Page Ox.
THE 0AU0AIHA2J.
T
heCase MM a
True Narratives of Interesting Cases by a Former
Operative of the William J. Bums Detective Agency
By DAVID CORNELL
COoprrtfet fry Um laimrmUoaMX Warn Bama)
THE GOVERNOR'S COUP
'How a Righteous Bill Was Forced
Through the Legislature
The Investigation of the means an (3
ways employed in the election of a
certain United States senator, with
Its muddle of exposures, plots and
oounterplota, has enabled the news
paper reading public to get an oc
casional glimpse of the parts that
private detectives occasionally are
asked to play In the politics of this
country. There is a certain type of
politician who Is a good patron of a
certain type of detective agency.
"Go out and get something on this
guy," says the unscrupulous politician
to the unscrupulous detective, hand
ing him the name of a political oppon
ent Then the unscrupulous detective, of
which, unfortunately, there are so
many In this country, proceeds in the
moat unscrupulous manner to "get
jsomething on" the man who is to bo
inarmed. This is happening every day
In this country. The Burns agency
Sever took any such business, or, for (
jthat matter, any sort of business
'Which was not entirely square and
jabove-board. But we have been called
Into service In several political fights,
and there is no more exciting detect-
Ive work than when two groups of pol- J
lucians Degin to ngnt one anoiner
with the help of "investigators."
I
1 A young governor in a certain state
which cannot be named had come into
office on a reform ticket. The gov
ernor I will call Braden. The state
of which he was the chief executive
is one in which the manufacturing In
terests predominate, and up to the
time of Braden's election these inter
ests had controlled the statehouse and
what went on there as completely as
If it had been an annex to their busi
ness, which is just about what it was.
Sometimes tho state had a Republican
governor, sometimes a Democrat; but
it didn't make any difference. He was
the manufacturers' governor before he
had gone far in his term of office, and
the same was true of the state legisla
ture. The state house here was situated
at the top of a hill, from which a
street car ran down to the business
district of the town. At the foot of
the hill, directly down from the main
entrance of the statehouse, was a lit
tle old hotel. The top floor of this
hotel was reserved year in and year
out for the lobbyists of the interests.
The state fancied that Its affairs were
administered from the noble structure
on top of the hill; but everybody In
politics or big business knew that the
real capitol was down in the top floor
of the old hotel at the foot of the hill.
There probably had been millions of
dollars paid out to crooked legisla
tors In that old building. Certainly
there had been more bills passed
down there than on the floor of the
house.
Naturally a state with its affairs ad
ministered in this fashion did not
care much for the welfare of the com
mon people. The factory laws of the
state, for Instance, were about the
most backward in the country. They
were all made and passed solely for
the benefit of the manufacturers,
which, of course, made them inimical
to the interests of the workers. A
manufacturer in this state could work
a man, woman or child of any age un
'der any conditions and for any num
ber of hours; he was not liable for
what happened to them in his shop.
Wages consequently were low and
conditions were bad for all the work
ing people in the factories. They
iwere gutting the worst of it In every
way, shape and manner; and so they
woke up and made a fight and elected
Braden governor.
Braden was a remarkable man. He
was the son of parents who had
ground out their lives in one of the
big mills of the state. He had begun
his own active existence as & boy in
one of those same mills, beginning to
work at eleven years of age. The
mills didn't kill him, however. He
was made of tough stuff, and at eight
een he was working his way through
college and playing quarter-back on
the football team. He came out of
college and went into a little law office
up the state. He was a brilliant law
yer and attracted the attention of
the interests. They sent for him and
made him one of their counsel. He
put In five years at it, then he resign
ed to fight the same Interests that he
had worked for.
He settled down in one of the big
mill towns and opened a small law
office and let it be known that he
would take any worklngman's case.
. no matter what it was or how small
the chance was of getting a fee. He
admitted that he expected to come
near starving at this game, and he
did; but he made more friends than any
other man in the state. He began to
be the people's leader. He was forty-
two when the people suddenly dlscov
ered that they wanted him for their
governor, and into the statehouse he
went, the sworn enemy of the inter
ests that had run the state for years.
He carried into office with him
enough . reform legislators to give the
PrivatcBetcctiv e
interests a fright Two of these rep
resentatives were Murray and Schoen
leln, who were looked upon as the
governor's first lieutenants in the
fight for reform.
