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 THE 
 
 REPORT 
 
 COMMITTEE OF ONE, 
 
 ON THE OFFICIAL LIFE 
 
 AND ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE 
 
 Hon. William S. Stokley, 
 
 MA.YOH 
 
 CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
THE 
 
 REPORT 
 
 COMMITTEE OF ONE, 
 
 ON THE OFFICIAL LIFE 
 
 AND ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE 
 
 Hon. William S. Stokley, 
 
 ma.yo:r 
 
 CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 1880. 
 

 I 
 
1 
 
 PREAMBLE. 
 
 In a vital political crisis like the present, it is the pressing duty of every good 
 citizen to perform his full share of the labor necessary to secure the people a safe 
 delivery from the evils by which they are imperilled. In the body politic, as in all 
 other bodies afflicted with a malady, the organs or parts affected are those requiring 
 treatment. Amputation of a well arm, will not benefit a crushed foot ; nor is cod 
 liver oil an especially happy remedy for dyspepsia. Indeed, it is very risky business 
 to doctor a patient when the disease cannot be located ; therefore the first great care o{ 
 the skillful physician must be to form a correct diagnosis. 
 
 The writer, having within the past ten years, visited every important city in 
 the United States, except one, considers himself capable of forming a reliable opinion 
 upon the soundness of municipal administrations. For the purpose therefore, of aid- 
 ing his fellow citizens to determine the exact condition of the executive department of 
 our city government, — to ascertain whether it is as diseased as some of the others 
 seem to be, — he resolved himself into a Committee of One, and gave this subject a 
 careful examination. 
 
 He is not an office-holder; has never held any public position except as an U. S. 
 Army officer ; nor is he seeking such distinction ; neither has he ever sat in a political 
 contention, but is simply one of those despised and rejected "fools" whose "errand" 
 is to find where Reform is needed at home. 
 
 In justice to all concerned it is necessary to explain, First ; — that this Review is 
 published without Mayor Stokley's knowledge or consent. Secondly ; that the writer 
 although having a slight personal acquaintance with his Honor, has never met him 
 but casually, nor a score of times in all. Thirdly; that the facts collated herein have 
 been obtained from public records, newspapers, officials, and some of the nearest con- 
 fidential and personal friends of his Honor, — without any individual suspecting or 
 being informed of the use intended to be made of the information. Fourthly, after 
 a searching investigation, the writer most emphatically believes and asserts, that his 
 narrative is so literally true that its statements cannot be controverted; and, finally, he 
 begs a full, attentive, and unprejudiced perusal of it, in the sincere hope that his 
 earnest effort in behalf of good government, may result in at least helping to secure it! 
 
 COMMITTEE OF ONE. 
 
 Philadelphia, December 6th, i83o. 
 
«ak«crwTi 
 
THE REPORT 
 
 OF A 
 
 COMMITTEE OF ONE 
 
 ON THE OFFICIAL LIFE AND ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE 
 
 HONORABLE WILLIAM S. STOKLEY, 
 
 MAYOR OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CITY COUNCILS. 
 
 WILLIAM S. STOKLEY was born April 25, 1S23, on Spruce 
 Street, above Tenth, in the city of Philadelphia. Financial 
 misfortunes, resulting from over-confidence in other men's integrity, 
 immediately preceded and probabably hastened his father's death. 
 Then he at once entered on the role of hero, in the well-worn 
 story of the self-made man. Not a selfish ambition, but a mother 
 to care for, and a younger brother and sister to educate, was the 
 generous spur that urged him to success. Proud of his social 
 and political achievements, as all men who have conquered the 
 world without assistance naturally are, he yet possesses the excep- 
 tional merit of desisting from perpetually blowing his own trumpet: 
 nor does he forever invite attention, — like an ill-bred child whom 
 accident has marked with old and painless sores, — to the scars that 
 tell of friction with misfortune. When he entered public service 
 he had built up a flourishing business on Eighth Street below Arch, 
 and was as pecuniarily prosperous as he is to-day, if not more so, — 
 which same can hardly be said with truth of all our public servants. 
 And it may be well to add, that the income he then commanded 
 
 5 
 
6 Common Council — Select Council. 
 
 was so moderate, that to relinquish all hope of its further increase 
 in order to promote the general welfare of his fellow-citizens, 
 either showed an abnormal disregard for the pleasures and powers 
 of wealth, or indicated a self-sacrificing patriotism that in these 
 latter days is phenomenal; so rare indeed, that the principal cause 
 of all our political trouble arises from allowing men who would 
 starve to death at anything else, to make a business of politics. 
 
 When, therefore, the citizens and tax-payers of the Ninth ward 
 solicited Mr. Stokley to represent them in the Common Council, he 
 cheerfully consented, and was elected a member of that body in i860. 
 His influence for good was immediately felt, and he continued to acquire 
 the increased confidence of his constituents and the respect of his 
 colleagues; the former, demonstrated by his successive re-elections; 
 the latter, by his being chosen President of the Council in 1865. Two 
 years later, in 1867, he was sent to leaven the Select branch, and was 
 made its President in 1868. Here he first gave a remarkable exhibition 
 of that executive ability to which the people of Philadelphia have 
 become so familiar, that their experience of its benefits has come to be 
 such a routine matter of course, many of them seem to underestimate 
 its value. Some years before this date the Volunteer Fire Department 
 had achieved its maximum usefulness, but, since then, had been so 
 rapidly retrograding, that its original ambition — the rescue of endan- 
 gered life and property — was perverted to practically result in the 
 destruction of both. Older citizens need only be reminded of the 
 horrible ruffianism which it bred, nurtured and protected under shelter 
 of law, — to again fully realize the importance of the undertaking 
 which effected its abolition, — and to appreciate the genius to whose 
 discernment, discretion, coolness and valor, they owe its destruction. 
 
 Except those Sunday papers, whose principal revenue was from 
 advertisements of Firemen's Balls, — press, pulpit and platform were 
 unanimous in demanding a change of the system, but as the system 
 was securely fortified behind an immovable mass of conservative 
 cowardice, and controlled mighty political power, for either offensive 
 
Abolition of the Volunteer Fire Department. 7 
 
 or defensive operations, these attacks were futile. Work, and not 
 wind, was needed. Councils had the undisputed authority to abolish 
 it, but who would be sponsor for the necessary Bill, — especially in that 
 lawfully conservative body, the Select Council, a large majority of 
 whose members were known to oppose a change — deeming it too 
 sweeping and radical. Many of the members of the Common Council 
 had just been elected under pledge to fight for one, and the others had 
 been wise enough to be benefited by Councilman Stokley's training when 
 he led that branch, — so the defenders of the Volunteers relied wholly on 
 the Select Branch, whose members had come in under the old regime, 
 and whose constitutional dignity was largely dependent upon their 
 capacity to ignore public clamor. 
 
 Whatever might be the ultimate result of the attack, — and the 
 chances were dead against success — every probability pointed to the 
 political annihilation of its leader : therefore he must be a man of 
 extraordinary courage; and fear of the vengeance which threatened 
 all sorts of violence, from the desperate ruffians and criminals, who 
 fattened as parasites upon the old organization, would have deterred 
 any but a physically brave man. President Stokley realizing the 
 importance of the emergency, and the necessity for delivering a blow 
 with momentum which would confound and confuse by its unexpected 
 aggressive force, decided to present the Bill himself. 
 
 The scene in the Select Council Chamber on that 21st day of 
 November, 1867, was one to lastingly impress the most callous 
 spectator. Members and privileged friends crowded the floor, and the 
 galleries were literally packed with the champion roughs, rowdies, and 
 blackguards of the city's slums. As soon as the course of routine 
 business permitted, Mr. Stokley, designating a temporary speaker on 
 whom he could depend for necessary co-operation, left the chair. 
 The confusion, which had been increasing during these proceedings, 
 had become a veritable tumult. When he took the floor and 
 announced the object of the Bill he proposed, such a terrific uproar 
 ensued as would have startled even pandemonium: cat-calls and 
 
8 Abolition of the Volunteer Fire Department. 
 
 curses, howls, hoots, groans, — growls and yells and shrieks,— made 
 the old Cradle of Liberty tremble with very indignation ! Every 
 form of vituperation, menace, sneer, and threat, that the language 
 can express, was hurled at the stout-hearted hero. There was no 
 retreating for him now; he was not there for that purpose either: he 
 had burned all his bridges behind him ; had weighed all the risks, and 
 was ready to accept his probable fate :' there he. stood, — calm, cool, 
 and quiet; — the champion of right, because it was right! 
 
 After this demonstration had partially exhausted itself with its 
 intensity, President Stokley raised his voice, and in tones which told of 
 inflexible purpose, commanded instant and continuous silence under 
 penalty of employing his official prerogative to clear the galleries by 
 arresting the offenders. Most likely astonishment and curiosity, as 
 much as fear, induced quiet. He then not only read the Bill, but 
 followed it by a ringing speech in which the demand of the 
 community for law, order, and justice, was so forcibly presented, and 
 the warning from the audacious outbreak they had just witnessed, so 
 solemnly urged, that his eloquence and pluck carried his colleagues 
 with him, and the Ordinance passed. Notwithstanding commendations 
 and congratulations poured in from all sides, yet the prophecy was in 
 everybody's mouth, "That's the last of Stokley!" — but it wasn't. 
 
 While President of the Select Council, he also attempted to 
 discount the present Reformation, by uprooting the great upas of 
 defilement before its increasing pestilence bred the rottenness which now 
 sends up so rank a stench that even our neighbors murmuringly com- 
 plain.' He had lived long enough in this mixed and mysterious world, 
 to notice that human nature makes curious developments in a majority of 
 men, if the conditions are only favorable. For instance, men who,, in 
 their individual characters, are as upright and honorable as men can be, 
 when joined together in a corporate body, seem to acquire a license to 
 perpetuate any amount or degree of rascality with perfect impunity, so 
 far as their personal consciences are concerned. By some psychological 
 metamorphosis, they seem to be morally blind to the slightest connection 
 
Councilman Stoklefs Views on the Gas Trust. 9 
 
 between iniquities committed by the body as a whole, and their 
 responsibility, as integral parts of that whole. Having been for many 
 years a member of the Presbyterian Church, and trained in its 
 doctrines and precepts by the Rev. John Chambers, his ideas on the 
 subject of accountability, were strictly orthodox: the prayer "Lead us 
 not into temptation ' ' was, therefore, second to none in importance in 
 his creed. To be sure, there are temptations which strengthen and 
 purify some characters, — so there is fire that cleans and burnishes 
 some materials, but these are rare exceptions, and the number in each 
 class is small ; — indeed, with the best of them, it is only a question 
 of time and intensity, until the test brings torture and tarnish and utter 
 destruction. 
 
 Removal of temptations and construction of safeguards, are all- 
 important aims to be attained by law-makers. Councilman Stokley 
 was expert in the application of this principle; from attentive and 
 careful study of the subject and close observation, he had reached the 
 conclusion that the people had no right to select a dozen men, — of not 
 more than ordinary mental calibre, not distinguished for the possession 
 of an inordinate amount of virtue, — give them exclusive possession of 
 a reservoir into which millions of dollars poured every year; leave 
 them to manipulate this treasure at their own sweet wills ; requiring no 
 security ; exacting no accounts ; making them responsible to nobody; 
 give them no compensation ; and then expect them to remain immaculate : 
 had no right to allow them, while rarely deigning a pretext, to spend 
 as much as they pleased of this untold wealth to buy any commodity 
 from brains to ballots, and then howl with horror at political corrup- 
 tion ; had no right to invest them with absolutely despotic power over 
 an immense army of servile vassals, and then expect them to discover 
 no selfish ambition ! But the people, who fired-off their patriotism 
 once a year with their Chinese crackers, could not spare time enough 
 from the great national every-fellow-for-himself-go-as-you-please race 
 after the almighty DOLLAR, to ascertain whether perfect men — such 
 as might be entrusted to execute such an imperfect law — existed or 
 
10 Abolition of the Gas Trust. 
 
 not. Therefore, as perfect men were not available, the loose law, 
 which fathered this monstrosity, must be altered; and, on January 
 1 6th, 1868, he caused to be introduced, in the Common Council, an 
 ordinance (prepared under his personal direction by his own private 
 counsel,) which provided for the transfer of the Philadelphia Gas 
 Works to the city ; for their subsequent care and management under a 
 Department of Gas; for the election of the Chief Engineer by 
 Councils (who should nominate such other officers as were necessary, 
 by and with the advice and consent of the Select Council) ; and for 
 the transfer of the Sinking Fund to the city. On the 23d of that 
 month it passed the Lower Chamber, and was immediately sent to the 
 higher, where, on the 30th, President Stokley called it up, and pushed 
 it through a third' reading, under a suspension of the rules, to a final 
 passage, by a vote of 23 yeas to 3 nays. February 1st it received the 
 mayor's signature and became a law. Here we have a noted instance 
 of his fidelity to the people's interests, not manifested by passive 
 vigilance, but by brilliantly planned and masterly executed aggressive 
 movements, — which, in more modern times, is ideal Reform. 
 
