Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-05-21

| MICHAEL KENNA-''H1NKY D1Nk."
marks: "No. H. Dink amt much on fat
| and muscle, but he's got great sconce on
! his shoulders"
1t is u remarkable career which this dock
rat si,d street waif has just capped by get
ting himself elected a member Of the Chi
cago city council. Born in poverty amid
the sluns of the West Side Mt ~ he found
himself an orphan with three sisters and
two brothers, all younger than himself.
Hinky Dink-for he had already acquired
that title-took charge of this very ju"e-
| nile family and set about providing for it,
His brothers he put to work selling papers,
while no himself started little street cor
ner stand, where he sold papers and BACKED
boots from early morning until late at
night
The girls were sent to school, and were
taken care of until they were oil happily
married. In the meantime Hinky Dink
had become fairly prosperous. When Peck 8
Sun was started in Milwaukee, he took the
Chicago agency and made money fast by
booming this then popular humorous pa
per. He saved his money, and after awhile
he went to Leadville, where he thought
there ought to be an opening. He carried
with him letters of recommendation from
come Of the most prominent business men
In Chicago. This was in the boom days Of
1870, and he was put in charge Of the cir
culation department Of The Lake County
Reveille, a paper published at Leadville.
In less than two years H. Dink was
back in Chicago with "stake" big enough
for him to open a little saloon down on Van
Buren, street. The venture was success
from tho start The rough looking,
brawny listed men who frequented his
place grew to like the pale faced little
chap who was proprietor and bartender all
in one. He always had a CHEEKY word for
them, and his generosity grew to be a mat
ter of fame. Stories of many poor families
who had been helped by the ex-bootblack
began to be circulated. There was no bot
tom to the cracker dish and the pigs foot
bowl which he kept on his free lunch
counter, and it was discovered that q hum
CRY man would not be turned away from
that counter even If he did not have ''the
price of a beer in his clothes"
So Hinky Dink grew both in popularity
and prosperity. He had to hire bartend-
or; then two. Finally he leased store
on Clark street, and Joined the two estab-
lishments, making an L shaped saloon, in
which four bartenders are now kept busy
ulHuV ouu Uoys AuCGO 40 AOoAAA8 61uuy
about Hinky Drinks place, however, and
the men who patronize it are everyday
workingmen. But there are several thou
sands of them whose faces are familiar to
II. Drinks bartenders, and every man Of
them has vote, which he is prepared to
use just about as the little leader Of the
First directs.
He was only IS years old when he began
to learn the rudiments of ward politics.
Early in his career he developed genius
for organization, and when he was old
enough he was put in charge of one Of the
precincts. He soon demonstrated that he
could handle the intelligent voter with
great ease, and 1t was not long before he
was delegate to the city conventions.
Two years ago he aspired to seat in
the council chamber, but the conditions of
the campaign made 1t impossible for him
to get 1t. At the recent election, however,
he had the ways creased, and when the
time came he slid in with a plurality of
over $500 votes, for the First warders
turned out and whooped things up for
Hinky Dink, their diminutive hero, in fine
style. MARK NORRIS.