The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-05-08

AhS o'cA duu IUOhlIiS at SudiuOSIS IN
tensely.
"By the grace of God, Mr. Gordon,
want to be as near the center of it as
can get, and nothing would please me
more than to have your company"
Gordon tingled all over. He arose
and put out his hand. The judge took
1t. Neither said word. but from that
minute the two men were knit to each
other.
They sat late that night around the
library table, the most enthusiastic, in
terested and in some ways the most
unselfish group Of men and women In
that city. Gordon and Chambers laid
out plan of campaign. 1t included the
use of every moral and Christian force
in the city. And the message they were
to bring to the people was the message
of murdered childhood, the double
decker for background, the political
boss a necessary result of politics that
lived on it's spoils and cared no more
for humanity's loss and ruin than any
machine cares for the dust that whirls
through it's mechanism, to be blown out
over the world or trod under foot to
rise and be swept again into the rush
Of the wheels that with metallic heart
lessness grind on, doing the will of
their maker but caring for no mans
soul.
1t seemed to them all during the
weeks that followed that the city was
awakening to some stern reality of it's
moral obligations. AS the young judge
had said that night when he appeared
at Hope House, '"The hour of the peo-
Pile is at hand" He himself, sometimes
alone, oftener with Gordon or FaI-
mouth. night after night addressed
great mass meetings held under the d.
'rection of church or temperance or mu-
nicipal reform bodies. Falmouth and a
score of other ministers organized the
young people into campaign material
The pulpit began to speak out. The pa
pers contained columns of very free ad-
vertising of Tommy Randall and his
methods. Chambers voice spoke
through an astonishing number of edi
tOrials and other articles, exposing long
standing cases of awful incompetency
and fraud in the city government. The
storm of the peoples fury rose and
grew with every nights gathering, and
the storm center was literally the Wa
terside district.
Under the leadership of Gordon,
Chambers and Falmouth hundreds Of
business men visited the tenement
houses and saw for the first time the
horrors that were intensified by the
machine. Hundreds of them were tax
en- by Miss Andrews or Gordon to
Tommy Randalrs double decker, which
had gone steadily up through all the
rising of the storm, and the lawlessness
of his acts was visible illustration of
the whole situation. Miss Andrews
had written to Mrs. Captain George
Effingham telling her the situation.
and that old lady had replied: use
the first hundred thousand if necessary
in carrying on the campaign and the
second also. | will try to find some
more if you only succeed in cleaning
out Mr.. Thomas Randall
So the settlement workers thanked
God and plunged into the thick of the
fight as it grew in power, for every
saloon interest, every gambling hell.
every house of evil fame, fought for
it's miserable life. For once almost
like magic to the establishment of evil,
all the good of the city appeared to
be united. on its knees praying, on its
feet working. And as the campaign
drew near it's climax every dark and
hideous viper that had fattened in
the security of years of protection
from the city crawled out of it's hole
and showed its ugly and poisonous
front, rearing it against an assault
that for the first time in history was
really doing something To vindicate the
name of the stern Righteousness of God
in men.
One morning John Gordon, going by
Tommy Randalrs double decker, found
it deserted of workmen. 1t had gone
up three stories and half.
When Miss Andrews heard the news,
she said: THAT means that Tommy is
in need of campaign funds. He has
spent fortune already. If that dumb
bell is never finished
I'VE will let it stand as a monument
of victory" said Gordon.
Two evenings later Gordon, Fail
mouth. Chambers and Miss Andrews
went together to a monster mass meet
ing. All four of them spoke. Miss An
drews was received with a great dem
rnstratinn When Chambers smoke. it