluff way. "I had -to break th' Chief of that judge-an'-jury habit at th' go-off. He'd have -nailed me next." - -Big Kennedy and I, so to phrase it, were as prisoners of politics. -Our feud with the Chief, as the days went by, widened to open war. -Its political effect was to confine us to our own territory, and we -undertook no enterprise which ran beyond our proper boundaries. It was -as though our ward were a walled town. Outside all was peril; inside -we were secure. Against the Chief and the utmost of his power, we could -keep our own, and did. His word lost force when once it crossed our -frontiers; his mandates fell to the ground. - -Still, while I have described ourselves as ones in a kind of captivity, -we lived sumptuously enough on our small domain. Big Kennedy went about -the farming of his narrow acres with an agriculture deeper than ever. No -enterprise that either invaded or found root in our region was permitted -to go free, but one and all paid tribute. From street railways to push -carts, from wholesale stores to hand-organs, they must meet our levy or -see their interests pine. And thus we thrived. - -However, for all the rich fatness of our fortunes, Big Kennedy's designs -against the Chief never cooled. On our enemy's side, we had daily proof -that he, in his planning, was equally sleepless. If it had not been for -my seat in the Board of Aldermen, and our local rule of the police which -was its corollary, the machine might have broken us down. As it was, we -sustained ourselves, and the sun shone for our ward haymaking, if good -weather went with us no farther. - -One afternoon Big Kennedy of the suddenest broke upon me with an -exclamation of triumph. - -"I have it!" he cried; "I know the party who will show us every paper in -that safe." - -"Who is he?" said I. - -"I'll bring him to you to-morrow night. He's got a country place up th' -river, an' never leaves it. He hasn't been out of th' house for almost -five years, but I think I can get him to come." Big Kennedy looked as -though the situation concealed a jest. "But I can't stand here talkin'; -I've got to scatter for th' Grand Central." - -Who should this gifted individual be? Who was he who could come in from -a country house, which he had not quitted for five years, and hand -us those private papers now locked, and fast asleep, within the -Comptroller's safe? The situation was becoming mysterious, and my -patience would be on a stretch until the mystery was laid bare. The sure -enthusiasm of Big Kennedy gave an impression of comfort. Big Kennedy was -no hare-brained optimist, nor one to count his chickens before they were -hatched. - -When Big Kennedy came into the sanctum on the following evening, the -grasp he gave me was the grasp of victory. - -"It's all over but th' yellin'!" said he; "we've got them papers in a -corner." - -Big Kennedy presented me to a shy, retiring person, who bore him -company, and who took my hand reluctantly. He was not ill-looking, this -stranger; but he had a furtive roving eye--the eye of a trapped animal. -His skin, too, was of a yellow, pasty color, like bad piecrust, and -there abode a damp, chill atmosphere about him that smelled of caves and -caverns. - -After I greeted him, he walked away in a manner strangely unsocial, and, -finding a chair, sate himself down in a corner. He acted as might one -detained against his will and who was not the master of himself. Also, -there was something professional in it all, as though the purpose of -his presence were one of business. I mentioned in a whisper the queer -sallowness of the stranger. - -"Sure!" said Big Kennedy. "It's th' prison pallor on him. I've got to -let him lay dead for a week or ten days to give him time to cover it -with a beard, as well as show a better haircut." - -"Who is he?" I demanded, my amazement beginning to sit up. - -"He's a gopher," returned Big Kennedy, surveying the stranger with -victorious complacency. "Yes, indeed; he can go through a safe like th' -grace of heaven through a prayer meetin'." - -"Is he a burglar?" - -"Burglar? No!" retorted Big Kennedy disgustedly; "he's an artist. Any -hobo could go in with drills an' spreaders an' pullers an' wedges, an' -crack a box. But this party does it by ear; just sits down before a -safe, an' fumbles an' fools with it ten minutes, an' swings her open. -I tell you he's a wonder! He knows th' insides of a safe like a priest -knows th' insides of a prayer-book." - -"Where was he?" I asked. "Where did you pick him up?" and here I took -a second survey of the talented stranger, who dropped his eyes on the -floor. - -"The Pen," said Big Kennedy. "The warden an' me are old side-partners, -an' I borrowed him. I knew where he was, d'ye see! He's doin' a stretch -of five years for a drop-trick he turned in an Albany bank. That's -what comes of goin' outside your specialty; he'd ought to have stuck to -safes." - -"Aren't you afraid he'll run?" I said. "You can't watch him night and -day, and he'll give you the slip." - -"No fear of his side-steppin'," replied Big Kennedy confidently. "He's -only got six weeks more to go, an' it wouldn't pay to slip his collar -for a little pinch of time like that. Besides, I've promised him five -hundred dollars for this job, an' left it in th' warden's hands." - -"What's his name?" I inquired. - -"Darby the Goph." - -Big Kennedy now unfolded his plan for making Darby the Goph useful in -our affairs. Foxy Billy would allow himself to get behind in his labors -over the City books. In a spasm of industry he would arrange with his -superiors to work nights until he was again abreast of his duties. Foxy -Billy, night after night, would thus be left alone in the Comptroller's -office. The safe that baffled us for those priceless documents would be -unguarded. Nothing would be thought by janitors and night watchmen of -the presence of Darby the Goph. He would be with Foxy Billy in the role -of a friend, who meant no more than to kindly cheer his lonely labors. - -Darby the Goph would lounge and kill time while Foxy Billy moiled. - -"There's the scheme to put Darby inside," said Big Kennedy in -conclusion. "Once they're alone, he'll tear th' packin' out o' that -safe. When Billy has copied the papers, th' game's as simple as suckin' -eggs. We'll spring 'em, an' make th' Chief look like a dress suit at a -gasfitters' ball." - -Big Kennedy's programme was worked from beginning to end by Foxy Billy -and Darby the Goph, and never jar nor jolt nor any least of friction. -It ran out as smoothly as two and two make four. In the end, Big Kennedy -held in his fingers every evidence required to uproot the Chief. The ear -and the hand of Darby the Goph had in no sort lost their cunning. - -"An' now," said Big Kennedy, when dismissing Darby the Goph, "you go -back where you belong. I've wired the warden, an' he'll give you that -bit of dough. I've sent for a copper to put you on th' train. I don't -want to take chances on you stayin' over a day. You might get to -lushin', an' disgrace yourself with th' warden." - -The police officer arrived, and Big Kennedy told him to see Darby the -Goph aboard the train. - -"Don't make no mistake," said Big Kennedy, by way of warning. "He -belongs in Sing Sing, an' must get back without fail to-night. Stay by -th' train till it pulls out." - -"How about th' bristles?" said the officer, pointing to the two-weeks' -growth of beard that stubbled the chin of the visitor. "Shall I have him -scraped?" - -"No, they'll fix his face up there," said Big Kennedy. "The warden don't -care what he looks like, only so he gets his clamps on him ag'in." - -"Here's the documents," said Big Kennedy, when Darby the Goph and his -escort had departed. "The question now is, how to give th' Chief th' -gaff, an' gaff him deep an' good. He's th' party who was goin' to leave -me on both sides of th' street." This last with an exultant sneer. - -It was on my thoughts that the hand to hurl the thunderbolt we had been -forging was that of the reputable old gentleman. The blow would fall -more smitingly if dealt by him; his was a name superior for this duty to -either Big Kennedy's or my own. With this argument, Big Kennedy declared -himself in full accord. - -"It'll look more like th' real thing," said he, "to have th' kick come -from th' outside. Besides, if I went to th' fore it might get in my way -hereafter." - -The reputable old gentleman moved with becoming conservatism, not to say -dignity. He took the documents furnished by the ingenuity of Darby the -Goph, and the oil-burning industry of Foxy Billy, and pored over them -for a day. Then he sent for Big Kennedy. "The evidence you furnish -me," said he, "seems absolutely conclusive. It betrays a corruption not -paralleled in modern times, with the head of Tammany as the hub of -the villainy. The town has been plundered of millions," concluded the -reputable old gentleman, with a fine oratorical flourish, "and it is my -duty to lay bare this crime in all its enormity, as one of the people's -Representatives." - -"An' a taxpayer," added Big Kennedy. - -"Sir, my duty as a Representative," returned the reputable old gentleman -severely, "has precedence over my privileges as a taxpayer." Then, as -though the question offered difficulties: "The first step should be the -publication of these documents in a paper of repute." - -The reputable old gentleman had grounds for hesitation. Our enemy, the -Chief, was not without his allies among the dailies of that hour. The -Chief was popular in certain glutton circles. He still held to those -characteristics of a ready, laughing, generous recklessness that marked -him in a younger day when, as head of a fire company, with trousers -tucked in boots, red shirt, fire helmet, and white coat thrown over arm, -he led the ropes and cheered his men. But what were excellent as traits -in a fireman, became fatal under conditions where secrecy and a policy -of no noise were required for his safety. He was headlong, careless; -and, indifferent to discovery since he believed himself secure, the -trail of his wrongdoing was as widely obvious, not to say as unclean, as -was Broadway. - -"Yes," said the reputable old gentleman, "the great thing is to pitch -upon a proper paper." - -"There's the _Dally Tory?_" suggested Big Kennedy. "It's a very honest -sheet," said the reputable old gentleman approvingly. - -"Also," said Big Kennedy, "the Chief has just cut it out of th' City -advertisin', d'ye see, an' it's as warm as a wolf." - -For these double reasons of probity and wrath, the _Daily Tory_ was -agreed to. The reputable old gentleman would put himself in touch with -the _Daily Tory_ without delay. - -"Who is this Chief of Tammany?" asked the reputable old gentleman, -towards the close of the conference. "Personally, I know but little -about him." - -"He'd be all right," said Big Kennedy, "but he was spoiled in the -bringin' up. He was raised with th' fire companies, an' he made th' -mistake of luggin' his speakin' trumpet into politics." - -"But is he a deep, forceful man?" - -"No," returned Big Kennedy, with a contemptuous toss of the hand. "If -he was, you wouldn't have been elected to Congress. He makes a brash -appearance, but there's nothin' behind. You open his front door an' -you're in his back yard." - -The reputable old gentleman was bowing us out of his library, when Big -Kennedy gave him a parting word. - -"Now remember: my name aint to show at all." - -"But the honor!" exclaimed the reputable old gentleman. "The honor of -this mighty reform will be rightfully yours. You ought to have it." - -"I'd rather have Tammany Hall," responded Big Kennedy with a laugh, "an' -if I get to be too much of a reformer it might queer me. No, you go in -an' do up th' Chief. When he's rubbed out, I intend to be Chief in his -place. I'd rather be Chief than have th' honor you tell of. There's more -money in it." - -"Do you prefer money to honor?" returned the reputable old gentleman, -somewhat scandalized. - -"I'll take th' money for mine, every time," responded Big Kennedy. -"Honor ought to have a bank account. The man who hasn't anything but -honor gets pitied when he doesn't get laughed at, an' for my part I'm -out for th' dust." - -Four days later the _Daily Tory_ published the first of its articles; it -fell upon our enemy with the force of a trip-hammer. From that hour the -assaults on the Chief gained never let or stay. The battle staggered on -for months. The public, hating him for his insolence, joined in hunting -him. One by one those papers, so lately his adorers, showed him their -backs. - -"Papers sail only with the wind," said Big Kennedy sagely, in commenting -on these ink-desertions of the Chief. - -In the midst of the trouble, Old Mike began to sicken for his end. He -was dying of old age, and the stream of his life went sinking into his -years like water into sand. Big Kennedy gave up politics to sit by the -bedside of the dying old man. One day Old Mike seemed greatly to revive. - -"Jawn," he said, "you'll be th' Chief of Tammany. The Chief, now -fightin' for his life, will lose. The mish-take he made was in robbin' -honest people. Jawn, he should have robbed th' crim'nals an' th' law -breakers. The rogues can't fight back, an' th' honest people can. An' -remember this: the public don't care for what it hears, only for what it -sees. Never interfere with people's beer; give 'em clean streets; double -the number of lamp-posts--th' public's like a fly, it's crazy over -lamps--an' have bands playin' in every par-rk. Then kape th' streets -free of ba-ad people, tinhorn min, an' such. You don't have to drive 'em -out o' town, only off th' streets; th' public don't object to dirt, but -it wants it kept in the back alleys. Jawn, if you'll follow what I tell -you, you can do what else ye plaze. The public will go with ye loike a -drunkard to th' openin' of a new s'loon." - -"What you must do, father," said Big Kennedy cheerfully, "is get well, -an' see that I run things straight." - -"Jawn," returned Old Mike, smiling faintly, "this is Choosday; by -Saturday night I'll be dead an' under th' daisies." - -Old Mike's funeral was a creeping, snail-like, reluctant thing of miles, -with woe-breathing bands to mark the sorrowful march. Big Kennedy never -forgot; and to the last of his power, the question uppermost in his -mind, though never in his mouth, was whether or not that one who sought -his favor had followed Old Mike to the grave. - -The day of Old Mike's funeral saw the destruction of our enemy, the -Chief. He fell with the crash of a tree. He fled, a hunted thing, and -was brought back to perish in a prison. And so came the end of him, -by the wit of Big Kennedy and the furtive sleighty genius of Darby the -Goph. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII--BIG KENNEDY AND THE MUGWUMPS - - -WHEN the old Chief was gone, Big Kennedy succeeded to his place as the -ruling spirit of the organization. For myself, I moved upward to become -a figure of power only a whit less imposing; for I stepped forth as -a leader of the ward, while in the general councils of Tammany I was -recognized as Big Kennedy's adviser and lieutenant. - -To the outside eye, unskilled of politics in practice, everything of -Tammany sort would have seemed in the plight desperate. The efforts -required for the overthrow of the old Chief, and Big Kennedy's bolt in -favor of the forces of reform--ever the blood enemy of Tammany--had torn -the organization to fragments. A first result of this dismemberment -was the formation of a rival organization meant to dominate the local -Democracy. This rival coterie was not without its reasons of strength, -since it was upheld as much as might be by the State machine. The -situation was one which for a time would compel Big Kennedy to tolerate -the company of his reform friends, and affect, even though he privately -opposed them, some appearance of sympathy with their plans for the -purification of the town. - -"But," observed Big Kennedy, when we considered the business between -ourselves, "I think I can set these guys by the ears. There aint a man -in New York who, directly or round th' corner, aint makin' money through -a broken law, an' these mugwumps aint any exception. I've invited three -members of the main squeeze to see me, an' I'll make a side bet they get -tired before I do." - -In deference to the invitation of Big Kennedy, there came to call upon -him a trio of civic excellence, each a personage of place. Leading -the three was our longtime friend, the reputable old gentleman. Of the -others, one was a personage whose many millions were invested in real -estate, the rentals whereof ran into the hundreds of thousands, while -his companion throve as a wholesale grocer, a feature of whose business -was a rich trade in strong drink. - -Big Kennedy met the triumvirate with brows of sanctimony, and was a -moral match for the purest. When mutual congratulations over virtue's -late successes at the ballot box, and the consequent dawn of whiter -days for the town, were ended, Big Kennedy, whose statecraft was of the -blunt, positive kind, brought to the discussional center the purpose of -the meeting. - -"We're not only goin' to clean up th' town, gents," said Big Kennedy -unctuously, "but Tammany Hall as well. There's to be no more corruption; -no more blackmail; every man an' every act must show as clean as a dog's -tooth. I s'ppose, now, since we've got th' mayor, th' alderman, an' th' -police, our first duty is to jump in an' straighten up th' village?" -Here Big Kennedy scanned the others with a virtuous eye. - -"Precisely," observed the reputable old gentleman. "And since the most -glaring evils ought to claim our earliest attention, we should compel -the police, without delay, to go about the elimination of the disorderly -elements--the gambling dens, and other vice sinks. What do you say, -Goldnose?" and the reputable old gentleman turned with a quick air to -him of the giant rent-rolls. - -"Now on those points," responded the personage of real estate dubiously, -"I should say that we ought to proceed slowly. You can't rid the -community of vice; history shows it to be impossible." Then, with a -look of cunning meaning: "There exist, however, evils not morally bad, -perhaps, that after all are violations of law, and get much more in the -way of citizens than gambling or any of its sister iniquities." Then, -wheeling spitefully on the reputable old gentleman: "There's the -sidewalk and street ordinances: You know the European Express Company, -Morton? I understand that you are a heaviest stockholder in it. I went -by that corner the other day and I couldn't get through for the jam -of horses and trucks that choked the street. There they stood, sixty -horses, thirty trucks, and the side street fairly impassable. I -scratched one side of my brougham to the point of ruin--scratched off my -coat-of-arms, in fact, on the pole of one of the trucks. I think that to -enforce the laws meant to keep the street free of obstructions is more -important, as a civic reform, than driving out gamblers. These latter -people, after all, get in nobody's way, and if one would find them one -must hunt for them. They are prompt with their rents, too, and ready to -pay a highest figure; they may be reckoned among the best tenants to be -found." - -The real estate personage was red in the face when he had finished this -harangue. He wiped his brow and looked resentfully at the reputable old -gentleman. That latter purist was now in a state of great personal heat. - -"Those sixty horses were being fed, sir," said he with spirit. "The barn -is more than a mile distant; there's no time to go there and back during -the noon hour. You can't have the barn on Broadway, you know. That would -be against the law, even if the value of Broadway property didn't put it -out of reach." - -"Still, it's against the law to obstruct the streets," declared the -real-estate personage savagely, "just as much as it is against the law -to gamble. And the trucks and teams are more of a public nuisance, sir!" - -"I suppose," responded the reputable old gentleman, with a sneer, -"that if my express horses paid somebody a double rent, paid it to you, -Goldnose, for instance, they wouldn't be so much in the way." Then, as -one exasperated to frankness: "Why don't you come squarely out like a -man, and say that to drive the disorderly characters from the town would -drive a cipher or two off your rents?" - -"If I, or any other real-estate owner," responded the baited one -indignantly, "rent certain tenements, not otherwise to be let, to -disorderly characters, whose fault is it? I can't control the town for -either its morals or its business. The town grows up about my property, -and conditions are made to occur that practically condemn it. Good -people won't live there, and the property is unfit for stores or -warehouses. What is an owner to do? The neighborhood becomes such that -best people won't make of it a spot of residence. It's either no rent, -or a tenant who lives somewhat in the shade. Real-estate owners, I -suppose, are to be left with millions of unrentable property on their -hands; but you, on your side, are not to lose half an hour in taking -your horses to a place where they might lawfully be fed? What do you -say, Casebottle?" and the outraged real-estate prince turned to the -wholesale grocer, as though seeking an ally. - -"I'm inclined, friend Goldnose," returned the wholesale grocer suavely, -"I'm inclined to think with you that it will be difficult to deal with -the town as though it were a camp meeting. Puritanism is offensive -to the urban taste." Here the wholesale grocer cleared his throat -impressively. - -"And so," cried the reputable old gentleman, "you call the suppression -of gamblers and base women, puritanism? Casebottle, I'm surprised!" - -The wholesale grocer looked nettled, but held his peace. There came a -moment of silence. Big Kennedy, who had listened without interference, -maintaining the while an inflexible morality, took advantage of the -pause. - -"One thing," said he, "about which I think you will all agree, is that -every ginmill open after hours, or on Sunday, should be pinched, and -no side-doors or speakeasy racket stood for. We can seal th' town up as -tight as sardines." - -Big Kennedy glanced shrewdly at Casebottle. Here was a move that would -injure wholesale whisky. Casebottle, however, did not immediately -respond; it was the reputable old gentleman who spoke. - -"That's my notion," said he, pursing his lips. "Every ginmill ought to -be closed as tight as a drum. The Sabbath should be kept free of that -disorder which rum-drinking is certain to breed." - -"Well, then," broke in Casebottle, whose face began to color as his -interests began to throb, "I say that a saloon is a poor man's club. If -you're going to close the saloons, I shall be in favor of shutting up -the clubs. I don't believe in one law for the poor and another for the -rich." - -This should offer some impression of how the visitors agreed upon a -civil policy. Big Kennedy was good enough to offer for the others, each -of whom felt himself somewhat caught in a trap, a loophole of escape. - -"For," explained Big Kennedy, "while I believe in rigidly enforcin' -every law until it is repealed, I have always held that a law can be -tacitly repealed by th' people, without waitin' for th' action of some -skate legislature, who, comin' for th' most part from th' cornfields, -has got it in for us lucky ducks who live in th' town. To put it this -way: If there's a Sunday closin' law, or a law ag'inst gamblers, or -a law ag'inst obstructin' th' streets, an' th' public don't want it -enforced, then I hold it's repealed by th' highest authority in th' -land, which is th' people, d'ye see!" - -"Now, I think that very well put," replied the real-estate personage, -with a sigh of relief, while the wholesale grocer nodded approval. "I -think that very well put," he went on, "and as it's getting late, I -suggest that we adjourn for the nonce, to meet with our friend, Mr. -Kennedy, on some further occasion. For myself, I can see that he and the -great organization of which he is now, happily, the head, are heartily -with us for reforming the shocking conditions that have heretofore -persisted in this community. We have won the election; as a corollary, -peculation and blackmail and extortion will of necessity cease. I think, -with the utmost safety to the public interest, we can leave matters to -take their natural course, without pushing to extremes. Don't you think -so, Mr. Kennedy?" - -"Sure!" returned that chieftain. "There's always more danger in too much -steam than in too little." - -The reputable old gentleman was by no means in accord with the -real-estate personage; but since the wholesale grocer cast in his voice -for moderation and no extremes, he found himself in a hopeless minority -of no one save himself. With an eye of high contempt, therefore, for -what he described as "The reform that needs reform," he went away with -the others, and the weighty convention for pure days was over. - -"An' that's th' last we'll see of 'em," said Big Kennedy, with a laugh. -"No cat enjoys havin' his own tail shut in th' door; no man likes th' -reform that pulls a gun on his partic'lar interest. This whole reform -racket," continued Big Kennedy, who was in a temper to moralize, "is, to -my thinkin', a kind of pouter-pigeon play. Most of 'em who go in for -it simply want to swell 'round. Besides the pouter-pigeon, who's in -th' game because he's stuck on himself, there's only two breeds of -reformers. One is a Republican who's got ashamed of himself; an' th' -other is some crook who's been kicked out o' Tammany for graftin' -without a license." - -"Would your last include you and me?" I asked. I thought I might hazard -a small jest, since we were now alone. - -"It might," returned Big Kennedy, with an iron grin. Then, twisting -the subject: "Now let's talk serious for two words. I've been doin' th' -bunco act so long with our three friends that my face begins to ache -with lookin' pious. Now listen: You an' me have got a long road ahead of -us, an' money to be picked up on both sides. But let me break this off -to you, an' don't let a word get away. When you do get th' stuff, don't -go to buildin' brownstone fronts, an' buyin' trottin' horses, an' givin' -yourself away with any Coal-Oil Johnny capers. If we were Republicans -or mugwumps it might do. But let a Democrat get a dollar, an' there's a -warrant out for him before night. When you get a wad, bury it like a dog -does a bone. An' speakin' of money; I've sent for th' Chief of Police.. -Come to think of it, we'd better talk over to my house. I'll go there -now, an' you stay an' lay for him. When he shows up, bring him to me. -There won't be so many pipin' us off over to my house." - -Big Kennedy left the Tammany headquarters, where he and the good -government trio had conferred, and sauntered away in the direction -of his habitat. The Chief of Police did not keep me in suspense. Big -Kennedy was not four blocks away when that blue functionary appeared. - -"I'm to go with you to his house," said I. - -The head of the police was a bloated porpoise-body of a man, oily, -plausible, masking his cunning with an appearance of frankness. As for -scruple; why then the sharks go more freighted of a conscience. - -Big Kennedy met the Chief of Police with the freedom that belongs with -an acquaintance, boy and man, of forty years. In a moment they had -gotten to the marrow of what was between them. - -"Of course," said Big Kennedy, "Tammany's crippled just now with not -havin' complete swing in th' town; an' I've got to bunk in more or less -with the mugwumps. Still, we've th' upper hand in th' Board of Aldermen, -an' are stronger everywhere than any other single party. Now you -understand;" and here Big Kennedy bent a keen eye on the other. "Th' -organization's in need of steady, monthly contributions. We'll want 'em -in th' work I'm layin' out. I think you know where to get 'em, an' I -leave it to you to organize th' graft. You get your bit, d'ye see! I'm -goin' to name a party, however, to act as your wardman an' make th' -collections. What sort is that McCue who was made Inspector about a week -ago?" - -"McCue!" returned the Chief of Police in tones of surprise. "That man -would never do! He's as honest as a clock!" - -"Honest!" exclaimed Big Kennedy, and his amazement was a picture. "Well, -what does he think he's doin' on th' force, then?" - -"That's too many for me," replied the other. Then, apologetically: "But -you can see yourself, that when you rake together six thousand men, no -matter how you pick 'em out, some of 'em's goin' to be honest." - -"Yes," assented Big Kennedy thoughtfully, "I s'ppose that's so, too. -It would be askin' too much to expect that a force, as you say, of six -thousand could be brought together, an' have 'em all crooked. It was -Father Considine who mentioned this McCue; he said he was his cousin an' -asked me to give him a shove along. It shows what I've claimed a dozen -times, that th' Church ought to keep its nose out o' politics. However, -I'll look over th' list, an' give you some good name to-morrow." - -"But how about th' town?" asked the Chief of Police anxiously. "I want -to know what I'm doin'. Tell me plain, just what goes an' what don't." - -"This for a pointer, then," responded Big Kennedy. "Whatever goes has -got to go on th' quiet. I've got to keep things smooth between me an' -th' mugwumps. The gamblers can run; an' I don't find any fault with even -th' green-goods people. None of 'em can beat a man who don't put himself -within his reach, an' I don't protect suckers. But knucks, dips, -sneaks, second-story people, an' strong-arm men have got to quit. That's -straight; let a trick come off on th' street cars, or at th' theater, or -in the dark, or let a crib get cracked, an' there'll be trouble between -you an' me, d'ye see! An' if anything as big as a bank should get done -up, why then, you send in your resignation. An' at that, you'll be dead -lucky if you don't do time." - -"There's th' stations an' th' ferries," said the other, with an -insinuating leer. "You know a mob of them Western fine-workers are -likely to blow in on us, an' we not wise to 'em--not havin' their mugs -in the gallery. That sort of knuck might do business at th' depots -or ferries, an' we couldn't help ourselves. Anyway," he concluded -hopefully, "they seldom touch up our own citizens; it's mostly th' -farmers they go through." - -"All right," said Big Kennedy cheerfully, "I'm not worryin' about what -comes off with th' farmers. But you tell them fine-workers, whose mugs -you haven't got, that if anyone who can vote or raise a row in New York -City goes shy his watch or leather, th' artist who gets it can't come -here ag'in. Now mind: You've got to keep this town so I can hang my -watch on any lamp-post in it, an' go back in a week an' find it hasn't -been touched. There'll be plenty of ways for me an' you to get rich -without standin' for sneaks an' hold-ups." - -Big Kennedy, so soon as he got possession of Tammany, began divers -improvements of a political sort, and each looking to our safety and -perpetuation. One of his moves was to break up the ward gangs, and this -included the Tin Whistles. - -"For one thing, we don't need 'em--you an' me," said he. "They could -only help us while we stayed in our ward an' kept in touch with 'em. The -gangs strengthen th' ward leaders, but they don't strengthen th' Chief. -So we're goin' to abolish 'em. The weaker we make th' ward leaders, the -stronger we make ourselves. Do you ketch on?" and Big Kennedy nudged me -significantly. - -"You've got to disband, boys," said I, when I had called the Tin -Whistles together. "Throw away your whistles. Big Kennedy told me that -the first toot on one of 'em would get the musician thirty days on the -Island. It's an order; so don't bark your shins against it." - -After Big Kennedy was installed as Chief, affairs in their currents for -either Big Kennedy or myself went flowing never more prosperously. The -town settled to its lines; and the Chief of Police, with a wardman whom -Big Kennedy selected, and who was bitten by no defect of integrity like -the dangerous McCue, was making monthly returns of funds collected for -"campaign purposes" with which the most exacting could have found no -fault. We were rich, Big Kennedy and I; and acting on that suggestion of -concealment, neither was blowing a bugle over his good luck. - -I could have been happy, being now successful beyond any dream that -my memory could lay hands on, had it not been for Apple Cheek and her -waning health. She, poor girl, had never been the same after my trial -for the death of Jimmy the Blacksmith; the shock of that trouble bore -her down beyond recall. The doctors called it a nervous prostration, but -I think, what with the fright and the grief of it, that the poor child -broke her heart. She was like something broken; and although years went -by she never once held up her head. Apple Cheek faded slowly away, and -at last died in my arms. - -When she passed, and it fell upon me like a pall that Apple Cheek had -gone from me forever, my very heart withered and perished within me. -There was but one thing to live for: Blossom, my baby girl. Anne came -to dwell with us to be a mother to her, and it was good for me what Anne -did, and better still for little Blossom. I was no one to have Blossom's -upbringing, being ignorant and rude, and unable to look upon her without -my eyes filling up for thoughts of my lost Apple Cheek. That was -a sharpest of griefs--the going of Apple Cheek! My one hope lay in -forgetfulness, and I courted it by working at politics, daylight and -dark. - -It would seem, too, that the blow that sped death to Apple Cheek had -left its nervous marks on little Blossom. She was timid, hysterical, -terror-whipped of fears that had no form. She would shriek out in the -night as though a fiend frighted her, and yet could tell no story of it. -She lived the victim of a vast formless fear that was to her as a demon -without outlines or members or face. One blessing: I could give the -trembling Blossom rest by holding her close in my arms, and thus she has -slept the whole night through. The "frights," she said, fled when I was -by. - -In that hour, Anne was my sunshine and support; I think I should have -followed Apple Cheek had it not been for Blossom, and Anne's gentle -courage to hold me up. For all that, my home was a home of clouds and -gloom; waking or sleeping, sorrow pressed upon me like a great stone. I -took no joy, growing grim and silent, and far older than my years. - -One evening when Big Kennedy and I were closeted over some enterprise -of politics, that memorable exquisite, young Morton, was announced. -He greeted us with his old-time vacuity of lisp and glance, and after -mounting that double eyeglass, so potent with the herd, he said: -"Gentlemen, I've come to make some money." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV--THE MULBERRY FRANCHISE - - -THAT'S my purpose in a nutshell," lisped young Morton; "I've decided to -make some money; and I've come for millions." Here he waved a delicate -hand, and bestowed upon Big Kennedy and myself his look of amiable -inanity. - -"Millions, eh?" returned Big Kennedy, with his metallic grin. "I've seen -whole fam'lies taken the same way. However, I'm glad you're no piker." - -"If by 'piker,'" drawled young Morton, "you mean one of those cheap -persons who play for minimum stakes, I assure you that I should scorn -to be so described; I should, really! No, indeed; it requires no more of -thought or effort to play for millions than for ten-dollar bills." - -"An' dead right you are!" observed Big Kennedy with hearty emphasis. "A -sport can buck faro bank for a million as easily as for a white chip. -That is, if he can find a game that'll turn for such a bundle, an' has -th' money to back his nerve. What's true of faro is true of business. -So you're out for millions! I thought your old gent, who's into fifty -enterprises an' has been for as many years, had long ago shaken -down mankind for a whole mountain of dough. The papers call him a -multimillionaire." - -Young Morton, still with the empty smile, brought forth a cigarette -case. The case, gold, was adorned with a ruby whereon to press when one -would open it, and wore besides the owner's monogram in diamonds. Having -lighted a cigarette, he polished his eyeglass with a filmy handkerchief. -Re-establishing the eyeglass on his high patrician nose, he again shone -vacuously upon Big Kennedy. - -That personage had watched these manifestations of fastidious culture -in a spirit of high delight. Big Kennedy liked young Morton; he had long -ago made out how those dandyisms were no more than a cover for what fund -of force and cunning dwelt beneath. In truth, Big Kennedy regarded young -Morton's imbecilities as a most fortunate disguise. His remark would -show as much. As young Morton--cigarette just clinging between his lips, -eye of shallow good humor--bent towards him, he said, addressing me: - -"Say! get onto that front! That look of not knowin' nothin' ought -by itself to cash in for half a million! Did you ever see such a -throw-off?" and here Big Kennedy quite lost himself in a maze of -admiration. Recovering, however, and again facing our caller, he -repeated: "Yes, I thought your old gent had millions." - -"Both he and the press," responded young Morton, "concede that he has; -they do, really! Moreover, he possesses, I think, the evidence of it in -a cord or two of bonds and stocks, don't y' know! But in what fashion, -pray, does that bear upon my present intentions as I've briefly laid -them bare?" - -"No fashion," said Big Kennedy, "only I'd naturally s'ppose that when -you went shy on th' long green, you'd touch th' old gentleman." - -"Undoubtedly," returned young Morton, "I could approach my father with -a request for money--that is if my proposal were framed in a spirit of -moderation, don't y' know!--say one hundred thousand dollars. But such -a sum, in my present temper, would be but the shadow of a trifle. I -owe five times the amount; I do, really! I've no doubt I'm on Tiffany's -books for more than one hundred thousand, while my bill at the florist's -should be at least ten thousand dollars, if the pen of that brigand of -nosegays has kept half pace with his rapacity. However," concluded young -Morton, breaking into a soft, engaging laugh, "since I intend, with your -aid, to become the master of millions, such bagatelles are unimportant, -don't y' know." - -"Certainly!" observed Big Kennedy in a consolatory tone; "they don't -amount to a deuce in a bum deck. Still, I must say you went in up to -your neck on sparks an' voylets. I never saw such a plunger on gewgaws -an' garlands since a yard of cloth made a coat for me." - -"Those bills arose through my efforts to make grand opera beautiful. I -set the prima donna ablaze with gems; and as for the stage, why, it was -like singing in a conservatory; it was really!" - -"Well, let that go!" said Big Kennedy, after a pause. "I shall be glad -if through my help you make them millions. If you do, d'ye see, I'll -make an armful just as big; it's ag'inst my religion to let anybody grab -off a bigger piece of pie than I do when him an' me is pals. It would -lower my opinion of myself. However, layin' guff aside, s'ppose you butt -in now an' open up your little scheme. Let's see what button you think -you're goin' to push." - -"This is my thought," responded young Morton, and as he spoke the -eyeglass dropped from its aquiline perch, and under the heat of a -real animation those mists of affectation were dissipated; "this is my -thought: I want a street railway franchise along Mulberry Avenue, the -length of the Island." - -"Go on," said Big Kennedy. - -"It's my plan to form a corporation---Mulberry Traction. There'll be -eight millions of preferred stock at eight per cent. I can build and -equip the road with that. In addition, there'll be ten millions of -common stock." - -"Have you th' people ready to take th' preferred?" - -"Ready and waiting. If I had the franchise, I could float those eight -millions within ten days." - -"What do you figger would be th' road's profits?" - -"It would carry four hundred thousand passengers a day, and take in -twenty thousand dollars. The operating expenses would not exceed an -annual four millions and a half. That, after the eight per cent, on -the preferred were paid, would leave over two millions a year on the -common--a dividend of twenty per cent., or five per cent, every quarter. -You can see where such returns would put the stock. You, for your ride, -would go into the common on the ground floor." - -"We'll get to how I go in, in a minute," responded Big Kennedy dryly. -He was impressed by young Morton's proposal, and was threshing it out in -his mind as they talked. "Now, see here," he went on, lowering his -brows and fixing his keen gray glance on young Morton, "you mustn't get -restless if I ask you questions. I like to tap every wheel an' try every -rivet on a scheme or a man before I hook up with either." - -"Ask what you please," said young Morton, as brisk as a terrier. - -"I'll say this," observed Big Kennedy. "That traction notion shows that -you're a hogshead of horse sense. But of course you understand that -you're going to need money, an' plenty of it, before you get th' -franchise. I can take care of th' Tammany push, perhaps; but there's -highbinders up to your end of th' alley who'll want to be greased." - -"How much do you argue that I'll require as a preliminary to the grant -of the franchise?" asked young Morton, interrupting Big Kennedy. - -"Every splinter of four hundred thousand." - -"That was my estimate," said young Morton; "but I've arranged for twice -that sum." - -"Who is th' Rothschild you will get it from?" - -"My father," replied young Morton, and now he lapsed anew into his -manner of vapidity. "Really, he takes an eighth of the preferred at -par--one million! I've got the money in the bank, don't y' know!" - -"Good!" ejaculated Big Kennedy, with the gleam which never failed to -sparkle in his eye at the mention of rotund riches. - -"My father doesn't know my plans," continued young Morton, his indolence -and his eyeglass both restored. "No; he wouldn't let me tell him; he -wouldn't, really! I approached him in this wise: - -"'Father,' said I, 'you are aware of the New York alternative?' - -"'What is it?' he asked. - -"'Get money or get out.' - -"'Well!'said he. - -"'Father, I've decided not to move. Yes, father; after a full -consideration of the situation, I've resolved to make, say twenty or -thirty millions for myself; I have, really! It's quite necessary, don't -y' know; I am absolutely bankrupt. And I don't like it; there's nothing -comfortable in being bankrupt, it so deucedly restricts a man. Besides, -it's not good form. I've evolved an idea, however; there's a business I -can go into.' - -"'Store?' he inquired. - -"'No, no, father,' I replied, for the odious supposition quite upset me; -'it's nothing so horribly vulgar as trade; it's a speculation, don't y' -know. There'll be eight millions of preferred stock; you are to take a -million. Also, you are to give me the million at once.' - -"'What is this speculation?' he asked. 'If I'm to go in for a million, I -take it you can entrust me with the outlines.' - -"'Really, it was on my mind to do so,' I replied. - -"'My scheme is this: I shall make an alliance with Mr. Kennedy.' - -"'Stop, stop!' cried my father hastily. 