The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-11-17
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By JAY z. HOUSE.
tFrop Philadelphia Public Lsdssr.l
The Lowdown ON '.Buclfoot."

His name is Jonathan NJ Davis. but
everybody calls him '.Buckfoot' Davis
and that is the story The election
of -Buckfoot'' was not anticipated. IT
is entirely probable that this bene-
ficiary of popular revolt had no
more than the fainteSt inkling of~his
destiny. He had tried before and hao
been beaten. His path to glory has
been beset by many reverses. The
cards seemed to be stacked against
him. His opponent was prominent
and well hked-a gentleman and a
scholar, n university man who had
been successful financially, who had
served his state with distinction in
minor capacities, and who enjoyed as
man in his state. But for once the
plain people-the- coal miners, the
striking shop crafts, the working men
who were not striking, the Ku KluX
together. And they got together be-
hind "Bucfzfoot." And so the gentle
man whose popular cognonnen was, by
common consent. conferred upon
gang of foot race swindlers becom es
governor of great state.
Yesterday the news, duly consider
ing the Hon. "Buckfoot'' in his new
terance accredited to him since the
election. 1t is illuminating if you
chance to know the Hon. 'Buckfoot."
1.-THE state,'' he is reported to- have
AS4lO, neeuS WHO Will
the wealthy man as quickly as the
poor man, and then the public will
respect officers of the law and the
laws will be obeyed." In a large. gem
against the Great Red ORA gon of Wall
street, hydra-headed capitalism and
the interests. He is inimical to preda-
tory wealth. That is his greater and
impersonal reaction to life. His pure
ly personal grievance is against the
law and the courts. He feels, and
has reason for so feeling, that too
many fat rascalS slip thru the meshes
made and provided. He wants to see
more of them arrested, and he wants
the courts to see to it that they are
convicted.
Bronson is a struggling Kansas vii
lage with a population approXinlating
500 souls. 1t gets a cate line IN the
newspapers when the Hon. Buck
foot" Davis runs for or is elected to
office. For the Hon. 'Buckfoot's"
farm home, three miles distant, it is
the nearest point of world contact. In
other seasons it is static and undis-
turbed by the recurring waves of
events. One summer afternoon, now
twenty-five years ago, a. lithe-Hmbed
youth, accompanied py one described
in the patois of the community as q
wise-looking gazimbo, blew into Bron-
son. Since strangers tarried infre-
Quently in Bronson, that they came at
they had elected to remain Indefinite
ly an event. They mace no effort to
conceal their identity or their pur-
pose Within an hour IL was known
that the lithe-limbed youth was BUD
famous foot racer, and that
the wise looking gaZimDo was his
manager. Important races impended.
They sought a quiet Spot where BUD
might do his training in comparative |
seclusion. Bronson impressed them as
such a spot; it fitted their scenario.
That was all there was 70 it.
Bronson warmed to the new-com-
ers. By SATURDAY. night they were OIL |
and intimate terms with ev-
in the community, including /
''Buckfoot" Jonathan Davis. who had |
come in from the farm to do his Sat
urday trading. Truth to tell, Eillette'S |
manager seemed more impressed by |
''BuckfOOt" than any oener man he |
had met in Bronson, and frankly said |
ened in a day. Gillette showed, in his |
trial bursts of speed, that he was all |
his manager claimed for him. In
with him the wind was a
selling platter, chained lighting a pillow
horse But, as the wise gazimbo later
impaired to his friend <"Buckfoot,"
there was one little difficulty: They
had no money A community in the
adjacent state of Missouri was ripe for
the picking. Suckers padded with
long green awaited the formality of
the harvest Would "Buckfoot' in
vestigate the proposition, and, If it
The latter agreed to look it overland.
with the foot racer and his manager,
departed for the soft spot.
The Bronson bank groaned a little,
for $4,000. 1t was unusual, of course,
but 'BuckSfoot'' was known as
'hrewd investor. To "Buckfoot" himself
t presented the aspect not of an in
-, -. 1
He had clicked them both and Gillette
was a full two seconds faster than
he home town champion, on whom
he Missourians were pinning thier
money. And so the race was matched
Ind run. As preliminary Buck
,oot'' put his $4,000 in a sack along
With the $4,000 raised and wagered
~ the enthusiastic yokels who were
,etting against Gillette. All went web
Until the sprinterS were within twenty
ards of the tape. Gillette, unextend-
ID, was leading by five yards. And
hen he stumbled and fell and the
dissourian passed over his PROSTATE
orm to victory. Almost Immediately
hereafter GilIette's manager hurried
'Buckfoot's out of town. The Mis- /.
ourians, apparently, were getting !
eady to mob Gillette's Kansas hacker.
hey claimed the purse was short.
There are those who claim Buck
odt'' was not a good sport, but it is !
,robable those who so characterized
lis never owed the bank $1,000 for
What may, perhaps, be most aptly de-
cribed as dead horse" At any rate, Z
lie went into the courts in an attempt Z
o recover his money. But the law
aughed him out of tIIem poorer and
adder man. As a delicate compli-
nent to the new Kansas governor, the
akers who trimmed him were known
hereafter in the public prints as the
Buckfoot'' gang They operated ex-
ensively and pouched away much
oin- A number of them subsequently /,
Fere sent to the penitentiary-but not =
OF trimming "Buckfoot.''
THE plain people elected .Buekfoot'' i