Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-26
POLITICS IN GOTHAM
Amusement Afforded by An
tics of Young Jerome.
BIG BILL DEVERY OUT
FREAKS OF VARIOUS SORTS ON
VIEW IN THE METROPOLIS.
bisrobing Act of Langtry's Does Not
Shock Her Small Audiences
Dearth of Good Plays.

NEW YORK, September .. 1903.
Whatever else a municipal campaign IN
New York may or may not be, II Is always
picturesque. If only because of the fam
boyant characters that a New York munc-
ipal campaign generally Sits out and sends
under the spotlight for the brief election
cering season. The scntilla ting and I'M
squelchable young Mr.. Jerome is. as usual
afording most of the fun of the prelim
iuaries. This time. however, he is bucking
and thereby making himself valuable ally
of Tammany. This young man appears TO
aspire to be "A sort of twentieth century.
uon-aronymous Junius. He is still at the
phrase king stage of life. He likes the
taste of bitter sentences. and he enjoys
tribhling them from the point of pen
Militant by nature. he remains unmellowed
by experience. Jerome. should he live that
long will be a sCrapper at three-score ana
ten.
Everybody knows what a clever coiner of
corrosive. CnrrusCating catch-words Jerome
is-the undisputed Nizam of all the knock
ers There is no denying, either. that ne mas
very large folowing-the phrasemaker is
ever a more captivating figure in the view
of the shallow groundlings than the piod-
der But young Mr.. Jerome has been rather
OVERRIDING 1t OF late. His letters have fol-
lowed TOO thick and fast.
1t is even possible to tire of letters filled
with verbal uppercuts and short-arm jabs
The public knoCker. with whom knocking
has become an obsession. at length pals.
And In spite of his vocifereus and reiterated
denialS, the Crouch of the diSappointet
would-be candidate is as observable in Mr.
Jerome's Nominations against Mayor Low
as lighted fuse.
this years fusion candidate for mayor
Brushed aside, he has squealed. as is the
wont of the hard loser. He AYERS and de-
claims. over and over again, that Mayor
Low. the man who has beat him to it, Is
unfunny. not to say lugubrious, unmag-
netic, ENJOYABLE un-everythinS conducive
to the making of a good feller. There a
good deal in this. too But it doesn't prove
that, even If Mr.. Low hasn't approved him
self to all hands as good Teller. Mi Low
hasn't made a good mayor of Greater New
YOrk-au Unreasonable Improvement, at
all events. upon his Tammany predecessors.
If graft, under Mr.. Low. hasn't become
extinct 1t has at least been we'll scotched.
1t isn't at all necessary that the mayor of
Greater New York should be "a good feller.'
Even Tammany has always known that.
Hugh Grant, a Tammany mayor, was and
is about magnetic. personally, as hard
boiled egg. Tom Gflroy, another Tammany
mayor had the temperament and tempera-
ture of a deep-sea FISH. Bob Van Wyck,
the last of the Tammany mayors. conducted
himself throughout his term like bear
with a sore head Young George Mcclellan.
the son of his father who is going to be
put up this year by Tammany. is in no
sense a good Teller albeit he is the cleanest
Tammany has ever sent to the front.
So that Mr.. Jerome struck false note
when he began to harp upon the lack of
winsOmeness in Mayor Lows personality.
Nobody seeks to deny. or has ever sought
to deny that Mr.. Low is a trife heavy, not
to say bovine. in his personality. He's not
a man that anybody would feel much like
tossing up his hat for. There have been
uut-5tId-Out, candid crooks in the municipal
life of New York whose personalities have
been far more captivating than that of Mr..
Low. who rather the side of Phari-
secisn1 But the town doesn't need skilled
handshaker TO direct its destinies nor
maker Of quips worthy OF repetition. New
York has superiority of humorists and a
deficiency of clean men in public life.
There has been a lot Of the what's-the-use
spirit in Mr.. Jeromes letters. 700. What's
the use, he has been inquir.ng time and
again, Of putting up Mayor Low again
when he's certain of being licked?
similar question was propounded by
some millions Of false prophets in this coun-
try when Grover Cleveland was up for his
third nomination by the democratic party.
Furthermore. Mr.. Jerome didn't name any
fusiorist whom he thought might have
better chance to administer a second jolt
60 Tammany than the man who did it the
first time. This, however. was not expect
ed OF Mr. Jerome. He had the name of
the fusionist In mind. all right. as nobody
doubts but he couldn't very we'll have put
a cherubic smile. pointed thumb at
himself and lisped. Me.
Will Be Hot Fight
1t is going to be a sizzling fight. and. as to
the outcome, even the neutral prophets are
lying dormant. There is a very large ele-
ment Of Tammany which is of the opinion
that Murphy is going TO make mistake in
putting up young George Mcclellan. These
critics within the teepee frankly say that
Mcclellan Is too clean man to arouse the
enthusiasm of the Tammany cohorts. The
town is ripe, they say. for old -fash ioned
wide-op6n Tammauy administration of the
riot OF rapaCity and lust for loot sort.
and they say that Tammanyite whose
political personality would in itself be an
assurance of such regime m case OF sue
cess al the polls is the kind of an individ
uai that ought to get the nomination.
Murphy's view. however. is Numerically
opposite. and Murphy Is a very deep young
nan-Tammany has never had craftier
politician chieftain. Murphys idea of
H. in insisting upon Mcclellan. is to fight
fire with fire-tO array clean man against
the fusiouists' clean man. And says
Murphy when we win-well We'll see"
There are lot of nervous fusionists who
are OF the opinion that Murphys idea isn't
such bad one. either.
In the elimination of Big Bill Devery the
campaign IS going to be deprived of one of
its looked for picturesque features. The
smothering that Murphy administered to
Big Bill at the primaries has Slapped the
nerve Of the best police chief New York
ever had and Bin has virtually announced
that he will not follow up his long ago an
nounCed determination to run Independently
for mayor.
It is said that the inroads which practical
bottom OF Bits desire to quit. Politics have
set back" Bill to the tune of something
like Cocoon since he began his scrap with
Tammany. the outfit that made him mil
NOnalre and Bill looked pretty wan and
weary after the count in his district. If he
does step down and out the deletion of the
Jack Cade # the situation will simplify
matters.
Dashing Grass Widow.
There are some surprisingly original peo-
pie living in Mt Vernon. that cheerful and
prosperous Westchester suburb of New
York At the northern end thereof. We hear
OF them every once in "A while. Last week
for example. n handsome grass widow of
thirty. living in a beautiful Mt Vernon
home with large grounds and velvety,
shaded lawns. received telegram from a
western city informing her that her hus-
band had suddenly expired while travelling
. on a train.
The dashing young grass widow immedi-
ateiy telephOned to the leader of the Mt
Vernon Silver Cornet Band and told him