The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1914-06-06
The DAUGH:L' of
DAVID KERR sse
BY Harry King 1ootle /
Illustrations by H4/ 1AI7=es %
COPYRIGHT BY A.cnecLuRc s. CO.. 1919

| votes without them to let them op-
pose the franchise as they were i'll 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 I'M
der orders from Kerr nothing further
was done with it at that time. He be
gan to worry about the approaching
election What to him was the pass
ing of the bill at that time compared
to the control of the city for the next
| two years? If he let it sleep now
and the election went his way then it
could be passed soon after. BY the
time another election rolled around,
Belmont would have forgotten.
So it came about that the Kerr ad-
| herents tried to forget the franchise.
When the bill disappeared they were
loud IN their denunciation of the OPP
position thieves who had stolen it.
| With this outburst they were willing
! to subside and forget the matter, but
I this the News would not permit
| Wright kept it to the front and they
| were forced to accept it as an issue.
! The continuous attitude of apology
necessitated by this was weakening
| them every day. The Independent
! wave which had been sweeping over
the country had been late in striking
Belmont, there having been no news
paper to marshal the forces. but now
| it was increasing to the volume of a
tidal wave which Kerr would have
hard work pouring oil upon.
| The editor of the News recognized
| that it was only a Pyrrhic victory he
had won by securing the shelving of
the franchise for the present. He was
not blind to the fact that the fran
chise would bob up serenely after cleo
ton Now that he had aroused the
town and had committed himself TO
fight against the ring, he determined
to carry it on. 1t had not been his
purpose, before the franchise bill had
drawn his fire, to enter with great
heat into the coming election cam
paign, but he saw that the impetus
given the opponents of the machine
tory at the polls. Carrying the cleo
ton would be a great advertisement
for the paper. If it lost, the News
could not be any worse off than it was
now.
Kerr forgot none of the precautions
he had taken in being prepared to en-
barrass Wright in his work if the oc-
casion should arise. The merchants
who, through Kerr's influence, had pat
ronized the News, suddenly withdrew
their advertising. Many who had been
in before the paper had changed hands
now ceased to use it's columns. If
store was using the News and furnish
ing supplies TO the workhouse or the
jail, it faced the alternative of losing
a fat account or combining its adver
Using to the Banner. The proprietor,
being part of the machine, else moth
ing would ever have been purchased
from him for the city's use, promptly
gave up the News. 1t was the same
with meat markets. Other lines of
business were approached in other
ways, but the result was always the
samoa loss of advertising revenue
to the News. Even the railroads were
derelict in delivering his white paper,
and Wright spent many an anxious
hour tracing cars from the mill to
find them lost in the Belmont yards.
One valuable source of information
was developed by the News in for
mer machine hanger-on named Jack
Durken. He came to work in the cir
culation department of the paper, and
Wright first heard of him through the |
circulation manager. At Wright's re-
quest the man came to 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 first ward, and had had trouble
with Mike Noonan, ward leader
For his work he had been made a
street cleaning inspector, but after |
having incurred the ire of Noonan had
lost his job.
Nothing the enemy did was able
to keep Wright from publishing a pa
per every day. Every issue was a
constant reminder to Belmont that
things were not as they should be and
that the way to remedy conditions was
to 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
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-
for 4 consideration. The