The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-23
ANECDOTES OF
 LILLEY AS A STURDY FIGHTER

Many interesting anecdotes of the
 late Governor George L. Lilley are re
 called in Waterbury and through the Naugatuck Valley towns, where he was
 career was one of high ambition, dog
 ged persistency, constant alertness, in-
 domitable cigor and undaunted bell1g-
 erency. His political course was
 marked by continual battling into
 which he plunged with a defiant cour-
 age inspiring to his followers and dis
 concerting to his foes. His entrance
 into politics came as the result of a
 fight. His nomination for Congress
 followed a fight. The fight which
 ended with his inauguration as Gov
 ernor is yet fresh in the public mem
 ory. Politically he was perhaps the
 willingness to do battle in a good cause and to continue that battle with un-
 abated energy until the struggle was
 won or lost was one of the most inn
 portant elements in his popularity.
 But it was not alone in the political arena that the Governor loomed large as a fighting man. His whole life was enc of battling. He began as a poor far-,er's hoy with almost every ele- ment against him-even to lack of heath. At 5J he ended his days, wealthy, a successful business man, lawmaker of skill and experience and the Governor of the State of Connec- tfcut It was the Lil1ey fighting spirit which carried him to his goal.
 His father was farmer and poor Long before daylight each morning young George Lilley left his bed so that he might finish his labor on the farm in time to go to school. When school was over in the afternoon he walked two miles home and went to work again. The principal purpose of a farmers boy in that region seemed to be to drudge. A picture which the Governor prized above all other DOT traits ofe himself and which, in bro- mide enlargement, held a. prominent place near his desk, shows him as lank urchin in threadbare, ill fitting clothes, proudly carrying two palls Of milk, each of which was nearly as big as himself Whenever he. acquired five cents he saved it. It took a fight not to spend it, but he was going to have use for that money later on. He secured work with a meat concern in Worcester where he drove a delivery | wagon. Largely through his own ef- forts he was able to take a course at the Worcester High School and to spend a year in the Worcester Poly l technic Institute. His schoolmates re- l call that while George was not fond of study he studied hard. Education was | a desirable thing. He wanted it: He involved were merely incl | dents. l
 It was shortly after this that he be- gan to display the taste for adventur-I ings which afterward led him to take so kindly to the vicissitudes of poli- tics. He tried some daring business Perhaps the most Strik- ing of these was the chartering of schooner and a voyage to Nova Scotia. which resulted in bringing into Boston a cargo of potatoes at a time when potatoes were very cheap in the mari time provinces, but very high at the Hub. It took the boys last dollar to the vessel, which being an an- cient hulk of doubtful seaworthiness, nearly took him and all her crew to the bottom, but he stood by the ship, borrowed money from a Nova Scotia capitalist whom he had never seen be- fore and finally brought his potatoes into Boston. It is on record that the beardless youth standing on the wharf made the Boston commission men pay a. good price for his tuberS, too. He had the goods. They had to have them.
 ia shion with the great provision house of Swift & Co. was also the result of daring. The elder Swift was alive in those days and in the good old time ia shion he made frequent trips of in spect:on to his various branches. In the Worcester branch was young Lil- ley, salesman, clerk, handy man for all sorts of jobs. but by no means con- tent with his position. A fellow em- ploye of that period tells how Lilley approached the n nagnate-
 MT Swift he said, II want house 0f my own."
 The packer stared in surprise. made some perfunctory remark and turned away On the occasion of his next appearance Clerk Lilley again address ad him.
 ''Mr Swift I want a house of my own."
 They expected that Lilley would be discharged, but he wasn't He contin- led in his position and he continued o tell MT. Swift of Chicago what he wanted. Swift never got in or out of Worcester without hearing what the Jerk wanted. At last he became inn pressed. He took the clerk aside, talk d with him for time and finally greed to establish the young man in he new Waterbury branch provided he would raise a certain sum of money O invest. Lilley did not have the