'On the whole, I don't care to -hear your scheme. You shall have the money; but I've decided that it -will reflect more glory upon you should you bring things to an issue -without advice from me. Therefore, you need tell me no more; positively, -I will not hear you.'" - -"It was my name made him leary," observed Big Kennedy, with the -gratified face of one who has been paid a compliment. "When you said -'Kennedy,' he just about figgered we were out to get a kit of tools -an' pry a shutter off th' First National. It's th' mugwump notion of -Tammany, d'ye see! You put him onto it some time, that now I'm Chief -I've got center-bits an' jimmies skinned to death when it comes to -makin' money." - -"I don't think it was your name," observed young Morton. "He's beginning -to learn, however, about my voting those three hundred wenches in -overalls and jumpers, don't y' know, and it has taught him to distrust -my methods as lacking that element of conservatism which he values so -much. It was that which came uppermost in his memory, and it occurred -to him that perhaps the less he knew about my enterprises the sounder he -would sleep. Is it not remarkable, how fondly even an advanced man like -my father will cling to the moss-grown and the obsolete?" - -"That's no dream neither!" exclaimed Big Kennedy, in earnest coincidence -with young Morton. "It's this old fogy business on th' parts of people -who ought to be leadin' up th' dance for progress, that sends me to bed -tired in th' middle of th' day!" And here Big Kennedy shook his head -reproachfully at gray ones whose sluggishness had wounded him. - -"My father drew his check," continued young Morton. "He couldn't let it -come to me, however, without a chiding. Wonderful, how the aged like -to lord it over younger folk with rebukes for following in their -footsteps--really! - -"'You speak of bankruptcy,' said my father, sucking in his cheeks. -'Would it violate confidence should you tell me how you come to be in -such a disgraceful predicament?' This last was asked in a spirit of -sarcasm, don't y' know. - -"'It was by following your advice, sir,' said I. - -"'Following my advice!' exclaimed my father. 'What do you mean, sir? Or -are you mad?' - -"'Not at all,' I returned. 'Don't you recall how, when I came from -college, you gave me a world of advice, and laid particular stress on -my establishing a perfect credit? "Nothing is done without credit," you -said on that occasion; "and it should be the care of a young man, as -he enters upon life, to see to it that his credit is perfect in every -quarter of trade. He should extend his credit with every opportunity." -This counsel made a deep impression upon me, it did, really! and so I've -extended my credit wherever I saw a chance until I owe a half-million. -I must say, father, that I think it would have saved me money, don't -y' know, had you told me to destroy my credit as hard as I could. In -fostering my credit, I but warmed a viper.'" - -Young Morton paused to fire another cigarette, while the pucker about -the corner of his eye indicated that he felt as though he had turned the -laugh upon his father. Following a puff or two, he returned gravely to -Mulberry Traction. - -"Do you approve my proposition?" he asked of Big Kennedy, "and will you -give me your aid?" - -"The proposition's all hunk," said Big Kennedy. "As to my aid: that -depends on whether we come to terms." - -"What share would you want?" - -"Forty per cent, of th' common stock," responded Big Kennedy. "That's -always th' Tammany end; forty per cent." - -Young Morton drew in his lips. The figure seemed a surprise. "Do you -mean that you receive four millions of the common stock, you paying -nothing?" he asked at last. - -"I don't pony for a sou markee. An' I get th' four millions, d'ye see! -Who ever heard of Tammany payin' for anything!" and Big Kennedy glared -about the room, and sniffed through his nose, as though in the presence -of all that might be called preposterous. - -"But if you put in no money," remonstrated young Morton, "why should -you have the stock? I admit that you ought to be let in on lowest terms; -but, after all, you should put in something." - -"I put in my pull," retorted Big Kennedy grimly. "You get your franchise -from me." - -"From the City," corrected young Morton. - -"I'm the City," replied Big Kennedy; "an' will be while I'm on top of -Tammany, an' Tammany's on top of th' town." Then, with a friendliness -of humor: "Here, I like you, an' I'll go out o' my way to educate you -on this point. You're fly to some things, an' a farmer on others. Now -understand: The City's a come-on--a sucker--an' it belongs to whoever -picks it up. That's me this trip, d'ye see! Now notice: I've got no -office; I'm a private citizen same as you, an' I don't owe no duty to -th' public. Every man has his pull--his influence. You've got your pull; -I've got mine. When a man wants anything from th' town, he gets his -pull to work. In this case, my pull is bigger than all th' other pulls -clubbed together. You get that franchise or you don't get it, just as I -say. In short, you get it from me--get it by my pull, d'ye see! Now why -shouldn't I charge for th' use of my pull, just as a lawyer asks his -fee, or a bank demands interest when it lends? My pull's my pull; it's -my property as much as a bank's money is th' bank's, or a lawyer's -brains is the lawyer's. I worked hard to get it, an' there's hundreds -who'd take it from me if they could. There's my doctrine: I'm a private -citizen; my pull is my capital, an' I'm as much entitled to get action -on it in favor of myself as a bank has to shave a note. That's why -I take forty per cent. It's little enough: The franchise will be -four-fifths of th' whole value of th' road; an' all I have for it is -two-fifths of five-ninths, for you've got to take into account them -eight millions of preferred." - -Young Morton was either convinced of the propriety of what Big Kennedy -urged, or saw--the latter is the more likely surmise--that he must -agree if he would attain success for his enterprise. He made no more -objection, and those forty per cent, in favor of Big Kennedy were looked -upon as the thing adjusted. - -"You spoke of four hundred thousand dollars as precedent to the -franchise," said young Morton. "Where will that go?" - -"There's as many as thirty hungry ones who, here an' there an' each in -our way, must be met an' squared." - -"How much will go to your fellows?" - -"Most of th' Tammany crowd I can beat into line. But there's twelve who -won't take orders. They were elected as 'Fusion' candidates, an' they -think that entitles 'em to play a lone hand. Whenever Tammany gets th' -town to itself, you can gamble! I'll knock their blocks off quick. You -ask what it'll take to hold down th' Tammany people? I should say two -hundred thousand dollars. We'll make it this way: I'll take thirty per -cent, instead of forty of th' common, an' two hundred thousand in coin. -That'll be enough to give us th' Tammany bunch as solid as a brick -switch shanty." - -"That should do," observed young Morton thoughtfully. - -When young Morton was about to go, Big Kennedy detained him with a final -query. - -"This aint meant to stick pins into you," said Big Kennedy, "but, on th' -dead! I'd like to learn how you moral an' social high-rollers reconcile -yourselves to things. How do you agree with yourself to buy them votes -needed to get th' franchise? Not th' ones I'll bring in, an' which you -can pretend you don't know about; but them you'll have to deal with -personally, d'ye see!" - -"There'll be none I'll deal with personally, don't y' know," returned -young Morton, getting behind his lisp and eyeglass, finding them a -refuge in what was plainly an embarrassed moment, "no; I wouldn't do -anything with the vulgar creatures in person. They talk such awful -English, it gets upon my nerves--really! But I've retained Caucus & -Club; they're lawyers, only they don't practice law, they practice -politics. They'll attend to those low details of which you speak. For me -to do so wouldn't be good form. It would shock my set to death, don't y' -know!" - -"That's a crawl-out," observed Big Kennedy reproachfully, "an' it aint -worthy of you. Why don't you come to th' center? You're goin' to give -up four hundred thousand dollars to get this franchise. You don't think -it's funny--you don't do it because you like it, an' are swept down in a -gust of generosity. An' you do think it's wrong." - -"Really, now you're in error," replied young Morton earnestly, but -still clinging to his lisp and his languors. "As you urge, one has -scant pleasure in paying this money. On the contrary, I shall find it -extremely dull, don't y' know! But I don't call it wrong. I'm entitled, -under the law, and the town's practice--a highly idiotic one, this -latter, I concede!--of giving these franchises away, to come forward -with my proposition. Since I offer to build a perfect road, and to run -it in a perfect manner, I ought, as a matter of right--always bearing -in mind the town's witless practice aforesaid--to be granted this -franchise. But those officers of the city who, acting for the city, -should make the grant, refuse to do their duty by either the city or -myself, unless I pay to each of them, say ten thousand dollars; they -do, really! What am I to do? I didn't select those officers; the public -picked them out. Must I suffer loss, and go defeated of my rights, -because the public was so careless or so ignorant as to pitch upon those -improper, or, if you will, dishonest officials? I say, No. The fault is -not mine; surely the loss should not be mine. I come off badly enough -when I submit to the extortion. No, it is no more bribery, so far as -I am involved, than it is bribery when I surrender my watch to that -footpad who has a pistol at my ear. In each instance, the public should -have saved me and has failed, don't y' know. The public, thus derelict, -must not denounce me when, under conditions which its own neglect has -created, I take the one path left open to insure myself; it mustn't, -really!" - -Young Morton wiped the drops from his brow, and I could tell how he was -deeply in earnest in what he thus put forward. Big Kennedy clapped him -lustily on the back. - -"Put it there!" he cried, extending his hand. "I couldn't have said it -better myself, an' I aint been doin' nothin' but buy aldermen since I -cut my wisdom teeth. There's one last suggestion, however: I take it, -you're onto the' fact that Blackberry Traction will lock horns with us -over this franchise. We parallel their road, d'ye see, an' they'll try -to do us up." Then to me: "Who are th' Blackberry's pets in th' Board?" - -"McGinty and Doloran," I replied. - -"Keep your peepers on them babies. You can tell by th' way they go -to bat, whether th' Blackberry has signed up to them to kill our -franchise." - -"I can tell on the instant," I said. - -"That has all been anticipated," observed young Morton. "The president -of Blackberry Traction is a member of my club; we belong in the same -social set. I foresaw his opposition, and I've provided for it; I have, -really! McGinty and Doloran, you say? The names sound like the enemy. -Please post me if those interesting individuals move for our disfavor." - -And now we went to work. Whatever was demanded of the situation as it -unfolded found prompt reply, and in the course of time Mulberry Traction -was given its franchise. The Blackberry at one crisis came forward to -work an interruption; the sudden hot enmity of McGinty and Doloran was -displayed. I gave notice of it to young Morton. - -"I'll arrange the matter," he said. "At the next meeting of the Board I -think they will be with us, don't y' know." - -It was even so; and since Big Kennedy, with my aid, discharged every -responsibility that was his, the ordinance granting the franchise went -through, McGinty and Doloran voting loudly with the affirmative. They -were stubborn caitiffs, capable of much destructive effort, and their -final tameness won upon my surprise. I put the question of it to young -Morton. - -"This is the secret of that miracle," said he. "The president of -Blackberry has been a Wall Street loser, don't y' know, for more than a -year--has lost more than he could honestly pay. And yet he paid! Where -did he get the money? At first I asked myself the question in a feeling -of lazy curiosity. When I decided to organize our Mulberry Traction, I -asked it in earnest; I did, really! I foresaw my friend's opposition, -and was seeking a weapon against him. Wherefore I looked him over -with care, trying to determine where he got his loans. Now, he was the -president, and incidentally a director, of the Confidence Trust Company. -I bought stock in the Confidence. Then I drew into my interest that -employee who had charge of the company's loans. I discovered that our -Blackberry president had borrowed seven millions from the Trust -Company, giving as security a collection of dogs and cats and chips and -whetstones, don't y' know! That was wrong; considering his position -as an officer of the company, it was criminal. I made myself master of -every proof required to establish his guilt in court. Then I waited. -When you told me of those evil symptoms manifested by McGinty and -Doloran, I took our president into the Fifth Avenue window of the club -and showed him those evidences of his sins. He looked them over, lighted -a cigar, and after musing for a moment, asked if the help of McGinty and -Doloran for our franchise would make towards my gratification. I told -him I would be charmed--really! You know the rest. Oh, no; I did not do -so rude a thing as threaten an arrest. It wasn't required. Our president -is a highly intellectual man. Besides, it wouldn't have been clubby; and -it would have been bad form. And," concluded young Morton, twirling -his little cane, and putting on that look of radiant idiocy, "I've an -absolute mania for everything that's form, don't y' know." - - - - -CHAPTER XV--THAT GAS COMPANY INJUNCTION - - -YOUNG MORTON was president of Mulberry Traction. When the franchise -came sound and safe into the hands of Mulberry, young Morton evolved a -construction company and caused himself to be made president and manager -thereof. These affairs cleared up, he went upon the building of his road -with all imaginable spirit. He was still that kid-gloved, eve-glassed -exquisite of other hours, but those who dealt with him in his -road-building knew in him a hawk to see and a lion to act in what he -went about. Big Kennedy was never weary of his name, and glowed at its -merest mention. - -"He's no show-case proposition!" cried Big Kennedy exultantly. "To look -at him, folks might take him for a fool. They'd bring him back, you bet! -if they did. You've got to see a party in action before you can tell -about him. A mudscow will drift as fast as an eight-oared shell; it's -only when you set 'em to goin' endwise, an' give 'em a motive, you begin -to get onto th' difference." - -One day young Morton told me how the Gas Company had lodged suit against -Mulberry. - -"They've gotten a beastly injunction, they have, really!" said he. -"They say we're digging, don't y' know, among their pipes and mains. The -hearing is put down for one week from to-day." - -"The Gas Company goes vastly out of its way in this!" observed the -reputable old gentleman indignantly. - -He had arrived in company with young Morton. When now the franchise was -obtained, and those more devious steps for Mulberry advancement had been -taken, the reputable old gentleman began to feel a vigorous interest in -his son's enterprise. The reputable old gentleman had grown proud of his -son, and it should be conceded that young Morton justified the paternal -admiration. - -"Let us go over to Tammany Hall," said I, "and talk with Big Kennedy." - -We found Big Kennedy in cheerful converse with the Reverend Bronson, -over the latter's Five Points Mission. He and the dominie were near Big -Kennedy's desk; in a far corner lolled a drunken creature, tattered, -unshorn, disreputable, asleep and snoring in his chair. As I entered the -room, accompanied by the reputable old gentleman and young Morton, Big -Kennedy was giving the Reverend Bronson certain hearty assurances of his -good will. - -"I'll see to it to-day," Big Kennedy was saying. "You go back an' deal -your game. I'll have two cops detailed to every meetin', d'ye see, an' -their orders will be to break their night-sticks over th' head of th' -first duck that laughs or makes a row. You always come to me for what -you want; you can hock your socks I'll back you up. What this town needs -is religious teachin' of an elevated kind, an' no bunch of Bowery bums -is goin' to give them exercises th' smother. An' that goes!" - -"I'm sure I'm much obliged," murmured the Reverend Bronson, preparing to -take himself away. Then, turning curious: "May I ask who that lost and -abandoned man is?" and he indicated the drunkard, snoring in his chair. - -"You don't know him," returned Big Kennedy, in a tone of confident, -friendly patronage. "Just now he's steeped in bug juice to th' eyes, -an' has been for a week. But I'm goin' to need him; so I had him brought -in." - -"Of what earthly use can one who has fallen so low be put to?" asked the -Reverend Bronson. Then, with a shudder: "Look at him!" - -"An' that's where you go wrong!" replied Big Kennedy, who was in one of -his philosophical humors. "Now if it was about morals, or virtue, or th' -hereafter, I wouldn't hand you out a word. That's your game, d'ye see, -an' when it's a question of heaven, you've got me beat. But there's -other games, like Tammany Hall for instance, where I could give you -cards an' spades. Now take that sot there: I know what he can do, an' -what I want him for, an' inside of a week I'll be makin' him as useful -as a corkscrew in Kentucky." - -"He seems a most unpromising foundation upon which to build one's hope," -said the Reverend Bronson dubiously. - -"He aint much to look at, for fair!" responded Big Kennedy, in his large -tolerant way. "But you mustn't bet your big stack on a party's looks. -You can't tell about a steamboat by th' coat of paint on her sides; -you must go aboard. Now that fellow"--here he pointed to the sleeping -drunkard--"once you get th' booze out of him, has a brain like a -buzzsaw. An' you should hear him talk! He's got a tongue so acid it -would eat through iron. The fact is, th' difference between that soak -an' th' best lawyer at the New York bar is less'n one hundred dollars. -I'll have him packed off to a Turkish bath, sweat th' whisky out of him, -have him shaved an' his hair cut, an' get him a new suit of clothes. -When I'm through, you won't know him. He'll run sober for a month, which -is as long as I'll need him this trip." - -"And will he then return to his drunkenness?" asked the Reverend -Bronson. - -"Sure as you're alive!" said Big Kennedy. "The moment I take my hooks -off him, down he goes." - -"What you say interests me! Why not send him to my mission, and let me -compass his reform." - -"You might as well go down to th' morgue an' try an' revive th' dead. -No, no, Doctor; that duck is out of humanity's reach. If you took him in -hand at your mission, he'd show up loaded some night an' tip over your -works. Better pass him up." - -"If his case is so hopeless, I marvel that you tolerate him." - -The Reverend Bronson was a trifle piqued at Big Kennedy for thinking his -influence would fall short of the drunkard's reform. - -"You aint onto this business of bein' Chief of Tammany," responded Big -Kennedy, with his customary grin. "I always like to do my work through -these incurables. It's better to have men about you who are handicapped -by some big weakness, d'ye see! They're strong on th' day you need 'em, -an' weak when you lay 'em down. Which makes it all the better. If -these people were strong all th' year 'round, one of 'em, before we got -through, would want my job, an' begin to lay pipes to get it. Some time, -when I wasn't watchin', he might land th' trick at that. No, as hands to -do my work, give me fellows who've got a loose screw in their machinery. -They're less chesty; an' then they work better, an' they're safer. -I've only one man near me who don't show a blemish. That's him," and he -pointed to where I sat waiting with young Morton and the reputable old -gentleman. "I'll trust him; because I'm goin' to make him Boss when I -get through; an' he knows it. That leaves him without any reason for -doin' me up." - -Big Kennedy called one of his underlings, and gave him directions to -have the sleeping drunkard conveyed instantly to a bath-house. - -"Get th' kinks out of him," said he; "an' bring him back to me in four -days. I want to see him as straight as a string, an' dressed as though -for a weddin'. I'm goin' to need him to make a speech, d'ye see! at that -mugwump ratification meetin' in Cooper Union." - -When the Reverend Bronson, and the drunken Cicero, in care of his -keeper, had gone their several ways, Big Kennedy wheeled upon us. He was -briefly informed of the troubles of Mulberry Traction. - -"If them gas crooks don't hold hard," said he, when young Morton had -finished, "we'll have an amendment to th' city charter passed at -Albany, puttin' their meters under th' thumb an' th' eye of th' Board of -Lightin' an' Supplies. I wonder how they'd like that! It would cut sixty -per cent, off their gas bills. However, mebby th' Gas Company's buttin' -into this thing in th' dark. What judge does the injunction come up -before?" - -"Judge Mole," said young Morton. - -"Mole, eh?" returned Big Kennedy thoughtfully. "We'll shift th' case -to some other judge. Mole won't do; he's th' Gas Company's judge, d'ye -see." - -"The Gas Company's judge!" exclaimed the reputable old gentleman, in -horrified amazement. - -Big Kennedy, at this, shone down upon the reputable old gentleman like a -benignant sun. - -"Slowly but surely," said he, "you begin to tumble to th' day an' -th' town you're livin' in. Don't you know that every one of our giant -companies has its own judge? Why! one of them Captains of Industry, as -th' papers call 'em, would no more be without his judge than without his -stenographer." - -"In what manner," snorted the reputable old gentleman, "does one of our -great corporations become possessed of a judge?" - -"Simple as sloppin' out champagne!" returned Big Kennedy. "It asks us to -nominate him. Then it comes up with his assessment, d'ye see!--an' I've -known that to run as high as one hundred thousand--an' then every year -it contributes to our various campaigns, say fifty thousand dollars a -whirl. Oh! it comes high to have your own private judge; but if you're -settin' into a game of commerce where th' limit's higher than a cat's -back, it's worth a wise guy's while." - -"Come, come!" interposed young Morton, "we've no time for moral and -political abstractions, don't y' know! Let's get back to Mulberry -Traction. You say Judge Mole won't do. Can you have the case set down -before another judge?" - -"Easy money!" said Big Kennedy. "I'll have Mole send it over to Judge -Flyinfox. He'll knock it on th' head, when it comes up, an' that's th' -last we'll ever hear of that injunction." - -"You speak of Judge Flyinfox with confidence," observed the reputable -old gentleman, breaking in. "Why are you so certain he will dismiss the -application for an injunction?" - -"Because," retorted Big Kennedy, in his hardy way, "he comes up for -renomination within two months. He'd look well throwin' the harpoon into -me right now, wouldn't he?" Then, as the double emotions of wrath and -wonder began to make purple the visage of the reputable old gentleman: -"Look here: you're more'n seven years old. Why should you think a judge -was different from other men? Haven't you seen men crawl in th' sewer -of politics on their hands an' knees, an' care for nothin' only so they -crawled finally into th' Capitol at Albany? Is a judge any better than -a governor? Or is either of 'em any better than other people? While -Tammany makes th' judges, do you s'ppose they'll be too good for th' -organization? That last would be a cunnin' play to make!" - -"But these judges," said the reputable old gentleman. "Their terms are -so long and their salaries so large, I should think they would defy you -and your humiliating orders." - -"Exactly," returned Big Kennedy, with the pleasant air of one aware of -himself, "an' that long term an' big salary works square th' other way. -There's so many of them judges that there's one or two to be re-elected -each year. So we've always got a judge whose term is on th' blink, d'ye -see! An' he's got to come to us--to me, if you want it plain--to get -back. You spoke of th' big salary an' th' long term. Don't you see that -you've only given them guys more to lose? Now th' more a party has to -lose, th' more he'll bow and scrape to save himself. Between us, a judge -within a year or so of renomination is th' softest mark on th' list." - -The reputable old gentleman expressed unbounded indignation, while Big -Kennedy laughed. - -"What're you kickin' about?" asked Big Kennedy, when he had somewhat -recovered. "That's the 'Boss System.' Just now, d'ye see! it's water -on your wheel, so you oughtn't to raise th' yell. But to come back -to Mulberry Traction: We'll have Mole send th' case to Flyinfox; an' -Flyinfox will put th' kybosh on it, if it comes up. But I'll let you -into a secret. Th' case'll never come up; th' Gas Company will go back -to its corner." - -"Explain," said young Morton eagerly. - -"Because I'll tell 'em to." - -"Do you mean that you'll go to the Gas Company," sneered the reputable -old gentleman, "and give its officers orders the same as you say you -give them to the State's and the City's officers?" - -"Th' Gas Company'll come to me, an' ask for orders." - -The reputable old gentleman drew a long breath, while his brows worked -up and down. - -"And dare you tell me," he cried, "that men of millions--our leading men -of business, will come to you and ask your commands?" - -"My friend," replied Big Kennedy gravely, "no matter how puffed up an' -big these leadin' men of business get to be, th' Chief of Tammany is a -bigger toad than any. Listen: th' bigger the target th' easier th' shot. -If you'll come down here with me for a month, I'll gamble you'll meet -an' make th' acquaintance of every business king in th' country. An' -you'll notice, too, that they'll take off their hats, an' listen to what -I say; an' in th' end, they'll do what I tell 'em to do." Big Kennedy -glowered impressively upon the reputable old gentleman. "That sounds -like a song that is sung, don't it?" Then turning to me: "Tell th' -Street Department not to give th' Gas Company any more permits to open -streets until further orders. An' now"--coming back to the reputable old -gentleman--"can't you see what'll come off?" - -The reputable old gentleman looked mystified. Young Morton, for his -part, began to smile. - -"He sees!" exclaimed Big Kennedy, pointing to young Morton. "Here's -what'll happen. Th' Gas Company has to have two hundred permits a day to -tear open th' streets. After that order reaches the Street Commissioner, -it won't get any." - -"'Better see the Boss,' the Street Commissioner will whisper, when the -Gas Company asks what's wrong. - -"The next day one of th' deck hands will come to see me. I'll turn him -down; th' Chief of Tammany don't deal with deck hands. The next day th' -Gas Company will send th' first mate. The mate'll get turned down; th' -Chief of Tammany deals with nobody less'n a captain, d'ye see! On th' -third day, or to put it like a prophet, say next Friday--since this -is Tuesday--th' president of th' Gas Company will drive here in his -brougham. I'll let him wait ten minutes in the outer room to take the -swell out of his head. Then I'll let him in, an', givin' him th' icy -eye, I'll ask: 'What's th' row?' Th' Gas Company will have been three -days without permits to open th' streets;--its business will be at a -standstill;--th' Gas Company'll be sweatin' blood. There'll be th' Gas -Company's president, an' here'll be Big John Kennedy. I think that even -you can furnish th' wind-up. As I tell you, now that I've had time to -think it out, th' case will be withdrawn. Still, to make sure, we'll -have Mole send th' papers over to Flyinfox, just as though we had -nowhere except th' courts to look for justice." - -On Monday, the day before the case was to have been called, the Gas -Company, humbled and made penitent with a stern paucity of "permits," -dismissed its petition for an injunction against Mulberry Traction, and -young Morton returned to his career, unchecked of a court's decree. - -"Father," said young Morton, as we came from our interview with Big -Kennedy, "I'm not sure that the so-called Boss System for the Government -of Cities is wholly without its advantages, don't y' know!" And here -young Morton puffed a complacent, not to say superior, cigarette. - -"Humph!" retorted the reputable old gentleman angrily. "Every Esau, -selling his birthright for a mess of pottage, would speak the same." - -"Esau with a cigarette--really!" murmured young Morton, giving a -ruminative puff. "But I say, father, it isn't a mess of pottage, don't -y' know, it's a street railway." - -As Mulberry Traction approached completion, the common stock reached -forty. At that point Big Kennedy closed out his interest. Snapping the -catchlock behind us, to the end that we be alone, he tossed a dropsical -gray envelope on the table. - -"There's two hundred thousand dollars' worth of Uncle Sam's bonds," said -he. "That's your end of Mulberry Traction." - -"You've sold out?" - -"Sold out an' got one million two hundred thousand." - -"The stock would have gone higher," said I. "You would have gotten more -if you'd held on." - -"Wall Street," returned Big Kennedy, with a cautious shake of the head, -"is off my beat. I'm afraid of them stock sharps; I feel like a come-on -th' minute I begin to talk with one, an' I wouldn't trust 'em as far as -I could throw a dog by th' tail. I break away as fast as ever I can, an' -chase back to Fourteenth Street, where I'm wise to th' game. I've seen -suckers like me who took a million dollars into Wall Street, an' -came out in a week with nothin' but a pocket full of canceled postage -stamps." - -"I've been told," said I with a laugh, and going with Big Kennedy's -humor, "that two hundred years ago, Captain Kidd, the pirate, had his -home on the site of the present Stock Exchange." - -"Did he?" said Big Kennedy. "Well, I figger that his crew must -have lived up an' down both sides of the street from him, an' their -descendants are still holdin' down th' property. An' to think," mused -Big Kennedy, "that Trinity Church stares down th' length of Wall Street, -with th' graves in th' Trinity churchyard to remind them stock wolves of -th' finish! I'm a hard man, an' I play a hard game, but on th' level! -if I was as big a robber as them Wall Street sharps, I couldn't look -Trinity Church in th' face!" Then, coming back to Mulberry Traction and -to me: "I've put it in bonds, d'ye see! Now if I was you, I'd stand pat -on 'em just as they are. Lay 'em away, an' think to yourself they're for -that little Blossom of yours." - -At the name of Blossom, Big Kennedy laid his heavy hand on mine as might -one who asked a favor. It was the thing unusual. Big Kennedy's rough -husk gave scanty promise of any softness of sentiment to lie beneath. -Somehow, the word and the hand brought the water to my eyes.' - -"It is precisely what I mean to do," said I. "Blossom is to have it, an' -have it as it is--two hundred thousand dollars in bonds." - -Big Kennedy, with that, gave my hand a Titan's grip in indorsement of my -resolve. - -Blossom was growing up a frail, slender child, and still with her -frightened eyes. Anne watched over her; and since Blossom lacked in -sturdiness of health, she did not go to a school, but was taught by -Anne at home. Blossom's love was for me; she clung to me when I left the -house, and was in my arms the moment the door opened upon my return. She -was the picture of my lost Apple Cheek, wanting her roundness, and my -eyes went wet and weary with much looking upon her. - -My home was quiet and, for me, gloomy. Anne, I think, was happy in a -manner pensive and undemonstrative. As for Blossom, that terror she drew -in from her mother when the latter was struck by the blow of my arrest -for the death of Jimmy the Blacksmith, still held its black dominion -over her fancy; and while with time she grew away from those agitations -and hysterias which enthralled her babyhood, she lived ever in a -twilight of melancholy that nothing could light up, and from which her -spirit never emerged. In all her life I never heard her laugh, and her -smile, when she did smile, was as the soul of a sigh. And so my house -was a house of whispers and shadows and silences as sad as death--a -house of sorrow for my lost Apple Cheek, and fear for Blossom whose life -was stained with nameless mourning before ever she began to live at all. - -Next door to me I had brought my father and mother to dwell. Anne, who -abode with me, could oversee both houses. The attitude of Big Kennedy -towards Old Mike had not been wanting in effect upon me. The moment my -money was enough, I took my father from his forge, and set both him and -my mother to a life of workless ease. I have feared more than once that -this move was one not altogether wise. My people had been used to labor, -and when it was taken out of their hands they knew not where to turn -with their time. They were much looked up to by neighbors for the power -and position I held in the town's affairs; and each Sunday they could -give the church a gold piece, and that proved a mighty boon to their -pride. But, on the whole, the leisure of their lives, and they unable -to employ it, carked and corroded them, and it had not a little to do in -breaking down their health. They were in no sense fallen into the vale -of years, when one day they were seized by a pneumonia and--my mother -first, with her patient peasant face! and my father within the week that -followed--passed both to the other life. - -And now when I was left with only Blossom and Anne to love, and to be -dear and near to me, I went the more among men, and filled still more -my head and hands and heart with politics. I must have action, motion. -Grief walked behind me; and, let me but halt, it was never long in -coming up. - -Sundry years slipped by, and the common routine work of the organization -engaged utterly both Big Kennedy and myself. We struggled heartily, and -had our ups and our downs, our years of black and our years of white. -The storm that wrecked Big Kennedy's predecessor had left Tammany in -shallow, dangerous waters for its sailing. Also Big Kennedy and I were -not without our personal enemies. We made fair weather of it, however, -particularly when one considers the broken condition of Tammany, and the -days were not desolate of their rewards. - -Now ensues a great heave upward in my destinies. - -One evening I came upon Big Kennedy, face gray and drawn, sitting as -still as a church. Something in the look or the attitude went through me -like a lance. - -"What's wrong?" I asked. - -"There was a saw-bones here," said he, "pawin' me over for a -life-insurance game that I thought I'd buy chips in. He tells me my -light's goin' to flicker out inside a year. That's a nice number to -hand a man! Just as a sport finds himself on easy street, along comes -a scientist an' tells him it's all off an' nothin' for it but the -bone-yard! Well," concluded Big Kennedy, grimly lighting a cigar, "if -it's up to me, I s'ppose I can hold down a hearse as good as th' next -one. If it's th' best they can do, why, let her roll!" - - - - -CHAPTER XVI--THE BOSS IS DEAD; LONG LIVE THE BOSS! - - -BIG KENNEDY could not live a year; his doom was written. It was the -word hard to hear, and harder to believe, of one who, broad, burly, -ruddy with the full color of manhood at its prime, seemed in the very -feather of his strength. And for all that, his hour was on its way. -Death had gained a lodgment in his heart, and was only pausing to -strengthen its foothold before striking the blow. I sought to cheer him -with the probability of mistake on the side of ones who had given him -this dark warning of his case. - -"That's all right," responded Big Kennedy in a tone of dogged dejection; -"I'm up ag'inst it just th' same. It didn't need th' doctor to put me -on. More'n once I've felt my heart slip a cog. I shall clean up an' -quit. They say if I pull out an' rest, I may hang on for a year. That's -th' tip I've got, an' I'm goin' to take it. I'm two millions to th' -good, an' when all is done, why, that's enough." - -Big Kennedy declared for a vacation; the public announcement went for -it that he would rest. I was to take control as a fashion of Boss by -brevet. - -"Of course," said Big Kennedy when we talked privately of the situation, -"you understand. I'm down an' out, done for an' as good as dead right -now. But it's better to frame th' play as I've proposed. Don't change -th' sign over th' door for a month or two; it'll give you time to -stiffen your grip. There's dubs who would like th' job, d'ye see, an' if -they found an openin' they'd spill you out of th' place like a pup out -of a basket. It's for you to get your hooks on th' levers, an' be in -control of th' machine before I die." Then, with a ghastly smile: "An' -seein' it's you, I'll put off croakin! till th' last call of th' board." - -Big Kennedy, seeking that quiet which had been the physician's -prescription, went away. When, later by ten months, he came back, his -appearance was a shock to me. The great, bluff man was gone, and he who -feebly took me by the hand seemed no more than a weak shadow of that -Big John Kennedy whom I had followed. The mere looks of him were like a -knife-stab. He stayed but a day, and then returned to his retreat in the -silent hills. Within a month Big Kennedy was dead. - -"You've got things nailed," said he, on the last evening, "an' I'm glad -it's so. Now let me give you a few points; they may help you to hold -down your place as Boss. You're too hungry for revenge; there's your -weakness. The revenge habit is worse than a taste for whisky. Th' best -you can say for it is it's a waste of time. When you've downed a man, -stop. To go on beatin' him is like throwin' water on a drowned rat. - -"When it comes to handin' out th' offices an' th' contracts, don't play -fav'rites. Hand every man what's comin' to him by th' rules of th' game. -It'll give you more power to have men say you'll do what's square, than -that you'll stick by your friends. Good men--dead-game men, don't want -favors; they want justice. - -"Never give a man the wrong office; size every man up, an' measure him -for his place th' same as a tailor does for a suit of clothes. If you -give a big man a little office, you make an enemy; if you give a little -man a big office, you make trouble. - -"Flatter th' mugwumps. Of course, their belfry is full of bats; but -about half th' time they have to be your pals, d'ye see, in order to be -mugwumps. An' you needn't be afraid of havin' 'em around; they'll never -ketch onto anything. A mugwump, as some wise guy said, is like a man -ridin' backward in a carriage; he never sees a thing until it's by. - -"Say 'No' nineteen times before you say 'Yes' once. People respect th' -man who says 'No,' an' his 'Yes' is worth more where he passes it out. -When you say 'No,' you play your own game; when you say 'Yes,' you're -playin' some other duck's game. 'No,' keeps; 'Yes,' gives; an' th' gent -who says 'No' most will always be th' biggest toad in his puddle. - -"Don't be fooled by a cheer or by a crowd. Cheers are nothin' but a -breeze; an' as for a crowd, no matter who you are, there would always be -a bigger turn-out to see you hanged than to shake your mit. - -"Always go with th' current; that's th' first rule of leadership. It's -easier; an' there's more water down stream than up. - -"Think first, last, an' all th' time of yourself. You may not be of -account to others, but you're the whole box of tricks to yourself. Don't -give a man more than he gives you. Folks who don't stick to that steer -land either in bankruptcy or Bloomin'dale. - -"An' remember: while you're Boss, you'll be forced into many things -ag'inst your judgment. The head of Tammany is like th' head of a snake, -an' gets shoved forward by the tail. Also, like th' head of a snake, th' -Boss is th' target for every rock that is thrown. - -"Have as many lieutenants as you can; twenty are safer than two. Two -might fake up a deal with each other to throw you down; twenty might -start, but before they got to you they'd fight among themselves. - -"Have people about you who distrust each other an' trust you. Keep th' -leaders fightin' among themselves. That prevents combinations ag'inst -you; an' besides they'll do up each other whenever you say the word, -where every man is hated by the rest. - -"Always pay your political debts; but pay with a jolly as far as it'll -go. If you find one who won't take a jolly, throw a scare into him and -pay him with that. If he's a strong, dangerous mug with whom a jolly -or a bluff won't work, get him next to you as fast as you can. If you -strike an obstinate party, it's th' old rule for drivin' pigs. If you -want 'em to go forward, pull 'em back by th' tails. Never trust a man -beyond his interest; an' never love the man, love what he does. - -"The whole science of leadership lies in what I've told you, an' if you -can clinch onto it, you'll stick at th' top till you go away, like I do -now, to die. An' th' last of it is, don't get sentimental--don't take -politics to heart. Politics is only worth while so long as it fills your -pockets. Don't tie yourself to anything. A political party is like a -street car; stay with it only while it goes your way. A great partisan -can never be a great Boss." - -When I found myself master of Tammany, my primary thought was to be -cautious. I must strengthen myself; I must give myself time to take -root. This was the more necessary, for not only were there a full score -of the leaders, any one of whom would prefer himself for my place, but -the political condition was far from reassuring. The workingman--whom as -someone said we all respect and avoid--was through his unions moving to -the town's conquest. It was as that movement of politics in the land -of the ancient Nile. Having discovered a Moses, the hand-workers would -offer him for the mayoralty on the issue of no more bricks without -straw. - -Skilled to the feel of sentiment, I could gauge both the direction -and the volume of the new movement. Nor was I long in coming to the -knowledge that behind it marched a majority of the people. Unless -checked, or cheated, that labor uprising would succeed; Tammany and its -old-time enemies would alike go down. - -This news, self-furnished as a grist ground of the mills of my own -judgment, stimulated me to utmost action. It would serve neither my -present nor my future should that battle which followed my inauguration -be given against me. I was on my trial; defeat would be the signal for -my overthrow. And thus I faced my first campaign as Boss. - -That rebellion of the working folk stirred to terror the conservatives, -ever the element of wealth. Each man with a share of stock to shrink in -value, or with a dollar loaned and therefore with security to shake, or -with a store through the plate-glass panes of which a mob might hurl -a stone, was prey to a vast alarm. The smug citizen of money, and of -ease-softened hands, grew sick as he reflected on the French Revolution; -and he predicted gutters red with blood as the near or far finale -should the town's peasantry gain the day. It was then those rich ones, -panic-bit, began to ask a succor of Tammany Hall. There were other -septs, but Tammany was the drilled, traditional corps of political -janissaries. Wherefore, the local nobility, being threatened, fled to it -for refuge. - -These gentry of white faces and frightened pocket-books came to me by -ones and twos and quartettes; my every day was filled with them; and -their one prayer was for me to make a line of battle between them and -that frowning peril of the mob. To our silken worried ones, I replied -nothing. I heard; but I kept myself as mute for hope or for fear as any -marble. - -And yet it was sure from the beginning that I must make an alliance with -my folk of purple. The movement they shuddered over was even more of a -menace to Tammany than it was to them. It might mean dollars to them, -but for Tammany it promised annihilation, since of every five who went -with this crusade, four were recruited from the machine. - -Fifth Avenue, in a fever, did not realize this truth. Nor was I one to -enlighten my callers. Their terror made for the machine; it could be -trained to fill the Tammany treasure chest with a fund to match those -swelling fears, the reason of its contribution. I locked up my tongue; -it was a best method to augment a mugwump horror which I meant should -find my resources. - -Young Morton, still with his lisp, his affectations, his scented gloves, -and ineffable eyeglass, although now no longer "young," but like myself -in the middle journey of his life, was among my patrician visitors. -Like the others, he came to urge a peace-treaty between Tammany and the -mugwumps, and he argued a future stored of fortune for both myself and -the machine, should the latter turn to be a defense for timid deer from -whom he came ambassador. - -To Morton I gave particular ear. I was never to forget that loyalty -wherewith he stood to me on a day of trial for the death of Jimmy the -Blacksmith. If any word might move me it would be his. Adhering to a -plan, however, I had as few answers for his questions as I had for those -of his mates, and wrapped myself in silence like a mantle. - -Morton was so much his old practical self that he bade me consider a -candidate and a programme. - -"Let us nominate my old gentleman for mayor," said he. "He's very old; -but he's clean and he's strong, don't y' know. Really he would draw -every vote to his name that should of right belong to us." - -"That might be," I returned; "but I may tell you, and stay within the -truth, that if your father got no more votes than should of right be -his, defeat would overtake him to the tune of thousands. Add the machine -to the mugwumps, and this movement of labor still has us beaten -by twenty thousand men. That being the case, why should I march -Tammany--and my own fortune, too--into such a trap?" - -"What else can you do?" asked Morton. - -"I can tell you what was in my mind," said I. "It was to go with this -labor movement and control it." - -"That labor fellow they've put up would make the worst of mayors. -You and Tammany would forever be taunted with the errors of his -administration. Besides, the creature's success would vulgarize the -town; it would, really!" - -"He is an honest man," said I. - -"Honest, yes; but what of that? Honesty is the commonest trait of -ignorance. There should be something more than honesty, don't y' know, -to make a mayor. There be games like draw poker and government where -to be merely honest is not a complete equipment. Besides, think of the -shock of such a term of hobnails in the City Hall. If you, with your -machine, would come in, we could elect my old gentleman over him or any -other merely honest candidate whom those vulgarians could put up; we -could, really!" - -"Tell me how," said I. - -"There would be millions of money," lisped Morton, pausing to select a -cigarette; "since Money would be swimming for dear life. All our fellows -at the club are scared to death--really! One can do anything with money, -don't y' know." - -"One can't stop a runaway horse with money," I retorted; "and this labor -movement is a political runaway." - -"With money we could build a wall across its course and let those idiots -of politics run against it. My dear fellow, let us make a calculation. -Really, how many votes should those labor animals overrun us, on the -situation's merits?" - -"Say twenty-five thousand." - -"This then should give so experienced a hand as yourself some shade of -comfort. The Master of the Philadelphia Machine, don't y' know, is one -of my railway partners. 