 The most dangerous result of the supremacy of this Oligarchy 
 sprang from the unlimited extent of its influence : the first aim of 
 every and each office-seeker was to secure it. Whether his aspirations 
 climbed for a seat on the Supreme Bench, or, only a School Director- 
 ship was the height of his ambition, he knew his case was hopeless if 
 our masters said nay. Likewise through the entire range, those 
 officials who were anxious for renomination or re-appointment, felt 
 comfortably well satisfied when occasions arose in which, by singular 
 coincidence, but usual good fortune, the requirements of law and 
 interests of the Oligarchy were mutually conserved through their 
 agency. Of course there were exceptions to this, as to all rules, and 
 they were found, as now, emanating from the most intelligent portions 
 of the community. Councilman Stokley was continued in the 
 municipal legislature just as a Caven or a Hunter is returned to-day, 
 and the parallel does not end here ; he was the master spirit that 
 
Fate of the Ordinance Abolishing the Gas Trust. 11 
 
 originated and guided many reforms, some of which can never be 
 surpassed, if equaled, as examples of patriotic heroism, or in the 
 incalculable and lasting good they have brought upon the community. 
 But often he only secured a host of unreliable allies, who were always 
 ready to make any sacrifice for the public weal — when it did not 
 interfere with their own individual interests (!) — and again, after 
 guiding them through the enemies' outposts, he frequently found, 
 before anything of real importance had been effected, that treacherous 
 defection or impregnable obstacles left him alone, with his labor and 
 pains for his only reward. It was so in this daring attack on the 
 Gas Trust in 1868, which appears to have been entirely forgotten. 
 They were completely surrounded, captured, for a fact, — and yet set 
 at liberty without disarmament, — without parole, — and why ? History 
 says they employed the most eminent legal talent in the profession to 
 present their appeal to the Supreme Court, and so ably was the 
 inviolability of the Trust set forth in the cases of Allen vs. City, and 
 Hilles vs. City, that the Court did not deem it even necessary to file 
 an opinion, but simply referred to a decision in a somewhat analogous 
 case, known as that of the " Western Savings Fund," thereby affirming 
 the city had no right to interfere with, or control its own servants. 
 
 [If the gentlemen of the Councils' Committee, now. in session, 
 have any real desire to depose this Oligarchy, or even to investigate 
 its transactions, they can better employ their time and labor, and the 
 people's money, than by marching over the same ground of attack that 
 William S. Stokley so thoroughly scouted twelve years ago. The 
 enemy is invulnerable at that, as at every other point but one. Taken 
 into a Court of Equity to disprove alleged breaches of trust, they can 
 there be compelled, and there only, to produce all the papers and 
 persons that may be essential ; and if the oath-bound evidence 
 elicited, substantiates the rumors and charges which have so long been 
 anonymously circulated, the Trust, or, at least the Trustees, will no 
 longer be a burden on the City (?). If the allegations are disproved, 
 — and no one should make greater efforts to facilitate an unimpeachable 
 
12 Constitution of the Gas Trust. 
 
 demonstration of their falsity than the Trustees themselves, if innocent, 
 — it will be shown they have been patient victims of wholesale libel 
 and abuse. By all means, then, let the matter be settled in the only 
 one effective way, and when the Trust gets into Court, if the City 
 Solicitor has been a man properly selected, and the Court administers 
 justice, this disgraceful scandal will be effectually squelched.] 
 
 The arguments which have been given as determining President 
 Stokley's course in relation to the Gas Trust, and the reasons defining 
 the logic of his action, are his own ; and it is authoritatively asserted 
 that time has only intensified his conviction, that the present system is 
 prolific of great mischief to this community. 
 
 It is one, which allows men whose only attainment is supreme 
 impudence, to be eligible as managers of an immense scientific 
 manufacturing enterprize; it puts them in possession of fabulous 
 amounts of money without requiring one penny security, thus 
 imposing an unwarrantable temptation to malfeasance; it ignores the 
 tax-payer and maintains a close corporation; it holds the latter 
 responsible for all obligations these men may see fit to incur; and, in 
 providing for the establishment of a powerful oligarchy, it perpetrates 
 a paradoxical absurdity, whereby the servants of a sovereign people 
 become its absolute and despotic masters, — a usurpation, inimical 
 alike to the constitution and fundamental laws of the country, state, 
 and city. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MAYOR. 
 
 It is not the province of a brief sketch like this, to elaborate 
 details. The record of a man capable of introducing, and success- 
 fully carrying through, the measures to which especial reference has 
 been made, is necessarily one of pride to his constituents, and grateful 
 memory to his fellow-citizens. That it was appreciated, his selection 
 to the highest office in the gift of the people, is conclusive evidence. 
 
Moral Condition of Philadelphia Prior to 1872. 13 
 
 William S. Stokley was elected Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, 
 October 10th, 1871, and was inaugurated on the First day of January, 
 1872. He was re-elected February 17th, 1874, for a second term to 
 begin on the First day of January, 1875. He was again re-elected, 
 February 20th, 1877, to enter his third term on the First day of 
 January, 1878. 
 
 No fair estimate of Mayor Stokley' s efficiency can be made without 
 allusion to the many and serious disadvantages under which he began his 
 administration. It is doubtful whether Philadelphia contains a citizen 
 more highly respected, or worthier of his reputation as a genial, upright 
 and honorable Christian gentleman, than his immediate predecessor; 
 yet, naturally gifted as he is, with so many of those qualities which 
 characterize the perfect man, his lack of a single talent, totally unfitted 
 him for the Chief Magistracy. During his term of office, wrong was 
 rampant, vice flourished, riot ruled, lawlessness raged, and crime held 
 high carnival; it was an epoch of which memory shudders. Not a 
 block in any of the principal thoroughfares of the city but contained 
 one or more gambling hells, and, in many cases, the upper rooms in 
 an entire square, were devoted to this vice. They scaled down in 
 increasing ratio from the gilded halls of Faro's court, to the lowest 
 grog and policy shop. Prostitution was advertised by glare of gas, 
 and crash of brass; so shameless were the indecencies publicly 
 practiced in resorts on two of our most fashionable streets, that their 
 notoriety became national, and their pernicious example felt in every 
 State of the Union. All grades of thieves, from the sneak to the 
 highwayman, were allowed to ply their vocations without fear of 
 punishment. Riots were of frequent occurrence and alarming 
 fatality. Elections, in many of the wards, were a mere farce. Plun- 
 derers and blackmailers, roughs and rowdies, masqueraded as police- 
 men ; and often openly instigated and assisted their less favored pals, 
 in breaking peacefully-disposed citizens' heads, or into their houses; 
 instead of being a terror to evil-doers, they were a scourge to law- 
 abiding people ; instead of being a safeguard to inoffensive men and 
 
14 Efforts to Improve It. 
 
 women, assassins, thieves, and harlots, depended upon their protection. 
 Philadelphia had more nearly reached the horrors of the Commune, 
 than, pray God, it ever may again. 
 
 William S. Stokley was inaugurated as Chief Magistrate, and the 
 conflict for the rescue of the good people of the city of Brotherly 
 Love, at once began. 
 
 He had used the interval between the date of his election and his 
 official instalment, in thoroughly organizing an effective police force. 
 This was completed with such skill and energy, and attention to the 
 minutest details, that, at the same hour he took the oath of office, his 
 new appointments — having reported at the various station-houses 
 to which they had been assigned — were sworn in, and at once marched 
 to their respective beats. 
 
 In calling attention to a few of the more important struggles in 
 the war which Mayor Stokely has since continuously waged for the 
 maintenance and preservation of good government, but a cursory 
 glance at the tables appended, will convince the most prejudiced 
 reader that only ceaseless vigilance on his part, is the price of the 
 people's liberty. Although occasional brilliant displays of genius, or 
 particular feats of heroism, either moral or physical, may sometimes be 
 shown by a man of ordinary ability, under accidentally favorable cir- 
 cumstances, — it is only one rarely gifted with the talent to plan, force 
 to execute, and wisdom to discriminate, who makes every emergency an 
 additional victory. There were many vicious nuisances, and novel 
 indecencies, the existence of which had not been contemplated, when 
 the criminal code of the commonwealth then in force, was framed, and 
 the Mayor at once concentrated all his personal and political influence, 
 to have the statutes revised. To his efforts we are mainly indebted for 
 many of the supplementary enactments restricting the sale of liquors, 
 the employment of waiter girls, alleged public amusements, the sum- 
 mary arrest and imprisonment of professional thieves, — and many 
 others which have from time to time been passed during his adminis- 
 tration, as their necessity became apparent. This, too, in the face of 
 
Crime, Criminals, and Criminal Laws. 15 
 
 bitter opposition, not only from the avowed lawless classes, but also 
 from the law-making body itself. It is a burning and shameful dis- 
 grace to the State, that for years, the standing committee of the Penn- 
 sylvania Legislature on Vice and Immorality, has been composed 
 almost entirely of rum-sellers and political roosters of the most 
 depraved sort. The result of this "joke," — as it it is called in 
 Harrisburg,— is manifest, on every attempt to make more emphatic 
 those prohibitions enacted to limit any description of immoral 
 traffic; either by open resistance, fatal delay, or, in many cases, the 
 introduction of some clause, proviso, or amendment, which practically 
 neutralizes their intended effect. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, existing laws were strictly enforced, and it 
 was not long before our prisons began to fill up; they soon became 
 inadequate to accommodate criminals whose careers had received a 
 sudden check: many thousands of whom hied to more congenial 
 climes. All gaming resorts were voluntarily closed or forcibly broken 
 up; gamblers were arrested, tried, convicted, and punished, irre- 
 spective of age, color, present or previous condition. 
 
 Some of them, backed by men who had cheated the people into 
 loading them with political honors; others, counting on the abuse of 
 personal friendship and influence; others still, fortified behind 
 immense bank accounts; directly promised or threatened, or appealed, 
 or, indirectly offered bribes, and made use of every means that subtle 
 address, ingenious cunning, and unscrupulous determination could 
 devise : but the solemnest threats, most beseeching entreaties, allure- 
 ments to tempt ambition, and weighty pecuniary considerations, were 
 alike futile. Fortunately for Philadelphia, its Chief Magistrate was 
 neither a clever knave, nor, what is still worse, an honest fool ; but an 
 able man of sterling integrity. , Some went to jail, some went to Jersey, 
 some went to work, — but they all left off public gambling. 
 
 There is a class of criminals really as dangerous to the security of 
 property as the thieves themselves, for without them the inducements 
 to commit these felonies would be confined to the exceptional motives 
 
16 Old-style Detectives. 
 
 of poverty or revenge. They are those who provide a market for 
 the plunder obtained, and are called "fences." Depredators having 
 no opportunities for disposing of their swag, and receiving no return 
 for their risky adventures, soon give up the business or migrate to more 
 encouraging localities. Thoroughly convinced that this was a fact, 
 one of Mayor Stokely's first moves was to break up these fences, 
 scattered as they were throughout the city, plying their trade with 
 bold effrontery. In order to do this more effectually he not only made 
 their vocation one of great danger, but also made it unprofitable. 
 
 The authorities of every city, town, and village, in the world exer- 
 cise more or less leniency towards that common failing of human 
 nature, by which the victims almost universally exhibit more concern 
 for the recovery of their property than for the punishment of the 
 robbers; and the larger their losses, the greater is their anxiety to 
 comply with any terms the criminals may propose. This compounding 
 of felony he had also determined to break up. The detectives he 
 found in the force were notorious as nothing but skillful and successful 
 go-betweens, who were always able to secure a portion of the stolen 
 property, but never the thief; — a kind of reward brokers ; — proprietors 
 of an official exchange through which the spoiler and despoiled 
 were heavily mulct, the one for immunity from punishment after the 
 principal evidences of his guilt had gone, the other for asking no 
 questions concerning what belonged to him. All but four of these 
 valuable officers were at once discharged, and a peremptory general 
 order issued, directing that all efforts should be concentrated on the 
 capture of the thieves, and not of the property ; — that any detective 
 discovered compromising or attempting to compound with a criminal 
 would be instantly dismissed. In a few weeks two more were removed, 
 and but two now remain on the force. 
 
