Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1901-09-26
BRIDGETON N. j. THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 2e 1901

ly IN contact with United States Sena-
tor Mark Hanna and other leaders of
national repute, and earned the re-
spect of his fellow-members by his
political sagacity and his capacity for
hard campaigning.
In stature Mr.. Murphy is of about
the middle height, sturdy and full
chested, of late years slightly inclined
to corpulency. The lower part of his
somewhat ruddy countenance is
shaded by a dark brown beard, in
which the silver has begun to appear.
A frank, open face, with steady, clear
eyes, give the keynote to the mans
character. Straig ghtforward and plain
in manner, jovial and kindly in dis
position. Franklin Murphy is any
thing but the lofty aristocrat that his
political enemies have pictured him.
One of the People.
The wealthiesJ business or profess
sional man and the most humble of
his neighbors receive the same frank
greeting of the hand, amply justify
ing the remark of one of his friends
that Franklin Murphy is Franklin
Murphy to rich and poor alike, all
day and every day." AS matter of
fact he has been criticised for his
democratic tendencies and manner,
but he dismissed all such criticism
with the simple remark "Mine own
people; l have grown up among
them, been in and out among them
day after day for nearly 80 years.
They know me and I know them.
They are mine own people. - His
relations with the 500 or more en-
ployes in the factory of the Murphy
Varnish Company is, perhaps, best
told in the statement that no man ever
wants to leave the employ Fifty
two weeks in the year the salary list
is complete, and that firm has yet to
dock the first man for absence from
his work through illness. 1t is fact,
emphasized by his employees, that they
receive higher wages than men en-
ployed in like capacity in any factory
of the kind in the land. Not once
since the establishment of the works
has the company had the slightest
difficulty with it's employees for any
cause. The men, one and all, swear
by Franklin Murphy.
Mr.. Murphy does not "go i'm for
society, although Mrs Murphy and her
daughter, Mrs. William B. Kinney,
mingle freely with Newark society,
entertaining lavishly and being enter
tanned by the people who constitute
Newark modest society circles. But
the head of the house, while always a
welcome guest at social functions, is
a man of modest tastes and likes we'll
a walk in the vicinity of his handsome
residence in Broad street, or in Lin
coin Park, a stones throw from his
doorstep, with friend and his dog
for company. The death of his second
son, Jack, as he was known to a large
circle of friends, was a sad blow to
him and mas caused the temporary
withdrawal of the family from all
functions of social nature.
His Oldest son, Franklin Murphy,
Jr., a tall, athletic fellow of four or
five and twenty, is the second vice
president of the varnish company,
and is rapidly acquiring that knowl-
edge of the business that will enable
him to relieve his father of much of
the cares of the establishment. His
daughter, who, as Miss Helen Martin
Murphy, was, and still is, welcome
addition to the society events of New
ark, was recently married to William
B. Kinney, son ,of the late Thomas T.
Kinney, for many years the publisher
and proprietor of the Newark Daily
Advertiser.
A sincere friend and admirer of the
late President Mckinley, Mr.. Murphy
felt very keenly the blow that caused
the death of the Chief Magistrate, and
bears evidence of his grief at the
death of the man who was at once his
cherished friend and his ideal of the
American statesman.