Evening star., 1939-01-08
Aging Boss Tom Pendergast
Faces Fight of His Life at 66
Missouri's Reform.Bent Governor Stark Orders
Attorney General to Clean Up Politics,
Vice, Crime in Kansas City
BY Harold Sfreefer,
Associated Press Staff Writer.

KANSAS CITY, Jan. BOSS Tom
Pendergast, an aging, Irish -blooded man
whose two-flsted methods once led him
TO leap from his costly car and chase a
hostile ward leader down the boulevard,
is face to face at 66 with the fight of
his life.
At stake is the prestige of one of the
most formidable political groups in the
Nation today-the Democratic city or
ganization which Toms brother Jim
started rolling in 1892 while saloon
keeper on the river front, and which
Tom has mushroomed since 1911 into a
thing so powerful it stood as Ware fell in
Philadelphia and New York's Tammany
Hall came upon sad days.
A reformbent Governor of Mr.. Pen
dergasts own party, Lloyd Grow Stark,
who learned his fighting at st. Mihiel,
already has whipped the boss forces
once. Now the Governor, who carries
So years with military bearing, has aimed
one of the boldest blows ever attempted
by q Missouri executive at the organi-
Zation with which big Tom has swung
elections for Governors and Senators
and held Kansas City in the palm of
his pudgy hand.
Charging that crime and politics are
mixed woefully in Kansas City and con-
ditions smell to high heaven" Gov.
Stark has ordered the attorney gen.
eral to clean up" the city and county
governments.
Blunt Accusations Fired.
Gov. Stark, fruit nursery man whose
election in 1886 with Mr. Pendergast's
support marked his virtual debut in
politics, fired these blunt accusations:
'The gambling racket is carried on
openly in defiance of law and with
out protest from any official heads of
the city government.
Houses of prostitution flourish within
the very shadows Of the courthouse and
city hall, and the inmates solicit openly,
unashaned and unafraid of official au-
thority.
"Gangsters ply their trade and prey,
through violence and intimidation, upon
citizens and businessmen alike"
Petty thievery "has become a racket
in which the police are in collusion,
through which rewards are offered and
paid by those citizens deprived of their
property"
Pendergast's city manager, H. F. McEl-
roy, turned his back on the Governors
attack with the remark, II never en-
gage in an endurance contest with a
polecat." Mr.. McElroy insists the Or
ganization- controlled police force is
good one and. that city taxes are low,
q testimonial of efficient city govern
ment.
Pendergast Says Little.
Mr.. Pendergast, whose citywide po-
litical clubs see that poor people get food
and fuel in winter and sample ballot
on how to Vote election day-"we feed
'em and we vote em," he once said
kept tight-lipped. He holds no public
office.
A behindthe- scenes man, known by
sight at the Kentucky Derby as we'll as
he is to many Kansas City residents,
Pendergast runs liquor distributing
company, whose labels can be found on
bottles at every drinking place. And
drinking is big bill in Kansas City to
which many wheat and cattle men come
frequently for a strip-tease show and a
binge.
Pendergast also operates a concrete
company which sells its product for
many city project. The bed of Brush
Greek is paved for most of its meander-
Ing length across the city.
Gov Stark, asserting he acted out Of
responsibility for law enforcement every
where, ordered Attorney General Roy
McKittrick to move on Kansas City,
even tossing out officials if necessary,
and accomplish what Prosecutor Thomas
E. Dewey did for New York.
Mr.. McKittrick, who'd like to be Gov
ernor and even thought about the United
States Senate until dissuaded by Pender-
rast, studied Stark's orders at length.
Then he announced he would be glad to
comply, wanted real results-"no
shadow-boxing, he warned the Gov
ernor-but, like Dewey, would need some
money.
Mr.. McKittrick suggested legislative
appropriation of 100000 for the Clean
up"
Right there is the prospective arena
for the next Stark Pendergast battle.
The first one, in 1898, went to Stark
when his pick for State Supreme Court
post was chosen in a party primary over
Pendergast man.
Would Cause q Showdown.
Should Stark, who has said he connot
conceive of a Legislature refusing the
cleanup" fund, ask the one now in ses-
sion for the money, showdown on Pen
dergast strength at the State capitol in
Jefferson City would be in order. In the
recent past, Boss Toms legislators, with
working alliances, have things their own
way.
Should Stark win out in the Assembly.
he would chalk up his second blow in