The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1905-04-15

to do more than look at him. I made
him repeat the name, for It vas that
Of one of the foremost attorneys in the
: 7ity-a man who now sits on the
bench.
To me the alderman's story was both
painful and pleasant. 1t was painful
because 1t proved that n of the most
prominent and influential Of our peo-
pie was a scoundrel. 1t was pleasant
because it showed me that the gang did
not have enough votes. I looked with
much interest at the alderman. I J knew
him to be honest, but timid and weak,
and I wondered II he would stand fire.
hastily ran over the list of aldermen
in my mind and concluded that the
gang would lose unless 1t got the very
man who sat before me. Then I deter
mined to fight the devil with his own
fire.
Asking the alderman to remain
where he was l hurried to the tele-
phone on my desk in the other Office
and called up a staunch friend, a
banker. l urged him to hurry to my
office, and in a few minutes we we're
in the private DON with the alderman.
An hour later the lawyer who had
threatened to foreclose the aldermAn's
mortgage stood in my office. I had
sent him word that I wanted to con-
suit him about the ordinance, intimat-
ing that If it were amended I might be
induced to sign it instead of yetoing
It.
When saw him I asked him to step
into my private Office and as soon as
he had entered l closed the door and
he found himself shut in with the
alderman, my friend the banker and
myself. Without any preliminaries I
said:
Have you got the mortgage and
note Of the aldermen with you?"
What right have you to ask?0 he
retorted, for he saw he had Seen
trapped.
only this" I answered. "You will
get that note and mortgage hers in
side of half an hour, or I'll SEND you
to the penitentIary for attempting to
bride an alderman and to blacklnail
him at the same time"
The lawyer stepped back as If I had
struck him. His face became as white
as his collar. He put his hand on my
desk to support himself. For a few
seconds it seemed to me as though
none of us breathed. Then without
saying a word he left the office. We
waited hopefully and our hope was
well founded, for in a short time he
returned and laid the papers we want
ed on the desk. Then the alderman
handed him the money which the
banker had obtained before 1 had sent
for the lawyer, paying the principal
and interest in full, and, turning, gave
the note and mortgage to the banker. 3
Then I stepped forward and said to
the lawyer:
you will remember / said I would
send you to the penitentiary unless we
had those papers in half an hour, but
l did not say I would not send you to
the penitentiary for attempting to
bride an alderman if your fellows pass
that ordinance over my veto. I can
blackmail as we'll as you can"
The board OF aldermen sustained my
veto. 1 won, but to this day I am not
certain that 1 did not bribe that alder
man..
When I stood beside my successor a
few days later, ready to hand over to
him the reins of municipal govern
ment, l saw in the great room where
the inauguration took place several
well-known citizens. Most of them had
openly or secretly opposed me. l saw
them keenly examining the face of the
new mayor and l knew they were
weighing their chances with him.
This thought was uppermost when l
rose to go through the little ceremony
of introducing my successor and hand
ing to him his certificate Of election.
When 1 closed my speech and with
only a few seconds more to live as a
mayor, I turned to him and gave him
the certificate. saying:
"And now, sir, in turning over to
you this great responsibility I wish
you from my heart every success"
and then while the ceiling shook with
the applause which greeted the e
ruler, l muttered "and may the Lord
have mercy on you"
Copyright, 1904, by Joseph B. Bowles)