The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-12
"BILL. FLINN, A FIGHTER

1 "BILL" FLYNN, A FIGHTER
 From the New York Herald.
 William Film of Plttsburg, sent in hurry to take command of the cam paign of the third term candidate in Chicago, is not a dilletante politician.
 He Is credited with being one of the kind of men who fight for the love of fighting. Until the present campaign no one ever dignified him by calling
 him a leader. Not only has he been
 known as a boss" but one of the
 bossiest "bosses" that ever ruled a city and piled up a little competence of s1o,oo0,0o0 or $12,0O0,OOO out of municipal contracts.
 1 This Is the first time he ever sat in the big game. He has been going to national conventions for many years, but with Matthew Stanley Quay or | a Boies Penrose at the head of the Pennsylvania delegation he was one of a thousand other men who stood around and guessed what was going to take place. This time he is the boss" of the delegation. and he has a delegation that will eat out of his hand. The fourth boss" of his state since the civil war, succeeding such masters as simon Cameron, Senator Quay and Senator Penrose, he is bound
 to be commanding figure in the con- vention city.
 l MT. Film was born in England 61
 years ago, and all but the first few
 months of his life have been spent in | tfah bo ar1xv Ia,
 ing Sixth ward. He ended his school
 days when years old, and as soon as
 he was old enough learned the trade
 of bricklaying He became a small
 contractor, and then with J. J. Booth I organized the firm of Booth & Finn, of which business he is now the sole owner. It Is the largest general con- tracing concern in Pittsburg, making a speciality of municipal contracts, and, although for the last few years he has been out of politics. he mas always had the bulk of the work
 It was the contracting business that introduced MT Film into politics, and he began to dabble in a small way in the latter in the latter seventies. Those were the days when men fought their way to power, and Mir Finn, six feet tall and weighing 200 pounds, was a fighter by preference.
 Christopher L. Magee. then a young man, as big as MT. Film, but polished and suave, had already won a com manding place in the political life of Pittsburg. In the early eighties the reformers began a fight against him, and MT. Finn was numbered among the reformers for the first and only time In his life. MT. Magee, always a judge of men, knew fighter when he saw one, and immediately won the young contractor to his side. The polit- | ical partnership started in that way lasted until 1t was severed by MT Magees death.
 As Senator Quays power grew in the state the Magee- Finn combination grew stronger in Pittsburg. They dominated the city and the county as no Tammany boss" ever ruled New York city. They did not like Senator Quay because they did not believe he gave proper recognition of their pow CT, and he looked with anything but favor on their growing influence. When they felt strong enough they made a formal demand for recogni- tion from Senator Quay, who refused.
 Senator Quay fought them with all the resourcefulness of the most ex- pert boss of his time. In 1901 Sena- tor Magee died, just as the combna ton leadership had been repudiated by the city which they had ruled for so many years. Senator Quay passed the ripper" bill, recognizing the govern ment of Pittsburg, and MT. Finn an nounced his retirement from politics. For 10 years he waited for the chance to get back in the game. It came when the third term candidate announced that he heard noise like the people calling.