Milford chronicle., 1904-10-14
RHI FUDGE parker
circumstances q, In Which
sg,snn His Political Career
IN Election Questioned.
o.t Election as Surrogate the
Beginning Of Influence
as a Boss.


,,...,,lles. formerly editor of the
prs !.~ Ma Treeman, tells the story.i
vent to Kingston he par
IN his first year as surrogate.
n'DnbIean leaders accused him of
Z an aBt Of his place for Peter Can
,Ds of the ablest lawyers and
.,oomed and honOred citizens of
...ts had preceded him in office
,.J been bis opponent at a recent
.ap But the Democratic party
n, met with number Of success
III attained the mastery Of the
- at lost and devised and worked
4 ,nccess a system that had filled
,-i,b confidence Of their invinci-
I, They no longer had any respect
tba rights of their opponents, or
I, for majorities on the other side.
4, town of Kingston, surrounding
dtv of the same name, covering a
"a extent of wealthy farming terri
! and including also a portion of
Catskills in which were valuable
,s,tone quarries worked by foreign
or of whom voted the Democratic
,,et and pro6ted enormously in con-
,ppDee. gave Parker his first major
4 in political life. This majority was
sFn from two stone quarry pre-
,,rts which contained not more than
N voters. but gave Parker 800 votes.
ns was done by simply holding back
y votes till the rest of the county
ns heard from and then returning
gRcient number to elect him. Wheth-
Parker cOnnived at this fraud is not
ubHcly known 1t is known, however,
alt he accepted and held the office for
il years This was the beginning of
political career more successful than |
ist Of any other Democrat in Ulster
aunty. He quickly developed into a
rEerful political boss, debating NOM
hatOnS and appointments, and kept /.
llsY with declining honors for him
et if We are to believe all the reports
d bis friends.
But the plan Of campaign" devised
lg the Ulster county leaders, so for
innate for Parker brought very little
benefit to other leaders Of that party.
The result in dollars and cents was
more costly than the taxpayers could
bear The same $50 voters" who cast
aO ballots for Parker levied $4,000
nIeS upon the town for outdoor re-
Ief but, though the men of property
protested and went to law, a Demo-
Gaic court decided that they must
pay and they did. But the papers
lie Kingston Daily Freeman and the
Algston JOurnal-which l owned and
sllted took up the subject and spent
le entire winter publishing these ex-
leldltures item by item. The same
0rces that gave Parker his dishonest
lalority had absorbed all the offices
q the town and seemed equipped for a
0lg and luscious lease Of power. But
le people read the papers which ex-
posed the rascalities perpetrated by
le quarry statesmen. backed by
penocFatic board Of supervisors with
lOfe than a two-thirds majority.
llere was a new board to be elected !
" Tue spring, and not a day passed
'''lout tile printing Of from one to
y lIee columns of Democratic doings.
.ue result was a sweeping revolution, -.
ue Republicans electing seventeen
la the Democrats nine members.
'leh the new board met almost the
nj act was to divide the town. set
lg OIL the little stone quarry section
NSeI and creating the large town
lister inhabited by prosperous
AuerS and manufacturers. The eff ,
" was to make the county perma-
.luy Republican and to suppress re- Z
I, au'g ana ballot box stufing in the
We remnant Of the old town. The
W Town Of Ulster, which had paid
0Oo Tor feeding the paupers of the :
'ue quaTries the previous year, ap- :
'pi.a'eu $500 for outdoor relief, and ;
au'uced for the purpose for three g,
i's' \ other reforms Of a more gen !
nature were instituted and the r
~ !, .ol lof county purposes fell from
a'0-v.4S y in 1877 to $19S, ,35S.O9 in {
% q Inc decline continued, and in
:, Ihe last year of my stay in n
isS'oh' they fell to $156,9O7.O7. h
u' eject upon the Democratic party 7
terrible. More than half of the O
!. ."s were driven out of office. AL Il
u alone Parker remained undlsturb- W
ne mad been elected for six years, t7
Delore his term expired the county B
paSSed into Republican control, b.
est economy was insisted up b.
uu when the Democrats had the
tOrtune to elect one of their
per IL he was a man Of integrity, a7d A
" one the members of the old % q
were dropped. 1s 1s