The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-10-12

In the February. 1901, McClure's, Mr..
account of Richard Croker, In line with
the same writer's notable character
sketch OF Mark Hanna In November
last. Mr.. White has looked up the an
| cestry of the head OF Tammany with
| II teresting results.
Richard Croker was born in Ireland,
| and popular belief has labeled him
Irish. Yet the blood that governs
Croker's character is English blood not
| Irish, for the Croker family came to
Ireland about six generations ago from
England. The Crokers were people OF
quality, and in the family was sur
veyor general, a poet and wit. great
editor and literary wrangler of parts,
| and such courtiers barristers, soldiers
and citizens as set the stage for the
historical plays of the period. Until
the last generation, each Croker lived
like the 'Thane of Cawdor-'a prosper
Gus gentleman. But the fighting devil
seems to have been big in all of them;
and Richard Croker's grandfather APP
parently was possessed Of an especially
active devil, for the grandfather named
Cookers sire Eyre Coot. after Sir Eyre
Coot a dashing Limerick soldier. who
fought Englands battles all over the
world, and whose bones now rest in
Westminster. the wearer of them hav-
ing grown black In the face with rage.
and died of apoplexy In the heat of
battle at the prospect of defeat. What
ever martial spirit there may have been
in Eyre Coot Croker was spent in
finding food and shelter for a large
family, of which Richard Croker was
the youngest member. When the fam
lily fell upon evil times, Eyre Coot
Croker emigrated with his flock to
America. They passed New York, and
went to a place near Cincinnati. They
remained there but a short time, re-
turning to New York about 1850. The
lad Richard picked up meager educa-
ton in the public schools, for the
Crokers were Protestants. Orchard
has since become a Catholic.) In the
fifties, young Croker entered the ma
chine shops of what is now the New
York Central railroad. He was in his
early teens when he began to learn the
machinists trade. but he was such a
strapping youngster that there Is today
Croker myth in the shops made OF
stories of his prowess. AS black
smith he could swing a sedge in each
hand.
A MASTER MECHANIC.
"They say-and there are those who
have nursed broken heads to remember
Dick Croker-that as young man his
limbs and his chest We're covered with
swarthy black hair; also that he not
only fought at the drop of the hat, but
often logged the hand which held the
hat, being an impatient lad with no
stomach for dalliance. He learned his
trade thoroughly. They tell how he
built locomotive with his own hands,
put 1t together, ran 1t out of the shops,
and turned 1t over to the company
after testing its speed on a trial trip.
His hands were highly educated, If his
head lacked knowledge of the stuff of
which textbooks are made. He took
his masters degree in the shops, and
was graduated as master mechanic,
having learned industry. handicraft
and the simpler uses of physical cour-
age. He left his alma mater with the
welterweight championship Of the in
stitution as wrestler, boxer and
swimmer. He was admitted to full
partnership, and soon thereafter to
leadership, in a political concern en-
gagged in picking up a more or less
honest living, one way and another,
known of men as the Fourth Avenue
Tunnel Gang. In this institution Crok-
err took postgraduate work in sociolo-
gy physics and political ethics. He
awaited himself of the rude appliances
of the laboratory, which covered an
area of ten squares. The assistant,
who was managing the affairs for Boss
Tweed in the vicinity of the Fourth
avenue tunnel. would not supply chem