One of Braden's first acts brought
on the inevitable fight between him
self and the lobbyists. He Introduced
through one of his reform legislators
a factory Inspection bill, and before
the lobbyists had fairly got their ma
chine ry of delay and suppression in
working order the bill swept through
both houses and was passed by a big
margin. Next was announced the
preparation of a child labor bill, and
by that time the fight was one.
The lobbyists got their machinery
going then. They opened their check
books and went into action. They
knew how the game was worked.
Presently the reform legislators be
gan to look less like reformers. One
by one they began to admit that there
might be some sense in the conten
tion of the manufacturers that the
passage of such a bill might deal the
state an Irreparable Injury. One by
one they began to hesitate. The first
thing Braden knew he found himself
face to face with a proposition like
this: He had to get that child labor
bill passed or admit that he had lost
his legislature and it didnt look as
If he could do it
That was the situation when the
Burns agency was called in on the
job. Braden numbered among his
friends an old, retired politician who
had read the signs with an experi
enced eye. Braden Insisted on mak
ing his fight by calling on the people
for support; but this old fox slyly
slipped off to New York, and when he
returned to the capitol I was on the
same train with him, though in a dif
ferent car.
"Braden will fight above decks,"
said he, "but well be down among
the crew and get at the heart of the
mutiny."
I went to the old hotel where the
lobbyists had their headquarters and
registered from a small town up the
state.
"What's the latest thing about that
fool child labor bill?" I asked the
clerk casually as I signed the regis
ter. "Does that rube up at the top
of the hill think he can put it over,
or have we got him sewed up?"
The clerk grinned a little but said:
"I don't know a thing about it, sir,"
and gave me a little wink.
"Good enough," I said, laughing. "I
guess we've fixed his clock this time,
all right."
I looked over the ground for three
or four day3, then I went to Braden's
old friend and said:
"Is there a reform newspaper in any
town in the state that you can get con
trol of?"
"Why?" he asked.
"If there is, buy it," I said. "Buy
it, and let me appear as the new own
er, who is hanging around that hotel
down there waiting for the interests
to hand him his bit of coin before
he begins his fight on the governor."
He sat and thought for a long time.
"Me boy," he said, at last "that's
a big idea you've got in your head,
I do believe. Yes, there is a paper
we can get control of. It will take
$20,000, but 'I'm game if you can
show me how the thing is going to
work out."
"Well." I said. "I've got to get in
with that bunch and get in right or
there will be nothing doing. They're
too wise and too old at the game to
let any secrets slip except in their
own bunch. I could stay there a year
and be no wiser than I am now, unless
I got in right By playing the part
of a crooked newspaper owner, wil
ling to sell his soul for money. 111 be
one of their own kind."
The paper in question was a small
daily in a nearby town. It was In bad
financial condition, and Braden's old
friend soon raised the money for its
purchase. I got a down and out news
paper man from New York to come
out and take charge of it and the
day the ownership changed hands we
came out with a front page editorial
announcing a change of policy. Where
before the paper had sought only to
harm business in a Pickwickian
sense and so to harm all classes, it
was now going to help business all It
could. We did not say so in so many
word3, but we hinted that we were
not at all in favor of Governor Bra
den's "drastic and unreasonable on
slaughts on the great interests that
have made the prosperity of the
state possible." My newspaper man
was a peach; he could write as if he
really meant anything he said.
I got some new cards printed as
publisher of the "Cronkton Dally
News," and continued to live at the
hotel in the capitol city. I had boys
from the paper coming in to see me,
had letters and packages addressed
to me under my newly assumed title
delivered at the hotel, and soon my
identity was well establlshedamong
the coterie that made the hotel its
home.
One morning we published a clever,
veiled attack on Governor Braden.
That afternoon a big, genial looking
man stopped me in the hotel lobby
and said: "Mr. Cornell, I've never had
the pleasure of meeting you. I'm Gold
farber, attorney for the Union Milling
company. I want to congratulate you
on that masterly editorial cn the gov
ernor this morning."
"Have you teen what the governor's
own papers say about It Mr. Goldfar
ber?" I asked, and I showed him a
reform paper that I had just bought
which bore the headlines:
Cronkton News in the Hands of the
0 rafters Formerly Respectable
Paper Bella Out to the
Interests."
