Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-06-21
WIDOW M'GUlNNESS' PIG.
\ Ciyil-Seryice Reform Beast Which Neys
Found an Owner.

Found an Owner.
The subcommittee of the United
States Investigating Committee, which
is investigating the methods of ere
form " in the great New York custom
house, has unveiled an incident which
would have delighted the soul of Arte-
mus Ward-the incident of 1.-The rattle
of Widow McGuinness' pig" 1t is
something absolutely unique in the an
mails of politics, and it is brilliant il
lustration of the fertility of the Demo-
cratic reformer's" ingenuity as APP
piled to the civil service.
It befell in 1885 that there was an
election pending in New York in which
that noted reformer Hill was the DEM
ocratic candidate for Governor. The
sworn testimony before the sub-com-
mittee develops the fact that the
enormous enginery of the custom-hOuse
was vigorously worked by the new
Democratic Administration to aid the
State Democratic canvass. A notorious
politician was put at the head of the
custom-house machine. in spite of the
protests of George William Curtis and
the mugwumps. Although the places
in the custOm-hOuse were protected by
the letter of the Civil-Service reform
law and the explicit pledges of Presi-
dent Cleveland, wholesale removals
were ordered to make places for Dem
Ocratic ward strikers and fine workers.
The testimony shows that drunken
loafers and illiterate scalawags were
surreptitiously furnished with lists of
the questions asked in the Civil-Service
examination. by which means they
were able to employ persons to write
out the answers, and so the law was
set at defiance.
In the midst of all this, and in the
very heat of Governor Hills re-
form campaign, 1.-The rattle of Widow
McGuinness' pig" occurred. And yet,
Widow McCiuinness never had
pig" there never was Widow
NcGuinness and no rattle actually
occurred. This rattle of Widow Nc
Guinness pig was purely a Pigment
of the Democratic reformer's brain.
an airy, delicate and original, and
withal a most defective, creation of
the imagination. devised and carried
out for the express purpose of circum-
venting the law which forbids political
assessments. In short. in order to eX-
tort from the custOm-house employees
Doodle for Governor Hills reform cam
paign. the bosses went around and
demanded contributions or
sold tickets to the ETHEREAL fiction
known as the rattle of Widow Nc
Guinness pig. The whole thing was
perfectly well understood by the vic
tins. A number of them swear that
they invested twenty dollars in the
- rattle. They were not mOlested in
their places. Some testify to the sub
that they then refused to
buy tickets" They were promptly |
mismissed. Sons contributed smaller |
than were demanded. Many |
of them also We're dismissed.
In many respects the ''rafile was
success. Doodle to the amount of s., 900 |
was thus extorted and turned over to |
aid Governor Hill. But the pig y
Oh! Where was he? In spite of the
most searching cross-examinatiOn of |
witnesses who invested in tickets the |
of the pig" or even
any thing relating to his existence. is
still an impenetrable mystery. No
body can be found who ever saw it.
d. who ever heard where i. was kept,
Dr.. least of all, who ever held the lucky
ticket for it.
But for all that the "raffle of Widow
Guinness pip" will go into history as
he very point of the shiny pinnacle of
Democratic Civil-Service reform
| point 50 sharp, so obvious and so
that even George William
Curtis is said to be beginning to see it.
-jSiour city ia. Journal.