the First district was convene at 10 o'clock, a dingy little hall in by windows so long unwashed that they looked like ground glass. From the chandeliers, black and sticky with dead flies, shreds of tis- sue paper fluttered, relics of some boisterous fete an Italian society had given there long ago. The floor was damp in arabesque wrought by a sprinkling-can, for the janitor had sprayed water there to lay the dust he was too indifferent to remove Perhaps a hundred chairs were set in amphitheatrical order, and before them stood a kitchen table, on which was a white water pitcher, flanked by a glass, thickened by various sedi- mentary deposits within, In the saloon below, at 9 o'clock, scores of delegates were already shuf- fling in the sawdust that covered the floor, holding huge schooners of beer in their hairy fists, gorging grossly at the free lunch table, with bologna, rank onions and rye bread. The foam of the beer clung to their mustaches, which, after each sip, they sucked be- tween their lips. Most of them man- aged, at the same time they were eat- ing and drinking, by a dexterous sleight-of-hand, to smoke cheap do- mestic cigars, and a cloud of white smoke rolled along the low ceiling. Each new arrival was greeted with some obscene but endearing epithet, and the room rang with laughter and profanity. A keg of beer had been provided by one of Conway's man- agers, and the bartender, wiping his hands on a dirty towel, was rid, so long as the keg lasted, of the responsi- bility of keeping account of drinks, and of ringing up the change on the cash register. At 11 o'clock the keg was empty, the free lunch table aban- doned to the flies, and the delegates scuffled up the dingy stairs to the hall. Half an hour later the chairman of the senatorial district committee pounded the kitchen table with a leg of a broken chair, and shouted: “The convention will be in order.” This declaration made no impres- sion upon the babel of voices, the laughter, the profanity, the noise of shuffling feet and scraping chairs. Finally the chairman of the commit. tee, growing impatient, split the table with his club and yelled: “Damn it all, boys, come to order!” And then, eager to resign such a dif. ficult command, he hastened to an- nounce: “The committee has named Honor- able John P. Muldoon to act as temp'ry chairman.” He handed the chair leg to John P. Muldoon, who, stroking back his curly hair from his brow, began to beat the table impartially, All this while Underwood stood against the wall, looking on. The question that had been agitating him for weeks was about to be decided, but now that the ordeal was actually upon him, the consciousness beat numbly against his brain, so that the whole scene lacked reality, almost in- terest. He was dazed. He was about to take his baptism of political fire, ‘and he trembled like a white noviti- ate. Underwood belonged to one of the oldest families of Chicago—the name had been known there before the fire. His father, who had lately taken him into his law firm, continued to cling in his conservatism to an old stone house in Michigan avenue long after his neighbors had abandoned their mansions to uncertain boarders, and either retreated farther south or ad- vanced to the North Side. John Un- derwood had come out of Harvard with a young lawyer's ambition in politics, an ambition that had the United States senate merely as a be- ginning of its home stretch, and when the year rolled around in which state senators were to be elected in the odd numbered districts he decided that it was time to begin. The newspapers had scented the sensation that lurked in the candida. ture of a young man like Underwood in the district like the First, and be- cause he went into what is called so- ciety, promptly dubbed him a reform. er, and thus weighted he had set out upon his race for the nomination. He liked to see his name in the newspa- pers, liked to think of himself as a reformer, though he was embarrassed in this attitude by the fascinating fig. ! ure of the political boss he had hoped to become—a well-dressed, gentleman. ly boss, of course, who, while at home in those saloons where he permitted the convivial familiarity of the boys, nevertheless took his luncheons at his club. He fell into a way of speaking of the First as “my district,” spoke of it, in fact, as if he, instead of Malachi Nolan and “Cinch” Conway, owned it, and when certain ward poli- ticians in