 The severity of these measures, and the summary banishment of 
 these friends at court, created the greatest consternation among the 
 fraternity, which was aptly climaxed by another order — that, ampli- 
 fied, subsequently became embodied in one of the laws just referred 
 
Gas Works Riot — Bogus Diplomas. 17 
 
 to, (known as the "90 days' law")' which arrested on sight all grades 
 of professionals, from the youngest pickpocket to the oldest burglar, 
 and sent them to the House of Correction. This master stroke not 
 only caused the dispersion of much local talent, but the certainty of 
 being incarcerated immediately on their arrival in the city, — before 
 they had a chance to even plan their depredations, caused Philadelphia 
 to be carefully avoided by all the criminals in the country. 
 
 In June, 1872, less than six months after his inauguration, the 
 Stokers and Helpers employed by the Gas Trust, made a demand for 
 an increase of wages ; it was refused : threats were made, and violence 
 menaced; serious trouble was expected. The next day after the final 
 refusal, four hundred of them congregated in the vicinity of the 
 Market St. Works, organized a strike, and were marching to those 
 located on Callowhill Street, to persuade or force the men there to 
 join them, when they were met by the Mayor at the head of a posse 
 of police. He halted them, arrested the ring-leaders and dispersed 
 the rest without ceremony. No riot acts were read, no eloquence 
 wasted. He then took possession of the vacated works, protected 
 green substitutes who were speedily engaged, and managed the whole 
 business, so that the city did not lose a dollar by destruction of 
 property, nor its citizens a moment of light. Everybody had 
 conceded one or two nights of total darkness, with its consequent 
 alarming dangers, if the resolution of the Trustees was adhered to, 
 and everybody was surprised and rejoiced at this new method of 
 dealing with mobs, — notwithstanding their Chief Executive so 
 compromised the dignity of his honorable office, as to personally lead 
 his officers, and not delegate the danger and authority to some 
 subordinate. 
 
 During this year the increased effectiveness of the police force 
 was shown by the large number of arrests, which aggregated 
 40,007; and the weeding out process is evident, from a decrease of 
 some 10,000 commitments the following year. Reference to Table 
 II. will practically explain how greatly improved the moral con- 
 2 
 
18 Preparing for the International Exhibition. 
 
 dition of the city was, after the energetic renovation, instituted by 
 Mayor Stokely immediately on his assumption of power. 
 
 Among the civil acts of the Mayor in 1873 to which notice is 
 called because of its relation to the recent excitement on that subject, 
 is a message sent to Councils, September 9th ; which directed attention 
 to the illegal issue of medical diplomas, and asked the passage of a 
 resolution requesting the Attorney General of the State to proceed 
 against the " Medical University of Philadelphia." 
 
 That bogus doctor mills, which have been of incalculable harm to 
 our renowned colleges of medicine and surgery, and the disgraceful 
 cause of foreign official complaint to the general government, — were 
 allowed to continue their villianous frauds for the past seven years, is 
 not the fault of our Mayor. 
 
 Another message, sent October 30th, in this year, is worthy of 
 note, as another illustration of his prescience. Preparations were 
 being made for the approaching International Exhibition, and numer- 
 ous applications were submitted for the erection of temporary frame 
 houses; the Mayor's warning said: " Every additional wooden build- 
 ing will be a tinder box needing but a match or a cigar light, to 
 endanger the whole neighborhood, and I do solemnly conjure you to 
 forbear. ' ' 
 
 The Police Department began the year by contributing and 
 collecting $23,413.33 in aid of Exhibition. Long before the latter 
 opened, criminals of all grades began to infest the city, reconoitering 
 their prospective harvest — fields: confidence schemes of unparalelled 
 ingenuity were essayed ; numerous attempts were made to import the 
 highest developments of European vice; a bribe of a quarter of a 
 million of dollars was offered to secure the establishment of a 
 single gambling house. But the nature of the proposed Exhibition, or 
 the character of our Mayor had been woefully misjudged. This tidal 
 wave of iniquity he successfully dammed with the assistance of but 
 three hundred extra policemen, who were on duty for seven months in 
 the year. 
 
Fire in Elm Avenue. 19 
 
 It would be superfluous to remind any one then resident in 
 Philadelphia, of the marvelous success achieved by William S. 
 Stokley in preserving peace and good order, and security to life and 
 property; — the time is too recent; the achievement too stupen- 
 dous ! Every nation there represented has testified with most honor- 
 able mention, of his ability, zeal and integrity. No feature of that 
 great Exposition, which so astonished the civilized world, approached 
 in grandeur or approximated in interest, the exhibit of this republican 
 management of promiscuous millions. No matter what his future 
 career may be, Wiliam S. Stokley, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia 
 during the Exposition of 1876, will have the homage of grateful, 
 praise as long as history remembers the nation's first Centennial. 
 
 When the festivities were at their height, on September 9th, there 
 occurred an emergency which fulfilled his reiterated prophecies, and 
 placed every living person who had even the slightest interest in the 
 success of this Anniversary, under profound obligations to him. 
 About four o'clock in the afternoon of that date, a fire broke out at 
 Elm and Tishner streets, and spread rapidly among the wooden 
 shanties and houses which surrounded the Main Exhibition Building. 
 On the first alarm, the Mayor hastened to the scene and superintended 
 the efforts made to conquer the conflagration. For some time, owing 
 to the direction and velocity of the wind, it raged furiously, greatly 
 endangering the Main Building; but after consuming twenty frame 
 structures, the fire was got under control and then speadily quenched. 
 
 The preceding April, in vetoeing an ordinance for the erection of 
 a frame building on Elm Avenue, between Fortieth and Forty-first 
 Streets, he again called the attention of Councils to his Message of 
 1873, already alluded to, but neither warnings were heeded, and the 
 result was as he anticipated, although not so serious as he had feared. 
 There were quite a number of these buildings yet remaining in 
 this vicinity, liable, at any moment, to start another blaze and 
 imperil the Exhibition ; he, therefore took the dilemma by the horns 
 and mastered it in his usual fashion. A thorough personal examina- 
 
20 Destruction of Wooden Shanties. 
 
 tion of those still standing, convinced him they ought to come 
 down; consequently, on September 12th, the owners or tenants 
 occupying Elm Avenue were served with notices to remove their 
 shanties within forty-eight hours, or they would be demolished by 
 the police at the expiration of that time. Some of these parties 
 applied to the Court of Common Pleas, and, on the 14th of Septem- 
 ber, preliminary injunctions were granted restraining the Mayor from 
 further proceedings in the matter. Ninety-nine men out of a hundred 
 would have then considered their responsibility as assumed by the 
 Courts, and any interference on their part justifiably at an end, but 
 providentially the odd man was in the right place at the right time. The 
 case was pressed vigorously, and, on the 18th of September, the injunc- 
 tions were dissolved. The following day found the Grand Jury visiting 
 the locality, and, on the 20th, they made a special presentment to 
 the Judge then presiding in the Court of Quarter Sessions, in which 
 they stated that the frame structures on Elm Avenue, between Fortieth 
 and Fifty-second street, were dangerous, alike to life and property, and 
 were a public nuisance. In a few days twenty-seven wooden buildings 
 were either removed by their owners, or razed by the police under the 
 personal supervision of the Mayor. 
 
 Toward the close of the Exposition, he directed extraordinary 
 exertions to be made to protect the property on exhibition, especially 
 that displayed in the Main Building. The night force was strengthened, 
 and orders given to search closely, all vehicles passing in and out of 
 the grounds, — to examine suspicious bundles carried by persons 
 leaving by the several gates, — and to permit no one to approach the 
 fence during late hours. The officers and men about the Exhibition 
 Buildings were greatly stimulated and encouraged by his daily presence 
 in the different parts of that District, and, as one high in authority, 
 and a close observer, wrote, "public peace was preserved as if by 
 miracle ; and the phenomenal spectacle was presented to visitors, of 
 hundreds of thousands of people congregated without injury or 
 turbulence ! " 
 
Rail Road Riots. 21 
 
 In July, 1877, a general strike of railroad employees on lines in 
 the Eastern and Middle States, culminated in a serious riot at Pitts- 
 burg, which, through the sympathy born of local prejudice against the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and the treason, cowardice, or ina- 
 bility of that city' s municipal officers, — was allowed to become unmanage- 
 able. The city remained at the complete mercy of mobs until rescued 
 by U. S. troops. Millions of property was destroyed or stolen; a 
 mad revel of murder and arson, sacrificed many human lives ; the city 
 was irreparably disgraced, and is now being taxed to pay for the 
 wanton damage permitted. 
 
 The morning of Friday, July 15th, found the Mayor seeking 
 recuperation at Long Branch : the strike in Pittsburg had at that time 
 resulted in a suspension of travel, but nobody dreamed of its leading 
 to the serious disorder which followed. He took the first train home 
 and reached here about 1 1 A. M. Every hour had been bringing more 
 alarming news from the Smoky City, so, after a hurried visit to his office, 
 he went to the West Philadelphia Depot of the Pennsylvania Company. 
 Already crowds of idle and unruly men had assembled in the vicinity 
 of the depots and shops. Massing a large force of police in the 
 neighborhood, ready for instant service, he established his headquar- 
 ters in the Passenger Depot, — and awaited developments. They 
 came; — came fast and fatal. Regiments, companies, detatchments of 
 the National Guard were hurried west as quickly as they could be got 
 ready ; on Saturday more followed ; despatches recounted the ravages 
 of the rioters. Anticipating their effect on the vicious classes, he 
 caused a number of special patrolmen to be sworn in, that he might 
 concentrate a sufficient force of his tried men on the west side of the 
 Schuylkill ; every point was guarded ; stragetic movements were made, 
 and ceaseless vigilence exercised. Saturday night and Sunday morn- 
 ing took away all the city's National Guard, and brought worse and 
 worse news from the scene of disaster: the State troops were attacked 
 and routed ; the only effect they appeared to have on the mobs, was to 
 change their fun to fury. 
 
22 Preparations for Defense — Election Riot. 
 
 Meanwhile there had been several skirmishes with the immense 
 crowds that had gathered on and about the property of the Railroad 
 Company, and had become impudent and stubborn ; — but clubs were 
 still trumps in our game.* Monday was a field day for the police, who, 
 marshaled by the Mayor, not only broke the heads of the rioters, but 
 the backbone of the riot, when it was yet just old enough, — to be 
 squelched. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 19th, his Honor left the depot for the first 
 time since Friday. That no blood was shed, that no property was 
 destroyed, that no bills were to pay, that no encouragement was per- 
 mitted in Philadelphia for such develtry as dishonored Pittsburg, 
 thank William S. Stokley, Mayor ! 
 
 Quick to learn the lesson of the emergency, he immediately 
 consulted with Col. Whittemore, commanding the U. S. Arsenal at 
 Bridesburg ; opened telegraphic communication with his headquarters ; 
 arranged for a co-operation of his police with the few soldiers stationed 
 there ; borrowed enough regulation rifles to arm the municipal force ; 
 drilled them in off-duty hours until army officers declared them as 
 proficient as regulars; waited till peace and order had been restored 
 throughout the entire country: and then, but not till then, went 
 back to Long Branch to find what was left of the vacation he had lost. 
 
 That his marvelous success in* dealing with mobs is still to be 
 depended on, the late disturbance on election night, in Broad Street, 
 is convincing evidence. As soon as the marching column was attacked, 
 the Mayor rushed into the midst of the me4ee from the Union League 
 Club House, before the squad on duty in the neighboring station 
 house got on the ground. With the assistance of the comparatively few 
 policemen, who had been detailed to regulate the crowd, disorderly 
 persons without regard to political affiliations, were summarily dealt 
 with ; and hundreds of eye witnesses will testify that to his presence 
 alone, is due the preservation of many imperiled lives and limbs, and 
 the escape of the Americus Club House from being thoroughly gutted. 
 
 * For explicit details, see Addenda, page 46. 
 
Variety Theatres — Licenses. 23 
 
 So much for his peace-preserving power. Illustrations of it might 
 be repeated indefinitely, but are not necessary to influence any judg- 
 ment worthy of respect or attention. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 VARIETY THEATRES. 
 
 There are classes of men — the women are all of one class — in 
 every large city, who crave suitable food to satisfy their abnormal, 
 beastial appetites, and their patronage, supports what are known as low 
 variety theatres, music halls, free concert saloons, and similar resorts 
 of alleged amusement. Elderly roues, fast young men, and the more 
 degraded laboring youth, frequent them; they are also rendezvous for 
 the lower orders of criminals and lewd women. Their success depends 
 upon the indecency of their exhibitions, or the facilities provided for 
 encouraging illicit sexual intercourse. Their effect upon the 
 community is immoral, vicious, sinful; — on neighboring properties, 
 disastrous, — by lowering particular assessed values, they increase 
 general taxation — they are a scourge and a curse to society. 
 
