Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-20
Magistrate Call
SUccllMbs to Death
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Continued from Page One
in many political fights in that same bali-
wick, Uncle Dave" Lanes own.
THE Judge was n sticker-he always
stood for the Organizations" were the
words of Pat" O'Donnelly, a friend of the
magistrate. living on Girard avenue near
Twelfth street.
Call was born in 1855. He attended the
public schools until he was twelve years
old Then he changed his mind about going
to school any longer. He told his mother
he wanted to become a painter and deco
rator. His pleas that he be permitted to
quit school were successful
At the age of twelve. he was apprentced
to n painter of Irish stock. The painter
had little place near Girard avenue and
Broad street. He remained at this place
for two years. Then he quft because an.
other painter offered him 81 week in.
crease
Between the ages of fourteen and twenty
one Call worked at different places He
never changed his trade Friends who
knew him in the days when he wore a
pair of fifty-cent overals and cheap navy
blue shirt say that Call always saved his
money.
ENTRANCE INTO POLITICS
When Call was in the thirtes he had his
own shop and had men working for him.
He became follower of Dave" Lane
Through the laters influence he obtained
| the contract for decorating some of the
| rooms in the City Hall He also had the
contract for painting the old Mint under
the administration of President Harrison
| He served term In the House of Repre-
| Coll inp ic irI to,p
| as a magistrate.
Call conducted hearings at his office at
Girard avenue and Twelfth street When
not busy with hearings he would often sit
| around in his rear room of the office and
to visitors and friends would spin tales
| about prominent politicians whose pictures
| he had hung on the wall
| For years Call was in the limeight He
was known to almost every reporter 1t
| was nothing unusual for a cub" reporter
| to have for his first assignment to ques-
| ton Judge" Call about something the
| Judge" didn't like to talk about. He was
| indicted by the Grand Jury last August for
| accepting straw bail for the release of
| women who were arrested in the wholesale
| raid conducted by the police last summer.
| Every once in a while Calls name would
| figure in some straw-bail scandal. The
Judge" always pleaded innocence He
| would argue that what he did do was SIM
| ply to help some man who happened to have
a wife and children who depended upon
him for support.
| POLITICS" HIS GUIDE
"It's politics." said the Magistrate once
| when he was asked by a reporter why he
| had released a man without any security.
| The man in that particular case had been
| arrested on charge of carrying a loaded
| revolver and of flourishing it at a crowd of
women shoppers.
| II don't mean that the man let go had
a certain number of votes up his sleeve" :"
| said Call, 'but it's simply politics. When
you are in politics you must give the glad
hand to everybody. It's politics-don't you
| savvy'?''
After the famous July vice Grand Jury
made its findings quarantine was estab-
lshed over the Twentieth Ward Republican
Club at 1927 North Broad street, of which
Call wasi the standard bearer. The police
insisted that politics was seldom discussed
inside the club, and that 1t was gambling
place.
| Call tried to have the quarantine lifted
He did not succeed. Later the police barred
him from the club. Things became so an
moving to the Judge" that he moved the
furniture out Of the place. He put the
furniture in storage.
Magistrate Call is survived by widow
and five children.