the first days of the cam- paign called upon him, Underwood was pleased to lend them money, just as he was pleased to comply with tke requests of certain others who organ- ized the John W. Underwood First Ward Campaign club, and sent a com- mittee to inform him that they were assembled in the clulgrooms ready to transact business, and beer only four Reform in the First By BRAND WHITLOCK AUTHOR OF “THE THIRTEENTH DISTRICT,” “HER INFINITE VARIETY,” “THE HAPPY AVERAGE,” “THE TURN OF THE BALANCE.” ETC., ETC. ¥ form club indorsed his candidature. As Underwood leaned against HH daLit laughed out, “John, my boy, you? Hot, isn't it? He could Baldwin as he sat In the solid chair that stood intimately beside his roll-top desk, fanning his ruddy face with the hat, which had impressed a Un- i i to re- 4 volve his chair to face Baldwin, just as if he had been a client, for Bald- | win was the most important politician who had ever called upon him profes- sionally, He knew Baldwin had come with | some practical proposition, and when | the lobbyist suggested that he was too | respectable, and would run better in! some residence district, that the boys looked upon him as a reformer, and that the silk stockings were not prec- tical enough to help him, Underwood had felt that at last it was coming. | it was simple enough. Baldwin bad been talking that very morning about Underwood's candidature to Mr. Weed of the Metropolitan Motor System, and to Mr. Peabody, president of the Gas company, and they had been very much interested. They had an anxiety to see good men nominated that year, for they had large business interests that were more or less affected by legislation, and had feared they would have to settle on Conway. Conway had experience in legislative matters, e and had been friendly enough in the city council, yet they felt they could hardly trust him—he was such a grafter, and in such things, Baldwin blandly assured Underwood, they had Hi g gE i g 7 : g § E : : i = £ 8 i ¥ E li | ! : 8 fi Ls {i 4 £2 20 fs Underwood thought out his scheme | that afternoon, while hunting in the digest for cases in point to be cited In a case his father was preparing for the appellate court. The work of look- | Ing up cases in point, while its results | are Impressive and seem to smell of | the scheme, just what he would say | how he would appear, and so And so, when he entered Mal | lan’s place in Dearborn street, t evening, he was fully pre- e details of this incident just as the details of Bald- t had done—the empty sa- alderman himself leaning , his white apron rolled’ about his middle, the. nd hole at the corner mouth gone out, denoting that time for him to go down the Billy Boyle's and get his por and baked potato, Underwood watched Malachi Nolan mix his Martini cocktail, splash it pic- turesquely into a sparkling glass and bejewel it with a Maraschino cherry, then gravely take a cigar for himself | and stow it away in his ample waist: | coat. Then, as Nolan mopped the bar with professional sweep of his white sleeved, muscular arm, Underwood un- folded his brilliant scheme, skirting & Fis FEElt 3 a 3 5 § 2 FR gf I » MN “gt NEN to depend upon a man’s honor alone, and so they had sent Baldwin to sug- gest that Underwood meet them at luncheon, and talk matters over. Bald. win, with his love of ease and luxury, had preferred a dinner over at the Cardinal's in the evening, but Mr. Pea body had something on hand with the trustees of his church and couldn't meet them then. Baldwin had taken out his watch at this point, with the air of a man who suddenly remembers some important engagement—the de- tails all came back with a fidelity that was painful—and stood awaiting Un- derwood’s reply, with the open watch ticking impatiently in his palm. Of course, Underwood had under stood—and he wished ardently to be nominated and elected. He could see himself swinging idly in a big chair behind a walnut desk in the senate chamber, just as an actor sees him- self, with an artist's ecstatic, half- frightened gasp, in some new part he is about to study. The position would give him much importance, he would be riding back and forth between Chi- cago and Springfield on a pass, it would be so pleasant to be addressed as senator, to be consulted, to head delegations in state conventions and cast the solid vote for any one he pleased; besides, it would be a good training for Washington, he could practice in oratory and