The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-05-07


His heritage was not a bouquet Of
transitory political honors, with the in
c1dental siege OF an army of office
seekers for six weeks, followed by
bombardment by disappointed ones for
two years; it was the laurel crown of
the successful wooer, reaping at Hy
mems altar the harvest of a hard
fought campaign.
There is little romance in the fol-
lowing telegram received last night by
The b e from it's correspondent at
Trempealeau, Wis:
Special to The ST. Paul Globe
TREMPEALEAU, Wis, via Winona, May
1.-THE noted criminal lawyer of st. Paul,
w. w. Erwin, was married here last even
ing to Miss Anne Olive, of this city Rev.
William Griffith, of the Congregational
church, performed the ceremony in the pres
ence of invited friends at the home of Mrs
j. ID. ingalls,, the brides sister. The bride
was former stenographer of Mr. Erwin
Like thunderbolt from clear sky
came this announcement. When his old
confrere, Ignatius, hied himself to
Europe with a youthful bride wistfu,Iy
gazing into his iconoclastic soul, as it
We're, on the deck of a palatial liner,
the grim-viSaged Erwin was apparent
ly trimming the decks of q figurative
man-of-war for an onslaught on the
fortificationS of what he called 1.-The old
gang
The art of murder having failed to
furnish the accustomed living for so
noted an advocate, the thrifty tactician
turned to politics as an expedient, and
clothing his artifce in high flown Ian
guage, he SHE'D his castor into the st.
Paul mayoralty arena, under the proud
auspices of the Bell Scannell Democ-
racy, sometimes called by it's own COM
ponents the Simon pure
Astute students of local affairs have
watched the meteoric campaign of the
great criminal lawyer; outside the pale
or his own personal admirers it was
considered impossible that he could get
aught but the Populist vote, alone no
torlously inadequate to elect a mayor
or the capital city; others CHALLENGED
| his ability to get more votes than J
ham Davidson few years ago.
but' nevertheless, the peer of all
northwestern orators that he is, Erwin
stumped the city from Harbeck's hall
TO the West side bluffs, and from PAYNE
avenue to Merriam Park, delivering one
sFeech, ana sometimes two, each even
ing, throwing into each the enthusi-
asm' seemingly, of the utmost conf
dence In his ultimate election.
close observers of the meetings Won
dered at the buoyancy, in view of the
presence night after night of a large
number of the same faces, no matter
where the meeting was held.
rs he enraptured by the pIaudits of
the multitude?" they asked, for truly
ne was in high favor with his audi
ehces. is he insane enough to antici-
pate his own election?" asked others.
some even were unkind enough to in
innate that the lawyer was merely
playlhg part to satisfy these to
whose interest it might be to keep him
before the public as a disorganizer of
OLD political organizations
put now the secret is out, and his
trends understand his apparent hone
Iulhess. 1t was not the echo of the
popular acclaim; not the hope of po-
llical preferment; not a mercenary
what mattered it to him if he got Il 900
or 10000. votes in st. Paul? All the
Iifne ne knew that one vote, down in
Ifempealeau county was being cast
for him. He knew that fair eyes
Hashed when accounts of his gallant
hght reached the Black river valley:
he knew that one heart beat faster
when the news came of that immense
Market hall meeting, and he knew that.
When one person read of his tribute
TO the fair sex so literally represented
at that vast gathering, she knew it was
not TO the present so much as the alb
sent that the orator was talking.
In the language of the street, Bill"
was s'holding OUT on his friends. It
is all plain to them now.
The fast mail each day brought a
dainty missive to the mayoralty can
didate's office. 1t was read in private.
Whatever had been the tidings of the
day, from that time on the hard lines
OF the lawyers face were illumined
with new light, and on the stump
that night he made Rome howl with the
fire of youth, the ardor of Romeo him
self.
Hard words he used toward the Of
hceholders of Ramsey county and the
city of ST. Paul, but it might have
been noticed that, when he broadened
his subject and exclaimed: II was a
face softened, perhaps at the thought
of the homestead in Trempealeau.
And when again he said:
Il was Democrat at Chicago, when
I defended Debs'
1t was not the valorous defense of
oppressed labor that fired him; it was
the memory of the fair amanuensis.
who, after the days proceedings in
court were done, took notes at his ell
bow to transcribe for his use next day.
Eloquent his pleas for the yeomanry
who had overthroWn a feudal system;
tender his thoughts of the yeomanry
Of the Valley of the Black Water.
And how grandiloquent he was when
he called on his compa triots to rally
to the defense of the American home.
Your home and mine,' he would ex-
claim, with terrible emphasis. Looking
forward to the week following election,
he was planning for the preservation
or his sweetheart's happiness and the
furtherance of her ambitions
After dealing with the sinfulness of
government by injunction in forcible
style characteristic Of the man, one Of
his favorite expressions was:
But up above the cedars and the
stars there was higher power at work.
which Will one day make itself felt"
And In the strongly Lutheran pre-
c1ncts of the First ward; in the EIGHTH
and the Fifth, where there are str05g
Cathol1c followings, and in other nor
lions OF the city where there are large
organizations Of devout Christians this
message was applauded to the echo
BUT the divinity that ruled all Fr.
wins campaign, it now turns olIf was
not the being whose infinite power ali
mankind have feared from the begin
ming OF the world, but the slv artfu1
little Cupid, bow and arrow in hand
from whose culver a dart had been
sent through the heart of Mtnnesota,s
most distinguished forensic orator and
most renowned advocate.
Erwin, perhaps, made one fatal no.
lltlcai mistake. "All the world loves
loVer, tbs said, and If the tall nine
r ns uevoted less Of his time to John
stuart Mill and more to Bobby Burns
anu the sentimental school he might
now nave been riding on the topmost
wave VI popularity into the highest Of
nee IN the GIT of the people of St. Paul.
NJ tba LII w. Bell, who was chairman