People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1895-09-05
The Select Brothers.
Daily Mail, Thursday. 10Th.

Woods was occupying Il box al the
Theatre CyAiQue, Kansas City, Mo-,
with one Of the females arrested in
this city several months since with
the Fanny Hill vaudeville gang-pre-
Sumably hunting evidence with which
TO close the JOINTS Of Sumner county
a drunken carouSal commenced in
Pember'S cafe in this city that is
without d parallel in the history of
the city for debauchery of youth and
prostitution If official position.
Shortly before eleven o'clock on that
evening a crowd of young men and
boys gathered around Mayor W. r.
Savage, who owns the building in
which Mr.. Pember does business.
Several of them were partially intOXi-
Gated. The spirit vi having thine"
took possession Of the crowd, and they
had it until two O'Clock Sunday morn
ing.
In order to secure the necessary
liquids, the hat was passed around and
several collections taken up, generally
by Ralph Nelson or Charlie Pember-
ton. Each time Savage contributed.
With these funds three inStallmentS
of whisky. consisting of three or four
pintS each. were bought and passed
around among the crowd. This was
preceded Oy mixture Of blackberry
brandy and whisky, taken from a jug,
and which YVES passed around three
times. Next came beer Or malt, but
by this time Fred Vols had become
50 badly intoxicated that he fell on, or
over, the table and all the beer bottles
were broken. Another collection,
said TO amount to $3.50, was then TAX
en- up aud turned over to Billy Lind
Sey with which to buy more beer.
Lindsey went out, but failed to return.
Time between drinks was passed in
singing songs and listening to speeches
from Mayor Savage. Will Marshall and
Park TrUwbridge furnished instru-
mental music, and there were baccha-
nallan songs galore. Goodbye Ny
Lover, Goodbye" Il Bought a ROOS-
ter for Fifty Cents" and others of
like nature did freQuentseryice. Har-
ry Myers and Mayor Savage cOntribu-
ted solos, tie mayors selection being,
Mamie, Come Kiss Your Honey Boy"
Savage made the aSsemblage a speech,
in which he eXtolled the young men Of
Wellington and told them how much
he liked them. As each new invoice
of intOXicantS arrived the mayor made
a few Introductory remarks. On one
OF these occasions the statement, IL
never did indulge in temperance to
any great extent, anyhow" brought
forth yOciferous applause. He also
tickled the crowd immensely every
time it came his turn to take a drink
Of whisky by inQuiring: Boys, is ii
Intoxicating" He was always aSSur.
ed that it was not, and replied: "Well
then, will indulge: but never drink
anything that is Intoxicating These
witticiSmS never failed to bring forth
shouts of applause. The blasphemou>
closing of this drunken reyelry was a
fitting one. Savage called attention
to the hour, and started to sing the
hymn: God be With You till We
Meet Again" In which all joined who
were able. The crowd then dispersed
Savage was so far gone by this time
that Charley PeInberton had to assist
him out of the room. Before disband
ins it was decided tn call themselves
'The Select Brothers," and that only
those could become members of the
gang that Mayor Savage might select.
We give the names of those partici.
pating in these orgies as given to us
by participants therein:
W. r. Savage-mayor, Fred Vols,
Harry Myers, AOs Martin. Ira Hiser
viii Marshall, Billy Lindsey, Ralph
Nelson, Charles Pemberton, Dick
Jones, Park TrOwbridge, Jesse Spahr,
Charles Hoover, Ed Gibbons, Ed Six,
Oscar Tucker, Walter Dick, John
Jackson, ]. T. Messick. W. n. Hunni.
cult, John Lee, Earl Crider, Charles
WATSON, Walter Forsyth, Harry Ellis
and Charles Havens.
Those familiar with this crowd will
notice that there are several minors
among them. All reports that come
to US agree that Abs Martin did not
drink anything, and the preponderance
OF the evidence is that Harry Myers
did not. On the other hand Oscar
Tucker was so far gone that he lay
prone on the floor.
These are the facts as they have
been given to US by participants in
the scene. We do not care to com,
ment upon them; We leave that to oul
readers, and especially to those who
have supported the Savage theory Of
city government. We do not know