'Old chap,' said he, when I told him of the -doings of our New York vandals, 'I'll send over to you ten thousand men, -any one of whom would loot a convent. These common beggars must be put -down! The example might spread to Philadelphia.' So you see," concluded -Morton, "we would not be wanting in election material. What should ten -thousand men mean?" - -"At the least," said I, "they should count for forty thousand. A man -votes with a full beard; then he votes with his chin shaved; then he -shaves the sides of his face and votes with a mustache; lastly he votes -with a smooth face and retires to re-grow a beard against the -next campaign. Ten thousand men should tally forty thousand votes. -Registration and all, however, would run the cost of such an enterprise -to full five hundred thousand dollars." - -"Money is no object," returned Morton, covering a yawn delicately with -his slim hand, "to men who feel that their fortunes, don't y' know, and -perhaps their lives, are on the cast. Bring us Tammany for this one war, -and I'll guarantee three millions in the till of the machine; I -will, really! You would have to take those ten thousand recruits from -Philadelphia into your own hands, however; we Silk Stockings don't own -the finesse required to handle such a consignment of goods. Besides, if -we did, think what wretched form it would be." - -To hide what was in my thought, I made a pretense of considering the -business in every one of its angles. There was a minute during which -neither of us spoke. - -"Why should I put the machine," I asked at last, "in unnecessary peril -of the law? This should be a campaign of fire. Every stick of those -three millions you speak of would go to stoke the furnaces. I will do as -well, and win more surely, with the labor people." - -"But do you want to put the mob in possession?" demanded Morton, -emerging a bit from his dandyisms. "I'm no purist of politics; indeed, -I think I'm rather practical than otherwise, don't y' know. I am free -to say, however, that I fear a worst result should those savages of a -dinner-can and a dollar-a-day, succeed--really! You should think once in -a while, and particularly in a beastly squall like the present, of the -City itself." - -"Should I?" I returned. "Now I'll let you into an organization tenet. -Tammany, blow high, blow low, thinks only of itself." - -"You would be given half the offices, remember." - -"And the Police?" - -"And the Police." - -"Tammany couldn't keep house without the police," said I, laughing. -"You've seen enough of our housekeeping to know that." - -"You may have the police, and what else you will." - -"Well," said I, bringing the talk to a close, "I can't give you an -answer now. I must look the situation in the eyes. To be frank, I don't -think either the Tammany interest or my own runs with yours in this. I, -with my people, live at the other end of the lane." - -While Morton and I were talking, I had come to a decision. I would name -the reputable old gentleman for mayor. He was stricken of years; but -I bethought me how for that very reason he might be, when elected, the -easier to deal with. But I would keep my resolve from Morton. There was -no stress of hurry; the election was months away. I might see reason -to change. One should ever put off his contract-making until the last. -Besides, Morton would feel the better for a surprise. - -Before I went to an open alliance with the mugwumps, I would weaken the -labor people. This I might do by pretending to be their friend. -There was a strip of the labor candidate's support which was rabid -anti-Tammany. Let me but seem to come to his comfort and aid, and every -one of those would desert him. - -Within the week after my talk with Morton, I sent a sly scrap of news -to the captains of labor. They were told that I had given utterance -to sentiments of friendship for them and their man. Their taste to -cultivate my support was set on edge. These amateurs of politics came -seeking an interview. I flattered their hopes, and spoke in high terms -of their candidate, his worth and honesty. The city could not be in -safer hands. - -There were many interviews. It was as an experience, not without a side -to amuse, since my visitors, while as pompous as turkey cocks, were as -innocently shallow as so many sheep. Many times did we talk; and I gave -them compliments and no promises. - -My ends were attained. The papers filled up with the coming partnership -between the labor movement and the machine, and those berserks of -anti-Tammany, frothing with resentment against ones who would sell -themselves into my power as the price of my support, abandoned the -laborites in a body. There were no fewer than five thousand of these to -shake the dust of labor from their feet. When I had driven the last of -them from the labor champion, by the simple expedient of appearing to be -his friend, I turned decisively my back on him. Also, I at once called -Tammany Convention--being the first in the field--and issued those -orders which named the reputable old gentleman. - -There arose a roar and a cheer from my followers at this, for they read -in that name a promise of money knee-deep; and what, than that word, -should more brighten a Tammany eye! I was first, with the machine at -my back, to walk upon the field with our reputable old gentleman. The -mugwumps followed, adopting him with all dispatch; the Republicans, -proper, made no ticket; two or three straggling cliques and split-offs -of party accepted the reputable old gentleman's nomination; and so the -lines were made. On the heels of the conventions, the mugwump leaders -and I met and merged our tickets, I getting two-thirds and surrendering -one-third of those names which followed that of the reputable old -gentleman for the divers offices to be filled. - -When all was accomplished, the new situation offered a broad foundation, -and one of solvency and depth, whereon to base a future for both Tammany -and myself. It crystallized my power, and my grip on the machine was set -fast and hard by the sheer effect of it. The next thing was to win at -the polls; that would ask for studied effort and a quickness that must -not sleep, for the opposition, while clumsy, straggling, and unwieldly -with no skill, overtopped us in strength by every one of those thousands -of which I had given Morton the name. - -"Really, you meant it should be a surprise," observed Morton, as he -grasped my hand. It was the evening of the day on which the Tammany -Convention named the reputable old gentleman. "I'll plead guilty; it -was a surprise. And that's saying a great deal, don't y' know. To be -surprised is bad form, and naturally I guard myself against such a -vulgar calamity. But you had me, old chap! I was never more baffled -and beaten than when I left you. I regarded the conquest of the City by -those barbarians as the thing made sure. Now all is changed. We will go -in and win; and not a word I said, don't y' know, shall be forgotten and -every dollar I mentioned shall be laid down. It shall,'pon honor!" - - - - -CHAPTER XVII--THE REPUTABLE OLD GENTLEMAN IS MAYOR - - -THE Philadelphia machine was a training school for repeaters. Those -ten thousand sent to our cause by Morton's friend, went about their work -like artillerymen about their guns. Each was good for four votes. As one -of the squad captains said: - -"There's got to be time between, for a party to change his face an' -shift to another coat an' hat. Besides, it's as well to give th' judges -an hour or two to get dim to your mug, see!" - -Big Kennedy had set his foot upon the gang spirit, and stamped out of -existence such coteries as the Tin Whistles and the Alley Gang, and I -copied Big Kennedy in this. Such organizations would have been a threat -to me, and put it more in reach of individual leaders to rebel against -an order. What work had been done by the gangs was now, under a better -discipline and with machine lines more tightly drawn, transacted by the -police. - -When those skillful gentry, meant to multiply a ballot-total, came in -from the South, I called my Chief of Police into council. He was that -same bluff girthy personage who, aforetime, had conferred with Big -Kennedy. I told him what was required, and how his men, should occasion -arise, must foster as far as lay with them the voting purposes of our -colonists. - -"You can rely on me, Gov'nor," said the Chief. He had invented this -title for Big Kennedy, and now transferred it to me. "Yes, indeed, you -can go to sleep on me doin' my part. But I'm bothered to a standstill -with my captains. Durin' th' last four or five years, th' force has -become honeycombed with honesty; an', may I be struck! if some of them -square guys aint got to be captains." - -"Should any get in your way," said I, "he must be sent to the outskirts. -I shall hold you for everything that goes wrong." - -"I guess," said the Chief thoughtfully, "I'll put the whole racket in -charge of Gothecore. He'll keep your emigrants from Philadelphia walkin' -a crack. They'll be right, while Gothecore's got his peeps on 'em." - -"Has Gothecore had experience?" - -"Is Bill Gothecore wise? Gov'nor, I don't want to paint a promise so -brilliant I can't make good, but Gothecore is th' most thorough workman -on our list. Why, they call him 'Clean Sweep Bill!' I put him in th' -Tenderloin for six months, an' he got away with everything but th' back -fence." - -"Very well," said I, "the care of these colonists is in your hands. -Here's a list of the places where they're berthed." - -"You needn't give 'em another thought, Gov'nor," observed the Chief. -Then, as he arose to depart: "Somethin's got to be done about them -captains turnin' square. They act as a scare to th' others. I'll tell -you what: Make the price of a captaincy twenty thousand dollars. That'll -be a hurdle no honest man can take. Whoever pays it, we can bet on as a -member of our tribe. One honest captain queers a whole force; it's like -a horse goin' lame." This last, moodily. - -In the eleventh hour, by our suggestion and at our cost, the Republican -managers put up a ticket. This was made necessary by certain inveterate -ones who would unite with nothing in which Tammany owned a part. As -between us and the labor forces, they would have offered themselves to -the latter. They must be given a ticket of their own whereon to waste -themselves. - -The campaign itself was a whirlwind of money. That princely fund -promised by Morton was paid down to me on the nail, and I did not stint -or save it when a chance opened to advance our power by its employment. -I say "I did not stint," because, in accord with Tammany custom, the -fund was wholly in my hands. - -As most men know, there is no such post as that of Chief of Tammany -Hall. The office is by coinage, and the title by conference, of the -public. There exists a finance committee of, commonly, a dozen names. It -never meets, and the members in ordinary are 'to hear and know no -more about the money of the organization than of sheep-washing among -Ettrick's hills and vales. There is a chairman; into his hands all -moneys come. These, in his care and name, and where and how and if he -chooses, are put in bank. He keeps no books; he neither gives nor -takes a scrap of paper, nor so much as writes a letter of thanks, in -connection with such treasurership. He replies to no one for this -money; he spends or keeps as he sees fit, and from beginning to end has -the sole and only knowledge of either the intake or the outgo of the -millions of the machine. The funds are wholly in his possession. To -borrow a colloquialism, "He is the Man with the Money," and since money -is the mainspring of practical politics, it follows as the tail the -kite, and without the intervention of either rule or statute, that he -is The Boss. Being supreme with the money, he is supreme with the men of -the machine, and it was the holding of this chairmanship which gave me -my style and place as Chief. - -The position is not wanting in its rewards. Tammany, for its own safety, -should come forth from each campaign without a dollar. There is no -argument to carry over a residue from one battle to the next. It is not -required, since Tammany, from those great corporations whose taxes and -liberties it may extend or shrink by a word, may ever have what money -it will; and it is not wise, because the existence of a fund between -campaigns would excite dissension, as this leader or that one conceived -some plan for its dissipation. It is better to upturn the till on the -back of each election, and empty it in favor of organization peace. And -to do this is the duty of the Chairman of the Finance Committee; and I -may add that it is one he was never known to overlook. - -There was nothing notable in that struggle which sent the reputable old -gentleman to the city fore as Mayor, beyond the energy wherewith the -work required was performed. Every move ran off as softly sure as could -be wished. The police did what they should. Those visitors from below -turned in for us full forty thousand votes, and then quietly received -their wages and as quietly went their way. I saw to it that, one and -all, they were sharply aboard the ferryboats when their work was done. -No one would care for them, drunken and mayhap garrulous, about the -streets, until after the last spark of election interest had expired. -The polls were closed: the count was made; the laborites and their Moses -was beaten down, and the reputable old gentleman was declared victor by -fifteen thousand. Those rich ones, late so pale, revived the color in -their cheeks; and as for Tammany and myself, we took deep breaths, and -felt as ones from whose shoulders a load had been lifted. - -It was for me a fortunate upcome; following that victory, my leadership -could no more be shaken than may the full-grown oaks. Feeling now my -strength, I made divers machine changes of the inner sort. I caused my -executive leaders to be taken from the assembly districts, rather than -from the wards. There would be one from each; and since there was -a greater number of districts than wards, the executive array was -increased. I smelled safety for myself in numbers, feeling, as Big -Kennedy advised, the more secure with twenty than with two. Also the new -situation gave the leaders less influence with the Aldermen, when now -the frontiers of the one no longer matched those of the other. I had -aimed at this; for it was my instant effort on becoming Chief to collect -within my own fingers every last thread of possible authority. I wanted -the voice of my leadership to be the voice of the storm; all others I -would stifle to a whisper. - -While busy within the organization, deepening and broadening the -channels of my power, I did not neglect conditions beyond the walls. -I sent for the leaders of those two or three bands of Democracy which -professed themselves opposed to Tammany Hall. I pitched upon my men as -lumber folk in their log-driving pitch upon the key-logs in a "jam." I -loosened them with office, or the promise of it, and they instantly came -riding down to me on the currents of self-interest, and brought with -them those others over whom they held command. - -Within the twelvemonth Tammany was left no rival within the lines of the -regular party; I had, either by purring or by purchase, brought about -the last one's disappearance. It was a fair work for the machine, and I -could feel the gathering, swelling confidence of my followers uplifting -me as the deep sea uplifts a ship. - -There was a thorn with that rose of leadership, nor did my hand escape -its sting. The papers in their attacks upon me were as incessant as they -were vindictive, and as unsparing as they were unfair. With never a fact -set forth, by the word of these unmuzzled and uncaring imprints I stood -forth as everything that was thievish, vile, and swart. - -While I made my skin as thick against these shafts as I could, since I -might neither avoid nor return them, still they pierced me and kept me -bleeding, and each new day saw ever a new wound to my sensibilities. It -is a bad business--these storms of black abuse! You have but to fasten -upon one, even an honest one, the name of horse-thief and, behold you! -he will steal a horse. Moreover, those vilifications of types become -arrows to glance aside and bury themselves in the breasts of ones -innocent. - -Blossom was grown now to be a grave stripling girl of fifteen. Anne -conceived that she should be taught in a school. She, herself, had -carried Blossom to a considerable place in her books, but the finishing -would be the better accomplished by teachers of a higher skill, -and among children of Blossom's age. With this on her thought, Anne -completed arrangements with a private academy for girls, one of superior -rank; and to this shop of learning, on a certain morning, she conveyed -Blossom. Blossom was to be fitted with a fashionable education by those -modistes of the intellectual, just as a dressmaker might measure her, -and baste her, and stitch her into a frock. - -But insult and acrid grief were lying there in ambush for -Blossom--Blossom, then as ever, with her fear-haunted eyes. She was home -before night, tearful, hysterical--crying in Anne's arms. There had been -a cartoon in the papers. It showed me as a hairy brutal ape, the city -in the shape of a beautiful woman fainting in my arms, and a mighty rock -labeled "Tammany" in one hand, ready to hurl at my pursuers. The whole -was hideous; and when one of the girls of the school showed it to -Blossom, and taunted her with this portrait of her father, it was more -than heart might bear. She fled before the outrage of it, and would -never hear the name of school again. This ape-picture was the thing -fearful and new to Blossom, for to save her, both Anne and I had been -at care to have no papers to the house. The harm was done, however; -Blossom, hereafter, would shrink from all but Anne and me, and when she -was eighteen, save for us, the priest, and an old Galway serving woman -who had been her nurse, she knew no one in the whole wide world. - -The reputable old gentleman made a most amazing Major. He was puffed -with a vanity that kissed the sky. Honest, and by nature grateful, he -was still so twisted as to believe that to be a good Mayor one must -comport himself in an inhuman way. - -"Public office is a public trust!" cried he, quoting some lunatic -abstractionist. - -The reputable old gentleman's notion of discharging this trust was -to refuse admittance to his friends, while he sat in council with his -enemies. To show that he was independent, he granted nothing to ones -who had builded him; to prove himself magnanimous, he went truckling to -former foes, preferring them into place. As for me, he declined every -suggestion, refused every name, and while there came no open rupture -between us, I was quickly taught to stay away. - -"My luck with my father," said Morton, when one day we were considering -that lofty spirit of the reputable old gentleman, "is no more flattering -than your own, don't y' know. He waves me away with a flourish. I -reminded him that while he might forget me as one who with trowel and -mortar had aided to lay the walls of his career, he at least should -remember that I was none the less his son; I did, really! He retorted -with the story of the Roman father who in his role as judge sentenced -his son to death. Gad! he seemed to regret that no chance offered for -him to equal though he might not surpass that noble example. Speaking -seriously, when his term verges to its close, what will be your course? -You know the old gentleman purposes to succeed himself. And, doubtless, -since such is mugwump thickness, he'll be renominated." - -"Tammany," said I, "will fight him. We'll have a candidate on a straight -ticket of our own. His honor, your father, will be beaten." - -"On my soul! I hope so," exclaimed Morton. "Don't you know, I expect -every day to find him doing something to Mulberry Traction--trying to -invalidate its franchise, or indulging in some similar piece of humor. I -shall breathe easier with my parent returned to private life--really!" - -"Never fear; I'll have the city in the hollow of my hand within the -year," said I. - -"I will show you where to find a million or two in Wall Street, if you -do," he returned. - -The downfall of the reputable old gentleman was already half -accomplished. One by one, I had cut the props from beneath him. While he -would grant me no contracts, and yield me no offices for my people, -he was quite willing to consider my advice on questions of political -concern. Having advantage of this, I one day pointed out that it was -un-American to permit certain Italian societies to march in celebration -of their victories over the Pope long ago. Why should good Catholic -Irish-Americans be insulted with such exhibitions! These Italian -festivals should be kept for Italy; they do not belong in America. -The reputable old gentleman, who was by instinct more than half a Know -Nothing, gave warm assent to my doctrines, and the festive Italians did -not celebrate. - -Next I argued that the reputable old gentleman should refuse his -countenance to the Irish exercises on St. Patrick's Day. The Irish were -no better than the Italians. He could not make flesh of one and fish -of the other. The reputable old gentleman bore testimony to the lucid -beauty of my argument by rebuffing the Irish in a flame of words in -which he doubted both their intelligence and their loyalty to the land -of their adoption. In another florid tirade he later sent the Orangemen -to the political right-about. The one powerful tribe he omitted to -insult were the Germans, and that only because they did not come within -his reach. Had they done so, the reputable old gentleman would have -heaped contumely upon them with all the pleasure in life. - -It is not needed that I set forth how, while guiding the reputable old -gentleman to these deeds of derring, I kept myself in the background. No -one knew me as the architect of those wondrous policies. The reputable -old gentleman stood alone; and in the inane fullness of his vanity took -a deal of delight in the uproar he aroused. - -There was an enemy of my own. He was one of those elegant personalities -who, in the elevation of riches and a position to which they are born, -find the name of Tammany a synonym for crime. That man hated me, and -hated the machine. But he loved the reputable old gentleman; and, by his -name and his money, he might become of utmost avail to that publicist in -any effort he put forth to have his mayorship again. - -One of the first offices of the city became vacant, that of chamberlain. -I heard how the name of our eminent one would be presented for the -place. That was my cue. I instantly asked that the eminent one be named -for that vacant post of chamberlain. It was the earliest word which the -reputable old gentleman had heard on the subject, for the friends of the -eminent one as yet had not broached the business with him. - -When I urged the name of the eminent one, the reputable old gentleman -pursed up his lips and frowned. He paused for so long a period that I -began to fear lest he accept my suggestion. To cure such chance, I broke -violently in upon his cogitations with the commands of the machine. - -"Mark you," I cried, in the tones wherewith I was wont in former and -despotic days to rule my Tin Whistles, "mark you! there shall be no -denial! I demand it in the name of Tammany Hall." - -The sequel was what I sought; the reputable old gentleman elevated his -crest. We straightway quarreled, and separated in hot dudgeon. When the -select bevy who bore among them the name of the eminent one arrived upon -the scene, the reputable old gentleman, metaphorically, shut the door in -their faces. They departed in a rage, and the fires of their indignation -were soon communicated to the eminent one. - -As the result of these various sowings, a nodding harvest of enemies -sprung up to hate and harass the reputable old gentleman. I could tell -that he would be beaten; he, with the most formidable forces of politics -against him solid to a man! To make assurance sure, however, I secretly -called to me the Chief of Police. In a moment, the quiet order was -abroad to close the gambling resorts, enforce the excise laws against -saloons, arrest every contractor violating the ordinances regulating -building material in the streets, and generally, as well as -specifically, to tighten up the town to a point that left folk gasping. - -No one can overrate the political effect of this. New York has no home. -It sits in restaurants and barrooms day and night. It is a city of -noisome tenements and narrow flats so small that people file themselves -away therein like papers in a pigeonhole. - -These are not homes: they grant no comfort; men do not seek them until -driven by want of sleep. It is for the cramped reasons of flats and -tenements that New York is abroad all night. The town lives in the -streets; or, rather, in those houses of refreshment which, open night -and day, have thrown away their keys. - -This harsh enforcement of the excise law, or as Old Mike put it, -"Gettin' bechune th' people an' their beer," roused a wasps' nest -of fifty thousand votes. The reputable old gentleman was to win the -stinging benefit, since he, being chief magistrate, must stand the brunt -as for an act of his administration. - -Altogether, politically speaking, my reputable old gentleman tossed and -bubbled in a steaming kettle of fish when he was given his renomination. -For my own side, I put up against him a noble nonentity with a historic -name. He was a mere jelly-fish of principle--one whose boneless -convictions couldn't stand on their own legs. If the town had looked at -my candidate, it would have repudiated him with a howl. But I knew my -public. New York votes with its back to the future. Its sole thought is -to throw somebody out of office--in the present instance, the offensive -reputable old gentleman--and this it will do with never a glance at that -one who by the effect of the eviction is to be raised to the place. -No, I had no apprehensions; I named my jelly-fish, and with a straight -machine-made ticket, mine from truck to keel, shoved boldly forth. This -time I meant to own the town. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII--HOW THE BOSS TOOK THE TOWN - - -THE reputable old gentleman was scandalized by what he called my -defection, and told me so. That I should put up a ticket against him was -grossest treason. - -"And why should I not?" said I. "You follow the flag of your interest; I -but profit by your example." - -"Sir!" cried the reputable old gentleman haughtily, "I have no interest -save the interest of The public." - -"So you say," I retorted, "and doubtless so you think." I had a desire -to quarrel finally and for all time with the reputable old gentleman, -whose name I no longer needed, and whose fame as an excise purist would -now be getting in my way. "You deceive yourself," I went on. "Your prime -motive is to tickle your own vanity with a pretense of elevation. From -the pedestal of your millions, and the safe shelter of a clean white -shirt, you patronize mankind and play the prig. That is what folk say of -you. As to what obligation in your favor rests personally upon myself, -I have only to recall your treatment of my candidate for that place of -chamberlain." - -"Do you say men call me a prig?" demanded the reputable old gentleman -with an indignant start. He ignored his refusal of the eminent one as -chamberlain. - -"Sir, I deny the term 'prig.' If such were my celebration, I should not -have waited to hear it from you." - -"What should you hear or know of yourself?" said I. "The man looking -from his window does not see his own house. He who marches with it, -never sees the regiment of which he is a unit. No more can you, as -mayor, see yourself, or estimate the common view concerning you. It -is your vanity to seem independent and above control, and you have -transacted that vanity at the expense of your friends. I've stood by -while others went that road, and politically at least it ever led down -hill." - -That was my last conference with the reputable old gentleman. I went -back to Fourteenth Street, and called on my people of Tammany to do -their utmost. Nor should I complain of their response, for they went -behind their batteries with the cool valor of buccaneers. - -There was but one question which gave me doubt, and that was the -question of the Australian ballot, then a novelty in our midst. -Theretofore, a henchman of the machine went with that freeman to the -ballot-box, and saw to it how he put no cheat upon his purchasers. Now -our commissioners could approach a polls no nearer than two hundred -feet; the freeman went in alone, took his folded ticket from the judges, -retired to privacy and a pencil, and marked his ballot where none might -behold the work. Who then could know that your mercenary, when thus -removed from beneath one's eye and hand, would fight for one's side? I -may tell you the situation was putting a wrinkle in my brow when Morton -came lounging in. - -"You know I've nothing to do with the old gentleman's campaign," said -he, following a mouthful or two of commonplace, and puffing the -while his usual cigarette. "Gad! I told him that I had withdrawn from -politics; I did, really! I said it was robbing me of all fineness; and -that I must defend my native purity of sensibility, don't y' know, and -preserve it from such sordid contact. - -"'Father,' said I, 'you surely would not, for the small cheap glory of a -second term, compel me into experiences that must leave me case-hardened -in all that is spiritual?' - -"No, he made no reply; simply turned his back upon me in merited -contempt. Really, I think he was aware of me for a hypocrite. It was -beastly hard to go back on the old boy, don't y' know! But for what I -have in mind it was the thing to do." - -Now, when I had him to counsel with, I gave Morton my troubles over the -Australian law. The situation, generally speaking, showed good; the more -because there were three tickets in the field. Still, nothing was sure. -We must work; and we must omit no usual means of adding to our strength. -And the Australian law was in our way. - -"Really, you're quite right," observed Morton, polishing his eyeglass -meditatively. "To be sure, these beasts of burden, the labor element, -have politically gone to pieces since our last campaign. But they are -still wandering about by twos and threes, like so many lost sheep, and -unless properly shepherded--and what a shepherd's crook is money!--they -may fall into the mouths of opposition wolves, don't y' know. What -exasperating dullards these working people are! I know of but one -greater fool than the working man, and that is the fool he works for! -And so you say this Australian law breeds uncertainty for our side?" - -"There is no way to tell how a man votes." - -Morton behind that potent eyeglass narrowed his gaze to the end of his -nose, and gave a full minute to thought. Then his eyes, released from -contemplation of his nose, began to brighten. I placed much reliance -upon the fertility of our exquisite, for all his trumpery affectations -of eyeglass and effeminate mannerisms, and I waited with impatience for -him to speak. - -"Really, now," said he, at last, "how many under the old plan would -handle your money about each polling place?" - -"About four," I replied. "Then at each polling booth there would be a -dozen pullers-in, to bring up the voters, and go with them to see that -they put in the right ballots. This last, you will notice, is by the -Australian system made impossible." - -"It is the duty of artillery people," drawled Morton, "whenever the -armor people invent a plate that cannot be perforated by guns in being, -don't y' know, to at once invent a gun that shall pierce it. The same -holds good in politics. Gad! we must invent a gun that shall knock a -hole through this Australian armor; we must, really! A beastly system, I -should call it, which those beggarly Australians have constructed! It's -no wonder: they are all convicts down there, and it would need a felon -to devise such an interference. However, this is what I suggest. You -must get into your hands, we'll put it, five thousand of the printed -ballots in advance of election day. This may be secretly done, don't y' -know, by paying the printers where the tickets are being struck off. A -printer is such an avaricious dog; he is, really! The tickets would be -equally distributed among those men with the money whom you send about -the polling places. A ballot in each instance should be marked with the -cross for Tammany Hall before it is given to the recruit. He will then -carry it into the booth in his pocket. Having received the regular -ticket from the hands of the judges, he can go through the form of -retiring, don't y' know; then reappear and give in the ticket which was -marked by your man of the machine." - -"And yet," said I breaking in, "I do not see how you've helped the -situation. The recruit might still vote the ticket handed him by the -judges, for all our wisdom. Moreover, it would be no easy matter to get -hold of fifty thousand tickets, all of which we would require to make -sure. Five thousand we might manage, but that would not be enough." - -"You should let me finish; you should, really!" returned Morton. "One -would not pay the recruit until he returned to that gentleman of finance -with whom he was dealing, don't y' know, and put into his hands the -unmarked ballot with which the judges had endowed him. That would prove -his integrity; and it would also equip your agent with a new fresh -ballot against the next recruit. Thus you would never run out of -ballots. Gad! I flatter myself, I've hit upon an excellent idea, don't -y' know!" and with that, Morton began delicately to caress his mustache, -again taking on his masquerade of the ineffably inane. - -Morton's plan was good; I saw its merits in a flash. He had proposed -a sure system by which the machine might operate in spite of that -antipodean law. We used it too, and it was half the reason of our -victory. Upon its proposal, I extended my compliments to Morton. - -"Really, it's nothing," said he, as though the business bored him. "Took -the hint from football, don't y' know. It is a rule of that murderous -amusement, when you can't buck the center, to go around the ends. But I -must have a ride in the park to rest me; I must, really! I seldom permit -myself to think--it's beastly bad form to think--and, therefore, when -I do give my intelligence a canter, it fatigues me beyond expression. -Well, good-by! I shall see you when I am recuperated. Meanwhile, you -must not let that awful parent of mine succeed; it would be our ruin, -don't y' know!" and Morton glared idiotically behind the eyeglass at -the thought of the reputable old gentleman flourishing through a second -term. "Yes, indeed," he concluded, "the old boy would become a perfect -juggernaut!" - -Morton's plan worked to admiration. The mercenary was given a ballot, -ready marked; and later he returned with the one which the judges gave -him, took his fee, and went his way. - -In these days, when the ballot furnished, by the judges is stamped on -the back, each with its separate number in red ink, which number is set -opposite a voter's name at the time he receives the ballot, and all to -be verified when he brings it again to the judges for deposit in the -box, the scheme would be valueless. There lies no open chance for the -substitution of a ready-made ballot, because of the deterrent number in -red ink. - -Under these changed conditions, however, as Morton declared they must, -the gunners of party have invented both the projectile and the rifle to -pierce this new and stronger plate. The party emblems, the Eagle, the -Star, the Ship, and other totems of partisanship, are printed across the -head of the ticket in black accommodating ink. The recruit now makes his -designating cross with a pencil that is as soft as fresh paint. Then -he spreads over the head of the ticket, as he might a piece of blotting -paper, a tissue sheet peculiarly prepared. A gentle rub of the fingers -across the tissue, stains it plainly with the Eagle, the Star, the Ship, -and the entire procession of totems; also, it takes with the rest an -impression of that penciled cross. This tissue, our recruit brings to -that particular paymaster of the forces with whom he is in barter, and a -glance answers the query was the vote made right or wrong. If "right" the -recruit has his reward; if "wrong," he is spurned from the presence as -one too densely ignorant to be of use. - -The reputable old gentleman, when the vote came on, was overpowered; he -retired to private life, inveighing against republics for that they were -ungrateful. My jelly-fish of historic blood took his place as mayor, and -Tammany dominated every corner of the town. My word was absolute -from the bench of the jurist to the beat of the policeman; the second -greatest city in the world, with every dollar of its treasure, was in my -hands to do with it as I would. I drew a swelling sense of comfort from -the situation which my breast had never known. - -And yet, I was not made mad by this sudden grant of power. I knew by -the counsel of Big Kennedy, and the dungeon fate of that Boss who was -destroyed, that I must light a lamp of caution for my journeyings. -Neither the role of bully, nor the bluff method of the highwayman, would -serve; in such rough event, the people, overhanging all, would be upon -one like an avalanche. One must proceed by indirection and while the -common back was turned; one, being careful, might bleed the public while -it slept. - -When the town in its threads was thus wholly in my hands, with every -office, great or small, held by a man of the machine, Morton came to -call upon me. - -"And so you're the Czar!" said he. - -"You have the enemy's word for it," I replied. "'Czar' is what they call -me in their papers when they do not call me 'rogue.'" - -"Mere compliments, all," returned Morton airily. "Really, I should -feel proud to be thus distinguished. And yet I'm surprised! I was just -telling an editor of one of our rampant dailies: 'Can't you see,' said -I, 'that he who speaks ill of his master speaks ill of himself? To call -a man a scoundrel or an ignoramus, is to call him weak, since neither -is a mark of strength. And when you term him scoundrel and ignoramus who -has beaten you, you but name yourself both viler, weaker still. Really,' -I concluded, 'if only to preserve one's own standing, one should ever -speak well of one's conqueror, don't y' know!' But it was of no use; -that ink-fellow merely scowled and went his way. However, to discuss a -theory of epithet was not my present purpose. Do you recall how, on the -edge of the campaign, I said that if you would but win the town I'd lead -you into millions?" - -"Yes," said I, "you said something of the sort." - -"You must trust me in this: I understand the market better than you do, -don't y' know. Perhaps you have noticed that Blackberry Traction is very -low--down to ninety, I think?" - -"No," I replied, "the thing is news to me. I know nothing of stocks." - -"It's as well. This, then, is my road to wealth for both of us. As a -first move, don't y' know, and as rapidly as I can without sending it -up, I shall load myself for our joint account with we'll say--since I'm -sure I can get that much--forty thousand shares of Blackberry. It will -take me ten days. When I'm ready, the president of Blackberry will call -upon you; he will, really! He will have an elaborate plan for extending -Blackberry to the northern limits of the town; and he will ask, besides, -for a half-dozen cross-town franchises to act as feeders to the main -line, and to connect it with the ferries. Be slow and thoughtful with -our Blackberry president, but encourage him. Gad! keep him coming to you -for a month, and on each occasion seem nearer to his view. In the end, -tell him he can have those franchises--cross-town and extensions--and, -for your side, go about the preliminary orders to city officers. It -will send Blackberry aloft like an elevator, don't y' know! Those forty -thousand shares will go to one hundred and thirty-five--really!" - -Two weeks later Morton gave me the quiet word that he held for us a -trifle over forty thousand shares of Blackberry which he had taken at an -average of ninety-one. Also, he had so intrigued that the Blackberry's -president would seek a meeting with me to consider those extensions, and -discover my temper concerning them. - -The president of Blackberry and I came finally together in a parlor of -the Hoffman House, as being neutral ground. I found him soft-voiced, -plausible, with a Hebrew cast and clutch. He unfurled his blue-prints, -which showed the proposed extensions, and what grants of franchises -would be required. - -At the beginning, I was cold, doubtful; I distrusted a public approval -of the grants, and feared the public's resentment. - -"Tammany must retain the people's confidence," said I. "It can only do -so by protecting jealously the people's interests." - -The president of Blackberry shrugged his shoulders. He looked at me -hard, and as one who waited for my personal demands. He would not speak, -but paused for me to begin. I could feel it in the air how a halfmillion -might be mine for the work of asking. I never said the word, however; I -had no mind to put my hand into that dog's mouth. - -Thus we stood; he urging, I considering the advisability of those -asked-for franchises. This was our attitude throughout a score of -conferences, and little by little I went leaning the Blackberry way. - -To be sure, the secret of our meetings was whispered in right quarters, -and every day found fresh buyers for Blackberry. Meanwhile, the shares -climbed high and ever higher, until one bland April morning they stood -at one hundred and thirty-seven. - -Throughout my series of meetings with the president of Blackberry, I had -seen no trace of Morton. For that I cared nothing, but played my part -slowly so as to give him time, having confidence in his loyalty, and -knowing that my interest was his interest, and I in no sort to -be worsted. On that day when Blackberry showed at one hundred and -thirty-seven, Morton appeared. He laid down a check for an even million -of dollars. - -"I've been getting out of Blackberry for a week," said he, with his air -of delicate lassitude. "I found that it was tiring me, don't y' know; -I did really! Besides, we've done enough: No gentlemen ever makes more -than one million on a single turn; it's not good form." That check, -drawn to my order, was the biggest of its kind I'd ever handled. I took -it up, and I could feel a pringling to my finger-ends with the contact -of so much wealth all mine. I envied my languid friend his genius for -coolness and aplomb. He selected a cigarette, and lighted it as though -a million here and there, on a twist of the market, was a commonest of -affairs. When I could command my voice, I said: - -"And now I suppose we may give Blackberry its franchises?" - -"No, not yet," returned Morton. "Really, we're not half through. I've -not only gotten rid of our holdings, but I've sold thirty-five thousand -shares the other way. It was a deuced hard thing to do without sending -the stock off--the market is always so beastly ready to tumble, don't -y' know. But I managed it; we're now short about thirty-five thousand -shares at one hundred and thirty-seven." - -"What then?" said I. - -"On the whole," continued Morton, with just a gleam of triumph behind -his eyeglass, "on the whole, I think I should refuse Blackberry, don't -y' know. The public interest would be thrown away; and gad! the people -are prodigiously moved over it already, they are, really! It would be -neither right nor safe. I'd come out in an interview declaring that a -grant of what Blackberry asks for would be to pillage the town. Here, -I've the interview prepared. What do you say? Shall we send it to the -_Daily Tory_?" - -The interview appeared; Blackberry fell with a crash. It slumped fifty -points, and Morton and I were each the better by fairly another million. -Blackberry grazed the reef of a receivership so closely that it rubbed -the paint from its side. