Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1911-08-26

have said or done could have so in
creased the business. of his storei
His business rivals and associates in
deed suggested, and the suggestion
was quickly seized upon by the adj
ministration papers. that the whole
thing was a clever advertising dodge,
and that Gormly was simply using his
candidacy to boom his business There
was no satisfactory answer to this
argument, which was one of the best
that could have been devised by the
opposition, and it was harped upon
immensely, although their leader. was
vigorously justified from this charge
by his army of fighters
The expenses of the campaign were
enormous. Not one cent was paid out
for bribery or for the purpose of in
f1uencing votes in any improper way;
but the hiring of halls, the payment
of the expenses of meetings, organiza-
ton. transportation. printing. salaries.
and SO on aggregated an extraordinary
sum. Even Gormly himself had not
realized how great these expenses
would be; but he paid them without
blenching. His resources were vast
He put at the disposal of his candi-
dacy all the accumulations and earn
that by the time the vote was taken,
his ready money would be expended.
OF course, he would still have his
great business. which would be entire
~ unencumbered; but everything else
would go.
He still kept to his plan of printing
every week sworn statements of his
expenses, challenging the other party
to do the same. The reason the So
cfety did not publish its expense &C
count was not because it was ashamed
of the amount. for it was vastly great
er than what Gormly expended They
had nearly as many expenses as he.
except for the newspaper advertising.
which they got free. and in addition
they disbursed an immense bribery
and corruption fund through Liffey.
Cornell. Habberley and Benson.
Again and again were Haldane and
| his associates called upon for remit
tances. which were invariably forth
| coming. There was no possibility of
| refusal. Failure to win a victory
would mean financial ruin to many of
them. Fortunately for him, it did not
mean SO much to Haldane. although
his great fortune would be seriously
| impaired by defeat. Most of the
others, however, had turned over
| everything that they possessed. and
pledged their credit as well, to the
vast syndicate of which he was the
| head. Indeed, he and Van Slyke would
| be the only ones not totally ruined
| by the election of Gormly. Conse-
quently they paid and paid and paid,
protesting in their hearts but shutting
their teeth grimly and handing out
/ fhc faI, Itch Cd 70, he
best advantage by Liffey and Benson.
| Gormly himself spoke every night
| somewhere, and the crowds that greet
ed him were enormous. Meanwhile
every detective in the employ of the
/ city, and all others who could be
suborned, were concentrating their
| efforts on Gormlys past and present
He could not take a step outside OF
| his office without being Swallowed. II
was not difficult for spies to mingle
/ with the crowd of buyers in his store
and scrutinize every person who en-
| tered his private room They had
so far discovered nothing. Gormly
had lived an absolutely clean, upright
honest, hardworking life since he
/ landed in New York. They did not
find out where he came from or even
where he was born. The only possible
clue they had was the statement that
he had once been in the west, with
which Haldane had supplied them
Men had secured the principal cities
of the west; but nothing had been
| learned Connell was in despair. He
and Liffey and Benson had again and
again been on the eve of determining
upon the manufacture of some degrad
ing or discriminating story which
would at least serve their purpose II
to such an endeavor; but it would be
| highly dangerous to resort to such an
| expedient, and they were still hest
| tating and undecided
About this time the disputed fran
| chise expired. A resolution was i'm
mediately introduced in the board OF
aldermen at the city hall granting q
| renewal of 1T to the Gotham Freight
| Traction company. Every move in
the game was watched, and the reso
luton had scarcely been read and re
| ferred to a committee when it was
communicated to Gormly. The next
day the Gormly papers rang with the
charge that the city fathers intended
to give away its most valuable remain
ing public franchise to the Gotham
Freight Traction company.
At the next meeting. despite the
furious protests of the Gormly party
the resolution was put upon its pas
sage. Gormly here played his great
est political card Attended by q
body of friends, he presented himsel
| at the council chamber and forced ad