The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-11-08

In the morning"
what did you read in the Globe?"
"rhe vanity of men read, Mr..
Dunmeade will undoubtedly make
strong candidate. The entire county
wants him. 1t will have him. 1t reads
like patent medicine advertisement.
doesn't it? How does it feel to be
wanted by an entire county, Mr. Dun.
meade"
at Is" be confessed, rather pleas.
ant-if true. Who are your
And suddenly, with a laugh, she was
gone, amid a clatter of hoofs.
Alone he addressed the morning.
''She said | am strong. l wonder, am
l strong-strOng enough?" And, search
ing his soul for the answer. he heard
no negative.
This chronicle, we neglected to state,
begins at the beginning of the end Of
an epoch. The epoch has been vari-
ously styled a golden age, a period of
prosperity, an era of expansion. 1t was
all OF that-to Il few. For others.
though they did not see it, it was a
recession, truce in the struggle. old
the strong.
William Murchell was distinguish.
ed member of a class whose climbing
procllvities are not subdued by the in
Cident Of lowly start. He was born
in the obscure hil town of New Chel-
sea soon after Andrew jackson and
his contemporaries promulgated and H.
Illustrated the immortal doctrine. "To
the victor belong the spois" In the
fashion made popular by Abraham Lin
coin and other great men he secured
| an education and on the day he attain
ed his majority was admitted to the
practice Of law In Benton county.
About the same time he entered the
broader profession of politics, being
then a lukewarm Whig
His military services are perhaps
best dismissed with the mention of
certain gold medal struck in his honor,
by special act Of congress, for gallant
conduct on the field Of battle. The in
vidious have made much of this deco
ration. However, it probably required
a finer courage to resign from the colo
nelcy of his home guard regiment on
the eve Of GettySburg-this indeed was
the faCt-to accept the less exposed of
| fee of aid to the governor at the CAPT
tai than to face the hail of rebel bul
lets. There are many ways Of express
! ing ones patriotism. Later he served
his country as prothonotary for Benton
county. Afterward he passed through
many gradations of political prefer
ment, as representative in the general
assembly Of his state, as state sena-
| tor. as state treasurer and finally as
| United States senator, which exalted
! Office he held until-but we anticipate
our history. He became in addition
! loader of his party organization, an
euphemism employed by those who OBJ
! iected to the term boss"
William Murchell's creed was that
Of respectable but practical man.
He was a teetotaler and Presbyte-
rian elder and believed in the doc
trine of fOreordinatiOn and in literal
scriptural hell for those not numbered
among the elect. He believed devout-
| ly in the avowed and tacit principles
of his party although he was not big
oted and would on occasion take Sc
cret hand in the affairs Of the opposi-
! ton He had more than once read
out of the party foolhardy young men
who ventured to oppose his leadership
He lived during at least two months
Of every year in the town of his birth
either in the square, white frame
, house on Maple street or at the farm,
three miles west, which he let ION
shares" New Chelsea was quaint,
old fashioned town lying at the head
of the Weehannock valley, quite con
tent with its population Of 5000 and
with the honor of being the county
seat. which Murchell's influence had
prevented from being moved to Plum
vile, that thriving little factory city
fifteen miles away.
Down Main street one fine June aft
ernoon he was walking with that air
OF abstraction which sits so well on
the great.
HE has big possibilities" Uncon-
sciously the senator spoke aloud.
His companion seemed to under
stand the reference. He's all right"
he answered. State Senator Jim
Sheehan was big, fat gentleman with
furtive, twinkling eyes. a mOdicum of
coarse good looks and a rolling, cock
sure gait bred OF no misfortune. He
was a son Of power. Fifteen years be-
fore he had gone to Plumvile to work
in the mills, an uncouth, unlettered
! IrlShmap. who could tell "A good story
hold Unlimited quantities of liquor and
was not unwilling to work when mon
ey could not be had otherwise.
But not long for him had been the
CRIME and roar and muscle racking OF
the mills. Money could be had more
easily. Plumville was booming. There
were streets to be graded and paved,
public buildings to be constructed. Jim
went into politics and because he was
1 l..