We laughed heartily over the story
and adjourned to the bar. I told
Goldfarber that I had bought the
Crock ton News because I thought It
a good business preposition if it was
run right There was plenty of adver
tising to be had if its editorial policy
was right I proposed to keep It right
I hoped Mr. Goldrarber would remem
ber me if he happened to speak to the
advertising manager of the Union
Milling company.
He certainly did. Next day there
came by telegraph an order for a fall
ge ad to be run daily for a month,
and a check in full payment for the
same came in the first mail.
To show its gratitude the Cronkton
News ran a laudatory article about
the Union Milling company and about
the men who were at its head. My
editor made the company look like the ;
foundation upon which the welfare of
the state rested and Its owners like
unselfish benefactors of the mwin
race.
This was kept up until five large
companies were running big ads in
the News and until we had written
them up favorably. I was on friendly
terms with the five lobbyists who rep
resented these concerns. They wore
the men who really had been running
the state, and obviously they were, the
ones who were behind the defection
of Governor Braden's one-time reform
legislature. If I could learn what
they knew about the change of heart
that had come over the representa
tives after the labor bill had been in
troduced. I would have finished my
case.
One day Goldfarber came to my
room and said: "Suppose you send
a man up to interview Murray and
Schoenleln, those celebrated reform
friends of the governor. They might
have something interesting to say."
I took the hint and wired my editor
to get on the job himself. Murray
and Schoenleln up to now had bees
steadily standing bv the
I pledging themselves to fight for his
reforms to the last ditch. But the
interviews they gave to my editor
were made of different stuff. They had
been voting and talking against the
best interests of the state. They
would stop doing this. The governor
"was a headstrong fool, who persisted
in trying to ruin the state In order
to further his own ambitions.
"The bunch has got to them," said
my man, reporting to me. "I could see
It in their eyes. They've been takes
care of by your friends the lobbyists."
We printed the interview and edito
rially lauded Murray and Schoenleln
for being courageous enough to do
their duty by the state in spite of the
lash of a political boss like the gov
ernor. Next day Goldfarber came to zat
with an editorial which he had written
and which he wanted me to ran.
"The Cronkton News win run any-
thing." I said; "but for editorials ft
rates are very high.
-How hlghr he asked.
Twenty thousand dollars a year," I
said.
"111 raise it before noon." said be,
In that way I got the money back
that had been paid for the Cronkton
News.
X had decided that Murray and
Bchoenlein would be easier to ""get"
than any of the lobbyii ts. They were
a pair of ignorant fellows who until
their election as reform representa
tives had worked ss mechanics for s
living. I knew that they were now
enjoying a prosperity that would soon
turn their heads. I decided to help
the turning.
The two legislators were slaying at
the smartest hotel In the city. Pres
ently there were two stylish young
women staying at the hotel who flat
tered the pair we were after by seek
ing an Introduction. The women
were in the pay of Braden's foxy old
friend. It didnt take long to make
the inexperienced Murray and Schoen
leln fancy that they were a pair of
kings. They began to buy wine In
the palm room of the hotel, bought a
motor car each, and generally began
to play the parts of a couple of fools
caught by the attractions of a couple
of clever.-smart-looking women.
It doesn't take long for that kind
of a pace to bring out the braggart in
a man, especially If there is a good
looking woman to brag to. Within
two weeks our women Lad heard all
about how Murray and Bchoenlein had
been reached. They had been given
$5,000 each by Goldfarber In his room
In the little hotel where the Lobbyists
hung out
"And there's lots more where that
came from," boasted Murray.
One evening one of the women
said: "There's a friend of ours stop
ping st this hotel who is interested in
a bill for a dam across a river up the
state. He said he would like to meet
some representatives who would listen
to reason. He's a millionaire." j
oiurray ana scnoeniein saia tney
wouldn't mind meeting the friend If it
could be done in secret It was. A
meeting was arranged in a room at a
hotel, and they met Dawson, of the
Burns agency, acting the part of a
millionaire. Dawson had his bill air
ready drawn and showed it to them at
once. It purported to be a bold-faced
rtora? and Scljoenlan
steal of a river to make power for a
mill about to be established.