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX--THE SON OF THE WIDOW VAN FLANGE - - -WHEN now I was rich with double millions, I became harrowed of new -thoughts and sown with new ambitions. It was Blossom to lie at the roots -of it--Blossom, looking from her window of young womanhood upon a world -she did not understand, and from which she drew away. The world was like -a dark room to Blossom, with an imagined fiend to harbor in every -corner of it. She must go forth among people of manners and station. -The contact would mend her shyness; with time and usage she might find -herself a pleasant place in life. Now she lived a morbid creature of -sorrow which had no name--a twilight soul of loneliness--and the thought -of curing this went with me day and night. - -Nor was I unjustified of authority. - -"Send your daughter into society," said that physician to whom I put the -question. "It will be the true medicine for her case. It is her nerves -that lack in strength; society, with its dinners and balls and fetes -and the cheerful hubbub of drawing rooms, should find them exercise, and -restore them to a complexion of health." - -Anne did not believe with that savant of nerves. She distrusted my -society plans for Blossom. - -"You think they will taunt her with the fact of me," I said, "like that -one who showed her the ape cartoon as a portrait of her father. But -Blossom is grown a woman now. Those whom I want her to meet would be -made silent by politeness, even if nothing else might serve to stay -their tongues from such allusions. And I think she would be loved among -them, for she is good and beautiful, and you of all should know how she -owns to fineness and elevation." - -"But it is not her nature," pleaded Anne. "Blossom would be as much hurt -among those men and women of the drawing rooms as though she walked, -barefooted, over flints." - -For all that Anne might say, I persisted in my resolve. Blossom must be -saved against herself by an everyday encounter with ones of her own age. -I had more faith than Anne. There must be kindness and sympathy in the -world, and a countenance for so much goodness as Blossom's. Thus she -should find it, and the discovery would let in the sun upon an existence -now overcast with clouds. - -These were my reasonings. It would win her from her broodings and those -terrors without cause, which to my mind were a kind of insanity that -might deepen unless checked. - -Full of my great design, I moved into a new home--a little palace in its -way, and one to cost me a penny. I cared nothing for the cost; the house -was in the center of that region of the socially select. From this fine -castle of gilt, Blossom should conquer those alliances which were to -mean so much for her good happiness. - -Being thus fortunately founded, I took Morton into my confidence. He was -a patrician by birth and present station; and I knew I might have both -his hand and his wisdom for what was in my heart. When I laid open my -thought to Morton, he stood at gaze like one planet-struck, while that -inevitable eyeglass dropped from his amazed nose. - -"You must pardon my staring," said he, at last. "It was a beastly rude -thing to do. But, really, don't y' know, I was surprised that one -of force and depth, and who was happily outside society, should find -himself so badly guided as to seek to enter it." - -"You, yourself, are in its midst." - -"That should be charged," he returned, "to accident rather than design. -I am in the midst of society, precisely as some unfortunate tree might -be found in the middle of its native swamp, and only because being born -there I want of that original energy required for my transplantation. -I will say this," continued Morton, getting up to walk the floor; "your -introduction into what we'll style the Four Hundred, don't y' know, -might easily be brought about. You have now a deal of wealth; and that -of itself should be enough, as the annals of our Four Hundred offer -ample guaranty. But more than that, stands the argument of your power, -and how you, in your peculiar fashion, are unique. Gad, for the latter -cause alone, swelldom would welcome you with spread arms; it would, -really! But believe me, if it were happiness you came seeking you would -miss it mightily. There is more laughter in Third Avenue than in Fifth." - -"But it is of my Blossom I am thinking," I cried. "For myself I am not -so ambitious." - -"And what should your daughter," said Morton, "find worth her young -while in society? She is, I hear from you, a girl of sensibility. That -true, she would find nothing but disappointment in this region you think -so select. Do you know our smart set? Sir, it is composed of savages in -silk." Morton, I found, had much the manner of his father, when stirred. -"It is," he went on, "that circle where discussion concerns itself with -nothing more onerous than golf or paper-chases or singlestickers or polo -or balls or scandals; where there is no literature save the literature -of the bankbook; where snobs invent a pedigree and play at caste; where -folk give lawn parties to dogs and dinners to which monkeys come as -guests of honor; where quarrels occur over questions of precedence -between a mosquito and a flea; where pleasure is a trade, and idleness -an occupation; in short, it is that place where the race, bruised of -riches, has turned cancerous and begun to rot." - -"You draw a vivid picture," said I, not without a tincture of derision. -"For all that, I stick by my determination, and ask your help. I tell -you it is my daughter's life or death." - -Morton, at this, relapsed into his customary attitude of moral, mental -Lah-de-dah, and his lisp and his drawl and his eyeglass found their -usual places. He shrugged his shoulders in his manner of the superfine. - -"Why then," said he, "and seeing that you will have no other way for it, -you may command my services. Really, I shall be proud to introduce -you, don't y' know, as one who, missing being a monkey by birth, is now -determined to become one by naturalization. Now I should say that a way -to begin would be to discover a dinner and have you there as a guest. I -know a society queen who will jump at the chance; she will have you at -her chariot wheel like another Caractacus in another Rome, and parade -you as a latest captive to her social bow and spear. I'll tell her; it -will offer an excellent occasion for you to declare your intentions and -take out your first papers in that Apeland whereof you seem so strenuous -to become a citizen." - -While the work put upon me by my place as Boss had never an end, but -filled both my day and my night to overflowing, it brought with it -compensation. If I were ground and worn away on the wheel of my position -like a knife on a grindstone, still I was kept to keenest edge, and -I felt that joy I've sometimes thought a good blade must taste in the -sheer fact of its trenchant quality. Besides, there would now and then -arrive a moment which taught me how roundly I had conquered, and touched -me with that sense of power which offers the highest pleasure whereof -the soul of man is capable. Here would be an example of what I mean, -although I cannot believe the thing could happen in any country save -America or any city other than New York. - -It was one evening at my own door, when that judge who once sought to -fix upon me the murder of Jimmy the Blacksmith, came tapping for an -interview. His term was bending towards the evening of its close, and -the mean purpose of him was none better-than to just plead for his place -again. I will not say the man was abject; but then the thought of his -mission, added to a memory of that relation to each other in which it -was aforetime our one day's fate to have stood, choked me with contempt. -I shall let his conduct go by without further characterization; and yet -for myself, had our fortunes been reversed and he the Boss and I the -Judge, before I had been discovered in an attitude of office-begging -from a hand I once plotted to kill, I would have died against the wall. -But so it was; my visitor would labor with me for a renomination. - -My first impulse was one of destruction; I would put him beneath the -wheel and crush out the breath of his hopes. And then came Big Kennedy's -warning to avoid revenge when moved of nothing broader than a reason of -revenge. - -I sat and gazed mutely upon that judge for a space; he, having told -his purpose, awaited my decision without more words. I grew cool, and -cunning began to have the upper hand of violence in my breast. If I cast -him down, the papers would tell of it for the workings of my vengeance. -If, on the quiet other hand, he were to be returned, it would speak -for my moderation, and prove me one who in the exercise of power lifted -himself above the personal. I resolved to continue him; the more since -the longer I considered, the clearer it grew that my revenge, instead of -being starved thereby, would find in it a feast. - -"You tried to put a rope about my neck," said I at last. - -"I was misled as to the truth." - -"Still you put a stain upon me. There be thousands who believe me guilty -of bloodshed, and of that you shall clear me by printed word." - -"I am ever ready to repair an error." - -Within a week, with black ink and white paper, my judge in peril set -forth how since my trial he had gone to the ends of that death of Jimmy -the Blacksmith in its history. I was, he said, an innocent man, having -had neither part nor lot therein. - -I remember that over the glow of triumph wherewith I read his words, -there came stealing the chill shadow of a hopeless grief. Those phrases -of exoneration would not recall poor Apple Cheek; nor would they restore -Blossom to that poise and even balance from which she had been shaken on -a day before her birth. For all the sorrow of it, however, I made good -my word; and I have since thought that whether our judge deserved the -place or no, to say the least he earned it. - -Every man has his model, and mine was Big John Kennedy. This was in -a way of nature, for I had found Big Kennedy in my boyhood, and it is -then, and then only, when one need look for his great men. When once you -have grown a beard, you will meet with few heroes, and make to yourself -few friends; wherefore you should the more cherish those whom your -fortunate youth has furnished. - -Big Kennedy was my exemplar, and there arose few conditions to frown -upon me with a problem to be solved, when I did not consider what Big -Kennedy would have done in the face of a like contingency. Nor was I -to one side of the proprieties in such a course. Now, when I glance -backward down that steep aisle of endeavor up which I've come, I recall -occasions, and some meant for my compliment, when I met presidents, -governors, grave jurists, reverend senators, and others of tallest -honors in the land. They talked and they listened, did these mighty -ones; they gave me their views and their reasons for them, and heard -mine in return; and all as equal might encounter equal in a commerce of -level terms. And yet, choose as I may, I have not the name of him who -in a pure integrity of force, or that wisdom which makes men follow, was -the master of Big John Kennedy. My old chief won all his wars within the -organization, and that is the last best test of leadership. He made no -backward steps, but climbed to a final supremacy and sustained himself. -I was justified in steering by Big Kennedy. Respect aside, I would have -been wrecked had I not done so. That man who essays to live with no -shining example to show his feet the path, is as one who wanting a -lantern, and upon a moonless midnight, urges abroad into regions utterly -unknown. - -Not alone did I observe those statutes for domination which Big Kennedy -both by precept and example had given me, but I picked up his alliances; -and that one was the better in my eyes, and came to be observed with -wider favor, who could tell of a day when he carried Big Kennedy's -confidence. It was a brevet I always honored with my own. - -One such was the Reverend Bronson, still working for the regeneration -of the Five Points, He often came to me for money or countenance in his -labors, and I did ever as Big Kennedy would have done and heaped up the -measure of his requests. - -It would seem, also, that I had more of the acquaintance of this good -man than had gone to my former leader. For one thing, we were more -near in years, and then, too, I have pruned my language of those slangy -rudenesses of speech which loaded the conversation of Big Kennedy, and -cultivated in their stead softness and a verbal cleanliness which put -the Reverend Bronson at more ease in my company. I remember with what -satisfaction I heard him say that he took me for a person of education. - -It was upon a time when I had told him of my little learning; for the -gloom of it was upon me constantly, and now and then I would cry out -against it, and speak of it as a burden hard to bear. I shall not soon -forget the real surprise that showed in the Reverend Bronson's face, nor -yet the good it did me. - -"You amaze me!" he cried. "Now, from the English you employ I should not -have guessed it. Either my observation is dulled, or you speak as much -by grammar as do I, who have seen a college." - -This was true by more than half, since like many who have no glint of -letters, and burning with the shame of it, I was wont to listen closely -to the talk of everyone learned of books; and in that manner, and by -imitation, I taught myself a decent speech just as a musician might -catch a tune by ear. - -"Still I have no education," I said, when the Reverend Bronson spoke of -his surprise. - -"But you have, though," returned he, "only you came by that education -not in the common way." - -That good speech alone, and the comfort of it to curl about my heart, -more than repaid me for all I ever did or gave by request of the -Reverend Bronson; and it pleases me to think I told him so. But I fear I -set down these things rather in vanity than to do a reader service, and -before patience turns fierce with me, I will get onward with my story. - -One afternoon the Reverend Bronson came leading a queer bedraggled boy, -whose years--for all he was stunted and beneath a size--should have been -fourteen. - -"Can't you find something which this lad may do?" asked the Reverend -Bronson. "He has neither father nor mother nor home--he seems utterly -friendless. He has no capacity, so far as I have sounded him, and, while -he is possessed of a kind of animal sharpness, like the sharpness of a -hawk or a weasel, I can think of nothing to set him about by which he -could live. Even the streets seem closed to him, since the police for -some reason pursue him and arrest him on sight. It was in a magistrate's -court I found him. He had been dragged there by an officer, and would -have been sent to a reformatory if I had not rescued him." - -"And would not that have been the best place for him?" I asked, rather -to hear the Reverend Bronson's reply, than because I believed in my own -query. Aside from being a born friend of liberty in a largest sense, my -own experience had not led me to believe that our reformatories reform. -I've yet to hear of him who was not made worse by a term in any prison. -"Why not send him to a reformatory?" said I again. - -"No one should be locked up," contended the Reverend Bronson, "who -has not shown himself unfit to be free. That is not this boy's case, I -think; he has had no chance; the police, according to that magistrate -who gave him into my hands, are relentless against him, and pick him up -on sight." - -"And are not the police good judges of these matters?" - -"I would not trust their judgment," returned the Reverend Bronson. -"There are many noble men upon the rolls of the police." Then, with a -doubtful look: "For the most part, however, I should say they stand at -the head of the criminal classes, and might best earn their salaries by -arresting themselves." - -At this, I was made to smile, for it showed how my reverend visitor's -years along the Bowery had not come and gone without lending him some -saltiness of wit. - -"Leave the boy here," said I at last, "I'll find him work to live by, -if it be no more than sitting outside my door, and playing the usher to -those who call upon me." - -"Melting Moses is the only name he has given me," said the Reverend -Bronson, as he took his leave. "I suppose, if one might get to it, that -he has another." - -"Melting Moses, as a name, should do very well," said I. - -Melting Moses looked wistfully after the Reverend Bronson when the -latter departed, and I could tell by that how the urchin regretted the -going of the dominie as one might regret the going of an only friend. -Somehow, the lad's forlorn state grew upon me, and I made up my mind to -serve as his protector for a time at least. He was a shrill child of the -Bowery, was Melting Moses, and spoke a kind of gutter dialect, one-half -slang and the other a patter of the thieves that was hard to understand. -My first business was to send him out with the janitor of the building -to have him thrown into a bathtub, and then buttoned into a new suit of -clothes. - -Melting Moses submitted dumbly to these improvements, being rather -resigned than pleased, and later with the same docility went home to -sleep at the janitor's house. Throughout the day he would take up his -post on my door and act as herald to what visitors might come. - -Being washed and combed and decently arrayed, Melting Moses, with black -eyes and a dark elfin face, made no bad figure of a boy. For all his -dwarfishness, I found him surprisingly strong, and as active as a -monkey. He had all the love and loyalty of a collie for me, and within -the first month of his keeping my door, he would have cast himself into -the river if I had asked him for that favor. - -Little by little, scrap by scrap, Melting Moses gave me his story. Put -together in his words, it ran like this: - -"Me fadder kept a joint in Kelly's Alley; d' name of-d' joint was d' -Door of Death, see! It was a hot number, an' lots of trouble got pulled -off inside. He used to fence for d' guns an' dips, too, me fadder did; -an' w'en one of 'em nipped a super or a rock, an' wanted d' quick dough, -he brought it to me fadder, who chucked down d' stuff an' no questions -asked. One day a big trick comes off--a jooeler's winder or somet'ing -like dat. Me fadder is in d' play from d' outside, see! An' so w'en -dere's a holler, he does a sneak an' gets away,'cause d' cops is layin' -to pinch him. Me fadder gets put wise to this be a mug who hangs out -about d' Central Office. He sherries like I says. - -"At dat, d' Captain who's out to nail me fadder toins sore all t'rough. -W'en me fadder sidesteps into New Joisey or some'ers, d' Captain sends -along a couple of his harness bulls from Mulberry Street, an' dey -pinches me mudder, who aint had nothin' to do wit' d' play at all. -Dey rings for d' hurry-up wagon, an' takes me mudder to d' station. D' -Captain he gives her d' eye, an' asts where me fadder is. She says she -can't put him on, 'cause she aint on herself. Wit' dat, dis Captain -t'rows her d' big chest, see! an' says he'll give her d' t'ree degrees -if she don't cough up d' tip. But she hands him out d' old gag: she aint -on. So then, d' Captain has her put in a cell; an' nothin' to eat. - -"After d' foist night he brings her up ag'in. - -"'Dat's d' number one d'gree,' says he. - -"But still me mudder don't tell,'cause she can't. Me fadder aint such a -farmer as to go leavin' his address wit' no one. - -"D' second night dey keeps me mudder in a cell, an' toins d' hose on d' -floor so she can't do nothin' but stan' 'round--no sleep! no chuck! no -nothin'! - -"'Dat's d' number two d'gree,' says d' bloke of a Captain to me mudder. -'Now where did dat husband of yours skip to?' - -"But me mudder couldn't tell. - -"'Give d' old goil d' dungeon,' says d' Captain; 'an' t'row her in a -brace of rats to play wit'.' - -"An' now dey locks me mudder in a place like a cellar, wit' two rats to -squeak an' scrabble about all night, an' t'row a scare into her. - -"An' it would too, only she goes dotty. - -"Next day, d' Captain puts her in d' street. But w'at's d' use? She's -off her trolley. She toins sick; an' in a week she croaks. D' sawbones -gets her for d' colleges." - -Melting Moses shed tears at this. - -"Dat's about all," he concluded. "W'en me mudder was gone, d' cops -toined in to do me. D' Captain said he was goin' to clean up d' fam'ly; -so he gives d' orders, an' every time I'd show up on d' line, I'd get d' -collar. It was one of dem times, w'en d' w'itechoker, who passes me on -to you, gets his lamps on me an' begs me off from d' judge, see!" - -Melting Moses wept a deal during his relation, and I was not without -being moved by it myself. I gave the boy what consolation I might, by -assuring him that he was safe with me, and that no policeman should -threaten him. A tale of trouble, and particularly if told by a child, -ever had power to disturb me, and I did not question Melting Moses -concerning his father and mother a second time. - -My noble nonentity--for whom I will say that he allowed me to finger -him for offices and contracts, as a musician fingers the keyboard of a -piano, and play upon him what tunes of profit I saw fit--was mayor, and -the town wholly in my hands, with a Tammany man in every office, when -there occurred the first of a train of events which in their passage -were to plow a furrow in my life so deep that all the years to come -after have not served to smooth it away. I was engaged at my desk, when -Melting Moses announced a caller. - -"She's a dame in black," said Melting Moses; "an' she's of d' Fift' -Avenoo squeeze all right." - -Melting Moses, now he was fed and dressed, went through the days with -uncommon spirit, and when not thinking on his mother would be gay -enough. My visitors interested him even more than they did me, and he -announced but few without hazarding his surmise as to both their origins -and their errands. - -"Show her in!" I said. - -My visitor was a widow, as I could see by her mourning weeds. She was -past middle life; gray, with hollow cheeks, and sad pleading eyes. - -"My name is Van Flange," said she. "The Reverend Bronson asked me to -call upon you. It's about my son; he's ruining us by his gambling." - -Then the Widow Van Flange told of her son's infatuation; and how -blacklegs in Barclay Street were fleecing him with roulette and faro -bank. - -I listened to her story with patience. While I would not find it on my -programme to come to her relief, I aimed at respect for one whom the -Reverend Bronson had endorsed. I was willing to please that good man, -for I liked him much since he spoke in commendation of my English. -Besides, if angered, the Reverend Bronson would be capable of trouble. -He was too deeply and too practically in the heart of the East Side; -he could not fail to have a tale to tell that would do Tammany Hall no -good, but only harm. Wherefore, I in no wise cut short the complaints -of the Widow Van Flange. I heard her to the end, training my face to -sympathy the while, and all as though her story were not one commonest -of the town. - -"You may be sure, madam," said I, when the Widow Van Flange had -finished, "that not only for the Reverend Bronson's sake, but for your -own, I shall do all I may to serve you. I own no personal knowledge of -that gambling den of which you speak, nor of those sharpers who conduct -it. That knowledge belongs with the police. The number you give, -however, is in Captain Gothecore's precinct. We'll send for him if -you'll wait." With that I rang my desk bell for Melting Moses. "Send for -Captain Gothecore," said I. At the name, the boy's black eyes flamed up -in a way to puzzle. "Send a messenger for Captain Gothecore; I want him -at once." - - - - -CHAPTER XX--THE MARK OF THE ROPE - - -WHILE the Widow Van Flange and I sat waiting the coming of Gothecore, -the lady gave me further leaves of her story. The name of Van Flange was -old. It had been honorable and high in the days of Wouter Van Twiller, -and when the town was called New Amsterdam. The Van Flanges had found -their source among the wooden shoes and spinning-wheels of the ancient -Dutch, and were duly proud. They had been rich, but were now reduced, -counting--she and her boy--no more than two hundred thousand dollars for -their fortune. - -This son over whom she wept was the last Van Flange; there was no one -beyond him to wear the name. To the mother, this made his case the more -desperate, for mindful of her caste, she was borne upon by pride of -family almost as much as by maternal love. The son was a drunkard; his -taste for alcohol was congenital, and held him in a grip that could -not be unloosed. And he was wasting their substance; what small riches -remained to them were running away at a rate that would soon leave -nothing. - -"But why do you furnish him money?" said I. - -"You should keep him without a penny." - -"True!" responded the Widow Van Flange, "but those who pillage my son -have found a way to make me powerless. There is a restaurant near this -gambling den. The latter, refusing him credit and declining his checks, -sends him always to this restaurant-keeper. He takes my son's check, -and gives him the money for it. I know the whole process," concluded -the Widow Van Flange, a sob catching in her throat, "for I've had my son -watched, to see if aught might be done to save him." - -"But those checks," I observed, "should be worthless, for you have told -me how your son has no money of his own." - -"And that is it," returned the Widow Van Flange. - -"I must pay them to keep him from prison. Once, when I refused, they -were about to arrest him for giving a spurious check. My own attorney -warned me they might do this. My son, himself, takes advantage of it. I -would sooner be stripped of the last shilling, than suffer the name -of Van Flange to be disgraced. Practicing upon my fears, he does not -scruple to play into the hands of those who scheme his downfall. You may -know what he is about, when I tell you that within the quarter I have -been forced in this fashion to pay over twenty-seven thousand dollars. -I see no way for it but to be ruined," and her lips twitched with the -despair she felt. - -While the Widow Van Flange and I talked of her son and his down-hill -courses, I will not pretend that I pondered any interference. The -gamblers were a power in politics. The business of saving sons was none -of mine; but, as I've said, I was willing, by hearing her story, to -compliment the Reverend Bronson, who had suggested her visit. In the -end, I would shift the burden to the police; they might be relied upon -to find their way through the tangle to the advantage of themselves and -the machine. - -Indeed, this same Gothecore would easily dispose of the affair. Expert -with practice, there was none who could so run with the hare while -pretending to course with the hounds. Softly, sympathetically, he would -talk with the Widow Van Flange; and she would depart in the belief that -her cause had found a friend. - -As the Widow Van Flange and I conversed, we were brought to sudden -silence by a strange cry. It was a mad, screeching cry, such as might -have come from some tigerish beast in a heat of fury. I was upon my feet -in a moment, and flung open the door. - -Gothecore was standing outside, having come to my message. Over from him -by ten feet was Melting Moses, his shoulders narrowed in a feline way, -crouching, with brows drawn down and features in a snarl of hate. He was -slowly backing away from Gothecore; not in fear, but rather like some -cat-creature, measuring for a spring. - -On his side, Gothecore's face offered an equally forbidding picture. -He was red with rage, and his bulldog jaws had closed like a trap. -Altogether, I never beheld a more inveterate expression, like malice -gone to seed. - -I seized Melting Moses by the shoulder, and so held him back from flying -at Gothecore with teeth and claws. - -"He killed me mudder!" cried Melting Moses, struggling in my fingers -like something wild. - -When the janitor with whom Melting Moses lived had carried him off--and -at that, the boy must be dragged away by force--I turned to Gothecore. - -"What was the trouble?" - -"Why do you stand for that young whelp?" he cried. "I won't have it!" - -"The boy is doing you no harm." - -"I won't have it!" he cried again. The man was like a maniac. - -"Let me tell you one thing," I retorted, looking him between the eyes; -"unless you walk with care and talk with care, you are no better than -a lost man. One word, one look, and I'll snuff you out between my thumb -and finger as I might a candle." - -There must have been that which showed formidable in my manner, -for Gothecore stood as though stunned. The vicious insolence of the -scoundrel had exploded the powder in my temper like a coal of fire. I -pointed the way to my room. - -"Go in; I've business with you." - -Gothecore seemed to recall himself to steadiness. Without more words, he -entered my door. - -With as much dignity as I might summon in the track of such a storm, I -presented him to the Widow Van Flange. She had heard the sound of our -differences; but, taken with her own troubles, she made no account of -them. The Widow Van Flange received the rather boorish salutation of -Gothecore in a way politely finished. Upon my hint, she gave him her -story. Gothecore assumed a look at once professional and deprecatory. - -"An' now you're done, Madam," said Gothecore, giving that slight police -cough by which he intimated for himself a limitless wisdom, "an' now -you're done, Madam, let me chip in a word. I know your son; I've knowed -Billy Van Flange, now, goin' on three year--ever since he comes out o' -college. I don't want to discourage you, Madam; but, to put it to you on -th' square, Billy Van Flange is a warm member. I leave it to you to say -if I aint right. Yes, indeed! he's as hot a proposition as ever went -down th' line." - -Here the eye of Gothecore wandered towards the ceiling, recalling the -mad pranks of young Van Flange. - -"But these gamblers are destroying him!" moaned the Widow Van Flange. -"Is there no way to shield him? Surely, you should know how to punish -them, and keep him out of their hands!" - -"I know that gang of card sharps in Barclay Street," remarked Gothecore; -"an' they're a bunch of butes at that! But let me go on: I'll tell you -what we can do; and then I'll tell you why it won't be fly to do it. In -th' finish, however, it will all be up to you, Madam. We'll act on any -steer you hand us. If you say 'pinch,' pinch goes. - -"But as I was tellin': I'm dead onto Billy Van Flange; I know him like -a gambler knows an ace. He hits up th' bottle pretty stiff at that, an' -any man who finds him sober has got to turn out hours earlier than I do. -An' I'll tell you another thing, Madam: This Billy Van Flange is a tough -mug to handle. More'n once, I've tried to point him for home, an' -every time it was a case of nothin' doin'. Sometimes he shed tears, -an' sometimes he wanted to scrap; sometimes he'd give me th' laugh, -an' sometimes he'd throw a front an' talk about havin' me fired off th' -force. He'd run all the way from th' sob or th' fiery eye, to th' gay -face or th' swell front, accordin' as he was jagged." - -While Gothecore thus descanted, the Widow Van Flange buried her face in -her handkerchief. She heard his every word, however, and when Gothecore -again consulted the ceiling, she signed for him to go on. - -"Knowin' New York as I do," continued Gothecore, "I may tell you, Madam, -that every time I get my lamps on that son of yours, I hold up my mits -in wonder to think he aint been killed." The Widow Van Flange started; -her anxious face was lifted from the handkerchief. "That's on th' level! -I've expected to hear of him bein' croaked, any time this twelve -months. Th' best I looked for was that th' trick wouldn't come off in -my precinct. He carries a wad in his pocket; an' he sports a streak of -gilt, with a thousand-dollar rock, on one of his hooks; an' I could put -you next to a hundred blokes, not half a mile from here, who'd do him up -for half th' price. That's straight! Billy Van Flange, considerin' th' -indoocements he hangs out, an' th' way he lays himself wide open to th' -play, is lucky to be alive. - -"Now why is he alive, Madam? It is due to them very gamblin' ducks in -Barclay Street. Not that they love him; but once them skin gamblers -gets a sucker on th' string, they protect him same as a farmer does his -sheep. They look on him as money in th' bank; an' so they naturally see -to it that no one puts his light out. - -"That's how it stands, Madam!" And now Gothecore made ready to bring -his observations to a close. This Billy Van Flange, like every other -rounder, has his hangouts. His is this deadfall on Barclay Street, with -that hash-house keeper to give him th' dough for his checks. Now I'll -tell you what I think. While he sticks to th' Barclay Street mob, he's -safe. You'll get him back each time. They'll take his stuff; but they'll -leave him his life, an' that's more than many would do. - -"Say th' word, however, an' I can put th' damper on. I can fix it so -Billy Van Flange can't gamble nor cash checks in Barclay Street. They'll -throw him out th' minute he sticks his nut inside the door. But I'll put -you wise to it, Madam: If I do, inside of ninety days you'll fish him -out o' th' river; you will, as sure as I'm a foot high!" - -The face of the Widow Van Flange was pale as paper now, and her bosom -rose and fell with new terrors for her son. The words of Gothecore -seemed prophetic of the passing of the last Van Flange. - -"Madam," said Gothecore, following a pause, "I've put it up to you. Give -me your orders. Say th' word, an' I'll have th' screws on that Barclay -Street joint as fast as I can get back to my station-house." - -"But if we keep him from going there," said the Widow Van Flange, with -a sort of hectic eagerness, "he'll find another place, won't he?" There -was a curious look in the eyes of the Widow Van Flange. Her hand was -pressed upon her bosom as if to smother a pang; her handkerchief went -constantly to her lips. "He would seek worse resorts?" - -"It's a cinch, Madam!" - -"And he'd be murdered?" - -"Madam, it's apples to ashes!" - -The eyes of the Widow Van Flange seemed to light up with an unearthly -sparkle, while a flush crept out in her cheek. I was gazing upon these -signs with wonder regarding them as things sinister, threatening ill. - -Suddenly, she stood on her feet; and then she tottered in a blind, -stifled way toward the window as though feeling for light and air. -The next moment, the red blood came trickling from her mouth; she fell -forward and I caught her in my arms. - -"It's a hemorrhage!" said Gothecore. - -The awe of death lay upon the man, and his coarse voice was stricken to -a whisper. - -"Now Heaven have my soul!" murmured the dying woman. Then: "My son! oh, -my son!" - -There came another crimson cataract, and the Widow Van Flange was dead. - -"This is your work!" said I, turning fiercely to Gothecore. - -"Or is it yours?" cries he. - -The words went over my soul like the teeth of a harrow. Was it my work? - -"No, Chief!" continued Gothecore, more calmly, and as though in answer -to both himself and me, "it's the work of neither of us. You think that -what I said killed her. That may be as it may. Every word, however, was -true. I but handed her th' straight goods." - -The Widow Van Flange was dead; and the thought of her son was in her -heart and on her lips as her soul passed. And the son, bleared and -drunken, gambled on in the Barclay Street den, untouched. The counters -did not shake in his hand, nor did the blood run chill in his veins, as -he continued to stake her fortune and his own in sottish ignorance. - -One morning, when the first snow of winter was beating in gusty swirls -against the panes, Morton walked in upon me. I had not seen that -middle-aged fop since the day when I laid out my social hopes and fears -for Blossom. It being broad September at the time, Morton had pointed -out how nothing might be done before the snows. - -"For our society people," observed Morton, on that September occasion, -"are migratory, like the wild geese they so much resemble. At this time -they are leaving Newport for the country, don't y' know. They will not -be found in town until the frost." - -Now, when the snow and Morton appeared together, I recalled our -conversation. I at once concluded that his visit had somewhat to do with -our drawing-room designs. Nor was I in the wrong. - -"But first," said he, when in response to my question he had confessed -as much, "let us decide another matter. Business before pleasure; the -getting of money should have precedence over its dissipation; it should, -really! I am about to build a conduit, don't y' know, the whole length -of Mulberry, and I desire you to ask your street department to take no -invidious notice of the enterprise. You might tell your fellows that it -wouldn't be good form." - -"But your franchise does not call for a conduit." - -"We will put it on the ground that Mulberry intends a change to the -underground trolley--really! That will give us the argument; and I -think, if needs press, your Corporation Counsel can read the law that -way. He seems such a clever beggar, don't y' know!" - -"But what do you want the conduit for?" - -"There's nothing definite or sure as yet. My notion, however, is to -inaugurate an electric-light company. The conduit, too, would do for -telephone or telegraph, wires. Really, it's a good thing to have; and my -men, when this beastly weather softens a bit, might as well be about the -digging. All that's wanted of you, old chap, is to issue your orders -to the department people to stand aloof, and offer no interruptions. It -will be a great asset in the hands of Mulberry, that conduit; I shall -increase the capital stock by five millions, on the strength of it." - -"Your charter isn't in the way?" - -"The charter contemplates the right on the part of Mulberry to change -its power, don't y' know. We shall declare in favor of shifting to the -underground trolley; although, really, we won't say when. The necessity -of a conduit follows. Any chap can see that." - -"Very well!" I replied, "there shall be no interference the city. If the -papers grumble, I leave you and them to fight it out." - -"Now that's settled," said Morton, producing his infallible cigarette, -"let us turn to those social victories we have in contemplation. I take -it you remain firm in your frantic resolutions?" - -"I do it for the good of my child," said I. - -"As though society, as presently practiced," cried Morton, "could be for -anybody's good! However, I was sure you would not change. You know the -De Mudds? One of our best families, the