The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-30
FRANK WILLING LEACH.
in Philadelphia Bulletin.

Penn" in Philadelphia Bulletin.
1t Is thought that Quay's paternal bless
inS VIII be bestowed upon Frank Willing
l;eich as ms successor next month in the
'haiimanship OF the state committee. In
the past eleven years Leach has been one
of the senator's most useful retainers. He
IS not over thirty Eight years old, but
here Is no veteran IN the party who is
better informed on Pennsylvania politics.
paSt and present, or who has more of its
secrets in his custody. Quay some time
ago expressed the opinion that he was one
of the most "serviceable" young men he
voted himself TO professional politics, has
sometimes been entrusted with the most
delicate functions of the machine, and has
turned out to be one Of the most pro-
iiCient pupils of a great master.
The curious feature of Leach's career is
that he started out as something of a
"Francesca da Rimini-niminy- -piminy-
Ie ne sails quoi young man" He had lit
erary ambitions. the tastes of dilettante.
| and mission to purify politics. Twenty
Two years ago. among coterie of bright
and aspiring youths. who came together
10 cultivate literary habits, he was the
| most ardent of poets. He used to turn
out verses and stories with great facility,
and If he had not given up his early
pirations he had the bent of mind that
would have cut a figure in journalism, If
not in higher literature. There was moi
one of his associates who would have
thought that this pragmatic, effusive. dap
per young exquisite, with his ByrOn!c fam
ciCS and his almost feminine conceits,
would have developed into the right-hand
man of a politician eminent for horse
sense and practical methods In the pro-
feSsion.
In the early reform campaigns that at
tended the advent of the committee of
| one hundred Leach soon became hard
worker, along with a number of other
rnnrniVn1
| idea that they had great mission TO
| perform, bct who have since become
| "a 'thful followers of the party leaders.
| lie was In the habit of ringing the alarm
| time a reform spasm caused palpita-
| ton of the towns conscience. The bosses
and the machine outfits never came in for
more scathing and eloquent diatribes than
| Leach would write and scatter broadcast
| from his literary bureaus. The Gamer
| ons as well as the local McManes man
| agener::,were the particular objects OF his
| reformatOry zeal. When Charles 5. Wolfe
| was beating Cameron and Quay, he had
70 more willing and energetic follower
| than Leach, who annoyed good many CT
| the politicians by sort of juvenile en-
| uberance which they could not always
escape from, and whom they saw fit to
| dcnCrninatc as dude or jumping
Jack" Next to Wolf. Mapes, Emery AMI
| Earker. ne had probably most to do with
| stirring up the sentiment which led 10
| the famous independent state convention
| in horticultural hall in the summer of
| 1889 for the purpose OF breaking down
| Cameron, quay a. Co., defeating General
| Beaver and eccting a Democratic COVER
| nos.
| Allowing fer the schemers and the sore
| heads. doubt whether more honest ana
| guilcless convention ever sat IN Penilsyi-
| vanil thdn the one which put john Stew
| art in nomination for governor and opened
The way for Robert T. Pa't!son. 1t was
| the rst and only tine IN tne history ot me
| Republican party In the state Wnen suc1
! ; movement of the better element ana f
| the chronic diStuIbers OF the peace reached
! the proportions of convention. IA ticket
| and an organization. Who that had ocrl-
| sion 10 be there will forget the way in
which Don Cameron was held up on the
| oratcricai toas,irP folks, how Quay was
| denounced az the Nachiavellian genius OF
| the dynasty, how that lusty old Puritan
| Roancrgss from tfe West Branch country,
w. G. Doane. moved the delegates to
frenzy, and how Leach looked after all
the details. He was the secretary of the
| Indsoenlei,t state committee in the mem
| orable campaign which followed, ana
| Stewart had no manager of his interests
who was keener and more industrious.
That campaign. however, and the disaster
| which followed would have been avoided
| II Quay had been permitted to have his
| own way. lie was one of the very few
! close to Don Cameron who realized from
| the start that Beavers nomination, which
1
| slate down the throat of the party, was
| a dangerous experiment and that Gamer
on's policy of trampling ruiAlessly ON the
| independents might be mistake. He
| vouiJ have made the who,e affair harm
| less by putting somebody like Wolf on
| the ticket for lieutenant governor in
| stead Of Davies. ani in springing a few
| baits mt his associates, but these sugges-
| tions were oyefrued by the CamerOns.
| After all the tickets were in the fell.
| QUAY adroitly used his influence to secure
| q compromise. and The Independents who
| came in contact with him In the confer
| ences and negotiations that were held at
| the Continental hall, some of them for
| the first time. were impressed with his
| magnanimity and apparent sense of fair
| ness and were inclined to revise their es-
| Inmates Of him as n mercenary. 1t was
the catastrophe Of that campaign whi,h
| marked the close of Don Cameron's $
primacy In the party organization and The
| beginning of Quay's power.
In the reorganization Of the party which