parliamentary law just as he practiced on friendless paupers over in the criminal court It meant only one little word, he could be wary of prom i : for principle. At F.ERREE pts fag $ - | - § 3 is iy : : F : & : 2 | : B43 ’ = 8 : § in the noisy convention hall, whether, A] daz, carefully the acute suspicions of an’ old politician. But Nolan mopped, blinking inscrutably, at last putting the damp cloth away in some myste- rious place under the counter. The fat Maltese cat, waiting until the mois. ture on the bar had evaporated, stretched herself again beside the sil ver urn that held the crackers and the little cubes of cheese. Still Nolan blinked in silence, like a hostile jury with its mind made up, until at last, more, then, half opening his blue Irish eyes, grunted: I “Well, I like your gall.” 's spirits fell, yet he was | . It was, after all, just what he had expected. It served | him right for his presumption, if noth- ing more—though the subdued re- former within had hinted at other rea- sons. He hung his head, twirling his empty glass disconsolately. He did\pot see the light that twinkled in the blue how very i f g Z gd 5% aid i £8 hi fl it jl ® fc elit j B g i 5 g E 8 il GEE EH = : in legislative district—a cosmopolitan bristling with sociological problems, a district that has fewer EE But perma- nent chairman now. It would be a ee years; he saw Conway's candidate for | the house, McGlone, over in the Sec with Nolan's crowd; he saw in the | First ward delegation, Malachi Nolan, | clean-shaven, in black coat and cravat, | his iron gray hair cropped short, calm | alone of all the others. He would have looked the priest more than the -saloon-keeper, had he smoked his ci- gar differently. Now and then he sol- emnly raised his hand, with almost the benediction of a father, to still the clamor of his delegation, which, with | its twenty-one votes, was safe at all | events for Underwood. ' Muldoon was Conway's man—they | | would try to make the tewaporary or- | ganization permanent. D'Ormand was Underwood's candidate. And Muldoon ' ‘won. Underwood had lost the first round. . i The candidates for senator were to | be placed in nomination first. Under | wood stood in the crowded doorway | and heard Conway's name presented. | Then, in the cheering, with his heart | in his sanded throat, he heard the chairman say: { “Are there any other nominations?” | There was a momentary stillness, | and then he heard a thick, strong | voice: | “Misther Chairman.” { “The gentleman from the First ward.” i “Misther Chairman,” the thick, stong voice said, “I roise to place in | nomynation the name of wan—" | It was the voice of Malachi Nolan, | and Underwood suddenly remembered | that Nolan was to place his name be fore the convention. He listened an | instant, but could not endure it long. | He could not endure that men should | see him in the hour when Wis vale | | HAVE ANENCACEMENT THIS MORN ) INC, MR.BALDWIN, [M SORRY, BUT 1CUESS | CANT COME.” was being thus laid naked to the world. Reporters were writing it down, perhaps the crowd would laugh or whistle or hiss. Besides, candi dates do not remain in the convention hall; they await the committee of noti- fication in some near-by saloon. He squeezed through the mass of men who stood on tiptoes, stretching their necks to see and hear the old leader of the First ward, and fled. The first ballot was taken—Conway, 81; Underwood, 30; Simmons, the «dark horse, 8; necessary to a choice, 35. The vote was unchanged for twenty-six ballots, till the afternoon had worn away, and the trucks had jolted off the cobblestones of Clark street, till the lights were flaring and hot-tamale men, gamblers, beggars, street walkers, all the denizens of darkness were shifting along the side- walks, till the policemen had been changed on their beats, and Pinkerton night watchmen were trying the doors of stores, till Chinamen shuffled forth, and Jewesses and Italian women ‘emerged for their evening breath of ‘air, bringing swart and grimy children to play upon the heated flags. some there. gE? 3 g 1 § i 4 Fe | fi : ! E i sk But the situation remained unchang- ed. : Once Nolan sent for Underwood and whispered to him. He thought he [Continued an page 7, Col. 1] . Yeager's Shoe Store “FITZEZY” The Ladies’ Shoe that Cures Corns Sold only at Yeager’s Shoe Store, Bush Arcade Building, BE] LEFON1E, } A Dry Goods, Etc. 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers