Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-06

EpoCldcle VI TWO DOSSSS llVluS III OiIS City
is unique to New York itself.
Boss Platt and BOSS" Croker are
the two figures that first rise on the po-
litical armament Of the Empire state to-
day, and if you look skyward through the
political horoscope of either party you
will see one name or the other written
with the words:
II boss ALL"
If you are of an inquiring mind and
would doubt the bossism Of either, in
vestigate for yourself. IF you doubt that
Plat is boss ask the democrats. If
you doubt that Croker is a boss ask
the republicans.
Boss Croker, the man whom the repub-
Leans hate as the devil hates holy water,
was born in Blackjack, near Quarter
town. County Cork, Ireland, on Novem-
Der "a. 1S43. He is the son of Eyre Croot
Croker. The story is that he descends
from the family of Henry Croker of
Quartertown, who was a major n in
spector-general in the British army.
Through him the Crokers trace their
pedigree to ancestors of the same name
who were people of distinction and re-
nown in Ireland centuries ago. John
Dillon Croker, said to be an uncle to
Richard, was a member of parliament for
County Cork, and another uncle, Richard
Croker. was a captain in the British
army and at one time governor Of Ber-
muda.
Those who do not admire the Crokers
sheer at all this and point to the family
heraldry, which reads Deus Aliteos,
God Feeds Them and say that the
whole tale and it's results are typified in
the motto, substituting for the name Of
God the people Of the city of New York.
Boss Croker, then, since we have es-
tablished him as a boss, is only Sc years
old, a mere had for a leader of so many
men. Others have had to wait 10 years
l,,.-~r ~- ~-,e~, I~A A. l~~-- 90 A.
other side, is &c. But Richard Croker,
stocky, well knit, bearded, bright-eyed,
alert and clever, was a leader when other
men were just beginning to lead. He
needed no letter of Introduction when
others were still unknown.
Twenty-Five years ago Richard Croker
married Miss Elizabeth Fraser, a we'll
TODD girl of New York, then only 10, and
today Mrs. Croker, still a young woman
has a grown-up family around her and is
the leader in certain circles in New York.
Mr.. Croker's characteristics are too pro-
nounced not to affect his family; he is
too rabid against the republicans, too
true a churchman in his own church, too
firm in his dislikes, to become the easy
society man, who forgets all after 4
o'clock and leaves his likes and dislikes
down town.
Richard Croker began in a small way.
He got into politics by accident. He be-
NoIlO Gil IA was Win
the police n fire departments and
finally rose to be a well-known Tam
many man., no one knew how! He was
so faithful on election day, so true to his
friends. did his duties so we'll, was al
ways at his post. was such a good, relia-
bic fellow that the leaders-Tweed and
the others-liked him. Finally their
cloaks settled upon him and became
thick. enveloping mantles, which shelter
him to this day.
In all Richard Croker's career no one
has ever accused him of a mean action.
If he has robbed the city" as his de-
tractors say, he has done it in a grand
way that pleased all. If, as the Mazet
committee which is trying now to indict
him for contempt of court say, he has
settled judges in their chairs who would
be favorable to him in business deals, he
has done it in a way that has been salts
factory to the judges, to himself and to
the people. That was evident by Tam
many's overwhelming majority when
Van Wyck came in a year ago.
Long ago Richard Croker moved out
of a small fiat and bought a handsome
house at No. 5 East Seventy-fourth
street, New York, a very fashionable
quarter. Here his wife and half a dozen
children, sons and daughters, live in very
fine style. Mr.. Croker lives at the Demo-
cratic club on Fifth avenue, but visits
home on Sunday. Sometimes he stays
home for days at a time, but he is so
busy, has so many callers. and the house
Is so far uptown that he prefers the
club.
In all his life Richard Croker has never
been accused of the pastime which is
known under the generic term of 'hirt-
ing" His stains" have been purely
those Of politics, for in his private life
not "a word has ever been breathed about
him. He is intensely proud of Mrs.
Croker, the big, handsome woman who
rules the mansion, and has for a quarter
of a century trusted her with his home,
his children II his fortune. Other
bosses may be bosses in their own home,
but Richard Croker sits around and en-
joys himself at home, a guest of honor.
Mrs. Croker, too, is something of a bust
ness woman and knows the nature of a
good investment as well as her husband.
She is a woman of firm principle, and is,
like her husband, a devout church,
goer.
None Of his children are married. On
this subject Mr.. Croker says:
Il don't expect to have the responsible
When | am l hope my sons-in-law will
be mechanics. or at least men thoroughly
versed in mechanics, for I find thai they
are shrewd men n good citizens"
Plat of Tioga' is another sort of man.
Small, quiet, not very affable, but pos
sessiilg' many friends, little inclined to
show, a poor spender, he holds the reins
as firmly as ever did Croker. The matter
was well expressed by Richard Croker
before Chairman Mazet:
II have got the city. but he has got the
state"
And Boss Plat has got the state. Tn
one evening at the Fifth Avenue hotel,
he sees more state leaders than most men
see in a lifetime. They come miles to
consult him and whom thew no aw.v
their states are full Of directions.