St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-16
"LOCO FOCO.-
An Interesting Tale of the .4Os Re-
lated by One Who Remembers.

When Ed Stevens, in burst of burning
eIoquenee, said he had been reared in the
lap OF luxury" it set in operation the en-
gines of thought OF a Minneapolitan who is
familiar with Eds early history. He made
a GLOBE reporter his conidant and the re-
porter caught the salient points for the ed
iication Of those interested in scientific re-
search embelIished by political remin-
iScences:
John Hucks Stevens was the paterual
ancestor of our Ed. He was one of the
leading English chemists OF his dav. Early
in the days of the sos he accidentally dis
covered a chemical preparation easily to be-
come lgnited. and which would communi-
cate fire to wood. Taking advantage of his
discovery, ne began the manufacture of
wooden matches. He came TO the United
States and settled il New 7 ork city in 1856,
and the records of the patent oiice show
that he took out halt dozen of the 1000
patents in matchmaking processes issued
by the government. These were fol-
lowed from time to time by other
patents all upon wooden matches
and matchmaking machinery, and
Stevens pere went into the manufacture of
matches on an extensive scale. and N the
Sti44etc>CI al 4litiC ItL
He was led to inI0rse paper for friends
years after. who failed. He met every La
bility, and in So doing became entangled in
serious financial difficulties. Meanwhile he
had invested largely IN wild lands in the
" eSt-in Ohi0-and IN meeting his ObJga-
tons he turned over all and singular HIS
properties and was rendered practically
pennueSS. realizing that he who has not
money and property enough to meet Obliga-
tons, dollar for dollar. is evidently doomed
to lose his credit. Had he settled according
TO the modern mode, for SO many cents on
the dollar, he would have tided over and
still had competency. Among the prop
critics he turned over We're silver plate and
elaborate furniture.
LOCO FoCO" DEMOCRACY.
The Stevens matches were known as
loco fOco." 1t was III the Hos when the
lamented Horace Graeley was struggling to
build up the Tribune. tuaE old Tammany
was divided into two distinct cliques. one
was controlled by Col. Alexander Ming OF
al. and the other clique by Capt. Isaiah
RynderS party. Each faction was strug-
cling desperately for supremacy. aud it was
arranged Oh one occasion that one faction
should present certain resolutions III Tam
many hall defining the policy oL the Faction,
and IN event the resolutions We're passed,
that faction 10 be declared dominant. lie
faction favorable - the resolutions We.e
wary people. In order to ascertain whether
it was safe to spring the resolutions il WAS
agreed that EACH member friendly should be
armed with loco foco" match. At
given signal the gas was turned ont and
each OF the faction quickly lighted match.
The leader was satisfied but his clique was
III the majority and the gas was lighted aud
the resolutions adopted, and that wing Of
the party became dominant by common con-
sent. The facts came to the knowledge OF
the sagacious Horace Greeley vino dubbed
Tammany Loco F0co Democracy" The
loco foco' matches were used in the local
campaign with effect. and i'll the next state
convention for the first time i'll Years the
'LOc0Foco Democracy oyercame the coun-
try Democracy in the state and the name
was accepted and the party was SO known
for many years.