St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-07-15

over the poker table were rather
sporty, 50 they saw the. merit OF his
claim that having given, them the
money he owed them he was just1ned
in winning ION the square SO long
as they sat In with him.
= .
There was popular bartender IN
the capitol who made good deal OF
money one session from his rake
Off as stakeholder. He was the
agent employed to distribute Doodle
by the betting method. The vote
buyer and the vote seller having
agreed on the price would go to the
saloon In which the bartender mixed
his famous cocktails. Thu two
boodlers, getting into discussion,
would make bet, the size of the
bet being the amount of money which
the member was to receive for his
vote. The money then would be
placed in an envelope and the en-
velope put in the hands of the Stake
holder" After the roll call the man
who sold his vote would go to the
stakeholder, who would give him the
envelope-he had won the bet Good
fortune, however, turned the bar
tenders head and one day, having in
his possession a large number OF
stakes, he packed his grip and left
with all the Doodle. Nor did any in
terested party dare go after him to
demand the money he had won on q
"cinch" bet. The bartender knew too
much.
An adroit lobbyist corraled dozen
votes for his bill at a cost of hun
dred dollars each by making what is
known as fool bets" A count Of
noses had shown him that ne lacked
half a dozen votes. He knew of q
group of legislators who had adjoin-
ing rooms in the principal hotel and
who were not to be bought They
were men who did little in the house
but vote; they were plain ordinary
lawmakers, but honest. They played
their little games OF penny ante,
hearts, cinch or euchre, occasionally
had a social glass and were not adj
verse to making small bets on trotting
horses. The lobbyist went on still
hunt for votes in this group with
poor success until he conceived the
idea of warming up their sporting
blood.
He managed to get an invitation
from one of them to join in game
of euchre, and while in the room led
the small talk to discussion Of the
bill in which he was interested. By
degrees he developed the converse
tional discussion into heated argu-
ment as to whether the bill would
pass and, taking the negative side,
for none of them knew he had any
particular interest in the measure,
he asserted with great positiveness
that the bill could not get an afirma.
tive majority in the house. Pulling
out roll Of bills he stripped off a
hundred dollars and offered to bet
that hundred against a dollar that
the bill would not pass the house.
One of the. members took him up
and the money was placed in the
hands of another member who was
selected stakeholder. Then the lob
byist, apparently getting excited, of
fered to take all the bets on the odds
of 100 to l they would offer. The
odds were so great that the others
could not resist the temptation and
before he left he had made bets with
ten of them.
The inevitable result followed; the
ten members, to win hundred dollars
each, voted for the bill and it passed
The lobbyist, of course, lost his
money, but got his votes and got them
cheap.
The simplest wey of paying a bribe
is to take the vote seller to a seclud-
ed corner and hand over the money
AS the only witnesses to the transact
ton are the bribed and the briber,
and as each is as guilty as the other,
this also is the safest method.
Every once in awhile one reads Of
aldermen or legislators who form. a
line and march into an office where
each is handed an envelope. This
envelope is supposed to contain the
price of his vote. very much doubt
if any Doodle has been distributed in
such way. The envelope with the
mysterious number on it which has
figured so, often in stories of Doodle
is not used by practical bribers.
Mutual condolences between the
bought and the buyer is an essential
prerequisite in the purchase of votes.
It is strictly Upon honor" transact
ton. The legislative boodler prom
Uses to vote aye" or mo" for SO
much money; the businessman
boodler promises to pay the agreed
price when the vote is delivered.
Sometimes a certain per cent. of the
money is paid in advance, the balance
to be paid when the roll call is a
matter of record Both parties to the
transaction want no middle men"
Neither wants a scrap of written pa
per to be brought forward as an ac-
cuser or witness. And it will be
found that most boodling transactions
which are brought to light are given
publicity first over a bar. Some one
gets drunk ana talks. It is seldom
that any letter, telegram or written
paper of any kind is brought forward
in court to testify against a beodler.
For some years there reposed in the
safe of a high state official an en-
velope. common manila paper en-
velope, which contained five 500 bills.
This envelope, carefully sealed. was
found by a member of the house OF