The Ely miner., 1913-08-22

black and sticky with
dead flies, shreds of It's
sue paper fiuttered, relics Of some
boisterous fete an Italian society
had given there long ago. The
floor was damp in arabesque wrought
by a sprinkling-can, for the janitor
had sprayed water there to lay the
dust he was too Indifferent to remove.
Perhaps hundred chairs were set In
amphitheatrical order. and before
them stood a kitchen table, on which
was a white water pitcher, fianked by
a glass, thickened by various sedi-
mentary deposits within.
In the saloon below, at 9 o'clock,
scores of delegates were already shut
fling in the sawdust that covered the
floor, holding huge schooners Of beer
In their hairy fists, gorging grossly at
the free lunch table, with bologna,
rank onions and rye bread. The foam
OF the beer clung to their mustaches,
which, after each sip, they sucked be-
tween their lips. Most of them man
aged, at the same time they were eat
Ing and drinking, by dexterous
sieight-of-hand, to smoke cheap do
lnestic cigars, and a cloud of white
smoke rolled along the low ceiling.
Each new arrival was greeted with
some obscene but endearing epithet,
and the room rang with laughter and
profanity. A keg of beer had been
provided by one of Conway's man.
ayers, and the bartender, wiping his
hands on a dirty towel, was rid, so
long as the keg lasted, of the RESPONSE
bility of keeping account CP drinks,
and of ringing up the change on the
cash register. At II o'clock the keg
vas empty, the free lunch table abaa-
tOned to the flies, and the delegates
scuffled up the dirgy stairs to the
hall. Half an hour later the chairman
OF the senatorial district committee
pounded the kitchen table with leg
OF broken chair, and shouted:
The convention will be in order"
This declaration made no impress
giOn upon the babel of voices, the
laughter, the profanity, the noise of
Sauffling feet and scraping chairs.
Finally the chairman of the commit
tee, growing impatient, split the table
with his club and yelled:
Damn it all, boys, come to order!"
And then, eager to resign such a diff
ficuIt command, he fastened to an
Hounce:
The committee has named Honor
able John P. Muldoon to act as
temp'ry chairman"
He handed the chair leg to John p
Muldoon, who, stroking back his curly
hair from his brow, began to beat the
table impartially.
All this while Underwood stood
against the wall, looking on. The
question that had been agitating him
but now that the ordeal was actually
upon him, the consciousness beat
numbly against his brain, so that the
whole scene lacked reality, almost in
terest. He was daZed. He was about
TO take his baptism of political fire,
and he trembled like white noviti-
ate
Underwood belonged to one of the
oldest families of Chicago-the name
kad been known there before the fire.
His father, who had lately taken him
into his law firm, continued to cling
IN his conservatism to an old stone
house in Michigan avenue long after
his neighbors had abandoned their
mansions to uncertain boarders, and
either retreated farther south or ad-
derwood had come. out of Harvard
with young lawyers ambition in
politics, an ambition that had the
United States senate merely as a be-
ginning of it's home stretch, and when
the year rolled around in which state
senator's were to be elected in the
odd numbered districts he decided
that 1t was time to begin.
The newspapers had scented the
sensation that lurked in the candida
ture of young man like Underwood
In the district like the First, and be-
cause he went into what Is called So
ciety, promptly dubbed him a reform
er, and thus weighted he, had set out
upon his race for the nomination. He
liked to see his name in the newspa-
pers, liked to think of himself as a
reformer, though he was embarrassed
IN this attitude by the fascinating fig
Ure of the political boss he had hoped
to become-a welldressed, gentleman
ly boss, of course, who, while at home
in those saloons where he Permitted
4he convivial familiarity of the boys,
nevertheless took his luncheons at his
club. He fell into way of speaking
OF the First as my district" spoke
Of it, in fact, as if he, instead of
Malachi Nolan and "Cinch" Conway,
owned it, and when certain ward poll.
tfcians in the first days of the cam.
paign called upon him, Underwood
was pleased to lend them money, Just
as he was pleased to comply with the
requests of certain others who organ.
fzed the John w. Underwood First
Ward Campaign club, and sent COM
mittee to inform him that they were
assembled in the club rooms ready to
transact business, and beer only four
dollars a keg. He winked conf
dentially at himself in the mirror that
night IS he gave final touch to his
white cravat and surveyed his fine
young form arrayed in evening
clothes for the reform banquet at the
Palmer house. His speech was The
Tendencies of Modern Politics. The
newspapers said it was very brilliant
speech, breathing lofty political senti
ments that were bound to make John
w. Underwood votes. Also, the Re
form club indorsed his candidature