The record-union., 1896-07-05
ARTHUR McEWEN TALKS
ABOUT
WICKED SAN FRANCISCO.
Troubles of Democratic Politicians
Mrs. Nettie Craven and the Wills.

litical movement to rescue the city gov
eminent from the sinful hands of the
republican and Democratic parties.
/ see that j. Gilbert Dexter is one of
Ibis Regenerating Committee, and j.
Gilbert Dexter is expressive of what
The Civic Federation has degenerated
into-a ridiculous thing which prevents
men of sense and character from iden-
titying themselves with the good work
y lich it pretends to do and doesn't.
Mr. Dexters qualification for the office
Of correcting and uplifting his fellow
citizens are the same as those OF nus
unpleasant kind in every community.
He Ihas no brains and is morally blind,
but his consciousness Of responsibility
more than makes up for every cetl-
cheney. Responsibility. of all the virtues,
is the least expensive. l chance to
know about Brother Dexter, for the
first time 1 SAW him he was, as a
deacon of the First Congreg ational
Church, presiding at a prayer meeting
and aiding, under DR.. Browns open di-
rection, to get a vote of confidence for
that exemplary shepherd. No politi-
lessly obedient to his boss. The spec
tacle comes back very wildly, and to
my thinking, a prize-fighter punching
away in the ring for disgraceful fame
and good money makes a more manly
figure THAN the Drained, cunning
perfectly unscrupulOuS and oppresSlVely
respectable Deacon Dexter made that
night. When the Civic Federation offers
such men as Brother Dexter as samples
of It's material it is obvious that the less
The Civic Federation has to do With re-
forming the morals and government of
the city the better it will be for San
Francisco
Nlodesty cannot restrain me from
pointing with pride to the fact that
months ago i'm this correspondence pre-
dlcted the coming greatness Of Sailor
Sharkey. 1t was after l had seen him
knock out at Colma one Billy Smith, an
UNNECESSARILY superior boxer. 1t is true
that Sharkey doesn't know how TO fight.
He just fights. l thought the scientific
Corbett would do for HIM, but this nat
ural man is so lnarvelously strong, SO
fierce, lheadIong and resolute that he
gilistic art, breaks down guards and
gets at his man. He is an inspiring
proof Of what single inindedness can do.
When the ring is entered for the finish
fight COlibett must do his work quickly
or he will not be able TO do it at all. IL
he shall get tired before Sharkey has
been punched out of time Sharkey will
whip him to a certainty, for the young
sailor has a power of recupeIa ton that
is next door to miraculous. And if there
rises above your apprehension of the
brutal sport of prize-fig hting any ca
pacity to admire a human being from
whose composition fear has been left
out, give your admiration to Sharkey.
The appearance of Mrs. Nettie Craven
as the contract widow of the late Sena-
tor Fair and holder of gift deeds to a.
million or so of his property awakens
the incredulous scorn of the multitude
The common opinion is that the deeds
are forgeries, and that when Mrs
Craven says she wrote the marriage
contract, that Fair signed it and that
there We're no witnesses, she is romano
ing for a large stake. Ordinarily prob
ability would be all on the side of this
common opinion. Mrs. Craven, a vet
eran school teacher, is old enough to be
a grandmother, and if ever she was
beautiful only the gray friends of her
youth remember it. She is the last
woman. one would say off-hand on gem
eral principles, to attract an old mill
ionaire who was not renowned for his
respect for an important command
ment, and whose money made him
charming to myriads of the fair But
just because it is improbable is it likely
to be true that the Senator married Mrs.
Craven? To do what nobody would
think him capable of doing was precise
ly what Fair would have strong incli-
nation to do. When l read the contract
widows testimony setting forth that
she was in the habit of corresponding
in cipher, that when she travelled to
New York she took one false name and
returned under another, / could under
stand how the Senator might have been
drawn toward her, and felt the happi-
ness of recognizing a kindred spirit
He was a strange man, who loved the
tortuous for it's own sake. Also he pos
sessed an unheavenly fondness for
mischief The thought that he was
surprises for his heirs, jacks-in-the-
that would pop up to alright them,
would have solaced his dying hours.
Those who knew him as he was can
very we'll picture the Senator knowing
that his days were few, entering into a
secret marriage with Mrs. Craven, or
Mrs. Craven's mother, signing away
quantity of property to her, and then
shaking with laughter at the astonish-
ment and CONSERVATION that would fol-
low when these things were made
known while he lay tucked away quiet
and snug in his grave. Fair had a sort
of humorous passion for deceiving 9TH
ers. He would hold a man by the hand,
caress him with his voice, and, looking
him in the eye, tell him a lie for the
pure pleasure of it; and this when he
knew that the man would within the
hour discover how he had been misled.
The standards of conduct that fit nor
NAL men are not TO be applied to Fair
in seeking after probability of action.
He was as lonely a man as ever lived,
and resented it. He trusted nobody, de-
spised everybody, and his amusement
was to make trouble. He hated to part
with life and wealth. and If he could in
going arrange to leave a complicated
fight on his heirs hands 1t would have
seemed to him that he was only seeing
to il that they did something to earn
what they got. SO it will not do to
judge Mrs. Craven hastily and convict
her of forgery and perjury. She is not
particularly deserving, / dare say, but
it is due to her to remember the kind of
conglomerate formation the departed
old miner was.