De Mudds--really! They are on -the brink of a tremendous function. They'll dine, and they'll dance, and -all that sort of thing. They've sent you cards, the De Mudds have; and -you and your daughter are to come. It's the thing to do; you can conquer -society in the gross at the De Mudds." - -"I'm deeply obliged," said I. "My daughter's peculiar nervous condition -has preyed upon me more than I've admitted. The physician tells me that -her best hope of health lies in the drawing-rooms." - -"Let us trust so!" said Morton. "But, realty, old chap, you ought to be -deucedly proud of the distinction which the De Mudds confer upon you. -Americans are quite out of their line, don't y' know! And who can -blame them? Americans are such common beggars; there's so many of them, -they're vulgar. Mamma DeMudd's daughters--three of them--all married -earls. Mamma DeMudd made the deal herself; and taking them by the lot, -she had those noblemen at a bargain; she did, really! Five millions was -the figure. Just think of it! five millions for three earls! Why, it was -like finding them in the street! - -"'But what is he?' asked Mamma DeMudd, when I proposed you for her -notice. - -"'He's a despot,' said I, 'and rules New York. Every man in town is his -serf.' - -"When Mamma DeMudd got this magnificent idea into her head, she was -eager to see you; she was, really. - -"However," concluded Morton, "let us change the subject, if only to -restore my wits. The moment I speak of society, I become quite idiotic, -don't y' know!" - -"Speaking of new topics, then," said I, "let me ask of your father. How -does he fare these days?" - -"Busy, exceeding busy!" returned Morton. "He's buying a home in New -Jersey. Oh, no, he won't live there; but he requires it as a basis for -declaring that he's changed his residence, don't y' know! You'd wonder, -gad! to see how frugal the old gentleman has grown in his old age. It's -the personal property tax that bothers him; two per cent, on twenty -millions come to quite a sum; it does, really! The old gentleman doesn't -like it; so he's going to change his residence to New Jersey. To be -sure, while he'll reside in New Jersey, he'll live here. - -"'It's a fribble, father,' said I, when he set forth his little game. -'Why don't you go down to the tax office, and commit perjury like a man? -All your friends do.' - -"But, really! he couldn't; and he said so. The old gentleman lacks in -those rugged characteristics, required when one swears to a point-blank -lie." - -When Morton was gone, I gave myself to pleasant dreams concerning -Blossom. I was sure that the near company and conversation of those men -and women of the better world, whom she was so soon to find about her, -would accomplish all for which I prayed. Her nerves would be cooled; -she would be drawn from out that hypochondria into which, throughout her -life, she had been sinking as in a quicksand. - -I had not unfolded either my anxieties or my designs to Blossom. Now I -would have Anne tell her of my plans. Time would be called for wherein -to prepare the necessary wardrobe. She should have the best artistes; -none must outshine my girl, of that I was resolved. These dress-labors, -with their selections and fittings, would of themselves be excellent. -They would employ her fancy, and save her from foolish fears of the De -Mudds and an experience which she might think on as an ordeal. I never -once considered myself--I, who was as ignorant of drawing-rooms as a -cart-horse! Blossom held my thoughts. My heart would be implacable until -it beheld her, placed and sure of herself, in the pleasant midst of -those most elevated circles, towards which not alone my faith, but my -admiration turned its eyes. I should be proud of her station, as well as -relieved on the score of her health, when Blossom, serene and even and -contained, and mistress of her own house, mingled on equal terms with -ones who had credit as the nobility of the land. - -Was this the dream of a peasant grown rich? Was it the doting vision of -a father mad with fondness? Why should I not so spread the nets of my -money and my power as to ensnare eminence and the world's respect for -this darling Blossom of mine? Wherein would lie the wild extravagance -of the conceit? Surely, there were men in every sort my inferiors, and -women, not one of whom was fit to play the role of maid to Blossom, who -had rapped at this gate, and saw it open unto them. - -Home I went elate, high, walking on air. Nor did I consider how weak it -showed, that I, the stern captain of thousands, and with a great city -in my hands to play or labor with, should be thus feather-tickled with -a toy! It was amazing, yes; and yet it was no less sweet:--this building -of air-castles to house my Blossom in! - -It stood well beyond the strike of midnight as I told Anne the word that -Morton had brought. Anne raised her dove's eyes to mine when I was done, -and they were wet with tears. Anne's face was as the face of a nun, in -its self-sacrifice and the tender, steady disinterest that looked from -it. - -Now, as I exulted in a new bright life to be unrolled to the little -tread of Blossom, I saw the shadows of a sorrow, vast and hopeless, -settle upon Anne. At this I halted. As though to answer my silence, she -put her hand caressingly upon my shoulder. - -"Brother," said Anne, "you must set aside these thoughts for Blossom of -men and women she will never meet, of ballrooms she will never enter, -of brilliant costumes she will never wear. It is one and all impossible; -you do not understand." - -With that, irritated of too much opposition and the hateful mystery of -it, I turned roughly practical. - -"Well!" said I, in a hardest tone, "admitting that I do not understand; -and that I think on men and women she will never meet, and ballrooms -she will never enter. Still, the costumes at least I can control, and -it will mightily please me if you and Blossom at once attend to the -frocks." - -"You do not understand!" persisted Anne, with sober gentleness. "Blossom -would not wear an evening dress." - -"Anne, you grow daft!" I cried. "How should there be aught immodest in -dressing like every best woman in town? The question of modesty is a -question of custom; it is in the exception one will find the indelicate. -I know of no one more immodest than a prude." - -"Blossom is asleep," said Anne, in her patient way. Then taking a -bed-candle that burned on a table, she beckoned me. "Come; I will show -you what I mean. Make no noise; we must not wake Blossom. She must never -know that you have seen. She has held this a secret from you; and I, for -her poor sake, have done the same." - -Anne opened the door of Blossom's room. My girl was in a gentle slumber. -With touch light as down, Anne drew aside the covers from about her -neck. - -"There," whispered Anne, "there! Look on her throat!" - -Once, long before, a man had hanged himself, and I was called. I had -never forgotten the look of those marks which belted the neck of that -self-strangled man. Encircling the lily throat of Blossom, I saw the -fellows to those marks--raw and red and livid! - -There are no words to tell the horror that swallowed me up. I turned -ill; my reason stumbled on its feet. Anne led me from the room. - -"The mark of the rope!" I gasped. "It is the mark of the rope!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXI--THE REVEREND BRONSON'S REBELLION - - -WHAT should it be?--this gallows-brand to show like a bruised ribbon of -evil about the throat of Blossom! Anne gave me the story of it. It was -a birthmark; that hangman fear which smote upon the mother when, for the -death of Jimmy the Blacksmith, I was thrown into a murderer's cell, had -left its hideous trace upon the child. In Blossom's infancy and in her -earliest childhood, the mark had lain hidden beneath the skin as seeds -lie buried and dormant in the ground. Slowly, yet no less surely, the -inveterate years had quickened it and brought it to the surface; it had -grown and never stopped--this mark! and with each year it took on added -sullenness. The best word that Anne could give me was that it would so -continue in its ugly multiplication until the day of Blossom's death. -There could be no escape; no curing change, by any argument of medicine -or surgery, was to be brought about; there it glared and there it would -remain, a mark to shrink from! to the horrid last. And by that token, -my plans of a drawing room for Blossom found annihilation. Anne had -said the truth; those dreams that my girl should shine, starlike, in the -firmament of high society, must be put away. - -It will have a trivial sound, and perchance be scoffed at, when I say -that for myself, personally, I remember no blacker disappointment than -that which overtook me as I realized how there could come none of those -triumphs of chandeliers and floors of wax. Now as I examine myself, -I can tell that not a little of this was due to my own vanity, and a -secret wish I cherished to see my child the equal of the first. - -And if it were so, why should I be shamed? Might I not claim integrity -for a pride which would have found its account in such advancement? I -had been a ragged boy about the streets. I had grown up ignorant; I -had climbed, if climbing be the word, unaided of any pedigree or any -pocketbook, into a place of riches and autocratic sway. Wherefore, to -have surrounded my daughter with the children of ones who had owned -those advantages which I missed--folk of the purple, all!--and they to -accept her, would have been a victory, and to do me honor. I shall -not ask the pardon of men because I longed for it; nor do I scruple to -confess the blow my hopes received when I learned how those ambitions -would never find a crown. - -Following my sight of that gallows mark, I sat for a long time -collecting myself. It was a dreadful thing to think upon; the more, -since it seemed to me that Blossom suffered in my stead. It was as if -that halter, which I defeated, had taken my child for a revenge. - -"What can we do?" said I, at last. - -I spoke more from an instinct of conversation, and because I would have -the company of Anne's sympathy, than with the thought of being answered -to any purpose. I was set aback, therefore, by her reply. - -"Let Blossom take the veil," said Anne. "A convent, and the good work of -it, would give her peace." - -At that, I started resentfully. To one of my activity, I, who needed the -world about me every moment--struggling, contending, succeeding--there -could have come no word more hateful. The cell of a nun! It was as -though Anne advised a refuge in the grave. I said as much, and with no -special choice of phrases. - -"Because Heaven in its injustice," I cried, "has destroyed half her -life, she is to make it a meek gift of the balance? Never, while I live! -Blossom shall stay by me; I will make her happy in the teeth of Heaven!" -Thus did I hurl my impious challenge. What was to be the return, and the -tempest it drew upon poor Blossom, I shall unfold before I am done. I -have a worm of conscience whose slow mouth gnaws my nature, and you may -name it superstition if you choose. And by that I know, when now I sit -here, lonesome save for my gold, and with no converse better than the -yellow mocking leer of it, that it was this, my blasphemy, which wrought -in Heaven's retort the whole of that misery which descended to dog my -girl and drag her down. How else shall I explain that double darkness -which swallowed up her innocence? It was the bolt of punishment, which -those skies I had outraged, aimed at me. - -Back to my labors of politics I went, with a fiercer heat than ever. My -life, begun in politics, must end in politics. Still, there was a mighty -change. I was not to look upon that strangling mark and escape the -scar of it. I settled to a savage melancholy; I saw no pleasant moment. -Constantly I ran before the hound-pack of my own thoughts, a fugitive, -flying from myself. - -Also, there came the signs visible, and my hair was to turn and lose -its color, until within a year it went as white as milk. Men, in the -idleness of their curiosity, would notice this, and ask the cause. They -were not to know; nor did Blossom ever learn how, led by Anne, I had -crept upon her secret. It was a sorrow without a door, that sorrow of -the hangman's mark; and because we may not remedy it, we will leave it, -never again to be referred to until it raps for notice of its own black -will. - -The death of the Widow Van Flange did not remove from before me the -question of young Van Flange and his degenerate destinies. The Reverend -Bronson took up the business where it fell from the nerveless fingers of -his mother on that day she died. - -"Not that I believe he can be saved," observed the Reverend Bronson; -"for if I am to judge, the boy is already lost beyond recall. But there -is such goods as a pious vengeance--an anger of righteousness!--and I -find it in my heart to destroy with the law, those rogues who against -the law destroy others. That Barclay Street nest of adders must be -burned out; and I come to you for the fire." - -In a sober, set-faced way, I was amused by the dominie's extravagance. -And yet I felt a call to be on my guard with him. Suppose he were to -dislodge a stone which in its rolling should crash into and crush the -plans of the machine! The town had been lost before, and oftener than -once, as the result of beginnings no more grave. Aside from my liking -for the good man, I was warned by the perils of my place to speak him -softly. - -"Well," said I, trying for a humorous complexion, "if you are bound for -a wrestle with those blacklegs, I will see that you have fair play." - -"If that be true," returned the Reverend Bronson, promptly, "give me -Inspector McCue." - -"And why Inspector McCue?" I asked. The suggestion had its baffling -side. Inspector McCue was that honest one urged long ago upon Big -Kennedy by Father Considine. I did not know Inspector McCue; there -might lurk danger in the man. "Why McCue?" I repeated. "The business of -arresting gamblers belongs more with the uniformed police. Gothecore is -your proper officer." - -"Gothecore is not an honest man," said the Reverend Bronson, with -sententious frankness. "McCue, on the other hand, is an oasis in the -Sahara of the police. He can be trusted. If you support him he will -collect the facts and enforce the law." - -"Very well," said I, "you shall take McCue. I have no official control -in the matter, being but a private man like yourself. But I will speak -to the Chief of Police, and doubtless he will grant my request." - -"There is, at least, reason to think so," retorted the Reverend Bronson -in a dry tone. - -Before I went about an order to send Inspector McCue to the Reverend -Bronson, I resolved to ask a question concerning him. Gothecore should -be a well-head of information on that point; I would send for Gothecore. -Also it might be wise to let him hear what was afoot for his precinct. -He would need to be upon his defense, and to put others interested upon -theirs. - -Melting Moses, who still stood warder at my portals, I dispatched upon -some errand. The sight of Gothecore would set him mad. I felt sorrow -rather than affection for Melting Moses. There was something unsettled -and mentally askew with the boy. He was queer of feature, with the -twisted fantastic face one sees carved on the far end of a fiddle. -Commonly, he was light of heart, and his laugh would have been comic had -it not been for a note of the weird which rang in it. I had not asked -him, on the day when he went backing for a spring at the throat of -Gothecore, the reason of his hate. His exclamation, "He killed me -mudder!" told the story. Besides, I could have done no good. Melting -Moses would have given me no reply. The boy, true to his faith of Cherry -Hill, would fight out his feuds for himself; he would accept no one's -help, and regarded the term "squealer" as an epithet of measureless -disgrace. - -When Gothecore came in, I caught him at the first of it glowering -furtively about, as though seeking someone. - -"Where is that Melting Moses?" he inquired, when he saw how I observed -him to be searching the place with his eye. - -"And why?" said I. - -"I thought I'd look him over, if you didn't mind. I can't move about -my precinct of nights but he's behind me, playin' th' shadow. I want to -know why he pipes me off, an' who sets him to it." - -"Well then," said I, a bit impatiently, "I should have thought a -full-grown Captain of Police was above fearing a boy." - -Without giving Gothecore further opening, I told him the story of the -Reverend Bronson, and that campaign of purity he would be about. - -"And as to young Van Flange," said I. "Does he still lose his money in -Barclay Street?" - -"They've cleaned him up," returned Gothecore. "Billy Van Flange is gone, -hook, line, and sinker. He's on his uppers, goin' about panhandlin' old -chums for a five-dollar bill." - -"They made quick work of him," was my comment. - -"He would have it," said Gothecore. "When his mother died th' boy got -his bridle off. Th' property--about two hundred thousand dollars--was -in paper an' th' way he turned it into money didn't bother him a bit. -He came into Barclay Street, simply padded with th' long -green--one-thousand-dollar bills, an' all that--an' them gams took it -off him so fast he caught cold. He's dead broke; th' only difference -between him an' a hobo, right now, is a trunk full of clothes." - -"The Reverend Bronson," said I, "has asked for Inspector McCue. What -sort of a man is McCue?" Gothecore wrinkled his face into an expression -of profound disgust. - -"Who's McCue?" he repeated. "He's one of them mugwump pets. He makes a -bluff about bein' honest, too, does McCue. I think he'd join a church, -if he took a notion it would stiffen his pull." - -"But is he a man of strength? Can he make trouble?" - -"Trouble?" This with contempt. "When it comes to makin' trouble, he's a -false alarm." - -"Well," said I, in conclusion, "McCue and the dominie are going into -your precinct." - -"I'll tell you one thing," returned Gothecore, his face clouding up, "I -think it's that same Reverend Bronson who gives Melting Moses th' office -to dog me. I'll put Mr. Whitechoker onto my opinion of th' racket, one -of these days." - -"You'd better keep your muzzle on," I retorted. "Your mouth will get you -into trouble yet." - -Gothecore went away grumbling, and much disposed to call himself -ill-used. - -During the next few days I was to receive frequent visits from the -Reverend Bronson. His mission was to enlist me in his crusade against -the gamblers. I put him aside on that point. - -"You should remember," said I, as pleasantly as I well could, "that I am -a politician, not a policeman. I shall think of my party, and engage in -no unusual moral exploits of the sort you suggest. The town doesn't want -it done." - -"The question," responded the Reverend Bronson warmly, "is one of -law and morality, and not of the town's desires. You say you are a -politician, and not a policeman. If it comes to that, I am a preacher, -and not a policeman. Still, I no less esteem it my duty to interfere for -right. I see no difference between your position and my own." - -"But I do. To raid gamblers, and to denounce them, make for your success -in your profession. With me, it would be all the other way. It is quite -easy for you to adopt the path you do. Now I am not so fortunately -placed." - -"You are the head of Tammany Hall," said the Reverend Bronson solemnly. -"It is a position which loads you with responsibility, since your power -for good or bad in the town is absolute. You have but to point your -finger at those gambling dens, and they would wither from the earth." - -"Now you do me too much compliment," said I. "The Chief of Tammany is a -much weaker man than you think. Moreover, I shall not regard myself as -responsible for the morals of the town." - -"Take young Van Flange," went on the Reverend Bronson, disregarding my -remark. "They've ruined the boy; and you might have saved him." - -"And there you are mistaken," I replied. "But if it were so, why should -I be held for his ruin? 'I am not my brother's keeper.'" - -"And so Cain said," responded the Reverend Bronson. Then, as he was -departing: "I do not blame you too much, for I can see that you are the -slave of your position. But do not shield yourself with the word that -you are not your brother's keeper. You may be made grievously to feel -that your brother's welfare is your welfare, and that in his destruction -your own destruction is also to be found." - -Men have rallied me as superstitious, and it may be that some grains -of truth lie buried in that charge. Sure it is, that this last from the -Reverend Bronson was not without its uncomfortable effect. It pressed -upon me in a manner vaguely dark, and when he was gone, I caught -myself regretting the "cleaning up," as Gothecore expressed it, of the -dissolute young Van Flange. - -And yet, why should one feel sympathy for him who, by his resolute -viciousness, struck down his own mother? If ever rascal deserved ruin, -it was he who had destroyed the hopes of one who loved him before all! -The more I considered, the less tender for the young Van Flange I grew. -And as to his destruction carrying personal scathe for me, it might -indeed do, as a flourish of the pulpit, to say so, but it was a thought -too far fetched, as either a warning or a prophecy, to justify one in -transacting by its light his own existence, or the affairs of a great -organization of politics. The end of it was that I smiled over a -weakness that permitted me to be disturbed by mournful forebodes, born -of those accusing preachments of the Reverend Bronson. - -For all that my reverend mentor was right; the sequel proved how those -flames which licked up young Van Flange were to set consuming fire to my -own last hope. - -It would seem that young Van Flange, as a topic, was in everybody's -mouth. Morton, having traction occasion for calling on me, began to talk -of him at once. - -"Really!" observed Morton, discussing young Van Flange, "while he's -a deuced bad lot, don't y' know, and not at all likely to do Mulberry -credit, I couldn't see him starve, if only for his family. So I set him -to work, as far from the company's money as I could put him, and on the -soberish stipend of nine hundred dollars a year. I look for the best -effects from those nine hundred dollars; a chap can't live a double life -on that; he can't, really!" - -"And you call him a bad lot," said I. - -"The worst in the world," returned Morton. "You see young Van Flange is -such a weakling; really, there's nothing to tie to. All men are vicious; -but there are some who are strong enough to save themselves. This fellow -isn't." - -"His family is one of the best," said I. - -For myself, I've a sincere respect for blood, and some glimpse of it -must have found display in my face. - -"My dear boy," cried Morton, "there's no more empty claptrap than this -claptrap of family." Here Morton adorned his high nose with the eyeglass -that meant so much with him, and surveyed me as from a height. "There's -nothing in a breed when it comes to a man." - -"Would you say the same of a horse or a dog?" - -"By no means, old chap; but a dog or a horse is prodigiously a different -thing, don't y' know. The dominant traits of either of those noble -creatures are honesty, courage, loyalty--they're the home of the -virtues. Now a man is another matter. He's an evil beggar, is a man; -and, like a monkey, he has virtues only so far as you force him to adopt -them. As Machiavelli says: 'We're born evil, and become good only by -compulsion.' Now to improve a breed, as the phrase is, makes simply for -the promotion of what are the dominant traits of the creature one has in -hand. Thus, to refine or emphasize the horse and the dog, increases them -in honesty, loyalty, and courage since such are top-traits with those -animals. With a monkey or a man, and by similar argument, the more you -refine him, the more abandoned he becomes. Really," and here Morton -restored himself with a cigarette, "I shouldn't want these views to find -their way to my club. It would cause the greatest row ever in our set; -it would, really! I am made quite ill to only think of it." - -"What would you call a gentleman, then?" I asked. - -Morton's theories, while I in no manner subscribed to them, entertained -me. - -"What should I call a gentleman? Why I should call him the caricature of -a man, don't y' know." - -The Reverend Bronson had been abroad in his campaign against those -sharpers of Barclay Street for perhaps four weeks. I understood, without -paying much heed to the subject, that he was seeking the evidence of -their crimes, with a final purpose of having them before a court. There -had been no public stir; the papers had said nothing. What steps -had been taken were taken without noise. I doubted not that the -investigation would, in the finish, die out. The hunted ones of Barclay -Street were folk well used to the role of fugitive, and since Gothecore -kept them informed of the enemy's strategy, I could not think they would -offer the Reverend Bronson and his ally, McCue, any too much margin. - -As yet, I had never seen this McCue. By that, I knew him to be an honest -man. Not that one is to understand how none save a rogue would come to -me. I need hardly explain, however, that every policeman of dark-lantern -methods was eagerly prone to make my acquaintance. It was a merest -instinct of caution; the storm might break and he require a friend. Now -this McCue had never sought to know me, and so I argued that his record -was pure white. - -This did not please me; I preferred men upon whom one might have some -hold. These folk of a smooth honesty go through one's fingers like -water, and no more of a grip to be obtained upon one of them than upon -the Hudson. I made up my mind that I would see this McCue. - -Still I did not send for him; it was no part of my policy to exhibit -concern in one with whom I was strange, and who later might open his -mouth to quote it against me. McCue, however, was so much inclined to -humor my desire, that one afternoon he walked into my presence of his -own free will. - -"My name is McCue," said he, "Inspector McCue." I motioned him to a -chair. "I've been told to collect evidence against certain parties in -Barclay Street," he added. Then he came to a full stop. - -While I waited for him to proceed in his own way and time, I studied -Inspector McCue. He was a square-shouldered man, cautious, keen, -resolute; and yet practical, and not one to throw himself away in the -jaws of the impossible. What he had come to say, presently proved my -estimate of him. On the whole, I didn't like the looks of Inspector -McCue. - -"What is your purpose?" I asked at last. "I need not tell you that I -have no official interest in what you may be about. Still less have I a -personal concern." - -Inspector McCue's only retort was a grimace that did not add to his -popularity. Next he went boldly to the object of his call. - -"What I want to say is this," said he. "I've collected the evidence I -was sent after; I can lay my hands on the parties involved as keepers -and dealers in that Barclay Street den. But I'm old enough to know that -all the evidence in the world won't convict these crooks unless the -machine is willing. I'm ready to go ahead and take my chances. But I'm -not ready to run against a stone wall in the dark. I'd be crazy, where -no good can come, to throw myself away." - -"Now this is doubtless of interest to you," I replied, putting some -impression of distance into my tones, "but what have I to do with the -matter?" - -"Only this," returned McCue. "I'd like to have you tell me flat, whether -or no you want these parties pinched." - -"Inspector McCue," said I, "if that be your name and title, it sticks in -my head that you are making a mistake. You ask me a question which you -might better put to your chief." - -"We won't dispute about it," returned my caller; "and I'm not here to -give offense. I am willing to do my duty; but, as I've tried to explain, -I don't care to sacrifice myself if the game's been settled against me -in advance. You speak of my going to the chief. If arrests are to be -made, he's the last man I ought to get my orders from." - -"If you will be so good as to explain?" said I. - -"Because, if I am to go on, I must begin by collaring the chief. He's -the principal owner of that Barclay Street joint." - -This was indeed news, and I had no difficulty in looking grave. - -"Captain Gothecore is in it, too; but his end is with the restaurant -keeper. That check-cashing racket was a case of flam; there was a -hold-out went with that play. The boy, Van Flange, was always drunk, -and the best he ever got for, say a five-hundred-dollar check, was -three hundred dollars. Gothecore was in on the difference. There's the -lay-out. Not a pleasant outlook, certainly; and not worth attempting -arrests about unless I know that the machine is at my back." - -"You keep using the term 'machine,'" said I coldly. "If by that you mean -Tammany Hall, I may tell you, sir, that the 'machine' has no concern in -the affair. You will do your duty as you see it." - -Inspector McCue sat biting his lips. After a moment, he got upon his -feet to go. - -"I think it would have been better," said he, "if you had met me -frankly. However, I've showed you my hand; now I'll tell you what my -course will be. This is Wednesday. I must, as you've said yourself, do -my duty. If--mark you, I say 'If'--if I am in charge of this case on -Saturday, I shall make the arrests I've indicated." - -"Did you ever see such gall!" exclaimed the Chief of Police, when I -recounted my conversation with Inspector McCue. Then, holding up his -pudgy hands in a manner of pathetic remonstrance: "It shows what I told -you long ago. One honest man will put th' whole force on th' bum!" - -Inspector McCue, on the day after his visit, was removed from his place, -and ordered to a precinct in the drear far regions of the Bronx. The -order was hardly dry on the paper when there descended upon me the -Reverend Bronson, his eyes glittering with indignation, and a protest -against this Siberia for Inspector McCue apparent in his face. - -"And this," cried the Reverend Bronson, as he came through the door, -"and this is what comes to an officer who is willing to do his duty!" - -"Sit down, Doctor," said I soothingly, at the same time placing a chair; -"sit down." - - - - -CHAPTER XXII--THE MAN OF THE KNIFE - - -WHEN the first gust was over, the Reverend Bronson seemed sad rather -than enraged. He reproached the machine for the failure of his effort -against that gambling den. - -"But why do you call yourself defeated?" I asked. It was no part of my -purpose to concede, even by my silence, that either I or Tammany was -opposed to the Reverend Bronson. "You should put the matter to the test -of a trial before you say that." - -"What can I do without Inspector McCue? and he has been removed from the -affair. I talked with him concerning it; he told me himself there was no -hope." - -"Now, what were his words?" said I, for I was willing to discover how -far Inspector McCue had used my name. - -"Why, then," returned the Reverend Bronson, with a faint smile at the -recollection, "if I am to give you the precise words, our talk ran -somewhat like this: - -"'Doctor, what's the use?' said Inspector McCue. 'We're up against it; -we can't move a wheel.' - -"'There's such a word as law,' said I, advancing much, the argument you -have just now given me; 'and such a thing as justice.' - -"'Not in the face of the machine,' responded Inspector McCue. 'The will -of the machine stands for all the law and all the justice that we're -likely to get. The machine has the courts, the juries, the prosecuting -officers, and the police. Every force we need is in its hands. -Personally, of course, they couldn't touch you; but if I were to so much -as lift a finger, I'd be destroyed. Some day I, myself, may be chief; -and if I am, for once in a way, I'll guarantee the decent people of this -town a run for their money.' - -"'And yet,' said I, 'we prate of liberty!' - -"'Liberty!' cried he. 'Doctor, our liberties are in hock to the -politicians, and we've lost the ticket.'" - -It was in my mind to presently have the stripes and buttons off the -loquacious, honest Inspector McCue. The Reverend Bronson must have -caught some gleam of it in my eye; he remonstrated with a gentle hand -upon my arm. - -"Promise me that no more harm shall come to McCue," he said. "I ought -not to have repeated his words. He has been banished to the Bronx; isn't -that punishment enough for doing right?" - -"Yes," I returned, after a pause; "I give you my word, your friend is -in no further peril. You should tell him, however, to forget the name, -'machine.' Also, he has too many opinions for a policeman." - -The longer I considered, the more it was clear that it would not be a -cautious policy to cashier McCue. It would make an uproar which I -did not care to court when so near hand to an election. It was not -difficult, therefore, to give the Reverend Bronson that promise, and I -did it with a good grace. - -Encouraged by my compliance, the Reverend Bronson pushed into an -argument, the object of which was to bring me to his side for the town's -reform. - -"Doctor," said I, when he had set forth what he conceived to be my duty -to the premises, "even if I were disposed to go with you, I would have -to go alone. I could no more take Tammany Hall in the direction you -describe, than I could take the East River. As I told you once before, -you should consider our positions. It is the old quarrel of theory and -practice. You proceed upon a theory that men are what they should be; I -must practice existence upon the fact of men as they are." - -"There is a debt you owe Above!" returned the Reverend Bronson, the -preacher within him beginning to struggle. - -"And what debt should that be?" I cried, for my mind, on the moment, ran -gloomily to Blossom. "What debt should I owe there?--I, who am the most -unhappy man in the world!" - -There came a look into the eyes of the Reverend Bronson that was at once -sharp with interrogation and soft with sympathy. He saw that I had -been hard wounded, although he could not know by what; and he owned the -kindly tact to change the course of his remarks. - -"There is one point, sure," resumed the Reverend Bronson, going backward -in his trend of thought, "and of that I warn you. I shall not give up -this fight. I began with an attack upon those robbers, and I've been -withstood by ones who should have strengthened my hands. I shall now -assail, not alone the lawbreakers, but their protectors. I shall attack -the machine and the police. I shall take this story into every paper -that will print it; I shall summon the pulpits to my aid; I shall -arouse the people, if they be not deaf or dead, to wage war on those who -protect such vultures in their rapine for a share of its returns. There -shall be a moral awakening; and you may yet conclude, when you sit down -in the midst of defeat, that honesty is after all the best policy, and -that virtue has its reward." - -The Reverend Bronson, in the heat of feeling, had risen from the chair, -and declaimed rather than said this, while striding up and down. To -him it was as though my floor were a rostrum, and the private office of -Tammany's Chief, a lecture room. I am afraid I smiled a bit cynically at -his ardor and optimism, for he took me in sharp hand, "Oh! I shall not -lack recruits," said he, "and some will come from corners you might -least suspect. I met your great orator, Mr. Gutterglory, but a moment -ago; he gave me his hand, and promised his eloquence to the cause of -reform." - -"Nor does that surprise me," said I. Then, with a flush of wrath: "You -may say to orator Gutterglory that I shall have something to remind him -of when he takes the stump in your support." - -My anger over Gutterglory owned a certain propriety of foundation. He -was that sodden Cicero who marred the scene when, long before, I called -on Big Kennedy, with the reputable old gentleman and Morton, to consult -over the Gas Company's injunction antics touching Mulberry Traction. -By some wonderful chance, Gutterglory had turned into sober walks. Big -Kennedy, while he lived, and afterward I, myself, had upheld him, and -put him in the way of money. He paid us with eloquence in conventions -and campaigns, and on show occasions when Tammany would celebrate a -holiday or a victory. From low he soared to high, and surely none was -more pleased thereby than I. On every chance I thrust him forward; and -I was sedulous to see that always a stream of dollar-profit went running -his way. - -Morton, I remember, did not share my enthusiasm. It was when I suggested -Gutterglory as counsel for Mulberry. - -"But really now!" objected Morton, with just a taint of his old-time -lisp, "the creature doesn't know enough. He's as shallow as a skimming -dish, don't y' know." - -"Gutterglory is the most eloquent of men," I protested. - -"I grant you the beggar is quite a talker, and all that," retorted -Morton, twirling that potential eyeglass, "but the trouble is, old -chap, that when we've said that, we've said all. Gutterglory is a mere -rhetorical freak. He ought to take a rest, and give his brain a chance -to grow up with his vocabulary." - -What Morton said had no effect on me; I clung to Gutterglory, and made -his life worth while. I was given my return when I learned that for -years he had gone about, unknown to me, extorting money from people with -the use of my name. Scores have paid peace-money to Gutterglory, and -thought it was I who bled them. So much are we at the mercy of rascals -who win our confidence! - -It was the fact of his learning that did it. I could never be called -a good judge of one who knew books. I was over prone to think him of -finest honor who wrote himself a man of letters, for it was my weakness -to trust where I admired. In the end, I discovered the villain duplicity -of Gutterglory, and cast him out; at that, the scoundrel was rich with -six figures to his fortune, and every dime of it the harvest of some -blackmail in my name. - -He became a great fop, did Gutterglory; and when last I saw him--it -being Easter Day, as I stepped from the Cathedral, where I'd been with -Blossom--he was teetering along Fifth Avenue, face powdered and a glow -of rouge on each cheekbone, stayed in at the waist, top hat, frock coat, -checked trousers, snowy "spats" over his patent leathers, a violet in -his buttonhole, a cane carried endwise in his hand, elbows crooked, -shoulders bowed, the body pitched forward on his toes, a perfect picture -of that most pitiful of things--an age-seamed doddering old dandy! This -was he whom the Reverend Bronson vaunted as an ally! - -"You are welcome to Gutterglory," said I to my reverend visitor on that -time when he named him as one to become eloquent for reform. "It but -proves the truth of what Big John Kennedy so often said: Any rogue, -kicked out of Tammany Hall for his scoundrelisms, can always be sure of -a job as a 'reformer.'" - -"Really!" observed Morton, when a few days later I was telling him of -the visit of the Reverend Bronson, "I've a vast respect for Bronson. I -can't say that I understand him--working for nothing among the scum and -rubbish of humanity!