 No one more fully realizes these facts than Mayor Stokley, and he 
 has used his utmost power to rid the city of them, but, he is bese^with 
 insurmountable difficulties. Let us examine some of them. In the 
 first place, their alleged purpose is lawful ; and, until last year, he has 
 had no discretionary power in licensing them ; — indeed, it has only 
 been within a month that that power was clearly defined. In the 
 spring of 1878, a license was refused to one, Miller, the proprietor of 
 a vile resort on Vine street : the Mayor was taken into court on a 
 mandamus, and Judge Mitchell decreed that the Act of March 30th, 
 1868, — under which the application had been made, — left the Mayor 
 no discretion in the matter ; and he was directed to issue the license, 
 or, in other words, legalize the performance, whether he wanted to 
 or not. Miller therefore continued his establishment, but, heeding 
 the implied warning, has shrouded the indecency of his place with 
 such a semblance of respectability, that it has not cropped out until 
 
24 Attempts to Suppress Variety Theatres. 
 
 within the past few days. Immediately after this failure the Mayor 
 held a consultation with the law officers of the City, which resulted in 
 the drafting of a bill to supersede the objectionable statute. A high 
 officer of the department went to Harrisburg to personally explain and 
 press the measure : it was finally passed, — but with a proviso appended 
 by the Vice and Immorality Committee, to which attention has 
 already been called, — which greatly neutralized its effect, making 
 affidavits of interested opponents practically necessary, and permitting 
 an appeal, which shall be final, — from the Mayor's decision to the 
 Court of Quarter Sessions. Yet, even under this defective law, he has 
 just prevented the opening of a low theatre on Arch street ; and the 
 Community may rest assured that hereafter, every indecent resort that 
 shames this city, will exist solely because of the interference, and on 
 the responsibility of, the Court of Quarter Sessions. 
 
 Secondly : — Whenever these nuisances are raided, it frequently 
 happens that the elderly roues are men of political influence, or 
 that the fathers of fast young men have sufficient respectability to 
 shield their sons from public disgrace, or, as has occurred, the 
 pecuniary backers of the managers are politicians of wealth and power. 
 Thirdly : — Courts are loath to admit, juries slow to believe, the 
 testimony of policemen ; they allege that no matter what other quali- 
 fications they possess, they generally testify too much or too little ; 
 and the opposition and interference of the Department, unsupported 
 and unassisted by reputable private citizens, has t@o much the air of 
 antagonism to democratic principles. It is very doubtful whether the 
 Arch street enterprise would not have eventually succeeded if the in- 
 terested owners of property in the vicinity had not given the Mayor all 
 the assistance in their power, and implicitly followed his instructions.* 
 Fourthly ; — it requires more open violation, and flagrant dis- 
 turbance of the public peace, than is generally found in these places, — 
 to justify a raid. Yet, in spite of all these and other obstacles, Mayor 
 Stokley has accomplished the destruction of the worst of these dives, 
 and secured the conviction and punishment of some of their proprietors. 
 
 * See Addenda, page 45. 
 
Sunday Liquor Law. 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SUNDAY LIQUOR LAW. 
 
 There is a general law of this Commonwealth, having an universal 
 application, which the great majority of our people cheerfully obey 
 and always have respected. Years ago a certain class infringed it from 
 purely selfish considerations, to such an extent that stricter measures 
 were enacted to secure its enforcement. From time to time, these 
 were found inadequate, so more specific laws were made, imposing 
 heavier punishments and severer penalties. The antagonism between 
 Society and this particular Class, has grown in bitterness up to the 
 present time ; the former resisting the establishment of a privileged order 
 in their midst, — over whom the law is powerless, — and equally bent 
 on guarding its weaker members as far as can be done within 
 constitutional limits, — from the degrading influence of their opponents : 
 the latter, with superior energy, evading and defying any interference 
 which would retard the more rapid accumulation of wealth by the 
 individuals who compose it. That this Class is allowed to exist in 
 open rebellion against supreme authority, is therefore not for want of 
 legislation; indeed, almost every year renewed attempts are made to 
 re-vivify and invigorate practically dead letters. Consequently, the 
 responsibility lies with our administrative officers. 
 
 Were the effects of this lawlessness confined to the pernicious 
 example that its toleration in a pure democracy involved, it would be 
 sufficiently vicious to excite alarm; but when it directly, tends to 
 abase and harm, and indirectly, but no less powerfully, to incite its 
 victims to other and more serious misdemeanors and felonies, it 
 becomes a crime of fearful gravity against Society. 
 
 The retailing of intoxicating liquors on Sunday, is general 
 throughout the ( ity: formerly, whatever of this traffic was carried on, 
 was done with all possible secrecy and caution, to avoid detection and 
 certain punishment: at this writing, Sunday brings the most profitable 
 business of the week to many tavern keepers. The statutes prescribe 
 
26 Sunday Liquor Law — Privileged Classes. 
 
 severer penalties than ever before, the great mass of the citizens 
 deplore and condemn more earnestly, and yet the rum-sellers uncon- 
 cernedly ignore all restrictions, appeals, or threats, and continue 
 defiant with that calm insolence which always characterizes " Privileged 
 Classes!" The people know all this, but too well, and naturally 
 demand of the Chief Executive Officer of the City, in no gentle tones, 
 why these laws are not enforced 7 They do it in Churches, in Halls, and 
 through the newspapers, and by petitions. But the Mayor only 
 attends one church ; and is disqualified by that same high office which he 
 holds, from answering through the press. When, however, petitions 
 are perchance submitted to him by the petitioners in person, or a 
 delegation from them, he explains; and the explanation is apparently 
 so satisfactory that the agitation ceases, — until the next election comes 
 around. Meanwhile, those uninformed, doubt, distrust, condemn, and 
 abuse him, with gross injustice, for he is not only as innocent as they 
 from all responsibility for this great evil, but as powerless to prevent it; 
 suffering at the same time a pain they have not risked — that of 
 the mortification of failure in most earnest efforts to crush it. 
 Again and again have these law-breakers been arrested, but so 
 indifferent and insolent have they become, it is an actual fact, that 
 after entering bail — which is always ready — they give the matter so 
 little further attention, they rarely take the trouble to go to court 
 when their cases are called for trial : — if proceedings ever get that far ! 
 
 The following incident illustrates several features of the present 
 outrageous system which thoughtful men will do well to ponder over: 
 In one of the most respectable neighborhoods in a resident section 
 of the city, there is located a liquor saloon, the proprietor of which 
 had been particularly impudent in his violation of the Sunday laws, and 
 the Mayor, after first sending him a peremptory order to close his 
 place, — without the slightest effect — took especial precautions to 
 establish several direct and positive infringements ; he then arrested him, 
 insisted upon and secured his trial, and the man was — acquitted. 
 
 Shortly afterwards a gentleman, well known and highly respected, 
 
Sunday Liquor Law — Lllustrations. 27 
 
 called and made an earnest complaint against this same person. He said 
 the congregation of the Church he represented, — and of which he was 
 a leading member — situated but a short distance from the tavern in 
 question, was seriously annoyed and scandalized every Sunday, by the 
 shameless manner in which this rum-mill was run ; and that, while on 
 their way to and from divine worship, he and his family, and his 
 neighbors, were compelled to hear infamous and obscene language 
 from the loafers who regularly assembled there. He, therefore, insisted 
 the law should be executed, and the nuisance stopped. 
 
 After describing his own failure, the Mayor asked him to put himself 
 to a little trouble by making a personal effort ; — to go to the saloon on 
 the next Sunday, call for liquor, drink and pay for it, and then on Mon- 
 day, sue out a warrant for the proprietor's arrest. He promised to do so, 
 and, on the next Sunday, carried out the plan -to the smallest detail. 
 The proprietor was arrested and bound over for trial ; the gentleman 
 who made the complaint attended Court continuously, at serious 
 inconvenience to himself and neglect of his business, in order to 
 testify, but the case did not come up. Day after day, on one pretext 
 or another, or none, it was postponed ; but still he was there ready 
 and anxious, until one morning, after about six weeks of this farce, 
 he was compelled, by an imperative engagement, to absent himself 
 from the Court-room for a few hours. During his absence the case 
 was called, the man tried (?), and, for lack of evidence, acquitted. 
 
 Now the secret of all this chicanery, or at least so much of it 
 as may dare be exposed, is this: — The retail liquor dealers belong to 
 an organization known as the Liquor Dealers' Association ; this Asso- 
 ciation employs as permanent counsel, lawyers of tried ability and 
 influence, who possess means of obtaining any information that may 
 be useful to their clients, are always watchful, alert, and command 
 ever-ready resources ; they stand an invincible guard, impassable to 
 blinded Justice. 
 
 Whenever they are ready for trial, they get it, — and an easy 
 victory; whenever they want delay, Dame Fortune leaves her 
 
28 Sunday Liquor Law — Lllustrations. 
 
 wheel and leads her hoodwinked Sister on some merry chase until, 
 by some chance accident, she trips and falls. The stumbling-block 
 may be, as in the case just cited, the absence of a material witness, or 
 it may be, — something else; as happened just one year ago, in twenty- 
 nine cases reported in the Evening Bulletin of Saturday, November 
 22d, 1879, ^ follows: — 
 
 ALASKA STREET. 
 
 THE RECENT RAID — THE SUNDAY LIQUOR SELLERS SET FREE — THE BILLS 
 IGNORED — WHAT THE CHIEF OF POLICE SAYS. 
 
 Mayor Stokely has made repeated efforts to get rid of the nuisances existing in 
 what is known as the Alaska street district, but he "does not seem to be properly 
 sustained by the officials who take charge of matters after he has done his duty. The 
 great cause of most of the degradation of the people in that section of the city is the 
 existence of numerous small taverns, which, perhaps, ought to be designated as " rum 
 holes." In these places the vilest kind of liquor is sold at prices ranging from one to 
 five cents a glass. Then there are what are known as " cheap lodging houses," where 
 lodgings and liquor are to be had, and then again, not in Alaska street but on the 
 outskirts', are the more pretentious saloons where better customers obtain better liquor. 
 
 The late raid in that district was carefully arranged by Chief of Police, Samuel 
 I. Givm, under special directions of Mayor Stokley, and was made with a special 
 view of abolishing some of. the existing evils. Twelve careful officers were selected 
 from the different districts. They were disguised in clothes similar to those worn by 
 the residents in that locality, and went through the district and bought liquor on 
 Sunday, it being notorious that nearly all the places do a very large business on that 
 day. This was evidence against the tavern-keepers, and upon it the warrants were 
 issued. The raid was made. A large number of persons were captured. The result 
 was that many of the poor, miserable creatures arrested were sent to the House of 
 Correction and the tavern-keepers were held for trial. The returns were made to the 
 District Attorney and indictments were drawn in the usual form, charging the sale of 
 liquor on Sundays. Yesterday these bills were all returned by the Grand Jury marked 
 " Ignored — County to pay the costs." 
 
 THE BILLS IGNORED. 
 The following is a list of the bills " ignored," with the names of the witnesses 
 and the bail for the defendants ; 
 
Sunday Liquor Law — Illustrations. 
 
 '2',) 
 
 "Jo. 
 
 NAME. 
 
 WITNESSES. 
 
 227 
 
 :::',» 
 
 ■r.2 
 
 •j;M 
 
 23<; 
 
 Robert Henderson 
 J. Dougherty, 
 Thomas Morley, 
 Kate Brackenreed 
 Theodore Winkler 
 Frank Gallagher, 
 Julia Clifford, 
 Bernard Logan, 
 Thomas Howard, 
 H. Roth, 
 Peter Cahill, 
 237 Frank Bickman, 
 233 Thomas McClosky. 
 
