Evening star., 1902-08-07
BIG BILL DEVERY
He is After Boss Croker's
Shoes.
TO BE TAMMAN NY'SHEAD
HIS UNIQUE CAMPAIGN TN
NINTH-DISTRICT.
Believes in Going Back to the Old
Lines-Thinks Reform is Be-
coming Wearisome.
Special From a Staff Correspondent.

NEW YORK, August keep your eve
| on Big Bill Devery. There is a man who
| may win out. If he does there will be
something doing in Tammany along the
| old, familiar Tammany lines.
Devery is after Croker's shoes, They
have not been filled since Croker vacated
them. Somebody will have to fill them.
Tammany is not satisfied with the present
| regime. 1t is not happy without a master,
whip in hand Tammany does not under
stand anything but the mailed fist. Kid
glove leadership is incomprehensible and
unsatisfactory in consequence.
Tammany is showing signs of recovery
from its qualms of reform experienced last
fall. It's the old story-when the devil is
sick the devil monk would be; when the
devil got well, the devil a monk was he
Tammany is getting well.
When Croker left after the landslide of
last fall Lewis Nixon tried the leadership
His experience was short and sad. He gave
up in disgust after a brief trial. Then the
question arose, Who was to be leader?"
The boys said, Let the candidates trv and
may the best man win In the meantime
they vested control In triumvirate The
intention was to let things drift along that
way until the primaries this fall. when,
maybe, some man would show up with the
stuff of leader in him.
The Coming Primaries.
September 16 next primaries will be held
throughout New York city to select del
egates to state conventions which will
choose candidates for all kinds of Offices,
Those primaries Will be the vehicle for
establishing the Tanmany leadership in
the assembly districts In New York city
ard VIII be considered as pointers indi-
eating the popularity of some rival demo-
Gratis. The assembly leaders thus selected
Will eventually name the leader of Tam
many. Here is where Bill Devery comes in
He first has to win the leadership of the
ninth assembly district. If he acconplishes
that he will be directly in line to make his
fight for the head of the Tammany or
ganization. He is starting out to do it a fter
ms ms own 1ashlon, fashion that is attract
ing wide attention
Big Bill Devery is by all odds the most
picturesque figure in New York today. 1t
Is the style for many to laugh at him TO
essay to whistle his aspirations down the
Wlfld merely because of his uncouthness
because ne is bizarre, in word they say
he is impossible
But after Croker's success is anythfns
impossible in Tammany politics? There's
a question the wise ones are asking as thev
pesln 10 take Mr., DeVery into account AZ
worthy OF consideration. Who was Croker
and what was his origin, rise and success
tlat any one should sneer at Deyery?
Who Devery Is.
10 begin with, who is this Devery? He
began life as a roundsman on the police
force, and when he was showed out of Office
by an indignant voting populace had risen
to be deputy chief. He is said to have ac-
cumulated a fortune estimated all the way
from SoooNo0 to three-quarters of a million
how dld he get it? What's the use of ask
ing! Anyhow, that is his business
In appearance he is the ideal ward poll
tlclan, bls of bone, heavy of feature
great mustache and double chin; smokes
iarse, LAT cigars, wears broad, thick-soled
SHOES In disposition he is in the main
kindly and generous. fond of his family
good to his friends, terrible to his enemies
bis grammar is hardly fautless, but he
speaks the language of his tribe and i'm a
way they understand.
Down on the west side about Goth street
is the ninth assembly district. 1t is
densely populated section in the heart of
old Ne" YORK There are thirty thousand
sous tucked away in the narrow, contract
ed quarters between cellar and garret of
the houses. There are small tradesmen. me
chamcs with little funds in the savings
banks ana thousands upon thousands of
people who don't eat beefsteak once
MONTH who never see q park, and whose
only lie is the life of the pavement. of the
glare OF the electric light of the smell OF
OF
traffic of a busy section.
IN MS service in the police department
DeVery became thoroughly acquainted with
his people. He knows most of the adults by
theiI gwen name as they call it. In the
old days he was boss in small way. AS
the chief police authority in the district he
held sway over the fortunes of the unfor
tunate, and frequently was arbter of
ollerehces and a counsellor in need.
Sessions at the Pump"
There was hydrant at a corner in his
district-they called it pump" Every
evening about O'clock the big chief" as
he was nicknamed, on account of his
physical proportions, would lean against
the pump and hold court. hearing com
plants, dealing out nvective, warning and
advice.
A neighboring saloon is now called the
pump, and here Deyery meets his lieu
tenants nightly to give instructions, to dis
trlbute funds from the war bags and to eX
tehd the glad hand to the recruits, actual
or prospective, his men bring in. He is
waglng three-cornered fight for the lead
ership OF the assembly district. If ne wins
ne VIII be one of the thirty-seven men
forming the principal Tammany council,
VIII hsure In state conventions and be an
acknowledged power in Tammany. His sue
cess or failure will be determined by the
success or failure of his candidates in the
primaries Tor delegates to the conventions.
Ni'hEtissii is uiiiquE. lobdpiS
some readers of The Star recall the excur-
SION that ne save a week or two ago to the
women and children in his district. He
chartered six steamboats, and barges to
take his constituents up the Hndson. Tick
ets We're distributed freely. On the morn
ing OF the day appointed lit was evident
tnat @ the boats couldn't hold the crowd.
Get another steamboat" cried Big Bill.
she backed into the slip and filled in a
)ny. Hire another boat" he commanded,
the wharf
He furnished tons of ham. chicken. bread,
corned beef candy, cakes barrels of lemon
ade ginger ale, pop and milk for his guests
peer ana liquor were barred, along with
the men folks. He had platoon of life
savers to rescue the kids who might fall
overheard. Everybody had a good time
ana enough to cat for once. The scraps of
up by the mothers and taken home. They