Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-06
MUSHET MEETING
DEVELOPS INTO
REVOLVING ORGY
FREE BOOZE ATTRACTS A
MOTLEY CROWD
"WIDE OPEN TOWN" is THE
RALLYlNG CRY.
sweepines of Underworld Cheer Speak
ers Who Advocate a Return to
the "eood Old Days" of
Graft and Vice

1
A saturnalia of souse; a cataclysm
of free booze and hot air. Such was
the Mushet mass meeting held last
night in the New Turner hall, 32t South
Main street
"A wide open town. like the good old
Harper days" was the cry. The gang
collected around the barrels of free beer
could see no ray of hope save through
a return to the evil days of graft and
corruption, when men of the under
world and officials of the municipality
Joined together to coin the virtue OK
women into soiled dollars, and send
some of the brightest youths of the city
to felons cells.
Former race track touts, blatant
demagogues of the perpetual politician
type, bar keepers and smooth-tongued
gamblers were among the speakers
And as one spellbinder said, "by their
words ye shall know them
And the audience-well, the light
fingered dips, cappers and come-ons
mixed with macquereaux and crowded
about the long tables where rested the
free beer. Sweating, putting, rushing
walters ran to and fro, serving the mot
ley gang More beer More beer! That
was the answering cry to the vulgar
speeches of the orators. Once in awhile
some of the one-eyed gentry of the
night would reach the end of his ca
pacity. Promptly he would be labeled
Drunk" and when he became too OBJ
streperous and boisterous in his calls
for more beer or cheering of the hon
ored name of Mushet, he would be
thrown out into the street, proba bly, to
fall into the hands of the police and
later to carry on his vote getting for
Mushet in city prison cell.
Affair an Orgy
To call the gathering a mass meet
ing is to besmirch those words. 1t was
a mass orgy in honor of w. G. Mushet,
candidate for the mayoralty nominal
tion. Nobody seemed to think it worth
while to deny the gathering was under
the auspices of the Liberal Alliance,
that notorious organization of eleven
men, the motto of which is, wide Open
Let the Town Be-"
The gathering bore all the hall marks
of the social eclat of the underworld.
Bernard Parmentier, chairman of the
Alliance, was not present to keep order.
r. V. Maier presided. Even Mr.. Maier
was compelled to leave the hall several
times in order to get a breath of pure
air
All the wide-open town candidates
were given an opportunity to speak.
And they made the most of 1t. They
did not mince their words in the least,
declaring that if they were put into
power the birds of prey will get theirs
from the community.
This is about the line of argument
used by most of the speakers:
town
"Yes! Yes! Surest thing you know"
(from the audience).
Orator-"Will we get it?"
Audience-Surest thing you know"
Orator-"Is Mushet our friend? VIII
he give us a wide open town? VIII he
| give us personal liberty?'
Audience-"You bet your life. Three
cheers for Mushet, our friend"
Free Booze the Attraction
Swinging in the night breezes, over
the entrance to the hall was a huge
sign-"Come up and get acquainted
with our next mayor, w. c. Mushet.
Mass Meeting under the auspices OF
the Liberal Alliance"
| Such a sign could appeal to but one
| class-denizens, not citizens. And of
course they flocked in, especially after
it was whispered about that beer and
vile cigars were TO be had for the ask
ing.
The smoke became so thick that the
chairman was lost in a blue haze.
Speakers coughed and sputtered and
were unable to proceed with their
ribald Jokes and their beery verbiage,
At last a halt was called and all save
the drinking ceased until the windows
had been opened and the room cleared
of it's vile smells and impure atmos-
phere.
One man, weaker in stomach than
some of the others who had received
their training in the gutter and Bow
ery-like barrooms, was compelled to
go out onto the sidewalk. He said, as
he stood there, the very picture of de-
spair and disgust, II thought was an
old stager, but the cigars they handed
me must have been doped."
Gesner Williams Crates
Gesner williams, who among his
MANY other achievements is one of the
eleven members of the alliance and is
said to draw a monthly stipend for
acting as legal adviser of that organ
ization, was one of the first speakers.
He attacked every man and everything
which savored of decency in municipal
government. He left little room for
doubt that his sentiments are for the
wide open town as 1t was under the
Harper regime. His references to
scarlet women seemed to please his
auditors, for they demanded to hear
more about the subject.
Taken by themselves, the words of
"Colonel" Thomas B. Merry, race track
follower and other things of that sort,
would be comedy, but in their setting
last night they were tragedy. The
colonel" is a bright man, some say
brilliant, but he is also said to desire
to live with as little work as possible.
During his grafton he said: This city
of Los Angeles has been built by the
men of toll, the men who labor with
their hands and who earn their daily
bread by the sweat of their brows
Let's keep it laboring mans town,
where the laborer can drink his beer,
smoke his smoke and live his life of
freedom. Elect Mushet, our friend
He win see that no barkeeper is thrown
out of a job He win open things up
for everybody. ] drink my drink and
I smoke my smoke. l believe in indi-
Fvidual liberty. / have talked with
Mushet and he believes that men like
you and me are the best citizens, and
that we should be given fair, square
deal" 1t vii be recalled that the