 239 James Christy, 
 
 240 James McKinney, 
 241 1 Edward Welsh, 
 
 Dennis Quinn, 
 243 Patrick Quigley, 
 
 Thomas Griffin, 
 245; Hugh Boyle, 
 
 246 P. Glenn, 
 
 247 Philip Griffin, 
 
 218 John Holt, 
 
 249 Patrick O'Kane, 
 
 250 James Milligan, 
 25l'j.Twohig, 
 
 252 Michael Casey, 
 2">3 Michael Moran, 
 254 James Dougherty, 
 John M. Hughes, 
 B. McGarriglo, 
 
 ( N. W. cor. 7th and 
 \ Bainbridge, 
 J N. E. cor. 6th and 
 { Bainbridge, 
 8th &, Bainbridge, 
 f N. W. cor. 8th and 
 X Bainbridge, 
 529 Bainbridge, 
 G44 Bainbridge, 
 732 Alaska, 
 012 Bainbridge, 
 / S. W. cor. 5th and 
 ( Bainbridge, 
 630 Bainbridge, 
 
 /N. E. cor. 7th and 
 X Bainbridge, 
 
 iS. W. cor 7th and 
 Bainbridge, 
 S. E. cor. 8th and 
 Bainbridge, 
 
 / N. W. cor. 6th and 
 X Alaska, 
 ( S. E. cor. 6lh and 
 X Alaska, 
 
 524 Alaska, 
 
 fS.W. cor. 7th and 
 ( Alaska, 
 f N. E. cor. 6th and 
 X Alaska, 
 
 730 Alaska, 
 
 /S. E. cor. 7th and 
 1 Alaska, 
 
 728 8 Seventh, 
 
 f S. E. cor. 7th and 
 
 1 Baker, 
 
 37 Spaffbrd, 
 
 '43 S. Sixth, 
 J745 S. Sixth, 
 '788 S. Sixth. 
 ;737 S. Seventh, 
 |G16S. Seventh, 
 | /N.E. cor. 5th and 
 1 X Alaska, 
 If N. E. cor. 7th and 
 
 I Alaska, 
 
 n«s„^-o /Simpson, 21st Dis 
 0fficer8 1 Ulrich, 21st Dist. 
 Officers { Simpson.. 2.1st . Dist, 
 
 Officers- 
 Officers 
 
 Officers • 
 Officers - 
 
 Officers - 
 
 Officers ■ 
 Officers 
 
 Ulrich,21st Dist. 
 Simpson, 21st Dist, 
 Ulrich, 21st Dist. 
 Simpson, 21st Dist 
 Ulrich, 21st Dist. 
 Simpson, 21st Dist, 
 Ulrich, 21st Dist. 
 Simpson, 21st Dist, 
 Ulrich, 21st Dist. 
 /Bond, 8th Dist, 
 t Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 nffi™-„ /Simpson, 21st Dist, 
 Officers | uiriSh, 21st Dist. 
 (->«;„„,.<, i Simpson, 2lst Dist, 
 0ffieers 1 Ulrich, 21st Dist. 
 
 r>«?«n-c /Simpson, 21st Dist. 
 Officers i Ulr £ h] 2 ' ut Dist 
 
 r\«? „„,.=. 'Simpson, 21st Dist. 
 Officers -j Ulri ^ h) 2 < l9t hist 
 
 Simpson, 21st Dist. 
 Ulrich, 21st Dist. 
 Simpson, 21st Dist, 
 Ulrich, 21st Dist. 
 
 ( Tate, 4th Dist. 
 Officers^ Eckstein, 23d Dist, 
 
 (Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 nffi^™ J T at e , 4th Dist. 
 0fficers { Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 
 ( Tate, 4th Dist. 
 Officers^ Eckstein, 23d Dist. 
 
 (Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 
 f Tate, 4th Dist. 
 
 1 Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 
 ( Tate, 4th Dist. 
 Officers^ Eckstein, 23d Dist. 
 
 ( Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 
 ( Tate, 4th Dist. 
 Officers^ Eckstein, 23d Dist. 
 
 (Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 
 (Bond, 8th Dist. 
 Officers -{ Eckstein, 23d Dist. 
 
 (Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 
 f Sutler, 7th Dist. 
 
 i Rusk, 10th Dist. 
 pr „ I Sutler, 7th Dist. 
 Officers | Rugk> lmh Dist 
 
 Officer /Sutler, 7ih Dist. 
 Officers j Rusk) 1Qth Dis( . 
 
 Officers f Sutler,. 7th Dist. 
 
 Officers 
 
 isk, 10th Dist. 
 
 nffi „„f Sutler, 7th Dist. 
 Officers i Rusk> 1Qth D . st 
 
 nffl „ , /Sutler, 7th Dist. 
 Officers | Rugk> ' 1(rthDist . 
 
 n«;„„^ (Sutler, 7th Dist. 
 0fficers t Rusk, 10th Dist. 
 nffi«„^„ ) Sutler, 7th Dist, 
 Officers j Rusk) ' 10th Dist 
 
 /->«?„„-„ /Bond, 8th Dist. 
 Officers } { EUiott> lgt Dist _ 
 
 (Bond, 8th Dist. 
 Officers -< Eckstein, 23d Dist. 
 (Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 
 nffi^^c /Bond, 8th Dist. 
 0fficer9 l Elliott, 1st Dist. 
 
 / Wm. McMuIlin, 
 X 629 S. Ninth. 
 /Edward Coyle, 
 1 120 S. Fourth. 
 |H. B. Bunting, 
 X 1430 N. 15tn. 
 H. B. Bunting. 
 
 /James Hyland, 
 | 220 South. 
 j John Donolme, 
 X 934 S. Eighth. 
 
 John Donohue. 
 /Henry Logan, 
 "1 706 Christian, 
 f Edward Coyle, 
 X 1209 S. Fourth. 
 J M. Levi, 
 I 722 S. Eighth. 
 ( Richard Hazard, 
 X Rear 619 S. 7th. 
 Marcus Michel. 
 W. McMuIlin. 
 
 Wm. McMuIlin. 
 
 /Thomas Stewart, 
 X 740 S. Third. 
 
 W. McMuIlin, 
 
 {John Donohue, 
 734 S. Eighth. 
 
 f W. McMuIlin, 
 X 629 S. Ninth. 
 /James Kevvitt, 
 X 732 S. Seventh. 
 
 iJohn Donohue, 
 734 S. Eighth. 
 John Dailey, 
 610 Penn, 
 J James Hyland, 
 1 220 South. 
 
 W. McMuIlin. 
 W. McMuIlin. 
 
 /Edward Trainer, 
 X 802 S. Front. 
 Wm. McMuIlin. 
 Wm. McMuIlin. 
 
 f Thomas Marley, 
 I 803 S. Tenth. 
 ("Jas. Dougherty, 
 -I N.E.cor.Gthand 
 
 ( Bainbridge. 
 
30 Responsibility for its Infringements, 
 
 A SURPRISE. 
 
 The announcement in the Bulletin of yesterday that the bills had been ignored 
 was a great surprise to the Mayor, Chief of Police and other officers engaged in the 
 raid. It was supposed that the evidence was complete, and that "true bills" would 
 certainly be found by the Grand Jury. The action of the Grand Jury is very mysteri- 
 ous. An examination of the indictments showed that opposite the names of the 
 witnesses, except in one instance, was an X. Inquiry among the officers of the District 
 Attorney's office as to this X brought forth the information that it meant that the 
 witnesses had been examined. Every witness on all the bills, except one, were so 
 marked, and on that particular bill there were no check marks. All of the bills bear 
 the signature of Wra, J. Swain, foreman. 
 
 Mayor Stokley, in speaking of* the matter this morning, said : " I do not know 
 what to make of it. My officers were all reliable men. The public and the news- 
 papers have often demanded that I shall suppress the Sunday liquor traffic, and all oj 
 my efforts have resulted in the same way as this last raid in Alaska street." 
 
 Chief of Police Givin said : " / cannot account for the action of the Grand fury. 
 Although I was in command of the raid J was not summoned as a witness, nor was 
 I notified to send the officers before the Grand fury. It is always customary to notify 
 the Chief of Police when officers are wanted either in court or before the Grand 
 fury." 
 
 The District Attorney is the law officer who is charged with the 
 presentation of cases for trial, and it is the District Attorney who also 
 prepares and conducts all indictments submitted to the Grand Jury ; 
 and, being the authoritative representative or agent of the Court, and 
 the official exponent of the law, the latter rarely disregard his advice or 
 instructions. Why the proper witnesses were not called when these cases 
 were before the Grand Jurors, may, perhaps, be explained by a desire 
 on the part of the District Attorney to limit the costs which the County 
 were mulct, to a minimum: had true bills been found, and the 
 accused gone into Court, they would have been acquitted of course, 
 and then the expenses would have been much heavier. It may 
 however, not have been a question of money. Perhaps, perchance, 
 the distinguished bailors were able to establish the immaculateness of 
 their companions and friends, the bailees! At the least, the latter 
 
Police Witnesses. 31 
 
 were fortunate in possessing such eminent sureties as Squire McMullin 
 
 and the other politicians of the lower regions of the city. 
 
 These cases to which reference has been made, are not 
 exceptions; the same inviolable rule governs the disposition of all 
 of them when members of the Liquor Dealers' Association are the 
 defendants. 
 
 Even when these violations of the liquor laws reach Court 
 and are submitted to a jury, the same objections to police testimony 
 exist, as were mentioned in reference to alleged variety theatre cases, 
 and in a still more aggravating form ; for insult is added to injury, by 
 allowing witnesses to be ridiculed and bullied beyond all reason. 
 In order to secure legal evidence, the officers detailed for this duty, 
 are obliged to drink and pay for intoxicating liquor; and this 
 fact affords an excuse and alleged justification for unlimited abuse 
 from the counsel for the defense. For instance, they are compelled 
 to answer questions similar to these: — 
 
 "How do you know you drank whiskey? " 
 " How do you know what you drank was intoxicating? " 
 ' ' How many times have you ever been drunk ? ' ' 
 • ' In the past (year, or month or week) ? ' ' 
 " How do you know when you're intoxicated ? " 
 " Do you consider yourself a good judge of rum? " 
 " How long have you been practicing ? " 
 " How many drinks does it take to make you drunk? " 
 "How many drinks did you take at each place, and how many 
 places did you visit ? ' ' 
 
 "Did you go home on a shutter, or a wheelbarrow, or did you 
 lie in the gutter all night? " 
 
 "Why weren't you arrested?" 
 "Who paid for this drunk?" 
 
 "Has the condition of morals reached such perfection in the 
 good city of Brotherly Love that Mayor Stokley hasn't any other 
 use for his policemen than to send them off on toots at the expense 
 of the taxpayer?" 
 
32 
 
 The County's Law Officers and the Sunday Liquor Laws. 
 
 These are only ordinary samples of the interrogatories thundered 
 or sneered at the best set of men who ever filled the positions they 
 hold. 
 
 Then there is a roaring and ranting about "conspiracies," and 
 "set up jobs," and "validity of evidence ! " The average juror takes 
 it all in, and lets the prisoners go. 
 
 So it has come to pass, that the Mayor declines to detail his 
 patrolmen on this demoralizing, degrading, and useless duty. When 
 the three hundred cases and more, which arc at this moment pigeon 
 holed in the office of the District Attorney of the County of Philadelphia, 
 are disposed of in some other way than by the statute of limitation, his 
 Honor will feel justified in again opening a crusade against the omni- 
 potent rum sellers ! 
 
 Friends of the Temperance cause, and all other good Citizens! 
 Now that the truth of this matter is clearly and explicitly brought to 
 your knowledge, do you not think justice, reason, and fair play, 
 demand that you should change the invocation that heads your peti- 
 tions, and pray the District Attorney? Or, better still, the Courts 
 themselves, that they shall direct their prosecuting officer to perform 
 his duty? 
 
 The gentleman who has just been chosen to fill that responsible 
 position, is not accountable for the neglect of his predecessor; but 
 whenever you find the grog shops of this city in full blast on Sunday, 
 go to him and demand the number of untried cases for this offense, he 
 has upon his docket ! If there are none, then, but not till then, peti- 
 tion the Mayor. Nor is it sensible or right, gentlemen, to blame 
 him for refusing to allow his officers to swill rum under a pretext of 
 duty, when nothing but their own inevitable demoralization is effected 
 thereby! Let the District Attorney of this county prosecute— and 
 prosecute to convict— the offenders against these laws which are 
 brought before him, and you may rest well assured, fellow-citizens, 
 there will never be occasion for another petition while William S. 
 Stokley is Mayor of Philadelphia ! 
 
Private Official Acts. 33 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PRIVATE OFFICIAL ACTS. 
 
 The moral courage, force of character, soundness of common 
 sense, and impregnable integrity, which have distinguished our present 
 Mayor during his official career to an unprecedented degree, are 
 exhibited not only when sure to earn the plaudits of the people, but they 
 no less govern his private magisterial acts. Friends nor foes, power nor 
 poverty, influence nor enmity, threats nor tears, can change his course 
 one jot or one tittle, when the rights of the City are in question, or 
 the efficiency of its police liable to be affected. 
 
 The commanding officer of one of the Districts recently reported 
 through the proper channels, that a certain street passenger railroad 
 company was about to lay an extra track along a short distance of their 
 route. The Mayor immediately sent orders to the contractors to stop 
 their preparations. In a short time a message was received from the 
 President of the company, that " it was all right ! The Commissioner of 
 Highways had given him permission to go ahead. ' ' But the Mayor replied 
 that, "the Commissioner of Highways had no more right to give you 
 
 permission to build, than I have to allow it to be done " Within 
 
 an hour after receiving this message, the President, accompanied by one 
 of the other officers of the company, — men whose authority in street 
 railroad matters is only exceeded by that they exercise in municipal 
 and State politics, — personally visited him, and endeavored to convince 
 him, as they had the Commissioner of Highways, that this supple- 
 mentary track would not only accommodate them in particular, but 
 the community in general ; but, — while His Honor expressed deep 
 regret at being compelled to disoblige the public, — he remained 
 inflexible, and the street in question as yet contains but two rails. 
 
