Evening star., 1951-01-21
By Robert Roth
North Ameriean Newspaper Alliance

| Ill Iilc pIlVdtC VOL llC 1ido DCC1i
waging with the United States
for nearly 20 years.
But, he said today. he hasn't
lost the war. He expects to con-
tinue for another 80 years or so
he's 68 now-and to win it in
the end.
! The stakes are about 81 million
in taxes which the Government
claims Kehoe owes out Of profits
from the manufacture and sale
of 'high-powered beer during
prohibition.
! The Justice Department has
won a number of court decisions,
the latest last week, saying Kehoe
must pay up, but he hasn't. And
he made it clear that he doesn't
intend to.
Reminds me of a story" he
said as he sat in the mansion in
nearby Harding where he lives
in baronial splendor and rules
the political destinies of much of
this area.
A Living Legend.
There was a miner, name OF
Joe, and he tied dog at a saloon
run by a fella named Mike. When
a man owes a bill at place, We
say around here that he tied a
dog there.
We'll, Joe went out West to
work in the mines there and did
all right. Then he came back
here with money in his pocket.
Mike met him and said, Joe, you
tied dog with me for SIS, but
I'll make a deal with you. I'll
throw away half it, and you pay
me S7.50.'
Joe said that was fair enough.
I'll meet you half way, Mike said
Joe. I'll throw away the other
half"
Kehoe has made himself a liv-
ing legend hereabouts. Coal baron.
newspaper publisher, holder of i'm
mense real estate interests and a
politician of the old knock EN-
down and jump on-their-faces
school, he is a throwback to the
rugged and unashamed individual
ism of century ago.
His life has been an unending
series of fights, and he has loved
every minute of it. Crippled by
arthritis, tied to a wheel chair. he
is still ready to take on all comers.
Expects to Live Long.
"I'll fight as long as I live, and
I expect to live a long while" he
said. I'm still pretty good. If
Joe Louis would get in a wheel
chair, 1 could lick him"
His proudest possession is the
Kehoe family coat of arms, which
he dug up, at some expense. ir
County Roscommon. Ireland
where his fathers people came
from. It is a red lion rampant or
a gray shield, and bears the motto
"resistite usque ad sanguinam,
which he translates: stand until
you shed your blood"
Mr.. Kehoe is little gamecock
of a man, resembling somewhat
the fighting roosters he owns by
the hundreds, and enters in COM
petition wherever the sport is per-
niitted by the authorities. Short
in stature, he has piercing gray
eyes, a balding head and haWklike
nose.
He has not walked in Is years.
His hands, swollen with rheuma-
tism, are swathed in bandages.
Though he was born in Pittston,
as were his father and mother be-
fore him, be talks with distinct
brogue.
Mr.. Kehoe started with nothing.
His first job as a boy was in the
mines, standing up to my hips in
water" he says. He got into Pitt
ston politics before he was old
enough to vote, and fought his way
UP to power in the Democratic
Party. He doesn't drink, and never
did, but he carried the saloon vote
so important in mining communi-
ties. in his pocket, and to a GER
tain extent still does. .
Owns Five Galleries.
He became hotelkeeper. q
whisky wholesaler. real estate
operator. He prospered nightly
and became the owner of the
mines in which he once worked
Now he owns five big collieries.
A WidoWer, father of six. Kehoe
lives in regal isolation on a hilltop
overlooking the Susquehanna
River, surrounded by white-coated
men servants, his personal comfort
ministered to by trained nurses,
everything organized to perfection
for his convenience and comfort.
His house, a spacious brick struc-
,ture. porte-cochered and terraced,
is filed with priceless Oriental
rugs, antique furniture that may
some Gay grace museum, and
magnificent paintings.
He is a hard man to get to. His
phone number is unlisted, his ap-
pointments carefully screened by
a male secretary. But once he is
reached. he loves to talk, to recite
the roster of those he has fought
and beaten, to catalogue his enc
mics.
AS he did SO today, he stopped to
chuckle.
do you know where they all
are. the 5 who turned ON me2"