Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-06
Hands OF District Fights.

Hands on District Fights.
NOW, It is the policy-of the rammanv or
| ganization as whole to keep strictly out
of these district fights. for control. unless
in very exceptic n aSes. as for example.
the case of. Del Ny. who was deemed in
im'cal to the effere Hmmany outfit. and
vino was crushed by he united action Of
the whole TanrnApy okanization at an ex-
peiiditure Of maAy thd3sands Of dollars In
the ordinary primaries contests, however.
the organization as body abides by 1.-The
sense of the district voters" 1t Is taken
for granted that II the district voters want
tie leader overthrown they will overthrow
MIN, and II thty want him to go on lead
ing they will push him through. II the
challenger is known by the organization to
be straight" and regular he is never in
terfered with in his fight against the in
stalled leader. IN Tammany, as Ions as
man for himself and the divvle take the
hindmost. o..
So the leader and the challenger in this
assembly district on the west side of Har-
lem stripped for the fray. The fight lasted
| about two months, and it was hot thing
| from the very drop of the bunting.
Personal abuse of each other was the
note that both the leader and his rival
struck from the very outset The fact that
they had been chums and companions in all
| the affairs Of life, social and POLITICAL just
little while before the firing of the OPEN
ing gun; didn't make a particle of differ
epce. They went at each others threats
as IL they had been blood feudists from the
hour of their birth.
The challenger had about ton of a two
page circular printed and distributed
throughout the district. This circular
wasn't much from a literary point Of esti-
| mate. but from the standpoint of the ham,
mersmith it was "a sure-enough sockdoi-
ager.
Goes Right After the Leader.
The installed leader, you derived from a
perusal of the circular, was a ..booze fight
er from away back and he had been $50
rummed-up' during the past couple of
years that he had been wholly unable to
attend to the affairs Of the district. Did
the voters of that district want "con-
hrmed and hopeless lush to usurp control
OF their political business? Did they want
a man, moreover, who had the horse bug"
SO bad that he spent about half of his
waking hours at the race tracks or in
irving to dope out winners?" Hadn't the
leader. as deputy Commissioner Of some
thing or other, repeatedly been called down
by Mr.. Murphy for negiecttfE His official
duties and hanging. around the tracks
, WIN Da . and tout What jobs had the
since the installation Of Tammany On the
nrst OF the year. anyhow? Well he d got
Just four white wings IN the street clean
ing oepartment-thats all! And wasn't he
a scab on the labor question-didn't he
nave DagO employed in his plumbing
Snop VINO had only Joined the union when
threatened with the loss of his ears? How
apout tnose carpef-bag pool-room fellows
from another district who had been allow
ed 10 butt In and start pool room whAn
everybody knew that no resident of the dis
tract had been allowed to run a nooI room
IN IN the district for three years? How about
that, hey-and who was getting the ..de-
clare In" coin? How about the leader IN
ms private capacity as a boss plumber
having taken a contract to nut In Tho
plumbing on building being erected by a
contractor who was On the ..unfair., y,st
of, the building trades orpa n;zattors u.s.
now ABOUT the "bum little ma foritv., thai
the leader had turned over to the Tam
man ticket at the last municipal election,
nne print. for as scathing a roast a go "
an an embattied Tammany leader ever got in
the course OF primaries fight
Leader and His Circular.
Then the leaaer had Els little circular die.
triouted. It was a. swell pace-folIawer for
the circular of the challenger. Did tho
voters of@that assembly district want .
snake IN N the grass to carry their stand
ara ior themS. Did they want r'pin-heado
ana paraslteisw heohad never earned 81
week until -thes present leader of the dis
t.lct had picked him up and given hin, the.
!lsht kind Iof asptsh along, Were. thew
looking fora trahor si1ho, always arried a
knife in his boot to- pokeeinto, the hacks Of
people whot" had ,lbefriended him
,Sooze-hghter2 dt 9was to laugh. The
leader wssn t5like some people he knew of
he could take drink when he wanted
II, and let It alone when he didn't want it,
ne didn't nave to go off on a weeks de-
-pauch and make. a show of himself and
get pinched, and have. to send for, his
friends to get him out every time he took
a drink. like some persons he might name
moreover; he paid for all the drinks he
look he didn't s"booze-graft'' on his
friends. Play the ponies? Sure thing! Just
sI2,ooO to the good on the pony game so
rar this year, with. no sign of losing
streak IN sight Had been playing the
potato bug. and meant to go right on play
ing Sem until wrapped up in his wooden
oVercoat Wrong on the labor question,
hey? Wen, If the aspiring "fat-head" of
life done as much for union labor as he
the leader. had often done within the
space of twenty minutes. he'd have a leg to
stand upon on that proposition. And so on.
GOWN TO the bottom margin of the page
Both Sides Canvass Closely.
The leaders workers and the challenger's
'pluggers" made house-to-house and store
to-store canyasses. The matter contained
in the circulars was rehashed at these can
vases, ana the details of the charges ampli-
fed. The rival workers occasionally ran
into each other while making these can
vases, and punched each other with
fine polish and abandon. despite the fac
that they had been the chummiest sort OF
clubmates but short time before. The
leader blew" a II the men in the district to a
.chowder' up the sound, with all the free
booze they could drink, and then the
challenger blew the same crowd to the
same treat. He went bit further and
staked the women and girls and children
Oh the district to a trip to Coney Island, all
expenses paid The leader came back"
with a still more elaborate excursion for
the women and children. The leader and
the challenger all but ran races to police
stations TO secure the release on collateral or
pail or pinched' residents of the district.
when the primaries vote was counted 1t
was found that the installed leader had
won out about to 4.
Inc challenger, with a merry grin on hts
race. and followed by all of the members of
MS now defunct club down the street.
walked into the leaders club about s o'clock
tnat night. The leader, was there with his
ms punch of workers.
Hello. fellers,'' said the challenger,
cheerily. to the club crowd "H'ware We,
pal.. to the leader. accepting the latter's
ErOHered hand 'Woll 7 got q ID uood