Waterbury Democrat., 1901-05-21
DEATH OF P. J. GLEASON.
Close of a Checkered Careet- Was Known as the Battle Axe Mayor"

Known as the .'Battle-Axe Mayor" I New York, May 21.-Patrick J.
 Gleason, former mayor of Long Island
 City, died last night at 10.3O o'clock
 from heart failure.
 As the .Battle-Axe Mayor Patrick 1 J. Gleason attained distinction wich is remembered better perhaps
 than most of his other adventurous
 acts, although he had experiences
 enough to fill volumes. He thriyed
 on contention, and his love of strife I continued from the day he whipped
 all the boys of his native parish in
 Ireland until he made physical at- I tack on the property of a railroad cor poration, ripping up it's rails with his | own hand, smashing its fences with a broadaxe and gaining for himself the
 sobriquet which clung to him to the
 day of his death.
 I Patrick J. Gleason was one of six
 stalwart sons. He was feet inch l in height, and the smallest of the fam fly. One brother had the gigantic
 stature of feet ' inches. Patrick
 came to this country in 1862. On the day of his arrival he was assaulted by I two volunteer firemen. He thrashed
 both and he used to say that he never l stopped fighting somebody or some ! T
 tied in Williamsburg, learned the dis l tilling business and made q fortune.
 When the government imposed a huge l revenue tax on, him he could not pay 1 and his property was confiScated. 1 He was charged with defrauding
 the government out of $415 50OO, and
 was put under the extraordinary bail
 of $125,000. When his case came to
 trial he was acquitted. After that he l made his first venture in railroads, and had a bill drawn and passed by the legislature incorporating the Cal
 vary Cemetery Railroad company. No one would accept the stock and bonds l to build the road unless half the i amount was furnished in cash. His first entrance into politics was
 in the Greeley campaign, when he ran I for assembly and was defeated by 15 1 votes. All his. moneyWas gone and he
 had an actual cash capital of 50 cents I when he borrowed $500 and started
 for California. He was shipwrecked 4 off the coast of Meixco, went to South l America, worked his way back to San l Francisco and obtained employment l in a distillery.
 I He showed the proprietor how the
 product could be increased and was l paid $500 for his secret. With this 1 he speculated in stocks and ran his l capital up to $32,00O.
 He came East again and started a l railroad from the Thirty fourth street l ferry to Calvary cemetery He han 1 dled the pick and shovel himself, and 1 began operating the road with one car l and four horses He was driver, con- ductor and president, and from this l small beginning the road became l valuable property and was sold to
 
 ] ure.
 In 1876 Gleason was d member of l the board of aldermen of Long Island I City. At that time Henry s. Debe- | yoise, the mayor, was lodged in jailon ! q charge Of misappropriating $170,000 | of the city's funds. made by Gleason. | Gleason then became president of the | board of aldermen, and took an active part in getting Long Island City out of it's financial troubles.
 In 1887 he was elected mayor, and held that office until 1893, when Hora- tion s. Sanford opposed him. This was one of the hottest elections in the his tory of Long Island City. Gleason claimed the electon up to the last mo ment. and had to be elected from the City hall by the police when Sanford went to take, possession ofthe office after the courts had decided against Tn 1896 Gleason became mayor again, after a bitter fight. He would have remained in office until now had he not been legislated out by the act creating the Greater New York. He served as a member of the Greater New York commission.
 He caused great excitement when he cut down the sheds of the Long
 Island railroad in Front street, saying
 they were Instructions to the high
 way. For this his constituents pre-
 sented battle-axe to him and organ
 ized what is known as the Battle-Axe
 club.
 He used the axe as an emblem in all
 his campaigns afterward.
 His last candidacy for public office
 was for mayor of Greater New York.
 when he ran on an independent ticket
 in the fall of 1897.