The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-02-19
The ==....
Retired Politician
MOralizes -.

There are no elections nowadays
like they were years ago." said the
Retired Politician, filling his pipe
and seating himself comfortably on
one OF the Plaza benches, ready to
tell Of the old days. az recall on
the days of the mayoralty elections.
when not only the mayor, but mem
bers Of the council, members Of the
| onferent boards, the police and fire
cnlefs, and all other heads of de-
partments were elected. There de-
veloped in those old DAVIS several
characters who became locally fam
Gus, and it is with the most reverent
respect that refer to them, for
practically all have passed over the
| River. There was old Ben Hender-
son. who grew famous for his yelling
at precinct meetings, and who was
the undisputed leader Of the Perdido
wharf precinct. Old Bob always
managed to have q 'speakin' down
IN his precinct once or twice a week
curing the campaign, and he would
ment of that club was always much
sought by candidates and their sup
porters. Many the time have been
around when members would disa-
gree on a choice set by Bob, and
there was fight coming to the man
who persisted in having his point
carried. Very near all meetings !
were presided over by Bob and he
would invite the speakers and intro
duce them as was his won't When
twenty seven speakers were listed
fifteen minutes each to tell the dear /
people why they wanted to serve |
them Bob fell asleep when about the |
fourteenth candidate was scheduled |
to speak, and the meeting adjourned. |
There are former politicians in the |
city now who will recollect this night |
! referred to many times.
"Then, another man who was a
power politically was Uncle Mike !
OIeary, who controlled precinct Is.
He controlled that precinct, too, and
man who secured the endorsement
Of Mr.. OIeary's club could almost
rest assured that he was elected.
June elections came along and one
night in the years gone by, and the
weather was hot. Meetings of old
fifteen's clubs would be held in a
small building on DeVilliers street
or else in a place on West Govern
n1ent- Stuffy quarters did not ap-
peal TO voters ana Cney would not
sit through any lengthy gathering.
One night Mike had a stage built in I
Inerarity alley and all was set for a
grand climax. This was time when
chowder was to be served in abun-
dance, and to all Corners. Wen at
that meeting there were four candi-
dates for mayor, five candidates for
marshal, several candidates for other
offices and councilmanic candidates
galore. The moon was suddenly OBJ
scured by a cloud and shortly after !,
the third candidate got started, a
heavy rain set in. Children, women,
men, dogs and few horses were
there, and it ended in several runa-i
ways, innumerable dog fights, crying Z
of lost children, calling on the part
Of mothers who were suddenly be-
reft of children. and, saddest of all,
somebody not only made off with
pot of chowder, but two kegs of beer
also disappeared, and to this day
they have never been located. Most
cruel of all, though, was the fact that
all candidates who could
get the privilege of an introduction,
had to contribute to the club, and it
was money thrown away. for it was
on Monday night when all this hap
pened, and the election was Tuesday.
[ was told that one man paid forty
dollars for chance to speak fifteen
minutes to the crowd, but, be it said
TO his credit, my old friend Mr.. ,
OIeary, did not countenance any
Hrf,t