The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1913-11-01
The DA1]GH:rER of
DAVID KERR s,s
BY Harry Ki25 Tootle /
Illustrations X HAI U1H=os %
:cLuFC e. CO.. 1919

/ begged him that II he had enough
votes without them 70 let them Op
. pose the franchise as they We're ia the
| midst OF their canvass for reelection
! The boss held them IN line
The bill had its second reading at
/ the council meeting Tuesday, but un
/ der orders from Kerr nothing further
was done with il at that time lie be.
gan 10 worry about the approaching
/ election. What to him was the pass
ing Of the bill at that time coIUuared
1 10 ia" control Of Tho city FOR the aeKE
I rwo years? II h. let it sinep non
: and the election Wen. his way tEyn IL
I could be passed soon after Ey the
time another election rolled around,
| Belmont would have forgotten.
So IL came about that the Kerr ad.
herants tried 10 forget The franchise
When the bill disappeared they were
loud In their deuunciatiou OF tho OPP
position thieves who had stolen IT,
with this oGtburst they were willing
to subsido and forget the matter but
this the News would not permit
Wright kept lt TO the front and they
The continuous attitude of apology
uecessitated by this Nas weakening
them every day The iudep.ad"ut
wave which had been sweeping over
the country had been lat" fin striking
Belmont there having been no urEs-
paper to- marshal the forces. but now
it was increasing 10 the volume OF a
tidal wave which Kerr would have
hard work pouring oil upon.
Tho editor Of the News recognized
that II was only a PyrrhlC '.cru's he
had Won by securing rhe sha,-rs OF
the franchise for tho present. II Has
not blind lp the fact that the ran
rhsc would bob up serenely after al~c-
tlou No~ that he had aroused the
town and had committed himself 'u
FIGHT against the ring. ha determined
10 carry ir on. Il had NOT harr h.s
purpose before the frarchisn bin had
drawn his fire. 10 sute- with great
heat into the coming election cam
paisn, but he saw thai the impetus
given the opponents of .an ma.H.uo
would carry them we'll on toward vic
tory at tine polls Carving 'h- rI,g-
riou would be- q great advertisement
tor the paper II ir lost. rhe News
could not be any @orsc uu than tr Was
now.
Kerr forgot none of the procau'.ous
he had taken 5u being p-"par,d ~ en-
barrass Wright iu bis work II tive oc-
caslou should arise The merchants
who, through kerrs Influence. lad pat
roni1ed the News suddenly Withdrew
their Advertising Many vino had been
in before the paper had changed lands
now ceased to Use its columns II
store was using the News aud furnish
ing supplies 10 the wprkhoas, Di the
Jail, it faced the alternative of losing
a tat account or cuntuiue its Ddyer-
tisng to the Banner. The proprietor.
being part of the machine. else moth
ing would ever have been purchased
from him for the cItys Use. promptly
gave up the News. II was the same
with meat markets Other lines Of
business were approached in ether
ways, nur the result was always the
same--a loss OF advertising revenue
to the News. Even the railroads we're
derelCt ia delivering his white paper.
and Wright spent many an anxious
hour tracing cars from the mill to
md them lost III the Belmont yards
one valuable source OF information
was developed by the News in q for
mer machine hauger-on named Jack
Durken He came TO work in the cir.
culatiou department of the paper. and
Wright first heard OF htm through the
Lat, t14,.
quest the man came 10 his Office and
from his story the editor gathered
that he had not received fair treat
ment at the hands of the other gang
sters He had lived in the disrepu-
table frst ward, and had had trouble
with Mike Noouan. ward leader
For his work he had been made a
street cleaning inspector, but after
having incurred the ire of Noouau had
lost his job
Nothing the enemy did was able
to keep Wright from publishing pa
per every day. Every issue was a
constant reminder TO Belmont that
1 things were not as they should be and
I that the way to remedy conditions was
/ 70 defeat the city machine at the polls.
/ The editor spent all his daylight hours
at his office. and often was there until
/ late in the night in conference with
various leaders. The opponents of
I Kerr had some old scores to settle.
and this was their chance. The post
master was usually to be found on
Kerr's side, although under cover, but
this time he could not afford to use
his influence for his party in city af.
| fairs-eyen for a consideration. The
boss knew the game too well to press