The Red Cloud chief., 1911-08-31

nave said or done could nave so III
creased the business of his store!
His business rivals and associates In.
deed suggested, and the sugge ston
was quickly seized upon by the ad.
ministration papers. that the whole
thing was 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 II 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.
Huencing votes in any improper way:
but the hiring OF halls, the payment
of the expenses OF meetings. organiza.
tion. 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
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He put at the disposal Of his candi.
dacy all the accumulations and earn.
ings of twenty-five years. He saw
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.
ciety did not publish its expense ac.
count was not because 1t was ashamed
of the amount. for 1t 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.
Connell. Habberley and Benson.
Again and again were Haldane and
his associates called upon for remit.
tances. which were invariably forth.
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refusal. Failure to win victory
would mean financial ruin to many OF
them. Fortunately for him. 1t did not
mean 50 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 we'll 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
the cash. which was dlsbursed to the
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 bt
suborned, were concentrating theil
efforts on Gormly's past and present
He could not take step outside o.
his Office without being shadowed. i
was not difiicult for spies to minglt
and scrutinize every person who en-
tered his private room. They hat
so far discovered nothing. Gorml,
had lived an absolutely clean. upright
honest, hardworking hfe since h,
landed In New York. They did no
find out where he came from or evel
where he was born. The only possible
clue they had was the statement tina
he had once been In the west, will
which Haldane had supplied them
Men had secured the principal cite
OF the west; but. nothing had bee
learned. COnnell was in despair. ii
and Liffey and Benson had again an
again been on the eve of determinin
upon the manufacture of some d'grat
ing or discriminating story whic
would at least serve their purpose.
would not be difficult to get witnesse
to such an endeavor; but 1t would b
highly dangerous to resort to such
expedient. and they were still hes
tating and undecided.
About this time the disputed frar
chise expired. A resolution was In
mediately introduced in the board
aldermen at the city hall granting
renewal Of It to the Gotham Freigf
Traction company. Every move
the game was watched. and the RESI-
luton had scarcely been read and r.
ferred to a committee when II wa
communicated to Gormly. The ne'
J. day the Gormly papers rang with tn
charge that the city fathers intende
8 TO give away it's most valuable remail
x ing public franchise to the Gothal
u Freight Traction company.
: At the next meeting, despite tn
J. furious protests OF the Gormly part.
y the resolution was put upon its pa
8 sage. Gormly here played his grea
:. est political card. Attended by
u body of friends. he presented himse
II at the council chamber and forced AZ
r mission. When the resolution r