Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1913-05-05
FATHER TAMES /
. TROUGH NECKS
GUARDIAN OF SEAMEN'S
UNION SOMETIMES POINTS OUT
THE RIGHT PATH WITH THE
FIST.
USUALLY MAKES HIS MAN UNDER
STAND 'THE BLESSEDNESS OF
THE FAITH AND THE ADVAN-
TAGES OF DECENT LIVING"
K - Ill
BY Carlton Ten Eyck.

diversion of a fistic character. it be
hOoves the visitor to this pOlyglOt city to
drop down to West street. where the
docks of the great steamship lines are
strung, and get acquainted with Rev.
Phillip J. Magrath, the Fighting Fa
Their" of the water front. If in the mood
and he is always in the mood to do bat
tie for the cause of honesty, justice and
decency-Father Magrath may permit
you to trot around his parish with
i'm. If this rare treat befalls YOU and
you come through alive, you will nave
seen something to tell the folks bach
home.
Hardly a night passes that the rubi
cund, genial and kindly eyed priest does
not find it necessary, or at least congen-
ial, to supplement his religious %instruc-
tions with a wallop to the jaw of some
seven-fOOt stevedOre or water front
crook. His wallop, by the way, contains
the sOpOrific power of a ton of chlOro-
form. The recipient has the feeling-on
awakening-Of having been slapped by
an elephant. Not that Father Magrath
goes about looking for trouble-far be
it from such. I'm a peaceful man Of
the church." he will tell YOU solemnly,
land l detest having my trouble. But
once in a while it is necessary to point
out the right path with the fist instead
of with some beautiful language which
wont be understood" Father Magrath
also insists that he is humane in his
method of visiting the wrath of Provi-
dence On his recalcitrant practitioners.
Il hate to hurt Them he said, 80 | al
ways try to wind up any argument with
one punch. Usually l make my man I'M
derstand the blessedncss of the faith and
the advantages of decent living with one
right hook to the Jaw"
Father Magrath is in charge of st. Pc
ter's Union for Seamen. Although he is
a Catholic, his Union is non-sectarian. 1t
is more like a club than a mission. Down
stairs the seamen and lOngshOremen ga
Their around checker boards and innocent
card tables, and upstairs they receive
the, benefits of services conducted by their
.PugnaciOus parsOn. And woe to any I'M
ruly backslider who attempts that for
mer pastime of the water frOnt-putting
the meeting ION the bum When Father
Magrath first went to West street there
was nc tougher section of the city, and
few as hardened and WIDELY wicked in
the world. The rough necks" who came
ashore to squander their earnings of two
transatlantic voyages or the fruits of
months of service on tramp steamers in
a night were bad enough, but it was the
swar NOT crooks and gamblers who gath
cred to entice the unwary mariner into
crooked deals of all sorts that made the
district notorious for murder and as
sault.
The advent of Father Magrath. the
smiling, big jawed young priest, caused
but little excitement at first. No one at
tended his meetings nor was his cloth re-
spected as it should have been. Father
Magrath looked around his parish" 81
lently for a few weeks and then decided
that the only way to make these water
front gangs step around to be converted
was by force. So one night he started
out to clean up his district, alone and
unarmed. They tell still on the street of
that glorious first night of battle and
CORY fistic display. He went from saloon
to saloon, sorting out the biggest and
worst looking men at the bar and urg-
ing upon them the error of their WAYS
and the advantages of the life religious.
When scoffed at he laid down his PRAYER
book and rolled up his sleeves. There
were usually just two blows struck. One
was when the doughty priests doughty
fist landed on the jaw of said offender.
The other was the echoing walIop when
said offenders Uranium collided with the
floor.
Then Father Magrath went about a
systematic circuit of the crooks which led
through dark alley ways where the hui
man sharks waited to pOunce upon one
OF his beloved seamen when that ioyial
rover of the deep should be wallowing in
the trough of too deep a land sea. The
police had made sporadic but futile eff
forts to clean out the nests of thieves
and tin-horn gamblers, thugs and lodg-
ing house crooks that filled the water
front district. Father Magrath simply
waded INTO Il crook whenever he saw one.
ordered him to get out of the district and
If not met with instant response sank
one of his justly famous priyatestock
sleeping potiOns into said crooks masti.
catOry apparatus.
The result is that today only one gang