The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-04-13


! phrased it. for he slept on the roof of
] its extension just outside the bedroom of
! the ex-Assemblyman, and came down ear
| Iy in order to sweep the place out for his
morning cocktail. But now he was sleep
/ ing at the Progress Hotel. and hanging
. OUT at the saloon of Florence McManus,
who was known TO covet the captaincy
of the district and whose fealty to the
| organization had been seriously ques-
toned
In fact. for the first time in all the
twenty years that he had lived and voted
in the district and at the very beginning
of what promised to be one of the fiercest
political struggles in the history of the
country Hot Corn Pete had kicked over
the traces Jimmy Martins tin extension
roof knew him no more, and the early
morning bartender swept out the saloon
himself to an accompaniment of bias
phemous mutterings. The whole district
knew of his detection and many there
were who declared his cause a just one.
Meanwhile the McManus saloon prospered
through a rush of sympathetic custom.
The Irish leader of the district, ever
on the alert to scent possible disruption
in the party ranks. sent for the ex-As-
semblyman and told him that the trouble
must be squared without delay; but Pete,
whom he found cheerfully crying his
wares further up the block. refused point
blank to return to the fold. affirming that
the party had done him dirt and threat
ening to look to some other leader for
the reward that twenty years OF patriot
ism fairly entitled him to. The captain
conveyed this ultmatum to his chief, the
latter looked grave and angry, and Pete's
sympathetic following began to assume
alarming proportions. Discussion of the
matter soon overstepped the limits of the
district and was heard in Fourteenth
Street, in the City Hall. at the Albany
Capitol, and finally at the seat OF the
National Government. Like port wine
that is sent round the Cape it lost moth
ing in Importance through it's journey
ings.
That the moving of a hot corn pot from
its Bowery corner half way up the block
should become a subject for serious con-
sideration at Washington may seem
laughable to those who regard the man
who sweeps out the saloon for his cock
tail as one of the least of the many IN
considered human trifes that make up the
flotsam and jetsam of the East Side pop
ulation.
1t is much easier to realize the import
aace of the matter when we consider that
Hot Corn Pete was the master of two
trades-not only hot corn but politics as
well-and that all these things happened
on the eve of an election that promised
to be as closely contested as that mem
orable one in which $50 votes taken from
one side and given to the other in this
very State would have made Blaine Pres
ident of the United States
Moreover, Pete's dislike for hard work
was so great that he never asked for or
desired one of the labor tickets that were
SO eagerly coveted by the toilers of the
neighborhood, and now Jimmy Martin
himself was forced to admit that no
henchman of his had ever done more eff
fective work or been content with smaller
rewards than this one who had suddenly
bolted for no reason on earth save that
his demand fer place in which he should
have good pay and nothing to do had not
only been ignored but treated as a huge
joke. Worst of all, the ex-Assemb1yman
had had the audacity to offer him a ticket
emitting him to the privilege of doing
hard manual work on the big pipes.
1t was then that the worm turned at
last, and the very next day Pete was cry
ing his succulent specially hundred
yards away. and the captain was begin
ming to wonder how he was to get
through the enormous amount of work in
cidental to the canvass and election with
out his assistance.
Now Pete is a gentleman of leisure
from the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November until the opening
of the hot corn season in midsummer. No
sooner are the market stalls heaped high
with the green tasseled ears than he sets
up his kettle ard devotes himself to the
delightful practice of a branch of the
culinary art in which he has not a single
peer.
Politics begins with the waning of the
hot corn season in the East Side calen-
dar, and Pete's duties. which begin with
the canvass. are of a kind that can be
performed only by enc who, like himself,
is thoroughly in touch with his neigh
bors. Working under the direction of his
captain. he must see 20 It that all the
drunken, careless, and uncertain voters
On the block are duly registered. He