 When the late Clerk of Quarter Sessions was so badly hurt in a 
 
 fracas on Eighth Street, he had no idea at the time that his injuries 
 
 were so serious, and made light of the matter to the patrolman who 
 
 came to his assistance. The latter, influenced probably by the political 
 
 3 
 
34 Discipline of the Police Force. 
 
 standing of the participants, as well as the protestations of the victim, 
 made no report of the occurrence to the proper authorities. He was 
 summarily dismissed the force, and neither the solicitations of intimate 
 personal friends, nor of politicians, nor the urgent and unanimous 
 petition of the storekeepers on Eighth Street along the line of his beat, 
 were able to induce the Mayor to reinstate him, even conditionally. 
 This was an extreme case, for the man had a most honorable record as 
 a trustworthy officer, and the circumstances were somewhat extenu- 
 ating ; but discipline required his punishment, and its effect has been 
 most salutary : any infractions of law or order are now reported with 
 even less fear or favor than before ; because official decapitation is sure 
 to follow any neglect, with the certainty of fate itself. 
 
 The great superiority of our police is due to the discriminating 
 judgment exercised in their selection; the efficiency of the proba- 
 tionary term for substitutes; the strictness of discipline maintained 
 throughout the force, and the existence of an esprit de corps which 
 elevates its morale, and supplements discipline with zeal ; which latter 
 is due to the knowledge the men have, that as the Mayor holds them 
 to a strict accountability, — with equal exactness does he hold himself 
 responsible for them to the City. 
 
 From the Chief,— schooled to command in a score of battles,— 
 a colonel's commission his diploma,— down to the lowest substitute, 
 each man knows his position depends solely on the efficiency with 
 which he performs his duty; and what is the consequence? Life and 
 property are to-day, better protected in Philadelphia, and at less 
 expense to the taxpayer, than in any other city on the globe. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 VETO POWER. 
 
 That prerogative of the Chief Magistrate of the municipality, 
 which gives him the veto power has been exercised by Mayor Stokley 
 with judicious firmness after careful investigation into the merits of 
 
General Vetoes. 35 
 
 the several ordinances submitted. No appropriation for money to be 
 expended, ever becomes a law, without a thorough examination into the 
 exigencies and necessities which are alleged to require it. The economy 
 shown in the management of his annual disbursements, which a glance 
 at Table IV. will illustrate, charcterizes his watchfulness over all 
 demands made upon the Public Treasury. Instead of using up, on 
 various customary pretexts, all of the comparatively small amounts 
 appropriated, or creating even an occasional deficiency — as is general 
 with many of the other Departments, — he has returned a balance 
 each year. 
 
 One of his earliest veto messages, disapproving a claim for work 
 alleged to have been done in the construction of the Cohocksink 
 sewer, contains this announcement: — "Contractors should be given to 
 understand that they will be held to the agreement they make with 
 the City, and that the City will honorably discharge all just demands 
 made upon the Treasury, — and nothing more. For these reasons I 
 return the Bill for re-consideration." And this principle has 
 governed his course ever since in the liquidation of all claims. 
 
 His opposition to the erection of frame buildings, has already 
 been adverted to : his thorough inspection of ground proposed to be 
 purchased for public purposes, and comparisons of prices, has pre- 
 vented much wasteful expenditure : frequently his investigations into the 
 character of contractors or sureties, have revealed records justifying a 
 refusal to intrust them with any further confidence or responsibility : 
 he has never consented that a dollar of the people's money Bhould 
 be disbursed, for which, he has not been fully satisfied, the city had 
 received a just equivalent ; nor approved the making of any loan for 
 the necessity of which he has not had his own private judgment con- 
 firmed, by the general and hearty recommendations of our leading 
 citizens, and those who bear the heavier part of the burden of taxation. 
 In discussing this function of the Magistracy, it is deemed per- 
 tinent to notice the only objection that has been offered to William S. 
 Stokley's administration, by even the most hypercritical of the new 
 
36 Hypercriticism. 
 
 order of reformers, for it is just such frivolous, ill-timed, and ridicu- 
 lous nonsense, that brings discredit upon the noble endeavors of the 
 most useful and patriotic men in the community, when they attempt to 
 check the abuse of political power and the prostitution of public office. 
 Fortunately, these super-sensitive grumblers are few, and the people 
 are so thoroughly in earnest in their determination to rid themselves 
 of all manner of dictation, that they will command little attention ; 
 especially, as the facts inspire grave suspicions concerning the sinceri- 
 ty of their motives. 
 
 No complaint is made of dereliction in any duty but that of the 
 exercise of the veto power. They admit that he is the best Head of 
 the Police and its accessory Departments the city has ever had ; they 
 admit that he has caused Bills to be introduced, and, through his 
 energy and influence made laws, — of great benefit to the community; 
 they admit that he is not only honest but zealous, and capable, in 
 using his legislative prerogatives in all questions but that of finance; 
 they even go so far as to express their willingness to create a new 
 office — in which he can exercise his peculiar and rare abilities, — 
 provided one of their number be installed as Mayor ! And for what 
 purpose? To dictate to the people, through their direct represent- 
 atives, what financial operations they shall, or shall not, consummate ! 
 
 They allege that through his failure to veto ordinances creating 
 loans, the City was loaded with a debt so enormous that the 
 Legislature of the State had to be asked to interfere, — which it did, 
 prohibiting any further increase ; and that, if it had not been for this 
 enactment, the City would shortly have been bankrupt ! Very good, 
 gentlemen. Before examining your allegations further, however, 
 permit a suggestion that you can now allow your anxious souls to rest 
 in peace. The law is passed, — it is operative, — the Treasury is safe, — 
 and neither Mayor Stokley, nor Councils, can swamp the City's 
 credit, — and, the necessity for that new office, gentlemen,— is removed 
 before it is created ! 
 
 In the first place, no one more heartily endorsed and aided 
 
Analysis of the Veto Power. 37 
 
 in securing this Legislative restriction than Mayor Stokley himself: in 
 the second, — these financial schemes are practically exempt from the 
 veto power, — always have been, and so should be : third, — the loans 
 made were justifiable. 
 
 (i.) The Mayor thought, with every other sensible citizen, that 
 the debt was already large enough, and should be reduced before any 
 additions were made to it ; enough absolute necesssities, and legiti- 
 mate comforts, had been obtained to last for a long while, and 
 sufficient to satisfy all reasonable people until they could better 
 afford to pay for more. 
 
 (2.) In relation to the veto power per se, it cannot be denied that 
 judicious tardiness in its exercise, is imperatively demanded by the 
 spirit which pervades all our principles of government : the authority 
 thus vested, is the least democratic of all those which distinguish a 
 Republic : the People are supreme ; and have therefore, always been 
 more or less, justly jealous of this concession. Their direct repre- 
 sentatives form the popular, or Lower House or Council, in whicji 
 those most important of all Bills, — the Appropriation — must originate, 
 — and this provision implies a suspicion that they ought to know 
 whether they need money or do not need it. A second body is also 
 chosen to form the Upper Council, and, on the supposition that their 
 fewer number and more lengthy term of service, will add dignity and 
 deliberation to their legislation, — they are presumed not to be influenced 
 by the echoes of fickle clamor which reverberate from the Lower 
 Branch, in response to popular hue and cry. In order to facilitate 
 business and proportion labor, the different measures proposed are 
 referred to Committees, which should be composed of those members 
 most fitted to grasp the several subjects to be considered : the Finance 
 Committee requires the ablest men, and those most experienced in 
 money matters, — and, generally gets them. Now note the modus 
 operandi : — A financial measure is proposed and is referred to its 
 proper Committee ; there it is thoroughly investigated and two reports 
 are made, one from a majority, another from the minority; three 
 
38 Loans 1872. 
 
 separate times, — at intervals not less than that fixed by law, — the Bill 
 comes before the Chamber for discussion ; it is finally passed and, 
 after another legal delay, is sent to the upper House. There it goes 
 through a precisely similar process with all its careful delay and 
 hesitating routine. At length it passes that Body, and is ready for the 
 approval of the Executive, to make it a law. 
 
 It is possible to slip a measure of minor importance, through 
 both committees and both Houses, without attracting especial atten- 
 tion ; or, it may be disguised so as to hide its - real import j — therefore 
 it is incumbent on the Executive to exercise constant vigilance. But 
 to expect him to set his individual opinion up, against the careful 
 judgment of those who have been especially chosen to determine such 
 matters; — and this too, after delay upon delay for the purpose of 
 allowing the people themselves, as well as official representatives, to 
 investigate its merits, — is worthy of the men, for whom, our form of gov- 
 ernment is not good enough ! Diligent inquiry and research, has failed 
 to discover a single instance, where the President of the United States 
 has vetoed an Act of Congress authorizing a loan ; and no party, — with 
 brains enough at command to be called "political," — has yet had the 
 temerity to put forward a candidate whose only qualification for the 
 position, was his ability to say "no," — when he ought to say "yes." 
 Before that time comes, it is probable that some higher power will 
 interfere to forbid Congress from legislating on finance, — or any other 
 subject, — so that the place may be more congenial to his peculiar talents. 
 (3.) Lastly ; — let us see what this borrowed money was squandered 
 for ; and to those who are alleged to have been especially benefited, — 
 the reader is prayerfully recommended for further testimony as to 
 the necessity of each : — 
 
 1. An Ordinance to authorize a Loan for school purposes, 
 $1,000,000. Approved, 25th day of June, 1872. Respectfully 
 referred to the President of the Board of Public Education, — every 
 parent, and every patriot. 
 
 2. An Ordinance creating a further Loan for the construction of 
 
Loans from October 14th, 1872, to December 30th, 1873. 39 
 
 a Bridge over the River Schuylkill, at Fairmount (Callowhill Street), 
 $200,000. Approved, the 25th day of June, 1872. Respectfully 
 referred to the citizens and taxpayers of West Philadelphia. 
 
 3. An Ordinan e to create a Loan for the building of a Bridge 
 over the River Schuylkill at Girard Avenue, and for the construction 
 of Culverts, $2,138,000. (1) For Bridge, $1,500,000; (2) for Cul- 
 verts, $638,000, including the Cohocksink extension. Approved, the 
 14th day of October, 1872. (1) Respectfully referred to every man, 
 woman, and child who heard that Bridge complimented during the 
 Centennial, or has since heard it commented on by strangers, (2) — 
 to the Board of Health, and the patients of every reputable physician 
 in the city. 
 
 4. An Ordinance to create a Loan for the further extension of 
 Fairmount Park, and for the improvement thereof, $1, 800,000. 
 Approved, the 21st day of October, 1872. Respectfully referred 
 to the Park Commissioners, the tax-payers who own horses or 
 carriages, and the people who cannot afford to patronize summer 
 resorts. 
 
 5. An Ordinance to authorize a Loan for Fire purposes, i. e. ; — 
 the purchase of ground and the erection of Fire Stations, $200,000. 
 Approved, the 26th day of October, 1872. Respectfully referred to 
 those who judge the Paid Department an improvement over the 
 Volunteer system, — which change made this loan necessary. 
 
 6. An Ordinance to authorize a Loan for the further extension of 
 the Water Works, $970,000. Approved, the 23rd day of November, 
 1872. Respectfully referred to all Residents north of Vine street. 
 
 7. An Ordinance to create a Loan for the erection of Buildings 
 in the Park for the National Exhibition, $500,000. Approved, the 
 30th day of May, 1873. Respectfully referred to the subscribers to 
 the Centennial, and those who were pecuniarily unable to take Stock. 
 
 8. An Ordinance to create a Loan for the building and equipment 
 of a City Ice Boat, $225,000. Approved, the 19th day of May, 1S73. 
 Respectfully referred to the Chamber of Commerce, and Philadel- 
 phians doing business with, or resident in Camden. 
 
40 Loans from Dece?nber 30th, 1873, to December 4th, 1873. 
 
 9. On Ordinance to create a Loan for School purposes, $1,000, 
 000. Approved, the 30th day of December, 1873. Respectfully 
 referred as in Loan 1. "Education of the masses is the safety of the 
 Republic." 
 
 10. An Ordinance to create a Loan for the establishment of a 
 House of Correction,' $450,000. Approved, the 30th day of 
 December, 1S73. Respectfully referred to the people who elected the 
 Legislature that commanded Councils to create this Loan, and apply it 
 to this purpose. 
 