--for personally I've no talent for religion, don't -y' know! And so he thinks that honesty is the best policy!" - -"He seemed to think it not open to contradiction." - -"Hallucination, positive hallucination, my boy! At-least, if taken in a -money sense; and 'pon my word! that's the only sense in which it's worth -one's while to take anything--really! Honesty the best policy! Why, our -dominie should look about him. Some of our most profound scoundrels are -our richest men. Money is so much like water, don't y' know, that it -seems always to seek the lowest places;" and with that, Morton went -his elegant way, yawning behind his hand, as if to so much exert his -intelligence wearied him. - -For over nine years--ever since the death of Big Kennedy--I had kept the -town in my hands, and nothing strong enough to shake my hold upon -it. This must have its end. It was not in the chapter of chance that -anyone's rule should be uninterrupted. Men turn themselves in bed, if -for no reason than just to lie the other way; and so will your town turn -on its couch of politics. Folk grow weary of a course or a conviction, -and to rest themselves, they will put it aside and have another in its -place. Then, after a bit, they return to the old. - -In politics, these shifts, which are really made because the community -would relax from some pose of policy and stretch itself in new -directions, are ever given a pretense of morality as their excuse. There -is a hysteria to arise from the crush and jostle of the great city. -Men, in their crowded nervousness, will clamor for the new. This is also -given the name of morals. And because I was aware how these conditions -of restlessness and communal hysteria ever subsist, and like a magazine -of powder ask but the match to fire them and explode into fragments -whatever rule might at the time exist, I went sure that some day, -somehow the machine would be overthrown. Also, I went equally certain -how defeat would be only temporary, and that before all was done, the -town would again come back to the machine. - -You've seen a squall rumple and wrinkle and toss the bosom of a lake? If -you had investigated, you would have learned how that storm-disturbance -was wholly of the surface. It did not bite the depths below. When the -gust had passed, the lake--whether for good or bad--re-settled to its -usual, equal state. Now the natural conditions of New York are machine -conditions. Wherefore, I realized, as I've written, that no gust of -reformation could either trouble it deeply or last for long, and that -the moment it had passed, the machine must at once succeed to the -situation. - -However, when the Reverend Bronson left me, vowing insurrection, I had -no fears of the sort immediate. The times were not hysterical, nor ripe -for change. I would re-carry the city; the Reverend Bronson--if his -strength were to last that long--with those moralists he enlisted, might -defeat me on some other distant day. But for the election at hand I was -safe by every sign. - -As I pored over the possibilities, I could discern no present argument -in his favor. He himself might be morally sure of machine protection -for those men of Barclay Street. But to the public he could offer no -practical proof. Should he tell the ruin of young Van Flange, no one -would pay peculiar heed. Such tales were of the frequent. Nor would -the fate of young Van Flange, who had employed his name and his fortune -solely as the bed-plates of an endless dissipation, evoke a sympathy. -Indeed those who knew him best--those who had seen him then, and who saw -him now at his Mulberry Traction desk, industrious, sober, respectable -in a hall-bedroom way on his narrow nine hundred a year, did not scruple -to declare that his so-called ruin was his regeneration, and that those -card-criminals who took his money had but worked marvels for his good. -No; I could not smell defeat in the contest coming down. I was safe for -the next election; and the eyes of no politician, let me tell you, are -strong enough to see further than the ballot just ahead. On these facts -and their deductions, while I would have preferred peace between the -Reverend Bronson and the machine, and might have conceded not a little -to preserve it, I based no present fears of that earnest gentleman, nor -of any fires of politics he might kindle. - -And I would have come through as I forejudged, had it not been for that -element of the unlooked-for to enter into the best arranged equation, -and which this time fought against me. There came marching down upon me -a sudden procession of blood in a sort of red lockstep of death. In it -was carried away that boy of my door, Melting Moses, and I may say that -his going clouded my eye. Gothecore went also; but I felt no sorrow -for the death of that ignobility in blue, since it was the rock of his -murderous, coarse brutality on which I split. There was a third to die, -an innocent and a stranger; however, I might better give the story of it -by beginning with a different strand. - -In that day when the Reverend Bronson and Inspector McCue worked for the -condemnation of those bandits of Barclay Street, there was one whom they -proposed as a witness when a case should be called in court. This man -had been a waiter in the restaurant which robbed young Van Flange, and -in whose pillage Gothecore himself was said to have had his share. - -After Inspector McCue was put away in the Bronx, and the Reverend -Bronson made to give up his direct war upon the dens, this would-be -witness was arrested and cast into a cell of the station where Gothecore -held sway. The Reverend Bronson declared that the arrested one had been -seized by order of Gothecore, and for revenge. Gothecore, ignorant, -cruel, rapacious, violent, and with never a glimmer of innate fineness -to teach him those external decencies which go between man and man as -courtesy, gave by his conduct a deal of plausibility to the charge. - -"Get out of my station!" cried Gothecore, with a rain of oath upon oath; -"get out, or I'll have you chucked out!" This was when the Reverend -Bronson demanded the charge on which the former waiter was held. "Do -a sneak!" roared Gothecore, as the Reverend Bronson stood in silent -indignation. "I'll have no pulpit-thumper doggin' me! You show your -mug in here ag'in, an' you'll get th' next cell to that hash-slingin' -stoolpigeon of yours. You can bet your life, I aint called Clean Sweep -Bill for fun!" - -As though this were not enough, there arrived in its wake another bit of -news that made me, who was on the threshold of my campaign to retain the -town, bite my lip and dig my palms with the anger it unloosed within -me. By way of added fuel to flames already high, that one waiter, but -the day before prisoner to Gothecore, must be picked up dead in the -streets, head club-battered to a pulp. - -Who murdered the man? - -Half the town said Gothecore. - -For myself, I do not care to dwell upon that poor man's butchery, and -my veins run fire to only think of it. There arises the less call for -elaboration, since within hours--for it was the night of that very day -on which the murdered man was found--the life was stricken from the -heart of Gothecore. He, too, was gone; and Melting Moses had gone with -him. By his own choice, this last, as I have cause to know. - -"I'll do him before I'm through!" sobbed Melting Moses, as he was held -back from Gothecore on the occasion when he would have gone foaming for -his throat; "I'll get him, if I have to go wit' him!" - -It was the Chief of Police who brought me word. I had sent for him with -a purpose of charges against Gothecore, preliminary to his dismissal -from the force. Aside from my liking for the Reverend Bronson, and the -resentment I felt for the outrage put upon him, Gothecore must go as a -defensive move of politics. - -The Chief's eye, when he arrived, popped and stared with a fishy horror, -and for all the coolness of the early morning his brow showed clammy -and damp. I was in too hot a hurry to either notice or remark on these -phenomena; I reeled off my commands before the visitor could find a -chair. - -"You're too late, Gov'nor," returned the Chief, munching uneasily, his -fat jowls working. "For once in a way, you've gone to leeward of the -lighthouse." - -"What do you mean?" said I. - -Then he told the story; and how Gothecore and Melting Moses were taken -from the river not four hours before. - -"It was a fire in th' box factory," said the Chief; "that factory -'buttin' on th' docks. Gothecore goes down from his station. The night's -as dark as the inside of a cow. He's jimmin' along th' edge of th' -wharf, an' no one noticin' in particular. Then of a sudden, there's an -oath an' a big splash. - -"'Man overboard!' yells some guy. - -"The man overboard is Gothecore. Two or three coves come chasin' up to -lend a hand. - -"'Some duck jumps after him to save him,' says this party who yells -'overboard!' 'First one, an' then t'other, hits th' water. They oughter -be some'ers about.' - -"That second party in th' river was Melting Moses. An' say! Gov'nor, he -didn't go after Gothecore to save him; not he! Melting Moses had shoved -Gothecore in; an' seein' him swimmin' hard, an' likely to get ashore, -he goes after him to cinch th' play. I'll tell you one thing: he cinches -it. He piles himself on Gothecore's back, an' then he crooks his right -arm about Gothecore's neck--the reg'lar garotte hug! an' enough to choke -th' life out by itself. That aint th' worst." Here the Chief's voice -sunk to a whisper. "Melting Moses had his teeth buried in Gothecore's -throat. Did you ever unlock a bulldog from his hold? Well, it was easy -money compared to unhookin' Melting Moses from Gothecore. Sure! both was -dead as mackerels when they got 'em out; they're on th' ice right now. -Oh, well!" concluded the Chief; "I told Gothecore his finish more'n -once. 'Don't rough people around so, Bill,' I'd say; 'you'll dig up more -snakes than you can kill.' But he wouldn't listen; he was all for th' -strong-arm, an' th' knock-about! It's a bad system. Nothin's lost by -bein' smooth, Gov'nor; nothin's lost by bein' smooth!" and the Chief -sighed lugubriously; after which he mopped his forehead and looked -pensively from the window. - -Your river sailor, on the blackest night, will feel the tide for its -ebb or flow by putting his hand in the water. In a manner of speaking, -I could now as plainly feel the popular current setting against the -machine. It was like a strong flood, and with my experience of the town -and its tempers I knew that we were lost. That murdered man who might -have been a witness, and the violence done to the Reverend Bronson, were -arguments in everybody's mouth. - -And so the storm fell; the machine was swept away as by a flood. There -was no sleight of the ballot that might have saved the day; our money -proved no defense. The people fell upon Tammany and crushed it, and the -town went from under my hand. - -Morton had seen disaster on its way. - -"And, really! I don't half like it," observed that lounging king of -traction. "It will cost me a round fifty thousand dollars, don't y' -know! Of course, I shall give Tammany the usual fifty thousand, if only -for the memory of old days. But, by Jove! there's those other chaps. -Now they're going to win, in the language of our departed friend, Mr. -Kennedy, I'll have to 'sweeten' them. It's a deuced bore contributing to -both parties, but this time I can't avoid it--really!" and Morton stared -feebly into space, as though the situation held him helpless with its -perplexities. - -There is one worth-while matter to be the offspring of defeat. A beaten -man may tell the names of his friends. On the day after I scored a -victory, my ante-rooms had been thronged. Following that disaster to -the machine, just chronicled, I sat as much alone as though Fourteenth -Street were the center of a pathless waste. - -However, I was not to be wholly deserted. It was in the first shadows -of the evening, when a soiled bit of paper doing crumpled duty as a card -was brought me. I glanced at it indifferently. I had nothing to give; -why should anyone seek me? There was no name, but my interest flared up -at this line of identification: - -"The Man of the Knife!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII--THE WEDDING OF BLOSSOM - - -GRAY, weather-worn, beaten of years, there in the door was my Sicilian! -I observed, as he took a seat, how he limped, with one leg drawn and -distorted. I had him in and gave him a chair. - -My Sicilian and I sat looking one upon the other. It was well-nigh the -full quarter of a century since I'd clapped eyes on him. And to me -the thing marvelous was that I did not hate him. What a procession -of disasters, and he to be its origin, was represented in that little -weazened man, with his dark skin, monkey-face, and eyes to shine like -beads! That heart-breaking trial for murder; the death of Apple Cheek; -Blossom and the mark of the rope;--all from him! He was the reef upon -which my life had been cast away! These thoughts ran in my head like a -mill-race; and yet, I felt only a friendly warmth as though he were some -good poor friend of long ago. - -My Sicilian's story was soon told. He had fallen into the hold of a -vessel and broken his leg. It was mended in so bad a fashion that he -must now be tied to the shore with it and never sail again. Could I find -him work?--something, even a little, by which he might have food and -shelter? He put this in a manner indescribably plaintive. - -Then I took a thought full of the whimsical. I would see how far a -beaten Chief of Tammany Hall might command. There were countless small -berths about the public offices and courts, where a man might take a -meager salary, perhaps five hundred dollars a year, for a no greater -service than throwing up a window or arranging the papers on a desk. -These were within the appointment of what judges or officers prevailed -in the departments or courtrooms to which they belonged. I would offer -my Sicilian for one. - -And I had a plan. I knew what should be the fate of the fallen. I had -met defeat; also, personally, I had been the target of every flinging -slander which the enemy might invent. It was a time when men would fear -my friendship as much as on another day they had feared my power. I was -an Ishmael of politics. The timid and the time-serving would shrink away -from me. - -There might, however, be found one who possessed the courage and the -gratitude, someone whom I had made and who remembered it, to take my -orders. I decided to search for such a man. Likewise (and this was my -plan) I resolved--for I knew better than most folk how the town would be -in my hands again--to make that one mayor when a time should serve. - -"Come with me," said I. "You shall have a berth; and I've nothing now to -do but seek for it." - -There was a somber comicality to the situation which came close -to making me laugh--I, the late dictator, abroad begging a -five-hundred-dollar place! - -Twenty men I went to; and if I had been a leper I could not have filled -them with a broader terror. One and all they would do nothing. These -fools thought my downfall permanent; they owed everything to me, but -forgot it on my day of loss. They were of the flock of that Frenchman -who was grateful only for favors to come. Tarred with the Tammany stick -as much as was I, myself, each had turned white in a night, and must -mimic mugwumpery, when now the machine was overborne. Many were those -whom I marked for slaughter that day; and I may tell you that in a later -hour, one and all, I knocked them on the head. - -Now in the finish of it, I discovered one of a gallant fidelity, and -who was brave above mugwump threat. He was a judge; and, withal, a man -indomitably honest. But as it is with many bred of the machine, his -instinct was blindly military. Like Old Mike, he regarded politics as -another name for war. To the last, he would execute my orders without -demur. - -With this judge, I left my Sicilian to dust tables and chairs for -forty dollars a month. It was the wealth of Dives to the poor broken -sailorman, and he thanked me with tears on his face. In a secret, -lock-fast compartment of my memory I put away the name of that judge. He -should be made first in the town for that one day's work. - -My late defeat meant, so far as my private matters were involved, -nothing more serious than a jolt to my self-esteem. Nor hardly that, -since I did not blame myself for the loss of the election. It was the -fortune of battle; and because I had seen it on its way, that shaft of -regret to pierce me was not sharpened of surprise. - -My fortunes were rolling fat with at least three millions of dollars, -for I had not held the town a decade to neglect my own good. If it had -been Big Kennedy, now, he would have owned fourfold as much. But I was -lavish of habit; besides being no such soul of business thrift as was my -old captain. Three millions should carry me to the end of the journey, -however, even though I took no more; there would arise no money-worry to -bark at me. The loss of the town might thin the flanks of my sub-leaders -of Tammany, but the famine could not touch me. - -While young Van Flange had been the reason of a deal that was unhappy in -my destinies, I had never met the boy. Now I was to see him. Morton sent -him to me on an errand of business; he found me in my own house just as -dinner was done. I was amiably struck with the look of him. He was tall -and broad of shoulder, for he had been an athlete in his college and -tugged at an oar in the boat. - -My eye felt pleased with young Van Flange from the beginning; he was as -graceful as an elm, and with a princely set of the head which to my -mind told the story of good blood. His manner, as he met me, became -the sublimation of deference, and I could discover in his air a tacit -flattery that was as positive, even while as impalpable, as a perfume. -In his attitude, and in all he did and said, one might observe the -aristocrat. The high strain of him showed as plain as a page of print, -and over all a clean delicacy that reminded one of a thoroughbred colt. - -While we were together, Anne and Blossom came into the room. This last -was a kind of office-place I had at home, where the two often visited -with me in the evening. - -It was strange, the color that painted itself in the shy face of -Blossom. I thought, too, that young Van Flange's interest stood a bit on -tiptoe. It flashed over me in a moment: - -"Suppose they were to love and wed?" - -The question, self-put, discovered nothing rebellious in my breast. I -would abhor myself as a matchmaker between a boy and a girl; and yet, if -I did not help events, at least, I wouldn't interrupt them. If it were -to please Blossom to have him for a husband: why then, God bless the -girl, and make her day a fair one! - -Anne, who was quicker than I, must have read the new glow in Blossom's -face and the new shine in her eyes. But her own face seemed as friendly -as though the picture gave her no pang, and it reassured me mightily to -find it so. - -Young Van Flange made no tiresome stay of it on this evening. But he -came again, and still again; and once or twice we had him in to dinner. -Our table appeared to be more complete when he was there; it served to -bring an evenness and a balance, like a ship in trim. Finally he was in -and out of the house as free as one of the family. - -For the earliest time in life, a quiet brightness shone on Blossom that -was as the sun through mists. As for myself, delight in young Van Flange -crept upon me like a habit; nor was it made less when I saw how he had a -fancy for my girl, and that it might turn to wedding bells. The thought -gave a whiter prospect of hope for Blossom; also it fostered my own -peace, since my happiness hung utterly by her. - -One day I put the question of young Van Flange to Morton. - -"Really, now!" said Morton, "I should like him vastly if he had a -stronger under jaw, don't y' know. These fellows with chins like cats' -are a beastly lot in the long run." - -"But his habits are now good," I urged. "And he is industrious, is he -not?" - -"Of course, the puppy works," responded Morton; "that is, if you're to -call pottering at a desk by such a respectable term. As for his habits, -they are the habits of a captive. He's prisoner to his poverty. Gad! one -can't be so deucedly pernicious, don't y' know, on nine hundred a year." -Then, with a burst of eagerness: "I know what you would be thinking. But -I say, old chap, you mustn't bank on his blood. Good on both sides, it -may be; but the blend is bad. Two very reputable drugs may be combined -to make a poison, don't y' know!" - -There the matter stuck; for I would not tell Morton of any feeling my -girl might have for young Van Flange. However, Morton's view in no wise -changed my own; I considered that with the best of motives he might -still suffer from some warping prejudice. - -There arose a consideration, however, and one I could not look in the -face. There was that dread birthmark!--the mark of the rope! At last I -brought up the topic of my fears with Anne. - -"Will he not loathe her?" said I. "Will his love not change to hate when -he knows?" - -"Did your love change?" Anne asked. - -"But that is not the same." - -"Be at peace, then," returned Anne, taking my hand in hers and pressing -it. "I have told him. Nor shall I forget the nobleness of his reply: 'I -love Blossom,' said he; 'I love her for her heart.'" - -When I remember these things, I cannot account for the infatuation of us -two--Anne and myself. The blackest villain of earth imposed himself upon -us as a saint! And I had had my warning. I should have known that he who -broke a mother's heart would break a wife's. - -Now when the forces of reform governed the town, affairs went badly for -that superlative tribe, and each day offered additional claim for the -return of the machine. Government is not meant to be a shepherd of -morals. Its primal purposes are of the physical, being no more than to -safeguard property and person. That is the theory; more strongly still -must it become the practice if one would avoid the enmity of men. He -whose morals are looked after by the powers that rule, grows impatient, -and in the end, vindictive. No mouth likes the bit; a guardian is never -loved. The reform folk made that error against which Old Mike warned Big -Kennedy: They got between the public and its beer. - -The situation, thus phrased, called for neither intrigue nor labor on my -own part. I had but to stay in my chair, and "reform" itself would drive -the people into Tammany's arms. - -In those days I had but scanty glimpses of the Reverend Bronson. -However, he now and then would visit me, and when he did, I think I read -in his troubled brow the fear of machine success next time. Morton was -there on one occasion when the Reverend Bronson came in. They were well -known to one another, these two; also, they were friends as much as men -might be whose lives and aims went wide apart. - -"Now the trouble," observed Morton, as the two discussed that backward -popularity of the present rule, "lies in this: Your purist of politics -is never practical. He walks the air; and for a principle, he fixes -his eyes on a star. Besides," concluded Morton, tapping the Reverend -Bronson's hand with that invaluable eyeglass, "you make a pet, at the -expense of statutes more important, of some beggarly little law like the -law against gambling." - -"My dear sir," exclaimed the Reverend Bronson, "surely you do not defend -gambling." - -"I defend nothing," said Morton; "it's too beastly tiresome, don't y' -know. But, really, the public is no fool; and with a stock-ticker and a -bucket shop on every corner, you will hardly excite folk to madness over -roulette and policy." - -"The policy shops stretch forth their sordid palms for the pennies of -the very poor," said the Reverend Bronson earnestly. - -"But, my boy," retorted Morton, his drooping inanity gaining a color, -"government should be concerned no more about the poor man's penny than -the rich man's pound. However, if it be a reason, why not suppress the -barrooms? Gad! what more than your doggery reaches for the pennies of -the poor?" - -"There is truth in what you say," consented the Reverend Bronson -regretfully. "Still, I count for but one as an axman in this wilderness -of evil; I can fell but one tree at a time. I will tell you this, -however: At the gates of you rich ones must lie the blame for most of -the immoralities of the town. You are guilty of two wrongs: You are not -benevolent; and you set a bad moral example." - -"Really!" replied Morton, "I, myself, think the rich a deuced bad lot; -in fact, I hold them to be quite as bad as the poor, don't y' know. But -you speak of benevolence--alms-giving, and that sort of thing. Now I'm -against benevolence. There is an immorality in alms just in proportion -as there's a morality to labor. Folk work only because they lack money. -Now you give a man ten dollars and the beggar will stop work." - -"Let me hear," observed the Reverend Bronson, amused if not convinced, -"what your remedy for the town's bad morals would be." - -"Work!" replied Morton, with quite a flash of animation. "I'd make every -fellow work--rich and poor alike. I'd invent fardels for the idle. The -only difference between the rich and the poor is a difference of cooks -and tailors--really! Idleness, don't y' know, is everywhere and among -all classes the certain seed of vice." - -"You would have difficulty, I fear," remarked the Reverend Bronson, "in -convincing your gilded fellows of the virtuous propriety of labor." - -"I wouldn't convince them, old chap, I'd club them to it. It is a -mistake you dominies make, that you are all for persuading when you -should be for driving. Gad! you should never coax where you can drive," -and Morton smiled vacantly. - -"You would deal with men as you do with swine?" - -"What should be more appropriate? Think of the points of resemblance. -Both are obstinate, voracious, complaining, cowardly, ungrateful, -selfish, cruel! One should ever deal with a man on a pig basis. -Persuasion is useless, compliment a waste. You might make a bouquet -for him--orchids and violets--and, gad! he would eat it, thinking it a -cabbage. But note the pleasing, screaming, scurrying difference when -you smite him with a brick. Your man and your hog were born knowing all -about a brick." - -"The rich do a deal of harm," remarked the Reverend Bronson -thoughtfully. "Their squanderings, and the brazen spectacle thereof, -should be enough of themselves to unhinge the morals of mankind. Think -on their selfish vulgar aggressions! I've seen a lake, once the open -joy of thousands, bought and fenced to be a play space for one rich man; -I've looked on while a village where hundreds lived and loved and had -their pleasant being, died and disappeared to give one rich man room; in -the brag and bluster of his millions, I've beheld a rich man rearing a -shelter for his crazy brain and body, and borne witness while he bought -lumber yards and planing mills and stone quarries and brick concerns -and lime kilns with a pretense of hastening his building. It is all a -disquieting example to the poor man looking on. Such folk, dollar-loose -and dollar-mad, frame disgrace for money, and make the better sentiment -of better men fair loathe the name of dollar. And yet it is but a -sickness, I suppose; a sort of rickets of riches--a Saint Vitus dance -of vast wealth! Such go far, however, to bear out your parallel of the -swine; and at the best, they but pile exaggeration on imitation and -drink perfumed draff from trough of gold." - -The Reverend Bronson as he gave us this walked up and down the floor -as more than once I'd seen him do when moved. Nor did he particularly -address himself to either myself or Morton until the close, when he -turned to that latter personage. Pausing in his walk, the Reverend -Bronson contemplated Morton at some length; and then, as if his thoughts -on money had taken another path, and shaking his finger in the manner of -one who preferred an indictment, he said: - -"Cato, the Censor, declared: 'It is difficult to save that city from -ruin where a fish sells for more than an ox.' By the bad practices of -your vulgar rich, that, to-day, is a description of New York. Still, -from the public standpoint, I should not call the luxury it tells of, -the worst effect of wealth, nor the riches which indulge in such luxury -the most baleful riches. There be those other busy black-flag millions -which maraud a people. They cut their way through bars and bolts of -government with the saws and files and acids of their evil influence--an -influence whose expression is ever, and simply, bribes. I speak of -those millions that purchase the passage of one law or the downfall of -another, and which buy the people's officers like cattle to their -will. But even as I reproach those criminal millions, I marvel at their -blindness. Cannot such wealth see that in its treasons--for treason it -does as much as any Arnold--it but undermines itself? Who should need -strength and probity in government, and the shelter of them, more than -Money? And yet in its rapacity without eyes, it must ever be using the -criminal avarice of officials to pick the stones and mortar from the -honest foundations of the state!" - -The Reverend Bronson resumed his walking up and down. Morton, the -imperturbable, lighted a cigarette and puffed bland puffs as though -he in no fashion felt himself described. Not at all would he honor the -notion that the reverend rhetorician was talking either of him or at -him, in his condemnation of those pirate millions. - -"I should feel alarmed for my country," continued the Reverend Bronson, -coming back to his chair, "if I did not remember that New York is not -the nation, and how a sentiment here is never the sentiment there. The -country at large has still its ideals; New York, I fear, has nothing -save its appetites." - -"To shift discussion," said Morton lightly, "a discussion that would -seem academic rather than practical, and coming to the City and what you -call its appetites, let me suggest this: Much of that trouble of -which you speak arises by faults of politics as the latter science is -practiced by the parties. Take yourself and our silent friend." Here -Morton indicated me: "Take the two parties you represent. Neither was -ever known to propose an onward step. Each of you has for his sole -issue the villainies of the other fellow; the whole of your cry is the -iniquity of the opposition; it is really! I'll give both of you this for -a warning. The future is to see the man who, leaving a past to bury a. -past, will cry 'Public Ownership!' or some equally engaging slogan. Gad! -old chap, with that, the rabble will follow him as the rats followed the -pied piper of Hamelin. The moralist and the grafter will both be left, -don't y' know!" Morton here returned into that vapidity from which, for -the moment, he had shaken himself free. "Gad!" he concluded, "you will -never know what a passion to own things gnaws at your peasant in his -blouse and wooden shoes until some prophetic beggar shouts 'Public -Ownership!' you won't, really!" - -"Sticking to what you term the practical," said the Reverend Bronson, -"tell me wherein our reform administration has weakened itself." - -"As I've observed," responded Morton, "you pick out a law and make a pet -of it, to the neglect of criminal matters more important. It is -your fad--your vanity of party, to do this. Also, it is your heel of -Achilles, and through it will come your death-blow." Then, as if weary -of the serious, Morton went off at a lively tangent: "Someone--a very -good person, too, I think, although I've mislaid his name--observed: -'Oh, that mine enemy would write a book!' Now I should make it: 'Oh, -that mine enemy would own a fad!' Given a fellow's fad, I've got him. -Once upon a time, when I had a measure of great railway moment--really! -one of those measures of black-flag millions, don't y' know!--pending -before the legislature at Albany, I ran into a gentleman whose name -was De Vallier. Most surprising creature, this De Vallier! Disgustingly -honest, too; but above all, as proud as a Spanish Hidalgo of his name. -Said his ancestors were nobles of France under the Grand Monarch, and -that sort of thing. Gad! it was his fad--this name! And the bitterness -wherewith he opposed my measure was positively shameful. Really, if the -floor of the Assembly--the chap was in the Assembly, don't y' know--were -left unguarded for a moment, De Vallier would occupy it, and call -everybody but himself a venal rogue of bribes. There was never anything -more shocking! - -"But I hit upon an expedient. If I could but touch his fad--if I might -but reach that name of De Vallier, I would have him on the hip. So with -that, don't y' know, I had a bill introduced to change the fellow's name -to Dummeldinger. I did,'pon my honor! The Assembly adopted it gladly. -The Senate was about to do the same, when the horrified De Vallier threw -himself at my feet. He would die if he were called Dummeldinger! - -"The poor fellow's grief affected me very much; my sympathies are easily -excited--they are, really! And Dummeldinger was such a beastly name! I -couldn't withstand De Vallier's pleadings. I caused the bill changing -his name to be withdrawn, and in the fervor of his gratitude, De Vallier -voted for that railway measure. It was my kindness that won him; in his -relief to escape 'Dummeldinger,' De Vallier was ready to die for me." - -It was evening, and in the younger hours I had pulled my chair before -the blaze, and was thinking on Apple Cheek, and how I would give the -last I owned of money and power to have her by me. This was no uncommon -train; I've seen few days since she died that did not fill my memory -with her image. - -Outside raged a threshing storm of snow that was like a threat for -bitterness, and it made the sticks in the fireplace snap and sparkle in -a kind of stout defiance, as though inviting it to do its worst. - -In the next room were Anne and Blossom, and with them young Van Flange. -I could hear the murmur of their voices, and at intervals a little laugh -from him. - -An hour went by; the door between opened, and young Van Flange, halting -a bit with hesitation that was not without charm, stepped into my -presence. He spoke with grace and courage, however, when once he was -launched, and told me his love and asked for Blossom. Then my girl came, -and pressed her face to mine. Anne, too, was there, like a blessing and -a hope. - -They were married:--my girl and young Van Flange. Morton came to my aid; -and I must confess that it was he, with young Van Flange, who helped us -to bridesmaids and ushers, and what others belong with weddings in their -carrying out. I had none upon whom I might call when now I needed wares -of such fine sort; while Blossom, for her part, living her frightened -life of seclusion, was as devoid of acquaintances or friends among the -fashionables as any abbess might have been. - -The street was thronged with people when we drove up, and inside the -church was such a jam of roses and folk as I had never beheld. Wide was -the curious interest in the daughter of Tammany's Chief; and Blossom -must have felt it, for her hand fluttered like a bird on my arm as, with -organ crashing a wedding march, I led her up the aisle. At the altar -rail were the bishop and three priests. And so, I gave my girl away. - -When the ceremony was done, we all went back to my house--Blossom's -house, since I had put it in her name--for I would have it that they -must live with me. I was not to be cheated of my girl; she should not -be lost out of my arms because she had found a husband's. It wrought -a mighty peace for me, this wedding, showing as it did so sure of -happiness to Blossom. Nor will I say it did not feed my pride. Was it -a slight thing that the blood of the Clonmel smith should unite itself -with a strain, old and proud and blue beyond any in the town? We made -one family of it; and when we were settled, my heart filled up with a -feeling more akin to content than any that had dwelt there for many a -sore day. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV--HOW VAN FLANGE WENT INTO STOCKS - - -IT was by the suggestion of young Van Flange himself that he became -a broker. His argument I think was sound; he had been bred to no -profession, and the floor of the Exchange, if he would have a trade, -was all that was left him. No one could be of mark or consequence in New -York who might not write himself master of millions. Morton himself said -that; and with commerce narrowing to a huddle of mammoth corporations, -how should anyone look forward to the conquest of millions save through -those avenues of chance which Wall Street alone provided? The Stock -Exchange was all that remained; and with that, I bought young Van Flange -a seat therein, and equipped him for a brokerage career. I harbored no -misgivings of his success; no one could look upon his clean, handsome -outlines and maintain a doubt. - -Those were our happiest days--Blossom's and mine. In her name, I split -my fortune in two, and gave young Van Flange a million and a half -wherewith to arm his hands for the fray of stocks. Even now, as I look -backward through the darkness, I still think it a million and a half -well spent. For throughout those slender months of sunshine, Blossom -went to and fro about me, radiating a subdued warmth of joy that was -like the silent glow of a lamp. Yes, that money served its end. It made -Blossom happy, and it will do me good while I live to think how that was -so. - -Morton, when I called young Van Flange from his Mulberry desk to send -him into Wall Street, was filled with distrust of the scheme. - -"You should have him stay with Mulberry," said he. "If he do no good, at -least he will do no harm, and that, don't y' know, is a business record -far above the average. Besides, he's safer; he is, really!" - -This I did not like from Morton. He himself was a famous man of stocks, -and had piled millions upon millions in a pyramid of speculation. Did -he claim for himself a monopoly of stock intelligence? Van Flange was as -well taught of books as was he, and came of a better family. Was it that -he arrogated to his own head a superiority of wit for finding his way -about in those channels of stock value? I said something of this sorb to -Morton. - -"Believe me, old chap," said he, laying his slim hand on my shoulder, -"believe me, I had nothing on my mind beyond your own safety, and the -safety of that cub of yours. And I think you will agree that I have -exhibited a knowledge of what winds and currents and rocks might -interrupt or wreck one in his voyages after stocks." - -"Admitting all you say," I replied, "it does not follow that another may -not know or learn to know as much." - -"But Wall Street is such a quicksand," he persisted. "Gad! it swallows -nine of every ten who set foot in it. And to deduce safety for another, -because I am and have been safe, might troll you into error. You should -consider my peculiar case. I was born with beak and claw for the game. -Like the fish-hawk, I can hover above the stream of stocks, and swoop -in and out, taking my quarry where it swims. And then, remember my -arrangements. I have an agent at the elbow of every opportunity. I have -made the world my spy, since I pay the highest price for information. If -a word be said in a cabinet, I hear it; if a decision of court is to be -handed down, I know it; if any of our great forces or monarchs of the -street so much as move a finger, I see it. And yet, with all I know, and -all I see, and all I hear, and all my nets and snares as complicated as -the works of a watch, added to a native genius, the best I may do is -win four times in seven. In Wall Street, a man meets with not alone the -foreseeable, but the unforeseeable; he does, really! He is like a man in -a tempest, and may be struck dead by some cloud-leveled bolt while you -and he stand talking, don't y' know!" - -Morton fell a long day's journey short of convincing me that Wall Street -was a theater of peril for young Van Flange. Moreover, the boy said -true; it offered the one way open to his feet. Thus reasoning, and led -by my love for my girl and my delight to think how she was happy, I did -all I might to further the ambitions of young Van Flange, and embark him -as a trader of stocks. He took office rooms in Broad Street; and on the -one or two occasions when I set foot in them, I was flattered as well as -amazed by the array of clerks and stock-tickers, blackboards, and -tall baskets, which met my untaught gaze. The scene seemed to buzz and -vibrate with prosperity, and the air was vital of those riches which it -promised. - -It is scarce required that I say I paid not the least attention to young -Van Flange and his business affairs. I possessed no stock knowledge, -being as darkened touching Wall Street as any Hottentot. More than that, -my time was taken up with Tammany Hall. The flow of general feeling -continued to favor a return of the machine, for the public was becoming -more and sorely irked of a misfit "reform" that was too tight in one -place while too loose in another. There stood no doubt of it; I had only -to wait and maintain my own lines in order, and the town would be my -own again. It would yet lie in my lap like a goose in the lap of a Dutch -woman; and I to feather-line my personal nest with its plumage to what -soft extent I would. For all that, I must watch lynx-like my own forces, -guarding against schism, keeping my people together solidly for the -battle that was to be won. - -Much and frequently, I discussed the situation with Morton. With his -traction operations, he had an interest almost as deep as my own. He -was, too, the one man on whose wisdom of politics I had been educated to -rely. When it became a question of votes and how to get them, I had yet -to meet Morton going wrong. - -"You should have an issue," said Morton. "You should not have two, for -the public is like a dog, don't y' know, and can chase no more than just -one rabbit at a time. But one you should have--something you could point -to and promise for the future. As affairs stand--and gad! it has been -that way since I have had a memory--you and the opposition will go into -the campaign like a pair of beldame scolds, railing at one another. -Politics has become a contest of who can throw the most mud. Really, the -town is beastly tired of both of you--it is, 'pon my word!" - -"Now what issue would you offer?" - -"Do you recall what I told our friend Bronson? Public Ownership should -be the great card. Go in for the ownership by the town of street -railways, water works, gas plants, and that sort of thing, don't y' -know, and the rabble will trample on itself to vote your ticket." - -"And do you shout 'Municipal Ownership!'