St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-05
THE "BOSS" GAMBLER.
Mike Mcdonald, the Head Center of
Political IniQuity in the
Garden City.
King of the Gamblers and the Power
Behind the Throne in City
Politics.
Carter Harrison's Prospects in the Coming
MayOralty Contest-OppOsed by the
Better Class..Of Citizens.
Career of Armour, the Great Manipulation Of
Professionalism He Rose to His
Present Height.
Correspondence of the Globe.

Correspondence of the Globe.
CHICAGO, April 2.-The principal matter Of
local interest at present is the spring cleo
| ton, which takes place next Tuesday, and
| Carter II. Harrison. our present mayor, will
endeavor for the fourth time to poll more
votes than the Republican candidate. The
fight is hot one, and as the issue at stake is
one Of Importance full vote will be polled
and party lines not closely adhered to. The
citizens known as the ''better element have
viewed with alarm the rapid increase in
crime and the number of gambling houses
which are allowed to run openly in the city :,
and they propose that the reform commenced
by the bringing to justice of the ballot-box
suffers of the last election. shall
be followed by a complete wedding
out of this class of criminals. 1t is charged
that Harrison is controlled by the gambling
element, and that the "boss gambler Mike
Mcdonald, fixed the ropes in the convention
that nominated him. The newspapers are
about evenly divided on this question, the
Times and Herald supporting the Democratic
candidate, while the news and Tribune are
boosting the Republican standard-bearer.
Harrison is on his mettle and declares that
the abuse heaped on by the opposing journals
will elect him. The Tribune intimates that
CARTER IS PICTURESQUE LIAR,
while plain, unvarnished lie is the only
thing Joe Medill really likes viewed from the
mayors standpoint The contest will
likely be close and exciting. A s'com-
mittee of public safety'' with several
thousands of Uncle Sans bright dollars in
the treasury, are armed with long lists of
fraudulent names that have been entered IN
the poll-lsts, while the police force will see to
it so far as lies in their power that no one
but Harrison man votes. There are thou
sands of Republicans that would vote for
Harrison if he would pledge himself to shut
up the game shops, as he has undoubtedly
made good mayor and his personal record
is beyond reproach. But the public is i'm
bued with the idea that Mike Mcdonald has
too much to say in the administration of the
city's affairs, and Indications now point to a
Republican victory.
There isn't a more familiar name in all
Chicago Than that of Mike Mcdonald. For
years he has been Familiarity known as the
"boss gambler-ssboss" because has always
been supposed that he had
AN INTEREST IN THE CITY ADMINISTRATION
guaranteeing the election of the ticket that
provided protection to the gambling houses.
He is really credited with far more influence
than he possesses, although there can be no
doubt that he is a power behind the ballot
box, and evidences of his fine north ire
land hand are seen on all sides. If a crimi-
nal wants bail Mike Mcdonald is appealed
to, and but seldom in vain; if a sporting
man is in any sort of difficulty Mike McDon-
aid is on hand to help him out
of the tight place. When he
signed Joe Mackin's bail bond the other
day he schedules real estate in this city worth
half million dollars, to say nothing of the
real estate he owns in other parts and the
large amount of personal property heis
known to possess. He tells a story of his
earlier days in Chicago, when he was train
boy and struck the town 'dead broke" Ac-
cording to this tale he was an entire stranger
in Chicago to all but one persona teller in
bank. Mike called on his friend at the
bank, al
AsKINGtA PERSONAL LOAN.
The teller shortly before had taken in a
counterfeit note which had been charged
against his salary, and this he gave Mike in
stead of genuine money, which he could not
afford to lend, Mike took the money, and
having scraped an acquaintance with
'tough' in saloon, the twain
were soon engaged in a game of poker under
the Randolph street bridge. AS the story
goes Mike soon cleaned his friend out and
did the same for good many others and got
enough good money to stake him for larger
and higher-toned game. This was only
few years ago and to-day he is worth in the
neighborhood of a million. Fortunate in
vestments in real estate have been the chief
cause Of his rapid Advancement toward mil
lionaire's title, but the fact still remains that
the foundation of his future was laid under
bridge with counterfeit note to back full
hand.
THERE'S ANOTHER GAMBLER
in Chicago whose name is more widely known
than that of Mcdonald, but his gambling
is legitimlzed in public opinion,
and it is not necessary that
he should contribute his thousands to the
'machine" to insure his protection. / refer
to Philip D. Armour, the biggest of all pro-
duce operators on 'change, and the heaviest
packer in the country. There is little about
Mr.. Armour to suggest his career except his
head. Only man who has made his own
millions could have his strong face, deter
mined mouth and shrewd, sharp eyes, and
only man who had the experience he did in
the hills of New York and the gold fields of
the west could have the big shoulders and
solid frame. Armour farmed it in New
York as boy, but caught the gold fever and
nearly lost his life in getting across the con-
tinent. But he ''got there" in two senses,
for he made good pile of dust,
and got back with enough to make
a respectable showing as partner in the firm
of Planhnton, Armour & Co. of Milwaukee.
The firm did not
CUT A GREAT FIGURE
in the commercial world until 1865, when
Phil Armour went to New York, took the
bear side of provisions against a combina-
ton of all the packers in the country, won
the fight and made his house the foremost in
the world. Newspaper readers are as famil-
lar with the vast Armour pork operations of
1S77-'7S and 40 as they are with the more
recent wheat deal of 1882. In the one case
Mr. Armour fought the work on the bull side
of pork and on the other on the
bull side of wheat, and won. Opera
ors are never able to separate the
name of Armour from provision
speculation. If meats go up, even the
countrymen begin to look wise and couple
the name of Armour with the advance If
meats go down it is the same way. Nor is it
much wonder that it is so. I was told the
other day that the 1884 books of Armour &
CO., which have just been closed, showed
cash sales for that year of S42, 600, goo. This
was the value of the meats sold in large aud
small quantities to jobbers the world over
Thousands of packages figure in this vast total
of the value OF only few cents And these
figures, mind you, have nothing to do with
the
BOARD OF TRADE SALES
of the concern, which aggregate millions
upon millions. Only last week $500. 600
pounds of meats were sold to the English and