The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-17
". I. JEROME
EARLY DAYS or THE FIGHTING
 POLITICIAN.
Struggle to Build Up His Health. Mayor Strong's Faith in Him. His Start in
 Politics.

Ainslee's Magazine
 By birth, environment and tradition.
 William Travers Jerome should M asys affairs rather than a storm-defying daisy in tho field of practical politics. He is
 the son and nephew, respectively. 9t gems. His father was Lawrence W. Je-
 rome. broker. banker, promoter. pollu-
 speaker. practical joker. patron of art
 good fellows. His uncle. Leonard Js- rome. was the first man to make great fortune b. daring speculation in Wall
 street; He. & too. was patron S,.,,, es ss tne fs
 nous Jerome Park Race Track The
 youngest daughter of Leonard Jerome,
 Jennie. q first cousin of the district at.
 Churchill. of whom Gladstone once said that she could win more votes than any
 campaign orator in England.
 Lawrence Jerome and William K. rra-
 vers were boon companions, and 1t Is related that they were eating supper
 together in Delmonico's one night forty three years ago when messenger came announced that another son had been born to him.
 Whats the duffer's namer' stam- mered Travers, when he heard the news. father answered. and that was the hSst christening of the boy who was dea- tined to shed new lustre on the family name. In infancy and boyhood and youth
 William Travers Jerome was physicaus He could not stand the rough and tun,- ble of the schools, and was taught by q College. There his health failed. and he was compelled tp retire at the end or three years without taking 2 deSree.
 But the Jerome blood was In his veins. the Jerome pluck in hts heart. He spent Dolfch tiY11n in the air. took exercise
 and built up his physical strength and development. As soon as he was strong enough he entered the Columbia College in 1884. After he had been admitted to
 the bar he traveled abroad and continued
 his studies and reading because clients
 employ all his time. In 1888, four years
 after his admission to the bar. MT:
 Jerome was appointed assistant district atrornAy. That was his first public of-
 to uniniportant cases, but he studied them so thoroughly ai,d won so many of
 them that he commended attention. Two
 years later he took an active part in DC Titles, supporting the ticke. of the Mu. niciral League, an organization oppos- ing Tammany. In that campaign he was on the losing side. Tammany won and
 he lost his place in the district att0r- His next prominent appearance before the public was as counsel for Carlyle ItPrris in the famous murder trial In
 charged E % with % the murder of his girl. wife. In order to be able to try that | case Jerome mastered the science or
 chemistry. and the knowledge of pois. ons and their effect that he displayed during the trial astounded his friends | in the legal profession. Ills next promt- nent appearance was as assistant coun- sel to the Lexow Committee which was | the first to expose the close relations existing between. the New York police and the agents of vice and crime The senior counsel to that committee kept
 the centre of & the st staSs sg much ,,ins sha l the mass of volunteer witnesses was al. 1 most completely unknown. While that | investigation was still pending the younE
 most important part in the campaign
 against Tammany that was conducted by the committee of seventy. Knowledge
 gained through his work for the inves- | rect the batteries of the anti Tamman, forcesz where they would do the mos' 1 good.
 1894, had watched the work Of Jerome | closely and became 8 great admirer oi
 the energetic young lawyer.
 inc wsssh tsht ss sess yeuSsg S feSS %s: tr,p5e
 that Mayor Strong repeated perhaps g hundred times as he talked to his friends
 of Jerome. Hc appointed the younl | lawyer "a justice of the Court of Special | lost or buried alive, From tho outset he
 commanded attention by the earnest and l intelligent way In which he tried to get ! at the truth in the trial of eases. The | who lies. Is one of the epigrams that
 Justice Jerome ono day hurled at 2
 witness in his court. It Is related that | the offending witness promptly changed | his testimony and told the truth.