 11. An Ordinance to create a Loan for the further extension of 
 the Philadelphia Gas Works, $1,000,000. Approved the 16th day of 
 November, 1864. Respectfully referred to Residents and Property 
 owners of the newly built and lately improved sections of the city, 
 and those of the old suburban townships. [This Ordinance contained a 
 proviso :-" that nothing herein contained shall interfere or obstruct the 
 City of Philadelphia in taking possession of said Gas Works, whenever 
 the Councils of said City shall determine by ordinance to do so. ' ' So 
 there is one million at least invested with the Trust that the City has 
 some control over ! ] 
 
 12. An Ordinance to create a loan for the building of Bridges 
 in the City of Philadelphia, $335,000. Approved the 15th day of 
 June, 1875. Respectfully referred as in Loans 2 and 3. 
 
 13. An Ordinance to create a Loan for the building of Main 
 Sewers, $500,000. Approved the 13th day of July, 1875. Respect- 
 fully referred, as in Loan 3, — with a reminder that building improve- 
 ments then completed and projected, had been increasing at a 
 phenomenal rate ; — and that old sewers, not being built of rubber or 
 other elastic material, cannot regulate their capacity with the increase 
 in the number of factories, and the five and six-storied buildings which 
 are replacing old-fashioned houses without stationary stands or water- 
 closets. 
 
 14. An Ordinance to authorize a Loan for Police purposes (2) 
 extinguishment of Ground Rents, and (3) for an improved system of Fire 
 
Loans — Dilemmas. 41 
 
 Alarm Telegraph, — $380,000. (1) For the purchase of ground and the 
 erection and extension of buildings for police station houses, $165,000. 
 (2) For paying-off Ground Rents on Station-house lots, $15,000. (3) 
 (This appropriation, $200,000 has since been repealed.) Approved the 
 4th day of December, 1S75. Respectfully referred to every reasonable 
 and reasoning business man. 
 
 Total, $10,498,000, for Schools, Bridges, Sewers, Park, Water, 
 Centennial, Light, Navigation, and riddance from the Volunteer Fire 
 Nuisance. The last item alone, is worth all this money. And any 
 property-owner, or head of a family, who can conscientiously withhold 
 his approbation from these expenditures, will find himself greatly 
 benefited by a few years' residence in Boston, New York, Chicago, or 
 San Francisco. 
 
 There is a wide difference between responsibility for the pecu- 
 lation of money which had been voted for public improvements, 
 after it was appropriated, — and responsibility for the use or neglect 
 of the veto power. If the people elected scoundrels who were 
 shrewd and unprincipled enough to take advantage of their necessities, 
 was the Mayor to say, — "Gentlemen, no more children are to be 
 allowed school privileges ; West Philadelphia must become a howling 
 wilderness ; whole families, yea, entire neighborhoods shall die of 
 typhoid fever and diphtheria ; commerce must be suspended for three 
 months in the year ; the city will get no further light or Avater ; — 
 because you are a pack of thieves, gentlemen, and I suspect you 
 intend to steal a portion of this money?" 
 
 He could not know what had not happened, — and how long 
 would this community have submitted to the dictum of a man who 
 blocked the most important legislation, on mere suspicion? If he 
 did not suspect, what other excuse had he? These necessities were 
 unanimously and emphatically demanded, and the only questions he- 
 was called upon to answer in considering the use of the veto were, 
 first :— Is the creation of a loan for this purpose, constitutional? 
 Second : — is the object for which this money is to be expended, a 
 
42 Conclusion. 
 
 necessity? And third: — are the people sufficiently prosperous to 
 
 afford it? 
 
 Could a negative answer be given to these queries in regard 
 to either of the fourteen Loans just enumerated? And if not, how 
 could Mayor Stokley consistently with his oath of office, veto them ? 
 If there is any grievance because of jobbery or robbery, it is not 
 only weak but contemptible to charge it to the Mayor's refusal 
 to veto ! 
 
 In conclusion, let it not be forgotten that the city is indebted to 
 the subject of this sketch, for services which can be recompensed by 
 no honors or emoluments in the gift of its citizens, — and it will be an 
 anxious day for Philadelphia when she has to depend upon an untried 
 servant. 
 
 Respectability, culture, integrity and patriotism, have all distin- 
 guished many of his predecessors, but the lack of that one talent which 
 he possesses to such an eminent degree — executive ability, moral 
 courage, strength of will, force of character, tenacity of purpose, or 
 sound common sense — by whatever name it may be called, whatever may 
 be its nature, — the lack of that one talent — whose existence, experience 
 only, can establish — has wrecked more than enough previous admin- 
 istrations, and will defame many yet to come ! And it has also been 
 clearly demonstrated, that physical courage has played no mean part 
 in securing his success over many dangerous emergencies. 
 
 Resenting with rigorous severity any disrespect to his high 
 position, he is yet always courteous, affable, frank and generous: but 
 the ambition of his life i ; not, to be perpetually enveloped in silk stock- 
 ings ; nor to case in kid the strong hand of the law. It may not have 
 been exactly an fait for his Honor to have lounged for four days and 
 nights about a railroad depot in his shirt sleeves, when the weather 
 and many other things were at blood heat, — but it is probable that the 
 hearts of the people cherish just as much affection and regard for him, 
 as though he had sat, covered with the concentrated dignity of the 
 Aryan Race, in the luxurious Chair of State and received message after 
 
Conclusion. 43 
 
 message, of millions upon millions, — gone, until restored from their 
 pittance or plenty ! 
 
 He has had his full share of the enemies whose hate always com- 
 pliments positive excellence. All the knaves whose villany he has 
 stopped, most heartily curse him ; a majority of those who have failed 
 to persuade him to prostitute his office in their behalf, detest him with 
 intensest fervor; others, who find him an insurmountable obstacle to 
 their selfish ambitions, decry and abuse him. Some, ignorant, because 
 they refuse to learn, censure him as responsible for that over which he 
 has less control than they themselves; while a few, forgetful of the beam 
 which may be in their own eyes, blame him for the short-comings of 
 — possibly, friends, — perhaps mere acquaintances. Great will be their 
 gladness when he is finally relieved from the cares and anxieties which 
 he has so long and well borne; but the measure of their joy, will 
 fathom the depths of their degradation and the peril awaiting our long- 
 favored city. 
 
 May long life and continued health bring blessings to him ! May 
 the happiness of conscious merit, fill up the scant reward of empty 
 honors tendered him ! May gratitude, respect, esteem from all true 
 men, — requite his labors for their good ! 
 
 Homo virtute ct fide. 
 
ADDENDA 
 
 After this pamphlet was in type and the writer dilligently search- 
 ing for evidences of political antipathy or extraordinary "intelligence" 
 on the part of the compositor, — equal evils, — a member of the rival 
 Committee (of One Hundred) interrupted him with the following:— 
 
 "As I was riding into the city the other day, W , whom you know 
 
 is one of the most reliable and successful men in town, sat beside me. 
 
 In the course of conversation he said, 'J , I don't know how you 
 
 stand with regard to Stokley, nor how your Committee stands, but 
 when I was a youngster, and as full of the devil as it is lawful for a 
 young man to be in this State, I dropped into John Chambers' Church 
 one night. You know he was on the top of the heap at that time, 
 and I went in more from curiosity than anything else. When I got 
 inside it was pretty well crowded, but a benevolent-looking and 
 kindly-spoken gentleman took charge of me, showed me a seat and all 
 the courtesies possible, during the service, and afterwards poked 
 several conundrums at me which led to his discovering that I was a 
 great deal more likely to go to the bad than I was to get a respectable 
 situation and behave myself. Well, he froze on to me, kept his hold of 
 me for more than a month, put in the biggest kind of licks for me, 
 until ashamed, I put them in for myself; — then he kept his eye on me 
 for a long while aftewards, and made me what I am to-day. That gen- 
 tleman's name was Stokley; and as he went for me, a poor, miserable, 
 stranger, I'm making it my duty to see that everybody I can influence 
 goes for him for anything he wants in this world, and what he deserves 
 in the next.' Now you know I haven't taken Stokley stock at par, by 
 
 a good deal, but W was evidently so much moved, and sincerely 
 
 earnest, in his appreciation and gratitude, that I've about concluded 
 
 44 
 
Addenda. 45 
 
 that I never gave the Mayor credit for half his worth. At any rate, 
 
 I told W I'd make amends, and do the best I could when the 
 
 proper time came." The writer expressed his thanks for the inter- 
 ruption, and a hope that this delightful little incident would be 
 allowed to do like missionary work, with the remaining Ninety and 
 Nine. 
 
 To the 
 
 Committee of One, etc. : 
 
 In reply to your request for minuter details of the 
 engagement between the Police and the Railroad Rioters in July 
 1877, I remark that you have fallen into the error of stating that the 
 decisive conflict between the police authorities and the mob at the 
 West Philadelphia Depot took place on Monday, July 18th, 1877. 
 It actually occurred on Sunday evening, July 1 7th ; and the following 
 account of the circumstances given to me shortly afterwards by an 
 official who was present profoundly impressed my own mind, and will 
 doubtless be interesting to others, as tending to show Mayor Stokley's 
 foresight, soundness of judgment and unflinching courage in the 
 presence of great danger. 
 
 A train of coal-oil cars filled with coal-oil was standing in the 
 yard not far from the Depot, and the Superintendent of the yard, 
 realizing the danger of allowing it to remain, yet satisfied that an 
 attempt to move it would instantly provoke an outbreak of the 
 angry mob which had gathered to the number of thousands and 
 declared that not an engine or a train should be moved, concluded 
 that the best thing to do was to allow the train to stand until morning, 
 trusting that by that time the mob might be dispersed and that the 
 train might then be removed to a place of greater safety. He 
 therefore gave orders to bank the fires, take out the coupling pins and 
 let the train remain where it was, and communicated his determination 
 to Mayor Stokley. The Mayor, however, was satisfied, from the 
 
46 Addenda. 
 
 information received from his officers, that the leaders of the mob 
 intended to fire the train during the night and then to start another 
 train or a number of cars near Mantua on the same track and, as there 
 was a down grade all the way into the Depot, thus drive the burning 
 cars into the buildings and set them on fire. He promptly informed 
 the Superintendent that the orders must be countermanded and the 
 oil-train immediately moved out of the yard and sent through the 
 tunnel down to the Delaware river where, if fired, it could do no harm. 
 This the Superintendent positively refused to do, declaring that such 
 action would instantly precipitate the conflict which could hardly fail 
 to result in the overpowering of the police and the destruction of 
 property to the amount of millions of dollars in value. He also 
 declared that if the Mayor undertook to move it he must do it 
 through his own officers and at his own peril, and that on him would 
 rest the sole responsibility for whatever consequences might happen. 
 
 It was a moment of grave peril, the outcome of which no man 
 could foretell. It was evident that the Superintendent had not 
 mistaken the temper of the mob — that the attempt to move the train, 
 or to take an engine from the round-house would certainly bring 
 on a conflict between a few hundred police officers armed with 
 nothing but clubs and pistols, and many thousands of angry and 
 desperate men, confident of their strength and assured of their ability 
 to enforce their demands by the example of the rioters in Pittsburgh 
 who had not only triumphed over the law but had imprisoned the 
 State troops strong in numbers and discipline and armed with rifles and 
 Gatling guns. It was a moment which demanded the exercise of the 
 nicest judgment and the most unflinching moral and physical courage. 
 For on the decision of that moment depended not only the safety of 
 millions of dollars worth of property and probably the lives of many 
 people, but also the determination of whether the law was stronger 
 than the mob, or whether the mob should override the law, take 
 possession of this great city and hold at its mercy public and private 
 property and the safety of the lives and persons of its citizens. 
 