--you with a street railway to -lose?" - -"But I wouldn't lose it. I'm not talking of anything but an issue. It -would be a deuced bore, if Public Ownership actually were to happen. -Besides, for me to lose my road would be the worst possible form! No, -I'm not so insane as that. But it doesn't mean, because you make Public -Ownership an issue, that you must bring it about. There are always ways -to dodge, don't y' know. And the people won't care; the patient beggars -have been taught to expect it. An issue is like the bell-ringing before -an auction; it is only meant to call a crowd. Once the auction begins, -no one remembers the bell-ringing; they don't, really!" - -"To simply shout 'Public Ownership:'" said I, "would hardly stir the -depths. We would have to get down to something practical--something -definite." - -"It was the point I was approaching. Really! what should be better now -than to plainly propose--since the route is unoccupied, and offers -a field of cheapest experiment--a street railway with a loop around -Washington Square, and then out Fifth Avenue to One Hundred and Tenth -Street, next west on One Hundred and Tenth Street to Seventh Avenue, and -lastly north on Seventh Avenue until you strike the Harlem River at the -One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street bridge?" - -"What a howl would go up from Fifth Avenue!" said I. - -"If it were so, what then? You are not to be injured by silk-stocking -clamor. For each cry against you from the aristocrats, twenty of the -peasantry would come crying to your back; don't y', know! Patrician -opposition, old chap, means ever plebeian support, and you should do -all you may, with wedge and maul of policy, to split the log along those -lines. Gad!" concluded Morton, bursting suddenly into self-compliments; -"I don't recall when I was so beastly sagacious before--really!" - -"Now I fail to go with you," I returned. "I have for long believed that -the strongest force with which the organization had to contend, was its -own lack of fashion. If Tammany had a handful or two of that purple and -fine linen with which you think it so wise to quarrel, it might rub some -of the mud off itself, and have quieter if not fairer treatment from a -press, ever ready to truckle to the town's nobility. Should we win next -time, it is already in my plans to establish a club in the very heart of -Fifth Avenue. I shall attract thither all the folk of elegant fashion -I can, so that, thereafter, should one snap a kodak on the machine, the -foreground of the picture will contain a respectable exhibition of lofty -names. I want, rather, to get Tammany out of the gutter, than arrange -for its perpetual stay therein." - -"Old chap," said Morton, glorying through his eyeglass, "I think I -shall try a cigarette after that. I need it to resettle my nerves; I do, -really. Why, my dear boy! do you suppose that Tammany can be anything -other than that unwashed black sheep it is? We shall make bishops of -burglars when that day dawns. The thing's wildly impossible, don't y' -know! Besides, your machine would die. Feed Tammany Hall on any diet -of an aristocracy, and you will unhinge its stomach; you will,'pon my -faith!" - -"You shall see a Tammany club in fashion's center, none the less." - -"Then you don't like 'Public Ownership?'" observed Morton, after a -pause, the while twirling his eyeglass. "Why don't you then go in for -cutting the City off from the State, and making a separate State of it? -You could say that we suffer from hayseed tyranny, and all that. Really! -it's the truth, don't y' know; and besides, we City fellows would gulp -it down like spring water." - -"The City delegation in Albany," said I, "is too small to put through -such a bill. The Cornfields would be a unit to smother it." - -"Not so sure about the Cornfields!" cried Morton. "Of course it would -take money. That provided, think of the wires you could pull. Here are -a half-dozen railroads, with their claws and teeth in the country -and their tails in town. Each of them, don't y' know, as part of its -equipment, owns a little herd of rustic members. You could step on the -railroad tail with the feet of your fifty city departments, and torture -it into giving you its hayseed marionettes for this scheme of a new -State. Pon my word! old chap, it could be brought about; it could, -really!" - -"I fear," said I banteringly, "that after all you are no better than -a harebrained theorist. I confess that your plans are too grand for -my commonplace powers of execution. I shall have to plod on with those -moss-grown methods which have served us in the past." - -It would seem as though I had had Death to be my neighbor from the -beginning, for his black shadow was in constant play about me. One day -he would take a victim from out my very arms; again he would grimly step -between me and another as we sat in talk. Nor did doctors do much good -or any; and I have thought that all I shall ask, when my own time comes, -is a nurse to lift me in and out of bed, and for the rest of it, why! -let me die. - -It was Anne to leave me now, and her death befell like lightning from an -open sky. Anne was never of your robust women; I should not have said, -however, that she was frail, since she was always about, taking the -whole weight of the house to herself, and, as I found when she was gone, -furnishing the major portion of its cheerfulness. That was what misled -me, doubtless; a brave smile shone ever on her face like sunlight, and -served to put me off from any thought of sickness for her. - -It was her heart, they said; but no such slowness in striking as when -Big Kennedy died. Anne had been abroad for a walk in the early cool of -the evening. When she returned, and without removing her street gear, -she sank into a chair in the hall. - -"What ails ye, mem?" asked the old Galway wife that had been nurse to -Blossom, and who undid the door to Anne; "what's the matter of your pale -face?" - -"An' then," cried the crone, when she gave me the sorry tale of it, "she -answered wit' a sob. An' next her poor head fell back on the chair, and -she was by." - -Both young Van Flange and I were away from the house at the time of it; -he about his business, which kept him often, and long, into the night; -and I in the smothering midst of my politics. When I was brought home, -they had laid Anne's body on her bed. At the foot on a rug crouched the -old nurse, rocking herself forward and back, wailing like a banshee. -Blossom, whose cheek was whitened with the horror of our loss, crept to -my side and stood close, clutching my hand as in those old terror-ridden -baby days when unseen demons glowered from the room-comers. It was no -good sight for Blossom, and I led her away, the old Galway crone at the -bed's foot keening her barbarous mourning after us far down the hall. - -Blossom was all that remained with me now. And yet, she would be enough, -I thought, as I held her, child-fashion, in my arms that night to comfort -her, if only I might keep her happy. - -Young Van Flange worked at his trade of stocks like a horse. He was into -it early and late, sometimes staying from home all night. I took pride -to think how much more wisely than Morton I had judged the boy. - -Those night absences, when he did not come in until three of the -morning, and on occasion not at all, gave me no concern. My own business -of Tammany was quite as apt to hold me; for there are events that must -be dealt with in the immediate, like shooting a bird on the wing. A -multitude of such were upon me constantly, and there was no moment of -the day or night that I could say beforehand would not be claimed -by them. When this was my own case, it turned nothing difficult to -understand how the exigencies of stocks might be as peremptory. - -One matter to promote a growing fund of confidence in young Van Flange -was his sobriety. The story ran--and, in truth, his own mother had told -it--of his drunkenness, when a boy fresh out of his books, and during -those Barclay Street days when he went throwing his patrimony to the -vultures. That was by and done with; he had somehow gotten by the -bottle. Never but once did he show the flush of liquor, and that fell -out when he had been to a college dinner. I had always understood how -it was the custom to retire drunk from such festivals, wherefore that -particular inebriety gave me scant uneasiness. One should not expect a -roaring boy about town to turn deacon in a day. - -Blossom was, as I've said, by nature shy and secret, and never one to -relate her joys or griefs. While she and he were under the same roof -with me, I had no word from her as to her life with young Van Flange, -and whether it went bright, or was blurred of differences. Nor do I -believe that in those days there came aught to harrow her, unless it -were the feeling that young Van Flange showed less the lover and more -like folk of fifty than she might have wished. - -Once and again, indeed, I caught on her face a passing shade; but her -eyes cleared when I looked at her, and she would come and put her arms -about me, and by that I could not help but see how her marriage had -flowered life's path for her. This thought of itself would set off a -tune in my heart like the songs of birds; and I have it the more sharply -upon my memory, because it was the one deep happiness I knew. The -shadows I trapped as they crossed the brow of Blossom, I laid to a -thought that young Van Flange carried too heavy a load of work. It might -break him in his health; and the fear had warrant in hollow eyes and a -thin sallowness of face, which piled age upon him, and made him resemble -twice his years. - -Towards me, the pose of young Van Flange was that one of respectful -deference which had marked him from the start. Sometimes I was struck -by the notion that he was afraid of me; not with any particularity of -alarm, but as a woman might fear a mastiff, arguing peril from latent -ferocities and a savagery of strength. - -Still, he in no wise ran away; one is not to understand that; on the -contrary he would pass hours in my society, explaining his speculations -and showing those figures which were the record of his profits. I was -glad to listen, too; for while I did not always grasp a meaning, being -stock-dull as I've explained, what he said of "bull" and "bear" and -"short" and "long," had the smell of combat about it, and held me -enthralled like a romance. - -There were instances when he suggested speculations, and now and then as -high as one thousand shares. I never failed to humor him, for I thought -a negative might smack of lack of confidence--a thing I would not think -of, if only for love of Blossom. I must say that my belief in young Van -Flange was augmented by these deals, which turned unflaggingly, though -never largely, to my credit. - -It was when I stood waist-deep in what arrangements were preliminary -to my battle for the town, now drawing near and nearer, that young Van -Flange approached me concerning Blackberry Traction. - -"Father," said he--for he called me "father," and the name was pleasant -to my ear--"father, if you will, we may make millions of dollars like -turning hand or head." - -Then he gave me a long story of the friendship he had scraped together -with the president of Blackberry--he of the Hebrew cast and clutch, whom -I once met and disappointed over franchises. - -"Of course," said young Van Flange, "while he is the president of -Blackberry, he has no sentimental feelings concerning the fortunes of -the company. He is as sharp to make money as either you or I. The truth -is this: While the stock is quoted fairly high, Blackberry in fact is -in a bad way. It is like a house of cards, and a kick would collapse it -into ruins. The president, because we are such intimates, gave me the -whole truth of Blackberry. Swearing me to secrecy, he, as it were, -lighted a lantern, and led me into the darkest corners. He showed me the -books. Blackberry is on the threshold of a crash. The dividends coming -due will not be paid. It is behind in its interest; and the directors -will be driven to declare an immense issue of bonds. Blackberry stock -will fall below twenty; a receiver will have the road within the year. -To my mind, the situation is ready for a coup. We have but to sell and -keep selling, to take in what millions we will." - -There was further talk, and all to similar purpose. Also, I recalled the -ease with which Morton and I, aforetime, took four millions between us -out of Blackberry. - -"Now I think," said I, in the finish of it, "that Blackberry is my gold -mine by the word of Fate itself. Those we are to make will not be the -first riches I've had from it." - -Except the house we stood in, I owned no real estate; nor yet that, -since it was Blossom's, being her marriage gift from me. From the first -I had felt an aversion for houses and lots. I was of no stomach -to collect rents, squabble with tenants over repairs, or race to -magistrates for eviction. This last I should say was the Irish in my -arteries, for landlords had hectored my ancestors like horseflies. My -wealth was all in stocks and bonds; nor would I listen to anything else. -Morton had his own whimsical explanation for this: - -"There be those among us," said he, "who are nomads by instinct--a sort -of white Arab, don't y' know. Not intending offense--for, gad! there are -reasons why I desire to keep you good-natured--every congenital criminal -is of that sort; he is, really! Such folk instinctively look forward -to migration or flight. They want nothing they can't pack up and depart -with in a night, and would no more take a deed to land than a dose of -arsenic. It's you who are of those migratory people. That's why you -abhor real estate. Fact, old chap! you're a born nomad; and it's in your -blood to be ever ready to strike camp, inspan your teams, and trek." - -Morton furnished these valuable theories when he was investing my money -for me. Having no belief in my own investment wisdom, I imposed the task -upon his good nature. One day he brought me my complete possessions in a -wonderful sheaf of securities. They were edged, each and all, with gold, -since Morton would accept no less. - -"There you are, my boy," said he, "and everything as clean as running -water, don't y' know. Really, I didn't think you could be trusted, if -it came on to blow a panic, so I've bought for you only stuff that can -protect itself." - -When young Van Flange made his Blackberry suggestions, I should say -I had sixteen hundred thousand dollars worth of these bonds and -stocks--mostly the former--in my steel box. I may only guess concerning -it, for I could not reckon so huge a sum to the precise farthing. It was -all in the same house with us; I kept it in a safe I'd fitted into the -walls, and which was so devised as to laugh at either a burglar or a -fire. I gave young Van Flange the key of that interior compartment which -held these securities; the general combination he already possessed. - -"There you'll find more than a million and a half," said I, "and that, -with what you have, should make three millions. How much Blackberry can -you sell now?" - -"We ought to sell one hundred and fifty thousand shares. A drop of -eighty points, and it will go that far, would bring us in twelve -millions." - -"Do what you think best," said I. "And, mind you: No word to Morton." - -"Now I was about to suggest that," said young Van Flange. - -Morton should not know what was on my slate for Blackberry. Trust him? -yes; and with every hope I had. But it was my vanity to make this move -without him. I would open his eyes to it, that young Van Flange, if not -so old a sailor as himself, was none the less his equal at charting a -course and navigating speculation across that sea of stocks, about the -treacherous dangers whereof it had pleased him so often to patronize me. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV--PROFIT AND LOSS; MAINLY THE LATTER - - -SINCE time began, no man, not even a king, has been better obeyed in -his mandates, than was I while Chief of Tammany Hall. From high to low, -from the leader of a district to the last mean straggler in the ranks, -one and all, they pulled and hauled or ran and climbed like sailors in a -gale, at the glance of my eye or the toss of my finger. More often than -once, I have paused in wonder over this blind submission, and asked -myself the reason. Particularly, since I laid down my chiefship, the -query has come upon my tongue while I remembered old days, to consider -how successes might have been more richly improved or defeats, in their -disasters, at least partially avoided. - -Nor could I give myself the answer. I had no close friendships among my -men; none of them was my confidant beyond what came to be demanded of -the business in our hands. On the contrary, there existed a gulf between -me and those about me, and while I was civil--for I am not the man, and -never was, of wordy violences--I can call myself nothing more. - -If anything, I should say my people of politics feared me, and that a -sort of sweating terror was the spur to send them flying when I gave an -order. There was respect, too; and in some cases a kind of love like a -dog's love, and which is rather the homage paid by weakness to strength, -or that sentiment offered of the vine to the oak that supports its -clamberings. - -Why my men should stand in awe of me, I cannot tell. Certainly, I was -mindful of their rights; and, with the final admonitions of Big Kennedy -in my ears, I avoided favoritisms and dealt out justice from an even -hand. True, I could be stern when occasion invited, and was swift to -destroy that one whose powers did not match his duty, or who for a bribe -would betray, or for an ambition would oppose, my plan. - -No; after Big Kennedy's death, I could name you none save Morton -whose advice I cared for, or towards whom I leaned in any thought -of confidence. Some have said that this distance, which I maintained -between me and my underlings, was the secret of my strength. It may have -been; and if it were I take no credit, since I expressed nothing save a -loneliness of disposition, and could not have borne myself otherwise -had I made the attempt. Not that I regretted it. That dumb concession -of themselves to me, by my folk of Tammany, would play no little part -in pulling down a victory in the great conflict wherein we were about to -engage. - -Tammany Hall was never more sharply organized. I worked over the -business like an artist over an etching. Discipline was brought to -a pitch never before known. My district leaders were the pick of the -covey, and every one, for force and talents of executive kind, fit to -lead a brigade into battle. Under these were the captains of election -precincts; and a rank below the latter came the block captains--one for -each city block. Thus were made up those wheels within wheels which, -taken together, completed the machine. They fitted one with the other, -block captains with precinct captains, the latter with district leaders, -and these last with myself; and all like the wheels and springs and -ratchets and regulators of a clock; one sure, too, when wound and oiled -and started, to strike the hours and announce the time of day in local -politics with a nicety that owned no precedent. - -There would be a quartette of tickets; I could see that fact of four -corners in its approach, long months before the conventions. Besides the -two regular parties, and the mugwump-independents--which tribe, like the -poor, we have always with us--the laborites would try again. These had -not come to the field in any force since that giant uprising when we -beat them down with the reputable old gentleman. Nor did I fear them -now. My trained senses told me, as with thumb on wrist I counted -the public pulse, how those clans of labor were not so formidable by -three-fourths as on that other day a decade and more before. - -Of those three camps of politics set over against us, that one to be the -strongest was the party of reform. This knowledge swelled my stock of -courage, already mounting high. If it were no more than to rout the -administration now worrying the withers of the town, why, then! the -machine was safe to win. - -There arose another sign. As the days ran on, rich and frequent, first -from one big corporation and then another--and these do not give until -they believe--the contributions of money came rolling along. They would -buy our favor in advance of victory. These donations followed each other -like billows upon a beach, and each larger than the one before, which -showed how the wind of general confidence was rising in our favor. It -was not, therefore, my view alone; but, by this light of money to our -cause, I could see how the common opinion had begun to gather head that -the machine was to take the town again. - -This latter is often a decisive point, and one to give victory of -itself. The average of intelligence and integrity in this city of New -York is lower than any in the land. There are here, in proportion to -a vote, more people whose sole principle is the bandwagon, than in any -other town between the oceans. These "sliders," who go hither and yon, -and attach themselves to this standard or ally themselves with that one, -as the eye of their fancy is caught and taught by some fluttering signal -of the hour to pick the winning side, are enough of themselves to decide -a contest. Wherefore, to promote this advertisement among creatures of -chameleon politics, of an approaching triumph for the machine, and it -being possible because of those contributed thousands coming so early -into my chests, I began furnishing funds to my leaders and setting them -to the work of their regions weeks before the nearest of our enemies had -begun to think on his ticket. - -There was another argument for putting out this money. The noses of my -people had been withheld from the cribs of office for hungry months upon -months. The money would arouse an appetite and give their teeth an edge. -I looked for fine work, too, since the leanest wolves are ever foremost -in the hunt. - -Emphatically did I lay it upon my leaders that, man for man, they must -count their districts. They must tell over each voter as a churchman -tells his beads. They must give me a true story of the situation, and I -promised grief to him who brought me mistaken word. I will say in their -compliment that, by the reports of my leaders on the day before the -poll, I counted the machine majority exact within four hundred votes; -and that, I may tell you, with four tickets in the conflict, and a whole -count which was measured by hundreds of thousands, is no light affair. I -mention it to evidence the hair-line perfection to which the methods of -the machine had been brought. - -More than one leader reported within five votes of his majority, and -none went fifty votes astray. - -You think we overdid ourselves to the point ridiculous, in this -breathless solicitude of preparation? Man! the wealth of twenty Ophirs -hung upon the hazard. I was in no mood to lose, if skill and sleepless -forethought, and every intrigue born of money, might serve to bring -success. - -Morton--that best of prophets!--believed in the star of the machine. - -"This time," said he, "I shall miss the agony of contributing to the -other fellows, don't y' know. It will be quite a relief--really! I must -say, old chap, that I like the mugwump less and less the more I see of -him. He's so deucedly respectable, for one thing! Gad! there are -times when a mugwump carries respectability to a height absolutely -incompatible with human existence. Besides, he is forever walking a -crack and calling it a principle. I get tired of a chalkline morality. -It's all such deuced rot; it bores me to death; it does, really! One -begins to appreciate the amiable, tolerant virtues of easy, old-shoe -vice." - -Morton, worn with this long harangue, was moved to recruit his moody -energies with the inevitable cigarette. He puffed recuperative puffs for -a space, and then he began: - -"What an angelic ass is this city of New York! Why! it doesn't know as -much as a horse! Any ignorant teamster of politics can harness it, and -haul with it, and head it what way he will. I say, old chap, what are -the round-number expenses of the town a year?" - -"About one hundred and twenty-five millions." - -"One hundred and twenty-five millions--really! Do you happen to know the -aggregate annual profits of those divers private companies that control -and sell us our water, and lighting, and telephone, and telegraph, and -traction services?--saying nothing of ferries, and paving, and all that? -It's over one hundred and fifty millions a year, don't y' know! More -than enough to run the town without a splinter of tax--really! That's -why I exclaim in rapture over the public's accommodating imbecility. -Now, if a private individual were to manage his affairs so much like a -howling idiot, his heirs would clap him in a padded cell, and serve the -beggar right." - -"I think, however," said I, "that you have been one to profit by those -same idiocies of the town." - -"Millions, my boy, millions! And I'm going in for more, don't y' know. -There are a half-dozen delicious things I have my eye on. Gad! I shall -have my hand on them, the moment you take control." - -"I make you welcome in advance," said I. "Give me but the town again, -and you shall pick and choose." - -In season, I handed my slate of names to the nominating committee to be -handed by them to the convention. - -At the head, for the post of mayor, was written the name of that bold -judge who, in the presence of my enemies and on a day when I was down, -had given my Sicilian countenance. Such folk are the choice material -of the machine. Their characters invite the public; while, for their -courage, and that trick to be military and go with closed eyes to the -execution of an order, the machine can rely upon them through black and -white. My judge when mayor would accept my word for the last appointment -and the last contract in his power, and think it duty. - -And who shall say that he would err? It was the law of the machine; he -was the man of the machine; for the public, which accepted him, he was -the machine. It is the machine that offers for every office on the list; -the ticket is but the manner or, if you please, the mask. Nor is this -secret. Who shall complain then, or fasten him with charges, when my -judge, made mayor, infers a public's instruction to regard himself -as the vizier of the machine?--its hand and voice for the town's -government? - -It stood the day before the polls, and having advantage of the usual -lull I was resting myself at home. Held fast by the hooks of politics, I -for weeks had not seen young Van Flange, and had gotten only glimpses of -Blossom. While lounging by my fire--for the day was raw, with a wind off -the Sound that smelled of winter--young Van Flange drove to the door in -a brougham. - -That a brisk broker should visit his house at an hour when the floor of -the Exchange was tossing with speculation, would be the thing not looked -for; but I was too much in a fog of politics, and too ignorant of stocks -besides, to make the observation. Indeed, I was glad to see the boy, -greeting him with a trifle more warmth than common. - -Now I thought he gave me his hand with a kind of shiver of reluctance. -This made me consider. Plainly, he was not at ease as we sat together. -Covering him with the tail of my eye, I could note how his face carried -a look, at once timid and malignant. - -I could not read the meaning, and remained silent a while with the mere -riddle of it. Was he ill? The lean yellowness of his cheek, and the dark -about the hollow eyes, were a hint that way, to which the broken stoop -of the shoulders gave added currency. - -Young Van Flange continued silent; not, however, in a way to promise -sullenness, but as though his feelings were a gag to him. At last I -thought, with a word of my own, to break the ice. - -"How do you get on with your Blackberry?" said I. - -It was not that I cared or had the business on the back of my mind; I -was too much buried in my campaign for that; but Blackberry, with young -Van Flange, was the one natural topic to propose. - -As I gave him the name of it, he started with the sudden nervousness -of a cat. I caught the hissing intake of his breath, as though a -knife pierced him. What was wrong? I had not looked at the reported -quotations, such things being as Greek to me. Had he lost those -millions? I could have borne it if he had; the better, perhaps, since I -was sure in my soul that within two days I would have the town in hand, -and I did not think to find my old paths so overgrown but what I'd make -shift to pick my way to a second fortune. - -I was on the hinge of saying so, when he got possession of himself. Even -at that he spoke lamely, and with a tongue that fumbled for words. - -"Oh, Blackberry!" cried he. Then, after a gulping pause: "That twist -will work through all right. It has gone a trifle slow, because, by -incredible exertions, the road did pay its dividends. But it's no more -than a matter of weeks when it will come tumbling." - -This, in the beginning, was rambled off with stops and halts, but in the -wind-up it went glibly enough. - -What next I would have said, I cannot tell; nothing of moment, one may -be sure, for my mind was running on other things than Blackberry up or -down. It was at this point, however, when we were interrupted. A message -arrived that asked my presence at headquarters. - -As I was about to depart, Blossom came into the room. - -I had no more than time for a hurried kiss, for the need set forth in -the note pulled at me like horses. - -"Bar accidents," said I, as I stood in the door, "tomorrow night we'll -celebrate a victory." - -Within a block of my gate, I recalled how I had left certain papers I -required lying on the table. I went back in some hustle of speed, for -time was pinching as to that question of political detail which tugged -for attention. - -As I stepped into the hallway, I caught the tone of young Van Flange -and did not like the pitch of it. Blossom and he were in the room to the -left, and only a door between us. - -In a strange bristle of temper, I stood still to hear. Would the -scoundrel dare harshness with my girl? The very surmise turned me savage -to the bone! - -Young Van Flange was speaking of those two hundred thousand dollars in -bonds with which, by word of Big Kennedy, I had endowed Blossom in a day -of babyhood. When she could understand, I had laid it solemnly upon her -never to part with them. Under any stress, they would insure her against -want; they must never be given up. And Blossom had promised. - -These bonds were in a steel casket of their own, and Blossom had the -key. As I listened, young Van Flange was demanding they be given to -him; Blossom was pleading with him, and quoting my commands. My girl was -sobbing, too, for the villain urged the business roughly. I could not -fit my ear to every word, since their tones for the most were dulled to -a murmur by the door. In the end, with a lift of the voice, I heard him -say: - -"For what else should I marry you except money? Is one of my blood to -link himself with the daughter of the town's great thief, and call it -love? The daughter of a murderer, too!" he exclaimed, and ripping out -an oath. "A murderer, yes! You have the red proof about your throat! -Because your father escaped hanging by the laws of men, heaven's law is -hanging you!" - -As I threw wide the door, Blossom staggered and fell to the floor. I -thought for the furious blink of the moment, that he had struck her. -How much stronger is hate than love! My dominant impulse was to avenge -Blossom rather than to save her. I stood in the door in a white flame -of wrath that was like the utter anger of a tiger. I saw him bleach and -shrink beneath his sallowness. - -As I came towards him, he held up his hands after the way of a boxing -school. That ferocious strength, like a gorilla's, still abode with me. -I brushed away his guard as one might put aside a trailing vine. In a -flash I had him, hip and shoulder. My fingers sunk into the flesh like -things of steel; he squeaked and struggled as does the rabbit when -crunched up by the hound. - -With a swing and a heave that would have torn out a tree by its roots, -I lifted him from his feet. The next moment I hurled him from me. He -crashed against the casing of the door; then he slipped to the floor as -though struck by death itself. - -Moved of the one blunt purpose of destruction, I made forward to seize -him again. For a miracle of luck, I was withstood by one of the servants -who rushed in. - -"Think, master; think what you do!" he cried. - -In a sort of whirl I looked about me. I could see how the old Galway -nurse was bending over Blossom, crying on her for her "Heart's dearie!" -My poor girl was lying along the rug like some tempest-broken flower. -The stout old wife caught her up and bore her off in her arms. - -The picture of my girl's white face set me ablaze again. I turned the -very torch of rage! - -"Be wise, master!" cried that one who had restrained me before. "Think -of what you do!" - -The man's hand on my wrist, and the earnest voice of him, brought me to -myself. A vast calm took me, as a storm in its double fury beats flat -the surface of the sea. I turned my back and walked to the window. - -"Have him away, then!" cried I. "Have him out of my sight, or I'll tear -him to rags and ribbons where he lies!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI--THE VICTOR AND THE SPOILS - - -FOR all the cry and call of politics, and folk to see me whom I would -not see, that night, and throughout the following day--and even though -the latter were one of election Fate to decide for the town's mastery--I -never stirred from Blossom's side. She, poor child! was as one desolate, -dazed with the blow that had been dealt her. She lay on her pillow, -silent, and with the stricken face that told of the heart-blight fallen -upon her. - -Nor was I in much more enviable case, although gifted of a rougher -strength to meet the shock. Indeed, I was taught by a despair that -preyed upon me, how young Van Flange had grown to be the keystone of my -arch of single hope, now fallen to the ground. Blossom's happiness had -been my happiness, and when her breast was pierced, my own brightness -of life began to bleed away. Darkness took me in the folds of it as in -a shroud; I would have found the grave kinder, but I must remain to be -what prop and stay I might to Blossom. - -While I sat by my girl's bed, there was all the time a peril that kept -plucking at my sleeve in a way of warning. My nature is of an inveterate -kind that, once afire and set to angry burning, goes on and on in -ever increasing flames like a creature of tow, and with me helpless to -smother or so much as half subdue the conflagration. I was so aware -of myself in that dangerous behalf that it would press upon me as a -conviction, even while I held my girl's hand and looked into her vacant -eye, robbed of a last ray of any peace to come, that young Van Flange -must never stray within my grasp. It would bring down his destruction; -it would mean red hands for me and nothing short of murder. And, so, -while I waited by Blossom's side, and to blot out the black chance of -it, I sent word for Inspector McCue. - -The servants, on that day of awful misery, conveyed young Van Flange -from the room. When he had been revived, and his injuries dressed--for -his head bled from a gash made by the door, and his shoulder had been -dislocated--he was carried from the house by the brougham that brought -him, and which still waited at the gate. No one about me owned word of -his whereabouts. It was required that he be found, not more for his sake -than my own, and his destinies disposed of beyond my reach. - -It was to this task I would set Inspector McCue. For once in a way, my -call was for an honest officer. I would have Inspector McCue discover -young Van Flange, and caution him out of town. I cared not where he -went, so that he traveled beyond the touch of my fingers, already -itching for the caitiff neck of him. - -Nor did I think young Van Flange would resist the advice of Inspector -McCue. He had reasons for flight other than those I would furnish. The -very papers, shouted in the streets to tell how I had re-taken the town -at the polls, told also of the failure of the brokerage house of Van -Flange; and that young Van Flange, himself, was a defaulter and his -arrest being sought by clients on a charge of embezzling the funds which -had been intrusted to his charge. The man was a fugitive from justice; -he lay within the menace of a prison; he would make no demur now when -word and money were given him to take himself away. - -When Inspector McCue arrived, I greeted him with face of granite. He -should have no hint of my agony. I went bluntly to the core of the -employ; to dwell upon the business would be nothing friendly to my -taste. - -"You know young Van Flange?" Inspector McCue gave a nod of assent. - -"And you can locate him?" - -"The proposition is so easy it's a pushover." - -"Find him, then, and send him out of the town; and for a reason, should -he ask one, you may say that I shall slay him should we meet." - -Inspector McCue looked at me curiously. He elevated his brow, but in the -end he said nothing, whether of inquiry or remark. Without a reply he -took himself away. My face, at the kindliest, was never one to speak of -confidences or invite a question, and I may suppose the expression of -it, as I dealt with Inspector McCue, to have been more than commonly -repellent. - -There abode another with whom I wanted word; that one was Morton; for -hard by forty years he had not once failed me in a strait. I would ask -him the story of those Blackberry stocks. A glance into my steel box had -showed me the bottom as bare as winter boughs. The last scrap was -gone; and no more than the house that covered us, and those two hundred -thousand dollars in bonds that were Blossom's, to be left of all our -fortune. - -My temper was not one to mourn for any loss of money; and yet in this -instance I would have those steps that led to my destruction set forth -to me. If it were the president of Blackberry Traction who had taken -my money, I meditated reprisal. Not that I fell into any heat of hatred -against him; he but did to me what Morton and I a few years further back -had portioned out to him. For all that, I was coldly resolved to have my -own again. I intended no stock shifts; I would not seek Wall Street for -my revenge. I knew a sharper method and a surer. It might glisten less -with elegance, but it would prove more secure. But first, I would have -the word of Morton. - -That glass of exquisite fashion and mold of proper form, albeit -something grizzled, and like myself a trifle dimmed of time, tendered -his congratulations upon my re-conquest of the town. I drew him straight -to my affair of Blackberry. - -"Really, old chap," said Morton, the while plaintively disapproving of -me through those eyeglasses, so official in his case, "really, old -chap, you walked into a trap, and one a child should have seen. That -Blackberry fellow had the market rigged, don't y' know. I could have -saved you, but, my boy, I didn't dare. You've such a beastly temper when -anyone saves you. Besides, it isn't good form to wander into the stock -deals of a gentleman, and begin to tell him what he's about; it isn't, -really." - -"But what did this Blackberry individual do?" I persisted. - -"Why, he let you into a corner, don't y' know! He had been quietly -buying Blackberry for months. He had the whole stock of the road in his -safe; and you, in the most innocent way imaginable, sold thousands of -shares. Now when you sell a stock, you must buy; you must, really! And -there was no one from whom to buy save our sagacious friend. Gad! as the -business stood, old chap, he might have had the coat off your back!" And -Morton glared in horror over the disgrace of the situation. - -While I took no more than a glimmer of Morton's meaning, two things were -made clear. The Blackberry president had stripped me of my millions; and -he had laid a snare to get them. - -"Was young Van Flange in the intrigue?" - -"Not in the beginning, at least. There was no need, don't y' know. His -hand was already into your money up to the elbow." - -"What do you intend by saying that young Van Flange was not in the -affair in the beginning?" - -"The fact is, old chap, one or two things occurred that led me to think -that young Van Flange discovered the trap after he'd sold some eight or -ten thousand shares. There was a halt, don't y' know, in his operations. -Then later he went on and sold you into bankruptcy. I took it from -young Van Flange's manner that the Blackberry fellow might have had some -secret hold upon him, and either threatened him, or promised him, or -perhaps both, to get him to go forward with his sales; I did, really. -Young Van Flange didn't, in the last of it, conduct himself like a free -moral or, I should say, immoral agent." - -"I can't account for it," said I, falling into thought; "I cannot -see how young Van Flange could have been betrayed into the folly you -describe." - -"Why then," said Morton, a bit wearily, "I have but to say over what -you've heard from me before. Young Van Flange was in no sort that man of -gifts you held him to be; now really, he wasn't, don't y' know! Anyone -might have hoodwinked him. Besides, he didn't keep up with the markets. -While I think it beastly bad form to go talking against a chap when he's -absent, the truth is, the weak-faced beggar went much more to Barclay -than to Wall Street. However, that is only hearsay; I didn't follow -young Van Flange to Barclay Street nor meet him across a faro layout by -way of verification." - -Morton was right; and I was to hear a worse tale, and that from -Inspector McCue. - -"Would have been here before," said Inspector McCue when he came to -report, "but I wanted to see our party aboard ship, and outside Sandy -Hook light, so that I might report the job cleaned up." - -Then clearing his throat, and stating everything in the present tense, -after the police manner, Inspector McCue went on. - -"When you ask me can I locate our party, I says to myself, 'Sure thing!' -and I'll put you on to why. Our party is a dope fiend; it's a horse to a -hen at that very time he can be turned up in some Chink joint." - -"Opium?" I asked in astonishment. I had never harbored the thought. - -"Why, sure! That's the reason he shows so sallow about the gills, and -with eyes like holes burnt in a blanket. When he lets up on the bottle, -he shifts to hop." - -"Go on," said I. - -"Now," continued Inspector McCue, "I thought I knew the joint in which -to find our party. One evenin', three or four years ago, when the -Reverend Bronson and I are lookin' up those Barclay Street crooks, I see -our party steerin' into Mott Street. I goes after him, and comes upon -him in a joint where he's hittin' the pipe. The munk who runs it has -just brought him a layout, and is cookin' the pill for him when I shoves -in. - -"Now when our party is in present trouble, I puts it to myself, that -he's sure to be goin' against the pipe. It would be his idea of gettin' -cheerful, see! So I chases for the Mott Street hang-out, and there's our -party sure enough, laid out on a mat, and a roll of cotton batting under -his head for a pillow. He's in the skies, so my plan for a talk right -then is all off. The air of the place is that thick with hop it would -have turned the point of a knife, but I stays and plays my string out -until he can listen and talk. - -"When our party's head is again on halfway straight, and he isn't such a -dizzy Willie, I puts it to him that he'd better do a skulk. - -"'You're wanted,' says I, 'an' as near as I make the size-up, you'll -take about five spaces if you're brought to trial. You'd better chase; -and by way of the Horn, at that. If you go cross-lots, you might get -the collar on a hot wire from headquarters, and be taken off the train. -Our party nearly throws a faint when I says 'embezzlement.' It's the -first tip he'd had, for I don't think he's been made wise to so much as -a word since he leaves here. It put the scare into him for fair; he was -ready to do anything I say.' - -"'Only,' says he, 'I don't know what money I've got. And I'm too dippy -to find out.' - -"With that, I go through him. It's in his trousers pocket I springs a -plant--fifteen hundred dollars, about. - -"'Here's dough enough and over,' says I; and in six hours after, he's -aboard ship. - -"She don't get her lines off until this morning, though; but I stays by, -for I'm out to see him safe beyond the Hook." - -"What more do you know of young Van Flange?" I asked. "Did you learn -anything about his business habits?" - -"From the time you start him with those offices in Broad Street, our -party's business habits are hop and faro bank. The offices are there; -the clerks and the blackboards and the stock tickers and the tape -baskets are there; but our party, more'n to butt in about three times -a week and leave some crazy orders to sell Blackberry Traction, is never -there. He's either in Mott Street, and a Chink cookin' hop for him; -or he's in Barclay Street with those Indians, and they handin' him out -every sort of brace from an 'end-squeeze' or a 'balance-top,' where they -give him two cards at a clatter, to a 'snake' box, where they kindly -lets him deal, but do him just the same. Our party lose over a -half-million in that Barclay Street deadfall during the past Year." - -"I must, then," said I, and I felt the irony of it, "have been -indirectly contributing to the riches of our friend, the Chief of -Police, since you once told me he was a principal owner of the Barclay -Street place." - -Inspector McCue shrugged his shoulders professionally, and made no -response. Then I questioned him as to the charge of embezzlement; for I -had not owned the heart to read the story in the press. - -"It's that Blackberry push," replied Inspector McCue, "and I don't think -it's on the level at that. It looks like the Blackberry president--and, -by the way, I've talked with the duffer, and took in all he would -tell--made a play to get the drop on our party. And although the trick -was put up, I think he landed it. He charges now that our party is a -welcher, and gets away with a bunch of bonds--hocked 'em or something -like that--which this Blackberry guy gives him to stick in as margins -on some deal. As I say, I think it's a put-up job. That Blackberry -duck--who is quite a flossy form of stock student and a long shot from -a slouch--has some game up his sleeve. He wanted things rigged so's he -could put the clamps on our party, and make him do as he says, and pinch -him whenever it gets to be a case of must. So he finally gets our party -where he can't holler. I makes a move to find out the inside story; but -the Blackberry sport is a thought too swift, and he won't fall to my -game. I gives it to him dead that he braced our party, and asks him, -Why? At that he hands me the frozen face, springs a chest, and says he's -insulted. - -"But the end of it is this: Our party is now headed for Frisco. When he -comes ashore, the cops out there will pick him up and keep a tab on him; -we can always touch the wire for his story down to date. Whenever you -say the word, I can get a line on him." - -"Bring me no tales of him!" I cried. "I would free myself of every -memory of the scoundrel!" - -That, then, was the story--a story of gambling and opium! It was these -that must account for the sallow face, stooped shoulders, hollow eyes, -and nights away from home. And the man of Blackberry, from whom Morton -and I took millions, had found in the situation his opportunity. He laid -his plans and had those millions back. Also, it was I, as it had been -others, to now suffer by Barclay Street. - -"And now," observed Inspector McCue, his hand on the door, but turning -with a look at once inquisitive and wistful--the latter, like the -anxious manner of a good dog who asks word to go upon his hunting--"and -now, I suppose, you'll be willin' to let me pull that outfit in Barclay -Street. I've got 'em dead to rights!" The last hopefully. - -"If it be a question," said I, "of where a man shall lose His money, for -my own part, I have no preference as to whether he is robbed in Barclay -Street or robbed in Wall. We shall let the Barclay Street den alone, if -you please. The organization has its alliances. These alliances cannot -be disturbed without weakening the organization. I would not make the -order when it was prayed for by the mother of young Van Flange, and she -died with the prayer on her lips. I shall not make it now when it is I -who am the sufferer. It must be Tammany before all; on no slighter terms -can Tammany be preserved." - -Inspector McCue made no return to this, and went his way in silence. It -was a change, however, from that other hour when I had been with him -as cold and secret as a vault. He felt the flattery of my present -confidence, and it colored him with complacency as he took his leave. - -Roundly, it would be two months after the election before Tammany took -charge of the town. The eight weeks to intervene I put in over that list -of officers to be named by me through the mayor and the various chiefs -of the departments. These places--and they were by no means a stinted -letter, being well-nigh thirty thousand--must be apportioned among the -districts, each leader having his just share. - -While I wrought at these details of patronage, setting a man's name to a -place, and all with fine nicety of discrimination to prevent jealousies -and a thought that this or that one of my wardogs had been wronged, a -plan was perfecting itself in my mind. The thought of Blossom was ever -uppermost. What should I do to save the remainder of her life in peace? -If she were not to be wholly happy, still I would buckler her as far as -lay with me against the more aggressive darts of grief. There is such a -word as placid, and, though one be fated to dwell with lasting sorrow, -one would prefer it as the mark of one's condition to others of -tumultuous violence. There lies a choice, and one will make it, even -among torments. How could I conquer serenity for Blossom?