Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-12-13

his business required him TO write
checks But these things came latel.
AS a stable boy he saw that the strons
men, the men whose physical power no
one wanted to arouse, were the horse.
shoers. In rough and tumble fight a
horseshoer will whip race track tout
nine times out OF ten. The horseshoer
was man who had power and TO have
power was Ed Buffers ambition.
So the boy grew up In a horseshoeins
shop. He quit the race track 10 pull
the heavy pole that works the big bel.
lows. A huge muscular frame and IL
ready wit we're the gifts nature gave
him and when he reached the age OF
boys who are graduated from the high
school he was graduated a full-iedged
horseshoer. A Journeyman horseshoer
in large city Is very likely TO be u
man with ready fists, and an Irish boy
who has taken care of himself as long
as he can remember has the same
qualifications. Combine them IN q ply
steal giant and there is the Ideal rough
andtumbe young man who drifts to the
slums looking for amusement and trou-
Bile. That sort Of young man was Ed
Butler. He learned the vices OF the
slums and learned their moral stand
ards. but for all that there 'Nas in him
the determination and ambition that
made him want TO be master Of the low
er stratum Of society with which he
was most familiar.
In the fall Of 1857. a man grown. he
set out for st. Louis. He knew Of II
simply as new city in a new country
where there was plenty Of work ana
where there might be opportunity.
II walked to 81. Louis he said, 'ex-
cept sometimes | would ride a bit on
the gravel train Once In st. Louis he
renewed his practices of earlier days In
New York, He worked at his trade.
fought the young Irish boys and gays
battle to the men who came and went
on the steamboats,. But because OF his
strength, his accurate mechanical jude-
ment, which never permitted Il mistake,
he was always In demand as a work.
man and always received the highest
wages. He could shoe two horses 'Thlle
the average man was shooting one. His
own testimony on that subject Is good,
but II has plenty Of confirmation,
II never saw a nan IN my life who
could shoe as many horses as | could,
and that tatement has never been con-
troyerted. There Is plenty Of testimony
from othe sources that this was true.
Such man would not long work for
Others He soon formed a partnership
with an old blacksmith named Dunn
and they managed horseshoeing shop
together 1t was about this time that
he married an honest, good lookIns
Irish girl. as ambitious as himself, but
with very different ideals Mrs. Butler
Is religious woman. one who attends
her church, goes to confession, remsn-
strates with her husband when he does
wrong. but with all that when he faces
trouble she is with the old man, The
Vtate. the church or the devil could
never make her wayer in her loyalty.
She prefers Ed Butler right, but right
or wrong he Is first with her, Much OF
the political influence which the Butler
family has welded found Its beginning
In the strong character and frequent
and liberal acts Of charity OF Mrs. But
Ter. She taught the same. loyalty TO her
children and now that they are grown
and active. they may do things that the
public should and does condemn, but a
Butler stands for all the Buffers.
Getting rich by shoeing horses Is a
slow process. but Butler worked on
year after year. He bought his part
ner out, fixing the rooms above the
shop for living rooms and brought his
family there. For years the Butler
family home was above the shop where
the horses We're shod. Most of the chill
dren were born there and they grew up
there. The big blacksmith never wor-
ried about an eight-hour day He could
work 16 or 20 hours a day and was al
ways ready to do It. He paid his help
according to the time they worked, but
he worked harder than any Of his en-
ployes.
But going back TO the beginning OF
the shop business Il Is not necessary