Addenda. 47 
 
 Mayor Stokley must have fully realized ail that hung upon his 
 decision. For a moment or two he leaned his head down on the table 
 before him, and when he raised it, two tears, making their way down 
 his cheeks, told of the brief but terrible mental struggle through 
 which he had passed. Then he said quietly, "While I am Mayor it 
 shall never be said that a mob took out of my hands the government 
 of this city. I will move the train myself and assume the responsibility 
 for whatever happens. " He at once telegraphed for all the officers in 
 the city, divided them into three detachments, sending one along the 
 west side of the track, another by Thirty-first Street, under the bridge, 
 and the third over the Callowhill Street Bridge. When he was 
 informed that these orders had been obeyed and that the detachments 
 were at their appointed stations, he went out and directed several of 
 his men to take an engine from the round-house, attach it to the 
 coal-oil train and move it out of the yard, through the tunnel and down 
 to the Delaware River. The instant the engine was seen coming from 
 the round-house a number of the leaders sprang upon it, swearing that 
 it should be put back, but they were speedily overpowered by the 
 officers and subsequently arrested. Then the excited mob closed in 
 on the tracks swearing that no train should run over them, and defying 
 the officers of the law and the employees of the Company. At this 
 moment the police, admirably handled by their brave officers, and 
 acting under orders to use nothing but their clubs, charged on the 
 mob, outnumbering them twenty to one, and drove them back in all 
 directions for squares from the railroad, leaving its tracks clear and in 
 possession of the Mayor and his small force of reserves. The back-bone 
 of the riot was broken from that moment, for the mob was taught the 
 power of the law when enforced by a brave and determined Mayor. 
 The oil-train was moved out of the yard, switched off to the track 
 leading down the river, and watched with anxious eyes until it had 
 safely passed through the tunnel and no longer threatened the safety 
 of the Depot. , 
 
 Those who had it in charge, however, fearing that the noise of its 
 
48 Addenda. 
 
 crossing the bridge might attract the mob in that direction and lead 
 to an attack which they would be powerless to resist, left it standing 
 on a siding near the Almshouse, where it was burnt by the mob on 
 Monday, thus showing how accurate was Mayor Stokley's information 
 and how correct his judgment as to what would have happened had it 
 been suffered to stand in the yard near the Depot over night. On 
 Monday there were only a few comparatively insignificant skirmishes 
 with small bodies of rioters, and the city was saved. 
 
 Great generals have won immortality by the exercise of no higher 
 degree of judgment, courage and foresight than that displayed by 
 Mayor Stokley on that memorable occasion. 
 
 Truly Yours, 
 
 C. C. 
 
 Philadelphia, 
 December 15th, 1880. 
 
Addenda. 49 
 
 The following communication is submitted through the courtesy 
 of one of the gentlemen subscribing to it. It was handed to the 
 writer the day before it was sent to the Mayor, and some time after 
 this pamphlet was ready for the press, or it would have appeared in its 
 proper place : 
 
 Cook & Brother, 
 Importers of Hosiery Goods, 
 
 No. 53 North Eighth Street, 
 
 Philadelphia, Dec. 10, 1880. 
 Hon. Wm. S. Stokley : 
 
 Sir: — The undersigned, a Committee representing 
 property owners in the vicinity of Eighth and Arch Streets, desire to 
 convey to you our high sense of the service you have rendered the 
 cause of public morality, by your refusal to license the Variety Theatre 
 proposed to be established on Arch Street near Eighth, and to further 
 express to you our thanks for the able manner in which you assisted 
 us in our efforts to break up, what afterwards threatened to become a 
 serious menace to our material interests and the morals of the 
 community. 
 
 Respectfully Yours, 
 
 GEO. S. HARRIS, 
 F. GUTEKUNST, 
 RICHARD Y. COOK, 
 THOS. W. PRICE. 
 
APPEN DIX. 
 
 TABLE I. 
 ROSTER OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 
 1872. 
 
 1S73J 
 
 1874. ! 
 
 1S75. 
 
 1876. 
 
 1877. 
 
 1S78. 
 
 1S79. 
 
 Chief, 
 
 Fire Marshal, .... 
 
 I 
 1 
 
 :| 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 : 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 Captains, 
 
 Lieutenants, .... 
 
 Sergeants, 
 
 Detectives, 
 
 Turnkeys, 
 
 Patrolmen, 
 
 4 
 27 
 
 5i 
 8 
 
 25 
 975 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 
 51 
 
 25 
 : 975 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 51 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 
 975 
 
 4 4 
 27 27 
 57 57 
 
 8 { 8 
 
 25 i 25 
 
 1 175 "75 
 
 4 
 27 
 57 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 
 "75 
 
 4 
 27 
 57 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 "75 
 
 4 
 27 
 57 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 ! "75 
 
 Aggregate, . . . 
 
 1000 
 
 '' 1000 
 
 1000 
 
 1200 
 
 I 1200 
 
 1200 
 
 1200 
 
 1200 
 
 Total, 
 
 1092 
 
 : I092 
 
 1092 
 
 1298 
 
 1298 
 
 1298 
 
 1298 
 
 1297 
 
 TABLE II. 
 
 1872. 
 
 tS 7 3- 
 
 1874- 1875. 
 
 The total number of arrests by the Police Department | 
 
 were, ! 40,368; 30,400. 32,472! 34>97 8 
 
 1876. 
 
 45>372 
 
 1877. 
 
 44,600 
 
 43.593 
 
 1879 
 
 The number of arrests in 1872 over those in 1873 is due to the weeding-out 
 processes instituted by Mayor Stokley. From 1873 the rate of increase is propor- 
 tionately less than the increase of population, whether temporary, as in 1 87 5, and 
 1876, — or as permanently, as shown in 1874 and 1879. 
 
 50 
 
Appendix. 
 TABLE III. 
 
 51 
 
 1872. ! 1873. ! 1874. I 1875. 
 
 Stolen Property recovered by the 
 
 Police Department, . . . j $47, 6 S4-3 2 : £46,058.155 $80,173.21 $65,477.1 
 
 1876. ! 1877. 
 
 120,175.46' #91,920.45 $81,477. 
 
 1879. 
 
 $66,801.86 
 
 TABLE IV. 
 
 1872. ! 1873. 
 
 1874. 
 
 Amount appropriated for Annual Support 
 
 of Police Department, .... $1,133,378.50 
 Expended, 1 1,106,677.32 
 
 $Li53>i59-90 
 1,141,677.42 
 
 $1,226,509.55 
 1,184,06^.53 
 
 Balance merged, 
 
 $26,701.18 
 
 $11,482.48 
 
 $42,443.02 
 
 
 
 
 1875. 1876. 
 
 1877. 
 
 
 $i,464,226.90 i $1,738,601.70 
 i 5 437,546.4o| i,57 1,759- 2 6 
 
 $1,340,856.50 
 1,315,116.15 
 
 M « 
 
 $26,680.50 
 
 $166,932.44 
 
 $25,740.35 
 
 
 
 
 1878. 
 
 1879. 
 
 
 
 $1,323,265.37 
 1,306,224.76 
 
 $1,316,315,37 
 i,295,324-53 
 
 
 " " 
 
 $17,040.61 
 
 $15,990.84 
 
 
FORM 1 -PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION. 
 
 Police Department of the City of Philadelphia, 
 
 S. W. CORNER FIFTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS. 
 
 Philadelphia, 187 
 
 statement of an applicant for appointment as 
 
 Patrolman of the Police Force of the City of Philadelphia, made 
 for the purpose of testing his qualifications. 
 
 QUESTIONS. 
 
 ANSWERS. 
 
 
 
 In what year, day, and month were "1 
 
 
 you Born? J 
 
 Where were you Born? 
 
 If not born in the United States, have ^ 
 you been Naturalized, when and I 
 where ? J 
 
 What is your Height? 
 
 Have you been arrested for, or con- \ 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 victed of, any Crime? J 
 
 Have you resided in this State for ^ 
 one continuous year last past?... j 
 
 Where do you now reside? 
 
 Are you Married? 
 
 
 
 
 
 What has been your Occupation? 
 
 Have you been in any Military service?.. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Have you paid, or promised to pay, 
 or give any money or other con- 
 sideration to any person, directly 
 
 
 ! 
 
 or indirectly, for any aid or 
 influence towards procuring your 
 appointment ? 
 
 
SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 The Committee of One tenders thanks for the appreciation 
 which has met its efforts to further good government in our city. 
 It submits a second and enlarged edition, with reiterations of the 
 unimpeachable accuracy of the statements made in its Report. 
 
 But one newspaper has taken exception to any of its assertions, 
 and that denied any credit to Councilman Stokley for the abolition of 
 the Volunteer Fire Department. Official records, testimony of parti- 
 cipants and spectators, all availed nothing against that ancient fallacy, 
 " a lie well stuck to is as good as the truth." The readers of this 
 journal however, who possess sense enough to vote intelligently, know 
 that about the date of the incident in question, its managers were 
 striving with more or less success to obtain a limited stock of know- 
 ledge from country schools in their respective States. The spurious 
 enterprise therefore, that endeavored to disguise natural and excusable 
 ignorance with a veneer of dogmatic assurance, was really nothing but 
 a harmless exhibition of the high development youth, mediocrity, and 
 inexperience, may attain under an ordinary provincial training. 
 
 The description on pages 7 and 8 is not exaggerated, and 
 every Philadelphian who was at that time old enough to comprehend 
 the importance of the measure referred to, will so testify. For the 
 benefit of younger citizens and those who have but lately taken up 
 their residence amongst us, it may be well to explain that the Bill 
 under discussion was entitled " An ordinance to create and organize 
 a Paid Fire Department for the City of Philadelphia."' The 
 
 53 
 
54 Supplement. 
 
 Common Council had passed a resolution appointing five of its 
 members to represent it in a Committee of Conference, and the 
 gentlemen who had been named, were Messrs. Billington, Evans, 
 Hancock, Simpson and Gill. On several previous occasions efforts 
 had been made to abolish the old system but they were all still-born, 
 and to William S. Stokley is due the passage of the resolution on 
 the 21st day of November, 1876, which eventually resulted in the 
 framing and enactment of the law establishing the Paid Department. 
 Messrs. Hodgdon, Cattell, Ritchie, Smith, and King were the Select 
 Councilmen designated as members of the Joint Committee. In 
 justification of the accurateness of the narrative alluded to, Provost 
 Stille of the University of Pennsylvania, who was present in the 
 Chamber as guardian of the interests of that Institution, and on 
 whom the dramatic episode made as profound an impression as upon 
 the writer, deemed the occasion of sufficient moment to write the 
 following letter : 
 
 2201 St. James Place, Dec. 20, 1880. 
 Hon. Wm. S. Stokley : 
 
 My Dear Sir ; — I observe in the papers some 
 controversy as to the part you took in the discussion of the Bill for the 
 abolition of the Volunteer Fire Department. 
 
 I am in a position to speak confidently on this subject. When 
 the Bill for that purpose was before Select Council, I was present 
 watching the action of that body concerning the Bill then pending 
 authorizing the sale to the University of the ground in West Philadel- 
 phia which it now occupies. 
 
 The Bill concerning the Volunteer Fire Department was taken up 
 by the Select Council — you left the chair, and began to make a speech. 
 The gallery above was filled with Firemen, who interrupted you with 
 disorderly cries. You turned around, and raising your eyes to the 
 crowd overhead, you spoke these words: — "You who try to frighten 
 
Supplement. 55 
 
 me are living illustrations of the truth of what I am saying ! You 
 come here as you go to fires, — to make a noise, — while your mothers 
 are at the wash tubs trying to support you ! ' ' 
 
 I was astounded at such a speech coming from a man who, 1 was 
 told, had then aspirations for public office. 
 
 I regarded it then, and I do now, as the boldest and bravest utter- 
 ance in the cause of order I had ever heard from a man in such a 
 position. 
 
 1 have repeated the story a hundred times since, and I have told 
 my friends, as I tell you now, that the man who shows courage of this 
 high order shall always have my vote for Mayor as long as he is a 
 candidate. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 C. J. STILLE. 
 
 Though the Committee of One must incline to favor its own 
 course of simply laying the merits and demerits of its favorites before 
 the public, in preference to that adopted by its more ponderous col- 
 league — of One Hundred, yet considering the real object of the 
 scheme evolving the latter, and the motives of the spirit and con- 
 spirators who endeavored to control its action, it probably acted 
 wisely under the circumstances. A majority of its members are cer- 
 tainly to be congratulated upon the possession of sufficient sagacity to 
 profit by the instruction, and heed the advice given in this Report, 
 and stamina enough to stand by their honest convictions. The crop 
 may perhaps be premature, but it is written : Good seed sown on good 
 ground shall not bring forth fruits for repentance ! 
 
 That inexperience should breed mistakes and cause a wasteful 
 expenditure of work and wealth, is to be expected — but only fools 
 will judge these to be indications of weakness. There is plenty of 
 power and to spare, and more than enough money for all legitimate 
 expenses. Tax payers, rent payers, bread buyers, — all, are determined 
 to no longer grope blindly in the labyrinth of crooked ways that our 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 314 163 9 
 
 56 
 
 Supplement. 
 
 masters have spent years in plotting : there are too many snares and 
 pitfalls to be sprung at all important crises, and the beaten paths 
 always turn and twist to finally lead to the same old goal ! 
 
 The leaders of the dominant party will do well to accept the 
 recommendations of the Committee of One Hundred. They have 
 provoked so much distrust and disgust by their domineering dictation 
 through a long interval of years that the citizens of this community 
 have finally been driven into revolution. 
 
 Die they must politically, or surrender. The old threat of rule 
 or ruin is worn too thin for any use. It is too late to bargain with the 
 foe, — there will be nothing but liabilities to divide. Opposition, is 
 mutiny, treachery, disaster, annihilation : allegiance is life, and — , 
 with it hope ! 
 
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