The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-24
WEST SIDE WIVES AND MOTHERS
ALL FOR "BIG BILL" DEVERY.
Woman's View of New York's PICTURESQUE
x-Chief of Police

One of the lieutenants escorted me
to the w. S. Devery headquarters five
blocks further south on Eighth ave-
nue.. He gave me to understand that
he did not care much about the press
1t does not take Mr.. Devery with suffi-
Gent seriousness. Neither do his en-
em1eS. There they sometimes make a
mistake. and wake up with a jolt to
md that instead of nursing the out
side sheet of comic supplement, they
have been hugging a nightmare.
When Devery was retired by the re-
form administrat ion, unthinking ones
checked off his name as a dead one. .
Not so the loyal Ninth" To its forty
or forty five thousand inhabitants, he
was still "de chief" According to
West Side rumor. among the unthink-
ing ones were John c.. Sheehan, repre-
sentlng the Greater New York Democ-
racy, and Frank Goodwin, guarding
the Tammany interests, both of whom
have been elevated to leadership
through the influence of the erstwhile
powerful chief.
But when Devery decided to resume
the reins of leadership in his own dis
trict, there was no talk of personal in
gratitude. He merely dropped a few
! choice expressions like my People,
and Our Young Men" Where were
the so-called leaders? Why were
| honest men in ode Ninth looking for
work that was not forthcoming? And
what are political leaders for, if not
to secure jobs for their voters? And
when at last-but not until popular
curiosity was at fever heat-Devery
/ boldly strolled into the ring as the
| champion of my People" there was a
demonstration that put subway ex-
plosionS to shame.
The ranks of the Sheehanites and
the Goodwinites quivered with unholy
mirth. Here was great joke, for old
they not hold the organization? Then
their laughter suddenly ceased. Dew
cry laid down his hand. and it was all
face cards, the faces of women and
children.
Now your West Side man of family
may beat his wife, but he has the
proper respect and incidentally a de-
pendable vote for the leader who treats
her as if she were the first lady of the
land. This same voter may consider
it his right to set his family out on
the doorstep of winter night while
he sleeps off a spree, but in summer
he will shout for the man who hires a
barge and sends those long suffering
infants on an outing.
The West Side woman may have oc-
casion to curse the political pow-wows
where the golden brew flows without
money and without price. but she has
lively regard for the man who ten
ders the blowout, provided he can
give her husband a job under city
contractor and can stand between her
self and an inconvenient landlord in
the matter of a dispossess notice.
) All this and more Devery could and
would do. The women OF his district
did not stop to question how or way
he could accomplish it. They simply
accepted the fact gladly, and there
was a general feeling of safety among
the heads of families in "de NINTH a
general clearing of domestic atmos-
pheres. The kign was coming into
his own, and the land would once
more flow with milk and honey
This is not just what was told the
reporter on that short walk between
Dcvery's old and new headquarters.
Most of it was read between the lines
In a genuine Tammany campaign
there is always more fun in reading
between lines than in following the
straight copy.
In the big clubroom of the second
floor, about fifty people were waiting
for him and every one had favor to
ask. In fact, it looked more like the
room of a charity organization So
ciety than the headuaqrters of a po-
litical leader