The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-23

"The luck of that eelIow'' they said. And "the nerve of him. Meanwhile LiIley took off his coat and resumed fighting.
 MT. Lilley took up his residence in Waterbury during December, 1881. His early days in the provision business were full of tempestuous effort. Few men have worked harder. In Tor rington and Winsted at that time it was no uncommon thingto see the fu- ture Governor dash into a lunch room, hurriedly swallow a cup of coffee and then bolt out to the street with a sandwich in his hand, pushing on for the next customer while his fellow saleSmen were comfortably settling down for dinner and cigars in the ho- teIs. He built up a large and prosper ous business. To-day it is one of the largest concerns of the kind in the East, with a plant which is regarded as a model
 The provision business would have been enough for any ordinary man, but MT Lilley'S activities extended to many other fields. He operated ex- tensively in real estate, both in Water bury and in other towns. He acquir- ed large holdings in Torrington, while in Winsted he has been for years the heaviest individual taxpayer. In cluded in his property there are the two hotels, the Winchester and Beard Sley House.
 This latter hotel came to him as the result of another fight. He built the Winchester, caravanSary of unusual size and luxury for so small town. winsted was delighted with it. but it could not be made to pay. The Beardsley held it's popularity and it's clientele. Three proprietors tried the Winchester and failed. Then MT. Lil- ley considered the situation. It took him some 20 minutes to consider. At the end of that time he walked up town and bought the opposition hotel and from that time on the Winchester prospered.
 Incidentally he became so impressed with the value of life insurance that he started on a series of policies which eventually made him one of the most heavily insured men in the country. 1t has been reported that the total value of his insurance policies was close to $500, GOO and it will not be surprising to find that this is the case.
 The Governors entrance into poli tics was unexpected even by himself. It came as- the result of indignation at the old Waterbury town government and a determination to fight it. In the fall of 1900 MT. Lilley, as a taxpayer, became angry at the large sum of money spent on the highways without procuring any apparent improvement in their writched condition. He wrote an open letter to the ewspapers in which he declared that for $500 of the sum he would agree to do the work for which the powers had planned to spend $35, GOO. In a moment the battle was on. It came to a climax in the old town meeting, when George l.. Lilley, who had never made a speech in his life, 1eaped to his feet and proceeded to pillory the selectmen of that day. That speech sounded the political death kne1l of the se1ectmen even as it an noUnced the arrival of a new figure in Connecticut politics. The state elec- tion was drawing nigh. The Republi- cans wanted a strong candidate for Representative in the Assembly. The Li1ley fighting blood was up. He ac- cepted the nomination. Judge E. M. Peasley was his running mate. Vote for Lilley and Peasley was the cry. It was one of the Hyeliest of local cam paignS.
 When the votes were counted it was found that while Judge Peasley had been defeated by Francis P. Guilfoi1e, MT. Lilley had triumphed over M. J. Byrne by vote of 4,75O to 3,S76.