Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1894-02-14

am only one of many. There are four
of us, all of us Micl1eys," he added,
cor rather all of us Macs, and 1 own
up, gentlemen, with pride and pleas
ure, to being one of them" In his
remarks on this occasion McKane al
luded to Messrs- McCarty, McGarren,
McKane and Mclaughlin, four men
who control the politics and the poll
ticians of their respective districts, as
all the voters and officials in their re-
spec tive districts will confess,
Like many another man, he risked
very little in improving his district
originally. He waited, like Gould and
Vanderbilt, till other men came along
and rendered his district valuable.
But no sooner had some enterprising
capitalist in 1874 run a railroad from
Brooklyn to Coney Island, and no
sooner had the public showed its liking
for the railroad, than McKane sprang
into the arena, and from that moment
on he has had his finger in every Coney
Island pie. McKane has interests and
property to-day along Gravesend Bay,
Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island Creek
Bowery on West Brighton, why, he els
the Bowery. Every concert hall, every
museum, every merry-go-round, every
rattle, every chance, every swing, every
''razzle-dazzle," every chance ball,
every pavilion, could be truthfully
labeled John Y. McKane. He has an
interest in the Iron Pier, in the Iron
steamboats,, in the Camera, in the OBJ
servatory, in the Elephant, in the Sea
Beach Palace, in the L road there, in
the electric light plant, in the car
in everything.
! But it is not merely, nor perhaps
even chiefly, from his pecuniary in
iterest in the place, as it is from his
own peculiar individuality, that Nc
Kane owes his power, which, like the
Gear of all the Russias is supreme.
McKane is really an extraordinary
man, one of the very few who are cut
out in molds of their own, not made, as
it were, by the thousands. AS per
sample Dickens would have reveled in
studying and writing up McKane, had
he known him. He is full of contrasts,
many sided, and each side strongly
marked. Though rich man he is
very independent in his manner and in
his dealing toward merely rich men,
men who have money, and nothing
else.
Last summer Standard oil magnate
called on him ..on business. He kept
the Standard oil magnate waiting,
whereupon the rich man reminded him
that he represented the Standard Oil
company. "Well, SIR" said McKane,
still more haughtily and pointedly, 81
represent John Y. McKane." On this
occasion it was his cue not to accede to
the proposition of the Standard oil
man. But shortly after he changed
his mind, and thought it to his in
terest to conclude deal He there
fore sent for the Standard oil magnate
and not only did not keep him waiting,
but was so quick and eager that the
Standard oil man was, perhaps for the
first time in his life, taken by storm.
There was barkeeper at Bauer's
hotel and pavilion two years ago who
presumed upon his pull" with Nc
Kane, and not only got drunk but in
suited women, boasting of his infiu-
ence with the boss. This conduct and
this boast did the barkeepers business
for him-McKane kicked him out of
Coney island.
On a summer Sunday no part OF
Paris or Continental Europe cares as
little for the fourth commandment as
West Brighton, not even Chicago. A
Methodist minister, Rev. Mr.. Buckley.
once visited the Bowery on a Sunday
in August and was terribly shocked a:
what he saw, as well he might be- He
promptly and pointedly reproved Bro.
McKane, but the latter absolutely de-
Tended 1.-The Bowery."
Not only defended it but claimed,
from Christ's own words, a sanction.
'How in the name of heaven can you
claim that, Bro. McKane?" asked the
dominic. ''The Sabbath was made
for man." promptly replied McKane.
I'.Not man for the Sabbath
1t is really held by McKane's init
mate friends that he does not see any
inconsistency in Sunday school super.
intendent running the Coney Island
Bowery on Sunday. Altogether, the
personality of John Y. McKane is OF
more than ordinary interest.
The story of his crime against the
purity of the ballot box in last years
election and more recently his trial
and conviction therefor furnishes,
probably. the closing chapter of his
rule as boss