The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-06-14
TAMMANY HALL BURNED
THE FAMOUS BUILDING PARTIAL
LY DESTROYED.

LY DESTROYED.
BY Fire. The Time-bonored Head
quarters of the Oldest Social and Po-
litical Organization In the Union:
Tammany Hall, of New York, the
time honored headquarters of the old
est social and political organization
in the Union-the famous wigwam
whose braves point proudly to histo.
ry that is older than the Constitution
itself-had its baptisrn of fire on We'd
nesday morning, the 9th inst. The
Star, speaking of Tammany, says:
Little else than. The walls of the hi.S.
toric building were saved. This, how
ever, will not prevent the wigwam
from taking its share in the general
glorifcation over the result of the Ma
tional Convention at st. Louis. The
fires of Tammany will be kept burn
ing as of yore, its banners flying, its
transparencies lighted and its 10000
followers, energetic and enthusiastic,
will work like heroes until the close of
the polls on Election day, to make
doubly sure the re election of Grover
Cleveland.
The old hall will be speedily rebuilt
for the Tammany treasury is rich.
That treasury has supplied the sinews
OF war for many presidential cam
paign, and loyal Tammany votes have
always been depended on to swell the
majority by which the Democracy,
| when in fighting trim, can sweep the
Empire state. Long before the real
work of election begins the wigwam,
rehabilitated and redecorated, its great
hall draped with the banners of all
the States, will resound with the music
of the campaign, and with the elo-
| quence of the Democratic leaders,
Tammany Hall has seen many
changes since 1889, the year of Wash
ington's Inauguration, when the IA
nous society was founded. AT that
time the Columbian Order was COM
posed of moderate men of both politi-
| cal parties, and it was not until the
Jefersonian era that it took an active
part in State and national politics.
Since then its history has been that OF
the country itself. The leading states
men of the nation have been PROUD to
receive its honors, and from the year
when William Mooney became its
first Grand Sachem, the list OF his
successors shows the names of such
men as w lillian Pitt Smith, Josiah
Ogden Hoffman, Dewitt Clinton,
John Trumbull, Martin Van Buren,,
Lieutenant Governor Broome, Samuel
J. Tilden, and hundreds of others
whose fame and craftsmanship are
household words 1t was the first OF
all patriotic organizations to celebrate
,Vashington's birthday "a fact which
he many times afterwards recalled
with pleasure. In 1794it entertained
President Washington and the prin-
cipal chiefs of the Carolina and Geor-
gia Indians. When the latter arrived
in New York, the members of the
Tammany Society, arrayed in INDIAN
costume, went out to meet them ac-
companied by a military escort. The
: Tammany braves entertained their
distinguished guests later at banquet,
at which were present nearly all the
notable statesmen of the day. Since
that eventful occasion, the chiefs, sa-
chems, sagamores and wlskins kies OF
the wigwam have never donned the
war waint, except metaphorically, but
they have shown their mettle IN a
hundred campaigns. While half a
. score or more rival organizations have
appeared, fourished for time and
vanished amid the mutations of poll
} tics, Tammany has survived. The
) old wigwam has borne the brunt OF
many campaign, and won many a
r victory for the party. True, it has
met with reverses, and has had to face
the dangers Of internal opposition and
detection but from these perils 1t has
emerged stronger and more popular
> than before. Like other political bod
!. les, it has sometimes blundered but
its blunders were rather the result OF
individual ambitions than of any de
parture from Democratic principles.
: which it has always kept steadily IN
: view. And to day, even with their
wigwam partly in ruins, the chiefs Of
| old Tammany can point to following
: | such as no other political organization
e ever controlled. The secret of Tam
: many's popularity with the voting
masses of New York is its simple
Democracy, which gives every Demo
: crat voice in its councils.