The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1902-01-17

leader then arose and briefly thanked
the committee for the honor done
him. He said 81 need not say that
this great honor was naturally un-
expected and absolutely unsought by
me. 1t was with sincere regret that
l learned that Mr.. Croker had de-
termined to retire and l will not &C
cept an executive position by beinga
mere figure head. 1 am not so pre-
sumptuous as to imagine that can
control all things"
Thus the people of New York have
ridded themselves of man who has
been a prominent factor in politics
for many years. To many he was
obnoxious, but his strong individual
ism was attractive to his bitterest
enemies. He came up from the ranks,
having first been employed as a
workman in the Harlem Railway
Machine Shops. His early popularity
with his fellow-laborers gave him a
natural bend towards politics. He
was "clever with his fists" as the
prize fighters would say and was the
victor in many fights with young
men of his ward. Mr.. Croker was
first elected alderman in 1868. When
the Tweed ring was broken, Croker
allied himself with the late John
Kelly. On election day in 1874 in a
quarrel between he and Sheriff
O'Brien, man was killed. Croker
was charged with the murder and
indicted by the grand jury. Thejury
disagreed and he was set free. When
John Kelly died in 1886 he was
unanimously chosen to succeed him
as the leader of Tammany Hall.
In marked contrast is his successor
Mr.. Nixon. Born of gentle parent
age in Leesburg, Virginia, he enter
ed the United States Naval Academy
at Annapolis and graduated at the
head of his class. He spent three
years in Europe and inspected the
dockyards, armor plants and gun
shops of England and France. He
thus laid the foundation of that
knowledge of Judgment which en-
abled him to perform signal service
to this country by designing in ninety
days the vessel which is nearest to
the hearts of the American people,
the battleship Oregon and also her
sister ships the Indiana and Massa-
cllusetts. He resigned from the Navy
and went in with the Cramps and
was with them while they built the
Indiana, Massachusetts,, Brooklyn,
Iowa, New York, Minneapolis and
Columbia. He then went into the
ship business on his own account,
leasing the Crescent Shipyards at
Elizabethport, on Staten Island
Sound. His plant has been doubled
and he performed some of the quick
est work ever known in the world
during the late war with Spain.
One of the greatest objections that
has been urged against Tammany
Hall was the private character gifts
former leader. The experiment is now
being made, in Difference to public
sentiment, in placing at the head of
this powerful organization a man
who is the antipode of Croker. The
result will be watched with interest,
as it is an open question whether the
element of New York City |
can be controlled by any other than
a man of their own class.
MIR. VANDIHER'S POLITICAL ENEMY.
The effort of Mr.. Isaac Lobe Strass
to defeat Honorable Murray Vandi-
yer as Treasurer of Maryland recalls
to mind an epitaph which is said to
be upon a child's tombstone in one of
our country churchyards:
eff so soon that am done for
Pray why was begun for"
His fight against our fellow coum-
ian, that had for its incipiency the
-efusal of the Democratic members of
he House of Delegates to make him
Speaker, was not backed by a princi-
de which is calculated to win sup
BORT or even sympathy. AS rule
he public at large cares very little
or the counter-maneuvers ola disap-
pointed office seeker no matter OIL ;
What grounds he bases his claims.
10 doubt, owing to the closeness of
he Democratic majority in the House l
f Delegates, the junior member from
baltimore City may cause some little
trouble to the majority, I
o long as he is backed by the full +
republican vote of the House, but a
he break in the ranks ofthe minority
hus early in the session on party II
natter like the election of a Demo- $
ratio official, clearly indicates that n
ne Republicans are already tired of I
eing swung around like the lash of e
whip, which is being used to vent I