The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-10-06
St. Louis Gang Fully Exposed
By Confession of Kelly.
WAS A MONSTER GRAFT
Ex.Head of City Council Tells How He
and His Associates Grew Rich
In Crooked Work-Reeord
/ of Rottenness.


Charles F. Kelly, speaker Of the house
of DELEGATES in the city Of st. LOUIS
during a period in the life Of the boo
die combine, relates his story of tna'
combine. In the course of his confes
sHny yFormer Speaker Kelly said:
s 81 know from my own knowledge
and from the statements made to me
by these on the inside, that bribery
has been going on in the municipal as
sembly of St. Louis for the past TWEEN
ty-fiye years. Hardly a bill passed
that body in the last quarter Of a cen
tury unless it was paid for. We did
not fear exposure and punishment, for
the reason that we believed no one
would dare to do it. In case OF attack,
we knew most of the politicians and
many of the large financiers of st.
Louis would be with us. A former
prosecutor showed some sign Of start
Ing after US, but was bluffeS of.
y sWhen the present prosecutor (Cir-
cult Attorney Folk is meant r.-here'
commenced. his war on us, We tried 10
sintimidate him by threats Of assassin
alton, and when this had no effect we
laid all sorts Of traps for him without
success. Then some decided that inc
best plan would be to start newspa-
per and libel him so fiercely as to
draw his fire by taking up his time
in libel prosecutions. or, If he did not,
his influence would be weakened and
destroyed. Although we could find
nothing, after a thorough search, to
make attack on. libels were deHber-
ately made up for the purpose OF al
fecting public sentiment. This plan
was participated in. not only by meni
bers Of the house Of delegates under
Indictment for boodling. but by promi-
snent fnanciers of st. Louis, who fear
led exposure, and by those who gave
sus money. - =
S. OF the combine Kelly had this TO
say 4&. 2
I'VE never thought of passing q bill
out of which any money could be OBJ
tained, unless we were paid for our
votes. We set about in a business-Iike
way and had combine meetings at
stated times and fixed the bribe prices
which we were to receive for our
votes by a majority vote of the conf
bine, Then we would select one Of the
combine, in whose honesty we had
confidence, to 90 out and get the NOR.
8ey. 2 These agents would rarely ever
sbetray us. In one or two instances
they conf1scated part Of the money, but
as q general rule, they were honest
with u.s. Among ourselves, understand.
we had a high code Of morals, and II
was considered extremely dishonest
for member of the combine to &C.
scept bribe money without dividing ii
among his fellows" =
ssWe had fixed scale of prices ior
various bills, according to the value Of
the franchises or privileges given. We
hardly ever received less than $1,000
for the combined vote. We considered
1t be meath our dignity to take less
than that. On one or two occasions,
though, we got as low as $50 each for
oursvotes, and some of the boys took
IS each, but were ashamed Of it, be-
cause the price was so small.
In the majority of the wards of st.
Louis, both the democratic and repub-
sncan parties usually nominate men to
go to the house Of delegates for the
money they can make out of it. Eacn
party man votes for his own fellow
and either one that gets in serves
those who rob the city of franchises.
I believe this has been tolerated in st.
Louis because so many Of the large
corporations of the city are mixed up
In boodling one way or another. The
heads of these corporations used to
think it less trouble to buy what they
wanted than to elect honest men to
the house Of delegates.