TAMMANY HALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 257, 31 October 1938, Page 4

TAMMANY HALL.

PRINCE OF MISRULE.

"HONEST" JOHN KELLY.

ORGANISATION'S FIRST ABSOLUTE HEAD.

(By WILLIAM C. McCLOY.) (Xo. III.) NEW YORK. John Kelly's twelve years as Prince of Tammany -Misrule arc generally regarded by Xew York historians as an interregnum. They were far more than that. They marked the beginning of a new political system that gripped Xew York City for more than three decades, playing greater havoc than many preceding it. Kelly insisted on absolute obedience. -After the amazing exposures of the Tweed King in 187 i, many credulous Xew. Yorkers imagined that the rapacious reign of Tammany Jlal! was over for ever. Hut it wasn't. Two of the organisation's sons—.loh 11 Kelly and John Morrissey—staged a comeback that in a few years made Tammany as strong as ever and much more safely profitable than under Tweed. The first and more enduring of those sons was called "Honest" John Kelly because he kept his pledged word better than Wood or Tweed ever had. Morrissoy was a gambler and thug, with much inilrcnce among the lowest dregs of the organisation. Kelly accepted him for a short time because of (his influence, but got rid of him as a showpiece as soon as lie could. Kelly was one of the most extraordinary men ever hatched out of the Tammany incubator. He was born in Hester Street—few streets in Xew York have a more unsavoury reputation. At a vevv early age lie became an office boy i' l tie "Xew York Herald" Oflice, learned the trade of grate setter and started to go to night school. He was always greatly interested in the stage and his youthful leisure was divided among an amateur dramatic association founded bv him and two saloons near his home, the Ivy Clreen aijd the Comet. Played Macbeth and Hamlet. The Ivy Green was headquarters for Peter li. Swecnwy of the Tweed King. The Comet was the rendezvous of prizelighters, and, ill his early manhood, Kelly was handy with his fists. The dramatic association, however, attracted him most strongly and in it he played the parts of .Macbeth, Othello and Hamlet. WIIIU a privilege to have seen "Holiest" John Kelly's Hamlet! With three great professions beckon,ing him —statesmanship, the stage and the prize ring—Kelly chose statesmanship—as represented by Tammany Hall. His choice was justified. His rapid rise in Tammany was phenomenal even in that organisation of streamlined progress. . Only a few years after joining Tammany, he became, at the age of 31, an alderman for two years and then served four years in Congress.

Chagrined at not being mafic Police Commissioner after his Congressional service, Kelly, who had acquired a formidable following among the Irish voters, persuaded enough of them to vote for C. Godfrey C.unlhcr, a Reform Democrat, for Mayor, to defeat the Tweed nominee . of Tammany Hall. Francis I. Hoole. Such a practical demonstration of Kelly's popularity among the Irish voters impressed Tammany as nothing else could have done. Tweed, in the next election, made Kelly the organisa-

lion's choice for sheriff, ail office without salary, but paying fees which could be liberally expanded by the holder. His Health "Failed." For three terms Kelly held this office and grew enormously rich. At the expiration of his third term, Ivellv discovered that Tweed was inclined to believe he could get along without him. Kelly was determined to show Tweed that thin, was not so. When Mayor Hoffman wus made Governor in 18IIS, and a special election called for in December to till the vacancy of Mayor, Tweed picked his man, A. On key Hall, for the Tammany nominaticii, Kelly called « Keform convention, where he nominated himself for Mayor aml prepared for a fierce contest. This time Tamnw.ny could not risk the chance it took when Kelly's candidate, fluntlier, won. After some private negotiations, Kelly's health failed. He withdrew and went to Europe. Curious and contradictory reports reached Xew York from time to time concerning Kelly during iiis long European sojourn. He was explain# the Holy Land; he wan on the 'point of entering a monastery. Hut. lie didn't return to Xew York until tin- fall of Tweed.

He came buck to find that once nll|iowerful political organisation—Tamiuan\ Hall a disorganised rabble, denounced on ail sides. Thousands of :lccent citizens were clamouring for its [Instruction mid for the annulment of its charter.

Kelly was neither discouraged nor dismayed. To him, the political potentialities of Tammany were only too apparent. J'he reformers denounce and the public might deride, but the practical fact remained—there were still a. great number of Tammany voters, And in tiie midst of their denunciations. tiic reformers stopped to take breath and neglected to annul Tammany's charter. Boss in Deed as in Word. Here Kelly joined with Morrisscy, popular among the riff-raff, gathered up Morrissey's following, in short order, and himself became the first absolute head of the organisation—boss in deed as in word. He was thus the model for Crokcr and Murphy when they appeared on the political horizon. Neither ever departed from his plan of govcruiii" the Hall.

A taciturn, undemonstrative man, Kelly silently began his task of restoring Tammany. His methods were simple. He earnestly advocated good government; he induced, the men most conspicuous in the reform movement, Samuel J. Tilden, Horatio Seymour, August Belmont and Sanford 13. Church, to become Tammany Sachems. He caused the appointment of a Tammany Committee to co-operate with the Bar Association, the Citizens' Committee of Seventy, which had overthrown Tweed, the Municipal Taxpayers' Association and the Liberal Republicans.

Under such skilful generalship, there was an appreciable increase in Tammany votes. After the, malodorous Tweed exposures of IS7I, the AntiTammany vote for Mayor in 1872 was 84,027 to Tammany's vote of 4">,:i!)8. Two years later, with Kelly in the saddle, Tammany elected its candidates by a majority of nearly 11000 over all — the vote being 70,071 for Tammany, 24,220 for an Independent, and 03,953 for a Republican.

In the main, Kelly kept his administration free from public scandal. The only real political scandal during his regime was in 1884, when twenty-one members of the Board of Aldermen received 22,000 dollars each for voting to give a franchise 011 Broadway to the Broadway Railroad Company. In the trial which followed, some turned State's evidence, a number fled the jurisdiction of the court, and three or four were convicted. The real facts were not revealed until two or three years later. Meanwhile, Kelly acted promptly. He commanded that any Tammany man who had voted for that franchise should not be renominated.

Throughout his career, Kelly cultivated his title of "Honest John." Open charges in the Press of that period, and even much later, show that many doubted the title to be justified. In 18T4, Mayor Havemeyer, succcssor to Tweeds stooge Mayor, Oakey Hall, wrote Kelly an open letter criticising his administration as sheriff, saying: "I think that you are worse than Tweed, except that he was a larger operator. The public knew that Tweed was a- bad, reckless man, making 110 pretensions to purity. You, on the contrary, were always parading your honesty and wrapped yourself in a mantle of piety. Men who go about with the prefix of 'honest' to their names are often rogues." Undisputed Despotism. This tribute brought forth a libel suit from Kelly against Mayor Havemeyer. But the Mayor was SO years old, and, as he was getthig ready to go to Court on the trial's opening day, be fell dead of apoplexy in his office — so the issue was closed. Kelly usually was unsuccessful outside the city limits. Both Governor Tilden and Governor Cleveland checked his attempts to extend his power in the State. In 18S4 Kelly predicted the defeat of Grovcr Cleveland for President and the election of Hugh J. Grant as Mayor. In both cases he was wrong. During the following yenr he virtually retired from all active management as Tammany's leader, the actual "bossing" being taken over by his protege and understudy, Richard Croker. Kelly died in June, i.SSO. He is memorable because Ills power is memorable. The man's authority was absolute. Judicial, congressional, legislative and municipal nominations—all were dictated by him and bv him alone. he established this' undisputed despotism in the amazingly yiort time of two yeans.— •SU . _