--how should -I go about it to invest what further years were hers with the restful -blessings of peace? That was now the problem of my life, and at last I -thought it solved. - -My decision was made to deal with the town throughout the next regime -as with a gold mine. I would work it night and day, sparing neither -conscience nor sleep; I would have from it what utmost bulk of treasure -I might during the coming administration of the town's affairs. The game -lay in my palm; I would think on myself and nothing but myself; justice -and right were to be cast aside; the sufferings of others should be no -more to me than mine had been to them. I would squeeze the situation -like a sponge, and for its last drop. Then laying down my guiding staff -as Chief, I would carry Blossom, and those riches I had heaped together, -to regions, far away and new, where only the arch of gentle skies should -bend above her days! She should have tranquillity! she should find rest! -That was my plan, my hope; I kept it buried in my breast, breathed of it -to no man, not even the kindly Morton, and set myself with all of that -ferocious industry which was so much the badge of my nature to its -carrying forth. Four years; and then, with the gold of a Monte Cristo, -I would take Blossom and go seeking that repose which I believed must -surely wait for us somewhere beneath the sun! - -While I was engaged about those preliminaries demanded of me if the -machine were to begin its four-years' reign on even terms of comfort, -Morton was often at my shoulder with a point or a suggestion. I was glad -to have him with me; for his advice in a fog of difficulty such as mine, -was what chart and lighthouse are to mariners. - -One afternoon while Morton and I were trying to hit upon some man of -education to take second place and supplement the ignorance of one -whom the equities of politics appointed to be the head of a rich but -difficult department, the Reverend Bronson came in. - -We three--the Reverend Bronson, Morton, and myself--were older now than -on days we could remember, and each showed the sere and yellow of his -years. But we liked each other well; and, although in no sort similar -in either purpose or bent, I think time had made us nearer friends than -might have chanced with many who were more alike. - -On this occasion, while I engaged myself with lists of names and lists -of offices, weighing out the spoils, Morton and the Reverend Bronson -debated the last campaign, and what in its conclusion it offered for the -future. - -"I shall try to be the optimist," said the Reverend Bronson at last, -tossing up a brave manner. "Since the dying administration was not so -good as I hoped for, I trust the one to be born will not be so bad as I -fear. And, as I gather light by experience, I begin to blame officials -less and the public more. I suspect how a whole people may play the -hypocrite as much as any single man; nor am I sure that, for all its -clamors, a New York public really desires those white conditions of -purity over which it protests so much." - -"Really!" returned Morton, who had furnished ear of double interest to -the Reverend Bronson's words, "it is an error, don't y' know, to give -any people a rule they don't desire. A government should always match a -public. What do you suppose would become of them if one were to suddenly -organize a negro tribe of darkest Africa into a republic? Why, under -such loose rule as ours, the poor savage beggars would gnaw each other -like dogs--they would, really! It would be as depressing a solecism as a -Scotchman among the stained glasses, the frescoes, and the Madonnas of -a Spanish cathedral; or a Don worshiping within the four bare walls and -roof of a Highland kirk. Whatever New York may pretend, it will always -be found in possession of that sort of government, whether for virtue -or for vice, whereof it secretly approves." And Morton surveyed the good -dominie through that historic eyeglass as though pleased with what he'd -said. - -"But is it not humiliating?" asked the Reverend Bronson. "If what you -say be true, does it not make for your discouragement?" - -"No more than does the vulgar fact of dogs and horses, don't y' know! -Really, I take life as it is, and think only to be amused. I remark -on men, and upon their conditions of the moral, the mental, and the -physical!--on the indomitable courage of restoration as against the -ceaseless industry of decay!--on the high and the low, the good and the -bad, the weak and the strong, the right and the wrong, the top and the -bottom, the past and the future, the white and the black, and all those -other things that are not!--and I laugh at all. There is but one thing -real, one thing true, one thing important, one thing at which I -never laugh!--and that is the present. But really!" concluded Morton, -recurring to affectations which for the moment had been forgot, "I'm -never discouraged, don't y' know! I shall never permit myself an -interest deep enough for that; it wouldn't be good form. Even those -beastly low standards which obtain, as you say, in New York do not -discourage me. No, I'm never discouraged--really!" - -"You do as much as any, by your indifference, to perpetuate those -standards," remarked the Reverend Bronson in a way of mournful severity. - -"My dear old chap," returned Morton, growing sprightly as the other -displayed solemnity, "I take, as I tell you, conditions as I find them, -don't y' know! And wherefore no? It's all nature: it's the hog to -its wallow, the eagle to its crag;--it is, really! Now an eagle in a -mud-wallow, or a hog perching on a crag, would be deuced bad form! -You see that yourself, you must--really!" and our philosopher glowered -sweetly. - -"I shall never know," said the Reverend Bronson, with a half-laugh, -"when to have you seriously. I cannot but wish, however, that the town -had better luck about its City Hall." - -"Really, I don't know, don't y' know!" This deep observation Morton -flourished off in a profound muse. "As I've said, the town will get -what's coming to it, because it will always get what it wants. It always -has--really! And speaking of 'reform' as we employ the term in politics: -The town, in honesty, never desires it; and that's why somebody must -forever attend on 'reform' to keep it from falling on its blundering -nose and knees by holding it up by the tail. There are people who'll -take anything you give them, even though it be a coat of tar and -feathers, and thank you for it, too,--the grateful beggars! New York -resembles these. Some chap comes along, and offers New York 'reform.' -Being without 'reform' at the time, and made suddenly and sorrowfully -mindful of its condition, it accepts the gift just as a drunkard takes a -pledge. Like the drunkard, however, New York is apt to return to its old -ways--it is, really!" - -"One thing," said the Reverend Bronson as he arose to go, and laying -his hand on my shoulder, "since the Boss of Tammany, in a day of the -machine, is the whole government and the source of it, I mean to come -here often and work upon our friend in favor of a clean town." - -"And you will be welcome, Doctor, let me say!" I returned. - -"Now I think," said Morton meditatively, when the Reverend Bronson had -departed, "precisely as I told our excellent friend. A rule should ever -fit a people; and it ever does. A king is as naturally the blossom of -the peasantry he grows on as is a sunflower natural to that coarse -stem that supports its royal nod-dings, don't y' know. A tyranny, a -despotism, a monarchy, or a republic is ever that flower of government -natural to the public upon which it grows. Really!--Why not? Wherein -lurks the injustice or the inconsistency of such a theory? What good -is there to lie hidden in a misfit? Should Providence waste a man's -government on a community of dogs? A dog public should have dog -government:--a kick and a kennel, a chain to clank and a bone to gnaw!" - -With this last fragment of wisdom, the cynical Morton went also his way, -leaving me alone to chop up the town--as a hunter chops up the carcass -of a deer among his hounds--into steak and collop to feed my hungry -followers. - -However much politics might engage me, I still possessed those hundred -eyes of Argus wherewith to watch my girl. When again about me she had no -word for what was past. And on my side, never once did I put to her the -name of young Van Flange. He was as much unmentioned by us as though he -had not been. I think that this was the wiser course. What might either -Blossom or I have said to mend our shattered hopes? - -Still, I went not without some favor of events. There came a support to -my courage; the more welcome, since the latter was often at its ebb. It -was a strangest thing at that! While Blossom moved with leaden step, and -would have impressed herself upon one as weak and wanting sparkle, she -none the less began to gather the color of health. Her cheeks, before -of the pallor of snow, wore a flush like the promise of life. Her face -gained rounder fullness, while her eyes opened upon one with a kind of -wide brilliancy, that gave a look of gayety. It was like a blessing! Nor -could I forbear, as I witnessed it, the dream of a better strength for -my girl than it had been her luck to know; and that thought would set me -to my task of money-getting with ever a quicker ardor. - -Still, as I've said, there was the side to baffle. For all those roses -and eyes like stars, Blossom's breath was broken and short, and a little -trip upstairs or down exhausted her to the verge of pain. To mend her -breathing after one of these small household expeditions, she must find -a chair, or even lie on a couch. All this in its turn would have set my -fears to a runaway if it had not been for that fine glow in her cheeks -to each time restore me to my faith. - -When I put the question born of my uneasiness, Blossom declared herself -quite well, nor would she give me any sicklier word. In the end my fears -would go back to their slumbers, and I again bend myself wholly to that -task of gold. - -Good or bad, to do this was when all was said the part of complete -wisdom. There could be nothing now save my plan of millions and a final -pilgrimage in quest of peace. That was our single chance; and at it, in -a kind of savage silence, night and day I stormed as though warring with -walls and battlements. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII--GOLD CAME, AND DEATH STEPPED IN - - -NOW, when I went about refurnishing my steel box with new millions, I -turned cautious as a fox. I considered concealment, and would hide my -trail and walk in all the running water that I might. For one matter, -I was sick and sore with the attacks made upon me by the papers, which -grew in malignant violence as the days wore on, and as though it were -a point of rivalry between them which should have the black honor of -hating me the most. I preferred to court those type-cudgelings as little -as stood possible, and still bring me to my ends. - -The better to cover myself, and because the mere work of it would be too -weary a charge for one head and that head ignorant of figures, I called -into my service a cunning trio who were, one and all, born children -of the machine. These three owned thorough training as husbandmen of -politics, and were ones to mow even the fence corners. That profit of -the game which escaped them must indeed be sly, and lie deep and close -besides. Also, they were of the invaluable brood that has no tongue, and -any one of the triangle would have been broken upon the wheel without a -syllable of confession disgracing his lips. - -These inveterate ones, who would be now as my hand in gathering together -that wealth which I anticipated, were known in circles wherein they -moved and had their dingy being, as Sing Sing Jacob, Puffy the Merchant, -and Paddy the Priest. Paddy the Priest wore a look of sanctity, and it -was this impression of holiness to confer upon him his title. It might -have been more consistent with those virtues of rapine dominant of -his nature, had he been hailed Paddy the Pirate, instead. Of Sing Sing -Jacob, I should say, that he had not served in prison. His name was -given him because, while he was never granted the privilege of stripes -and irons, he often earned the same. In what manner or at what font -Puffy the Merchant received baptism, I never learned. That he came -fit for my purpose would find sufficient indication in a complaining -compliment which Paddy the Priest once paid him, and who said in -description of Puffy's devious genius, that if one were to drive a nail -through his head it would come forth a corkscrew. - -These men were to be my personal lieutenants, and collect my gold for -me. And since they would pillage me with as scanty a scruple as though -I were the foe himself, I must hit upon a device for invoking them to -honesty in ny affairs. It was then I remembered the parting words of -Big Kennedy. I would set one against the others; hating each other, -they would watch; and each would be sharp with warning in my ear should -either of his fellows seek to fill a purse at my expense. - -To sow discord among my three offered no difficulties; I had but to say -to one what the others told of him, and his ire was on permanent end. It -was thus I separated them; and since I gave each his special domain -of effort, while they worked near enough to one another to maintain a -watch, they were not so thrown together as to bring down among them open -war. - -It will be required that I set forth in half-detail those various -municipal fields and meadows that I laid out in my time, and from which -the machine was to garner its harvest. You will note then, you who are -innocent of politics in its practical expressions and rewards, how -the town stood to me as does his plowlands to a farmer, and offered -as various a list of crops to careful tillage. Take for example the -knee-deep clover of the tax department. Each year there was made a whole -valuation of personal property of say roundly nine billions of dollars. -This estimate, within a dozen weeks of its making, would be reduced -to fewer than one billion, on the word of individuals who made the -law-required oaths. No, it need not have been so reduced; but the -reduction ever occurred since the machine instructed its tax officers to -act on the oath so furnished, and that without question. - -That personage in tax peril was never put to fret in obtaining one to -make the oath. If he himself lacked hardihood and hesitated at perjury, -why then, the town abounded in folk of a daring easy veracity. Of all -that was said and written, of that time, in any New York day, full -ninety-five per cent, was falsehood or mistake. Among the members of -a community, so affluent of error and mendacity, one would not long go -seeking a witness who was ready, for shining reasons, to take whatever -oath might be demanded. And thus it befell that the affidavits were -ever made, and a reduction of eight billions and more, in the assessed -valuation of personal property, came annually to be awarded. With a -tax levy of, say, two per cent. I leave you to fix the total of those -millions saved to ones assessed, and also to consider how far their -gratitude might be expected to inure to the yellow welfare of the -machine--the machine that makes no gift of either its forbearance or its -help! - -Speaking in particular of the town, and what opportunities of riches -swung open to the machine, one should know at the start how the whole -annual expense of the community was roughly one hundred and twenty-five -millions. Of these millions twenty went for salaries to officials; forty -were devoted to the purchase of supplies asked for by the public needs; -while the balance, sixty-five millions, represented contracts for paving -and building and similar construction whatnot, which the town was bound -to execute in its affairs. - -Against those twenty millions of salaries, the machine levied an annual -private five per cent. Two-thirds of the million to arise therefrom, -found their direct way to district leaders; the other one-third was -paid into the general coffer. Also there were county officers, such -as judges, clerks of court, a sheriff and his deputies: and these, -likewise, were compelled from their incomes to a yearly generosity of -not fewer than five per cent. - -Of those forty millions which were the measure for supplies, one-fifth -under the guise of "commissions" went to the machine; while of the -sixty-five millions, which represented the yearly contracts in payments -made thereon, the machine came better off with, at the leanest of -estimates, full forty per cent, of the whole. - -Now I have set forth to you those direct returns which arose from the -sure and fixed expenses of the town. Beyond that, and pushing for -the furthest ounce of tallow, I inaugurated a novelty. I organized a -guaranty company which made what bonds the law demanded from officials; -and from men with contracts, and those others who furnished the town's -supplies. The annual charge of the company for this act of warranty -was two per cent, on the sum guaranteed; and since the aggregate -thus carried came to about one hundred millions, the intake from -such sources--being for the most part profit in the fingers of the -machine--was annually a fair two millions. There were other rills to -flow a revenue, and which were related to those money well-springs -registered above, but they count too many and too small for mention -here, albeit the round returns from them might make a poor man stare. - -Of those other bottom-lands of profit which bent a nodding harvest -to the sickle of the machine, let me make a rough enumeration. The -returns--a bit sordid, these!--from poolrooms, faro banks and disorderly -resorts and whereon the monthly charge imposed for each ran all the way -from fifty to two thousand dollars, clinked into the yearly till, four -millions. The grog shops, whereof at that time there was a staggering -host of such in New York City of-the-many-sins! met each a draft of -twenty monthly dollars. Then one should count "campaign contributions." -Of great companies who sued for favor there were, at a lowest census, -five who sent as tribute from twenty to fifty thousand dollars each. -Also there existed of smaller concerns and private persons, full one -thousand who yielded over all a no less sum than one million. Next came -the police, with appointment charges which began with a patrolman at -four hundred dollars, and soared to twenty thousand when the matter was -the making of a captain. - -Here I shall close my recapitulation of former treasure for the machine; -I am driven to warn you, however, that the half has not been told. -Still, if you will but let your imagination have its head, remembering -how the machine gives nothing away, and fails not to exert its pressures -with every chance afforded it, you may supply what other chapters belong -with the great history of graft. - -When one considers a Tammany profit, one will perforce be driven to the -question: What be the expenses of the machine? The common cost of an -election should pause in the neighborhood of three hundred thousand -dollars. Should peril crowd, and an imported vote be called for by the -dangers of the day, the cost might carry vastly higher. No campaign, -however, in the very nature of the enterprise and its possibilities of -expense, can consume a greater fund than eight hundred thousand. That -sum, subtracted from the income of the machine as taken from those -sundry sources I've related, will show what in my time remained for -distribution among my followers. - -And now that brings one abreast the subject of riches to the Boss -himself. One of the world's humorists puts into the mouth of a character -the query: What does a king get? The answer would be no whit less -difficult had he asked: What does a Boss get? One may take it, however, -that the latter gets the lion's share. Long ago I said that the wealth -of Ophir hung on the hazard of the town's election. You have now some -slant as to how far my words should be regarded as hyperbole. Nor must I -omit how the machine's delegation in a legislature, or the little flock -it sends to nibble on the slopes of Congress, is each in the hand of -the Boss to do with as he will, and it may go without a record that the -opportunities so provided are neither neglected nor underpriced. - -There you have the money story of Tammany in the bowels of the town. -Those easy-chair economists who, over their morning coffee and waffles, -engage themselves for purity, will at this point give honest rage the -rein. Had I no sense of public duty? Was the last spark of any honesty -burned out within my bosom? Was nothing left but dead embers to be a -conscience to me? The Reverend Bronson--and I had a deep respect for -that gentleman--put those questions in his time. - -"Bear in mind," said he when, after that last election, I again had -the town in my grasp, "bear in mind the welfare and the wishes of the -public, and use your power consistently therewith." - -"Now, why?" said I. "The public of which you tell me lies in two pieces, -the minority and the majority. It is to the latter's welfare--the good -of the machine--I shall address myself. Be sure, my acts will gain the -plaudits of my own people, while I have only to go the road you speak of -to be made the target of their anger. As to the minority--those who -have vilified me, and who still would crush me if they but had the -strength--why, then, as Morton says, I owe them no more than William -owed the Saxons when after Hastings he had them under his feet." - -When the new administration was in easy swing, and I had time to look -about me, I bethought me of Blackberry and those three millions taken -from the weakness and the wickedness of young Van Flange. I would have -those millions back or know the secret of it. - -With a nod here and a hand-toss there--for the shrug of my shoulders or -the lift of my brows had grown to have a definition among my people--I -brewed tempests for Blackberry. The park department discovered it in a -trespass; the health board gave it notice of the nonsanitary condition -of its cars; the street commissioner badgered it with processes because -of violations of laws and ordinances; the coroner, who commonly wore -a gag, gave daily news of what folk were killed or maimed through the -wantonness of Blackberry; while my corporation counsel bestirred himself -as to whether or no, for this neglect or that invasion of public right, -the Blackberry charter might not be revoked. - -In the face of these, the president of Blackberry--he of the Hebrew cast -and clutch--stood sullenly to his guns. He would not yield; he would not -pay the price of peace; he would not return those millions, although he -knew well the argument which was the ground-work of his griefs. - -The storm I unchained beat sorely, but he made no white-flag signs. I -admired his fortitude, while I multiplied my war. - -It was Morton who pointed to that final feather which broke the camel's -back. - -"Really, old chap," observed Morton, that immortal eyeglass on nose and -languid hands outspread, "really, you haven't played your trumps, don't -y' know." - -"What then?" cried I, for my heart was growing hot. - -"You recall my saying to our friend Bronson that, when I had a chap -against me whom I couldn't buy, I felt about to discover his fad or his -fear--I was speaking about changing a beggar's name, and all that, don't -y' know?" - -"Yes," said I, "it all comes back." - -"Exactly," continued Morton. "Now the fear that keeps a street-railway -company awake nights is its fear of a strike. There, my dear boy, you -have your weapon. Convey the information to those Blackberry employees, -that you think they get too little money and work too long a day. Let -them understand how, should they strike, your police will not repress -them in any crimes they see fit to commit. Really, I think I've hit -upon a splendid idea! Those hirelings will go upon the warpath, don't y' -know! And a strike is such a beastly thing!--such a deuced bore! It is, -really!" - -Within the fortnight every Blackberry wheel was stopped, and every -employee rioting in the streets. Cars were sacked; what men offered for -work were harried, and made to fly for very skins and bones. Meanwhile, -the police stood afar off with virgin-batons, innocent of interference. - -Four days of this, and those four millions were paid into my hand; the -Blackberry president had yielded, and my triumph was complete. With -that, my constabulary remembered law and order, and, descending upon the -turbulent, calmed them with their clubs. The strike ended; again were -the gongs of an unharassed Blackberry heard in the land. - -And now I draw near the sorrowful, desperate end--the end at once of my -labors and my latest hope. I had held the town since the last battle -for well-nigh three and one-half years. Throughout this space affairs -political preserved themselves as rippleless as a looking-glass, and -nothing to ruffle with an adverse wind. Those henchmen--my boys of the -belt, as it were--Sing Sing Jacob, Puffy the Merchant, and Paddy the -Priest, went working like good retrievers at their task of bringing -daily money to my feet. - -Nor was I compelled to appear as one interested in the profits of the -town's farming, and this of itself was comfort, since it served to keep -me aloof from any mire of those methods that were employed. - -It is wonderful how a vile source for a dollar will in no wise daunt a -man, so that he be not made to pick it from the direct mud himself. If -but one hand intervene between his own and that gutter which gave it up, -both his conscience and his sensibilities are satisfied to receive it. -Of all sophists, self-interest is the sophist surest of disciples; it -will carry conviction triumphant against what fact or what deduction may -come to stand in the way, and, with the last of it, "The smell of all -money is sweet." - -But while it was isles of spice and summer seas with my politics, -matters at home went ever darker with increasing threat. Blossom -became weaker and still more weak, and wholly from a difficulty in her -breathing. If she were to have had but her breath, her health would have -been fair enough; and that I say by word of the physician who was there -to attend her, and who was a gray deacon of his guild. - -"It is her breathing," said he; "otherwise her health is good for any -call she might make upon it." - -It was the more strange to one looking on; for all this time while -Blossom was made to creep from one room to another, and, for the most -part, to lie panting upon a couch, her cheeks were round and red as -peaches, and her eyes grew in size and brightness like stars when the -night is dark. - -"Would you have her sent away?" I asked of the physician. "Say but the -place; I will take her there myself." - -"She is as well here," said he. Then, as his brows knotted with the -problem of it: "This is an unusual case; so unusual, indeed, that during -forty years of practice I have never known its fellow. However, it is no -question of climate, and she will be as well where she is. The better; -since she has no breath with which to stand a journey." - -While I said nothing to this, I made up my mind to have done with -politics and take Blossom away. It would, at the worst, mean escape from -scenes where we had met with so much misery. That my present rule of the -town owned still six months of life before another battle, did not move -me. I would give up my leadership and retire at once. It would lose me -half a year of gold-heaping, but what should that concern? What mattered -a handful of riches, more or less, as against the shoreless relief of -seclusion, and Blossom in new scenes of quiet peace? The very newness -would take up her thoughts; and with nothing about to recall what had -been, or to whisper the name of that villain who hurt her heart to the -death, she might have even the good fortune to forget. My decision was -made, and I went quietly forward to bring my politics to a close. - -It became no question of weeks nor even days; I convened my district -leaders, and with the few words demanded of the time, returned them -my chiefship and stepped down and out. Politics and I had parted; the -machine and I were done. - -At that, I cannot think I saw regret over my going in any of the faces -which stared up at me. There was a formal sorrow of words; but the great -expression to to seize upon each was that of selfish eagerness. I, with -my lion's share of whatever prey was taken, would be no more; it was the -thought of each that with such the free condition he would be like to -find some special fatness not before his own. - -Well! what else should I have looked for?--I, who had done only justice -by them, why should I be loved? Let them exult; they have subserved -my purpose and fulfilled my turn. I was retiring with the wealth of -kings:--I, who am an ignorant man, and the son of an Irish smith! If my -money had been put into gold it would have asked the strength of eighty -teams, with a full ton of gold to a team, to have hauled it out of -town--a solid procession of riches an easy half-mile in length! No -Alexander, no Caesar, no Napoleon in his swelling day of conquest, -could have made the boast! I was master of every saffron inch of forty -millions! - -That evening I sat by Blossom's couch and told her of my plans. I made -but the poor picture of it, for I have meager power of words, and am -fettered with an imagination of no wings. Still, she smiled up at me as -though with pleasure--for her want of breath was so urgent she could -not speak aloud, but only whisper a syllable now and then--and, after a -while, I kissed her, and left her with the physician and nurse for the -night. - -It was during the first hours of the morning when I awoke in a sweat -of horror, as if something of masterful menace were in the room. With a -chill in my blood like the touch of ice, I thought of Blossom; and with -that I began to huddle on my clothes to go to her. - -The physician met me at Blossom's door. He held me back with a gentle -hand on my breast. - -"Don't go in!" he said. - -That hand, light as a woman's, withstood me like a wall. I drew back -and sought a chair in the library--a chair of Blossom's, it was--and sat -glooming into the darkness in a wonder of fear. - -What wits I possess have broad feet, and are not easily to be staggered. -That night, however, they swayed and rocked like drunken men, under the -pressure of some evil apprehension of I knew not what. I suppose now I -feared death for Blossom, and that my thoughts lacked courage to look -the surmise in the face. - -An hour went by, and I still in the darkened room. I wanted no lights. -It was as though I were a fugitive, and sought in the simple darkness -a refuge and a place wherein to hide myself. Death was in the house, -robbing me of all I loved; I knew that, and yet I felt no stab of agony, -but instead a fashion of dumb numbness like a paralysis. - -In a vague way, this lack of sharp sensation worked upon my amazement. -I remember that, in explanation of it, I recalled one of Morton's tales -about a traveler whom a lion seized as he sat at his campfire; and how, -while the lion crunched him in his jaws and dragged him to a distance, -he still had no feel of pain, but--as I had then--only a numbness and -fog of nerves. - -While this went running in my head, I heard the rattle of someone at the -street door, and was aware, I don't know how, that another physician had -come. A moment later my ear overtook whisperings in the hall just beyond -my own door. - -Moved of an instinct that might have prompted some threatened animal -to spy out what danger overhung him, I went, cat-foot, to the door and -listened. It was the two physicians in talk. - -"The girl is dead," I heard one say. - -"What malady?" asked the other. - -"And there's the marvel of it!" cries the first. "No malady at all, as -I'm a doctor! She died of suffocation. The case is without a parallel. -Indubitably, it was that birthmark--that mark as of a rope upon her -neck. Like the grip of destiny itself, the mark has been growing and -tightening about her throat since ever she lay in her cradle, until now -she dies of it. A most remarkable case! It is precisely as though she -were hanged--the congested eye, the discolored face, the swollen tongue, -aye! and about her throat, the very mark of the rope!" - -Blossom dead! my girl dead! Apple Cheek, Anne, Blossom, all gone, and -I to be left alone! Alone! The word echoed in the hollows of my empty -heart as in a cavern! There came a blur, and then a fearful whirling; -that gorilla strength was as the strength of children; my slow knees -began to cripple down! That was the last I can recall; I fell as if -struck by a giant's mallet, and all was black. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII--BEING THE EPILOGUE - - -WHAT should there be more? My house stands upon a hill; waving, sighing -trees are ranked about it, while to the eastward I have the shimmering -stretches of the river beneath my feet. From a wooden seat between two -beeches, I may see the fog-loom born of the dust and smoke of the city -far away. At night, when clouds lie thick and low, the red reflection of -the city's million lamps breaks on the sky as though a fire raged. - -It is upon my seat between the beeches that I spend my days. Men would -call my life a stagnant one; I care not, since I find it peace. I have -neither hopes nor fears nor pains nor joys; there come no exaltations, -no depressions; within me is a serenity--a kind of silence like the -heart of nature. - -At that I have no dimness; I roll and rock for hours on the dead swells -of old days, while old faces and old scenes toss to and fro like seaweed -with the tides of my memory. I am prey to no regrets, to no ambitions; -my times own neither currents nor winds; I have outlived importance -and the liking for it; and all those little noises that keep the world -awake, I never hear. - -My Sicilian, with his earrings and his crimson headwear of silk, is with -me; for he could not have lived had I left him in town, being no more -able to help himself than a ship ashore. Here he is busy and happy over -nothing. He has whittled for himself a trio of little boats, and he -sails them on the pond at the lawn's foot. One of these he has named the -Democrat, while the others are the Republican and the Mugwump. He sails -them against each other; and I think that by some marine sleight he -gives the Democrat the best of it, since it ever wins, which is not true -of politics. My Sicilian has just limped up the hill with a story of -how, in the last race, the Republican and the Mugwump ran into one -another and capsized, while the Democrat finished bravely. - -Save for my Sicilian, and a flock of sable ravens that by their tameness -and a confident self-sufficiency have made themselves part of the -household, I pass the day between my beeches undisturbed. The ravens are -grown so proud with safety that, when I am walking, they often hold -the path against me, picking about for the grains my Sicilian scatters, -keeping upon me the while a truculent eye that is half cautious, -half defiant. In the spring I watch these ravens throughout their -nest-building, they living for the most part in the trees about my -house. I've known them to be baffled during a whole two days, when winds -were blowing and the swaying of the branches prevented their labors. - -Now and then I have a visit from Morton and the Reverend Bronson. The -pair are as they were, only more age-worn and of a grayer lock. They -were with me the other day; Morton as faultless of garb as ever, and -with eyeglass as much employed, the Reverend Bronson as anxious as in -the old time for the betterment of humanity. The spirit of unselfishness -never flags in that good man's breast, although Morton is in constant -bicker with him concerning the futility of his work. - -"The fault isn't in you, old chap," said Morton, when last they were -with me; "it isn't, really. But humanity in the mass is such a beastly -dullard, don't y' know, that to do anything in its favor is casting -pearls before swine." - -"Why, then," responded the Reverend Bronson with a smile, "if I were -you, I should help mankind for the good it gave me, without once -thinking on the object of my generosity." - -"But," returned Morton, "I take no personal joy from helping people. -Gad! it wearies me. Man is such a perverse beggar; he's ever wrong end -to in his affairs. The entire race is like a horse turned round in its -stall, and with its tail in the fodder stands shouting for hay. If men, -in what you call their troubles, would but face the other way about, -nine times in ten they'd be all right. They wouldn't need help--really!" - -"And if what you say be true," observed the Reverend Bronson, who was as -fond of argument as was Morton, "then you have outlined your duty. You -say folk are turned wrong in their affairs. Then you should help them to -turn right." - -"Really now," said Morton, imitating concern, "I wouldn't for the world -have such sentiments escape to the ears of my club, don't y' know, for -it's beastly bad form to even entertain them, but I lay the trouble you -seek to relieve, old chap, to that humbug we call civilization; I do, -'pon my word!" - -"Do you cry out against civilization?" - -"Gad! why not? I say it is an artifice, a mere deceit. Take ourselves: -what has it done for any of us? Here is our friend"--Morton dropped his -hand upon my shoulder--"who, taking advantage of what was offered of our -civilization, came to be so far victorious as to have the town for -his kickball. He was a dictator; his word was law among three -millions--really! To-day he has riches, and could pave his grounds -with gold. He was these things, and had these things, from the hand -of civilization; and now, at the end, he sits in the center of sadness -waiting for death. Consider my own case: I, too, at the close of my -juice-drained days, am waiting for death; only, unlike our friend, I -play the cynic and while I wait I laugh." - -"I was never much to laugh," I interjected. - -"The more strange, too, don't y' know," continued Morton, "since you are -aware of life and the mockery of it, as much as I. I may take it that -I came crying into this world, for such I understand to be the beastly -practice of the human young. Had I understood the empty jest of it, I -should have laughed; I should, really!" - -"Now with what do you charge civilization?" asked the Reverend Bronson. - -"It has made me rich, and I complain of that. The load of my millions -begins to bend my back. A decent, wholesome savagery would have -presented no such burdens." - -"And do you uplift savagery?" - -"I don't wonder you're shocked, old chap, for from our civilized -standpoint savagery is such deuced bad form. But you should consider; -you should, really! Gad! you know that civilized city where we dwell; -you know its civilized millions, fretting like maggots, as many as four -thousand in a block; you know the good and the evil ground of those -civilized mills! Wherein lieth a triumph over the red savage who abode -upon the spot three centuries ago? Who has liberty as had that savage? -He owned laws and respected them; he had his tribe, and was a patriot -fit to talk with William Tell. He fought his foe like a Richard of -England, and loved his friend like a Jonathan. He paid neither homage to -power nor taxes to men, and his privileges were as wide as the world's -rim. His franchises of fagot, vert, and venison had never a limit; he -might kill a deer a day and burn a cord of wood to its cookery. As for -his religion: the test of religion is death; and your savage met death -with a fortitude, and what is fortitude but faith, which it would bother -Christians to parallel. It may be said that he lived a happier life, saw -more of freedom, and was more his own man, than any you are to meet in -Broadway." - -Morton, beneath his fluff of cynicism, was a deal in earnest. The -Reverend Bronson took advantage of it to say: - -"Here, as you tell us, are we three, and all at the end of the journey. -Here is that one who strove for power: here is that one who strove for -wealth; here is that one who strove to help his fellow man. I give you -the question: Brushing civilization and savagery aside as just no more -than terms to mark some shadowy difference, I ask you: Who of the three -lives most content?--for it is he who was right." - -"By the way!" said Morton, turning to me, as they were about to depart, -and producing a scrap of newspaper, "this is what a scientist writes -concerning you. The beggar must have paid you a call, don't y' know. -At first, I thought it a beastly rude thing to put in print; but, gad! -the more I dwell upon it, the more honorable it becomes. This is what he -says of you: - -"'There was a look in his eye such as might burn in the eye of an old -wolf that has crept away in solitude to die. As I gazed, there swept -down upon me an astounding conviction. I felt that I was in the presence -of the oldest thing in the world--a thing more ancient than the Sphinx -or aged pyramids. This once Boss, silent and passive and white and -old, and waiting for the digging of his grave, is what breeders call a -"throw-back"--a throw-back, not of the generations, but of the ages. In -what should arm him for a war of life against life, he is a creature of -utter cunning, utter courage, utter strength. He is a troglodyte; he -is that original one who lived with the cave bear, the mastodon, the -sabertoothed tiger, and the Irish elk.'" - -They went away, the Reverend Bronson and Morton, leaving me alone on my -bench between the beeches, while the black ravens picked and strutted -about my feet, and my Sicilian on the lake at the lawn's foot matching -his little ships for another race. - -THE END - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boss, and How He Came to Rule New -York, by Alfred Henry Lewis - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOSS *** - -***** This file should be named 51912.txt or 51912.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/9/1/51912/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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