The Washington herald., 1913-05-25
On Leaving Harvard Apostle Of the Strenuous Life Punges
Into the Practice Of Law-He Explains that His In
come Made 1t Possible for Him Not to Toll
for Actual Bread and Butter.


so that We began to speak the same Ian
guage, and so that each could begin to
live down in the others mind what Bret
Harte has called the defective moral
quality of being a stranger" II is not
often that a man can make opportuni-
ties for himself. But he can put himself
in such shape that when or IL the oppor-
tunlties came he is ready to take advant-
age of them. This was what happened to
me IL connection with my experiences in
Morton Hall. / soon became on good
terms with number of the ordinary
'heelers'' and even some OF the minor
leaders. The big leader was Jake Hess,
who treated me with rather distant ana
bility. There were prominent lawyers
and business men who belonged. but they
took little part in the actual meetings.
What they did was done elsewhere The
running OF the machine was left to Jake
Hess and his captains of tens and OF hull
dreds.
Joe Murray.
Among these lesser captains 1 soon
struck up a friendship with Joe Muir
ray, a friendship which is as strong
now as il was thirty-three years ago.
He had been born in Ireland. but
brought to New York by his parents
when he was three or four years old,
and. as he expressed it, raised as a
barefooted boy on First Avenue"
When not eighteen he had enlisted in
the Army of the Potomac and taken
part in the campaign that closed the
civil war. Then he came back to First
Avenue. and. being a fearless, power
full. energetic Young fellow, careless and
reckless, speedily grew TO some prom
inence as a leader of a gang. In that
district, and at that time, politics was
a rough business. and Tammany Hall
held unquestioned sway. The district
was overwhelmingly Democratic, and
Joe and his friends were Democrats
who on election day performed the
usual gang work for the local Demo-
cratic leader, whose business II was
to favor and reward them in return.
This same local leader. like many other
greater leaders. became puffed up by
prosperity and forgot the instruments
through which he had achieved pros
perity After one election he showed
calIous Indifference TO the hard work
of the gang and complete disregard of
his before-election promises. He count
ed upon the resentment wearing itself
out. as usual, in threats and buster.
The Gangs Revenge.
But Joe Murray was not a man who
forgot. He explained to his gang his pur-
poses and the necessity of being quiet
Accordingly. they waited for their re-
venge until the next election day. Then
they. as Joe expressed IL. decided ito
vote furdest away from the leader"I
am using the language of Joe's youth
and the best way to do this was to vote
the Republican ticket. In those days
each party had booth near the pooling
place in each election district, where the
party representative dispensed the party
ballots. This had been district in
which. as 4 rule. very early in the day
the Republican election leader had his
hat knocked over his eyes and his booth
kicked over and his ballots scattered:
and then the size of the Democratic
ma iority depended on an elastic appre
citation of exactly how much was de-
handed from headquarters. But on this
day things went differently. The gang.
with A Roman sense of duty. took an
active interest in seeing that the Repub-
lican was given his full rights. More
over. they made the most energetic re-
prisals on their opponents. and as they
were distinctly the tough and fighting
element. justice came to her own with
a whoop Would-be reporters were
thrown out on their heads. Every per-
son who could be cajoled or. fear, in
undated. was given the Republican
ticket. and the upshot was that at the
end of the day a district which had
never hitherto polled more than or ;
per cent of its Republican vote broke
about even between the two parties.
Joe Murray's Reward.
To Joe it had been merely an act of
in SO far as IL was not simply
a spree. But the leaders at the Republic
an headquarters did not know this. and
when they got over their paralyzed as
tnpiShnart of ha thav fuN-aSfipat-
ed TO find out what it meant. Somebody
told them that it represented the work
Of a young man named Joseph Murray.
Accordingly they sent for him. The
room in which they received him was
doubtless some place like Morton Hall,
and the men who received him were akin
to those who had leadership in Morton
Hall: but in Joe's eyes they stood for a
higher civilization, for opportunity. for
generous recognition of successful ; ef
short, for all the things that an
eager young man desires He was re-
ceived and patted on the back by a
man who was great man to the world
in which he lived. He was introduced to
the audience as young man whose
achievement was such as to promise
much for the future. and, moreover, he |
was given a place in the pOstofice-as 1
have said, this was long before the day |
Ot SlNll service REFORM.
Our First Row. |
Now, to the wrong kind of man all |
this might have meant nothing at all |
But in Joe Murray's case II meant every
hing. He was by nature as straight a |
man. as fearless and as stanchly loyal |
az any one whom l have ever met, a |
nan to be trusted in any Position de-
handing courage, integrity, and good |
1t l,,,-.
service. and became devotedly attached |
10 the organization which he felt had !
given him his chance in life. When |
NEW him he was already making his |
way up: one of the proofs and evidences |
If which was that he owned a first |
class racing trotter-"Alice Lane''-be- |
lind which he gave me more than one !
pin. During this first winter 1 grew
o like Joe and his particular cronies. |
But / had no idea that they especially /
,eturned the liking, and in the first row
We had in the organization (Which arose |
,ver a movement. that 1 backed. to /
stand by non-partisan method of
Joe and all his friends
stood stiffiy with the machine, and my
iide, the reform side was left with only
'ome half-dozen votes out of three or
our hundred. l had expected no other
outcome, and took il good-humoredly.
tut without changing my attitude.
The Legislature.
Next fall, as the elections drew near.
oe thought he would like to make a
rive at Jake Hess. and after consid-
rable planning decided that his best
nance lay in the fight for the nominal
ion to the Assembly. the lower house
4 the Legislature. He picked me as
he candidate wnh whom he would be
most likely to win, and win he did. 1t