Til ante $1,000 apiece to you fel
lows," said Dawson., "if youH intro
duce the bflL IH pay anything you
need to get it passed. And when she's
through m give you each $200."
"Give us the thousand now." said
Murray.
Dawson paid it out Bchoenlein took
the bin and stowed It away in an In
ner pocket
TtTl go through sure." he said;
"we've got this legislature by the
horns."
Governor Braden, four of his friends
end myself heard and saw all that
went on from peep-holes in the next
room. The money that Dawson hand
ed them had been marked and viewed
by all of us that morning.
Murray and Schoenleia left the ho
tel and went down a tide street. They
hadn't gone far before they vera
seised, gagsed, dumped into a closed
motor car and whirled up to the real
deaos of Go terser Braden't eld tricafl.
There Governor Braden. his four
friends and myself searched them and
found and identified carefully the
money and bill that Dawson had given
them In the hotel The gags were
then removed from their mouths, and
in the locked library we went to work
on them.
Braden said: "I want to get that
child labor bill passed, and I've been
forced to take means like this to do It
You Ye going to help me pass it la
order to sav yourselves from expos
ure. I dont want to hurt you. You've
been a couple of d c fools, but I
think I can save you and make useful
citlsens of you. If I cant. I can put
you In the penitentiary, where you
wont do any harm for some time.
Now. you are going to give me the
dope on how the legislature has been
bribed by the lobbyists, first and
after that you are going to rote and
work for that labor bill as If nothing
untoward had happened. Either that
or you are going to the pen. Take
your choice."
We worked over them all that night
When we were through we had a de
tailed and signed confession of how
they had been bribed, how other legis
lators had been bribed, and who had
done the work.
"So far so good." said Braden. "Now
we want the fellows who did the brib
ing. You say Goldfarber passed you
the money. All right you go and call
Goldfarber to a room in the hotel
down there and tell him you need $500
apiece at once. We will pick out the
room for you."
They did this. They engaged a room
and sent for Goldfarber. He came
in, smiling, and they told him what
they wanted.
"If we don't get it well forget you
paid us anything to fight that labor
bill." said Murray, obeying Braden's
instructions.
Tut tut boys," said Goldfarber.
"What's a thousand dollars between
friends V
He was handing over the money
when the two photographers we had
stationed behind openings cut In the
walls of the room shot off their
flashes.
Goldfarber ran like a thief. Next
day Braden sent a note to him telling
him that if opposition to the child
labor bill were continued those two
photographs would be published. He
bad ken racked.
ent him prints of the photos, too.
Goldfarber took a look at them, and
packed up and left the capital for
ever. The threatened opposition to the la
bor bill did not materialise. Various
legislators were notified that they
were released from their obligations
to the interests and were at liberty to
vote as they pleased. They voted with
Braden and the bill Went through.
f ts pssssge the
Cronkton News quietly went out of
A lot of people wondered
iL.Mttrni7 Bchoenlein
resigned from the house soon after
the labor bill was passed. Tney3d
thatpolitic. was too strenuous to
Shock Abeorber.
To absorb shocks that might da
rtroy tungsten electric lamps an
? wlre Jto' Trtth hooks at
end to enlace the ccrd.
8
Hope in the
Middle Ages
1 VS"-
The decrl;tk tu K
as "tb crra orki la
nefer more true ti4- T . '
to the sphere
2
z2 'ii-.ru'
even here it ca&sxt
Ure4y without rrrra:-
- - n
3- 4 ' . -
wages and better co
or to ettle dlr
master and etc. La
and fifteenth cesturt.. . "a
centuries
course, their hkkUUvI.
much smaller tea 2 than ,v 7
workmen of the prizi 4y V"
nincaci as taur dlstet
pared to our own, tey ;M7
siceraDie interest for u
while the actios of tie
tinulty of alms and cuic .tVt
iuim iu ran iao irouw.t i.
dou me maiers and
trators called in to
7
J ll
them and their employ i;:
extraordinary di2r?&r U ,.-
dleval and modem 0; ti, 4V
of labor and show bow rr.crrc
the position of the workrs Ui
proved.
Curb Placed U
The black death, wtlch .v
England in 13 IS 43,
virulent among th poor 'C4-rj
off large numbers of Ubor:i tic
ho survived, realizing Htlr cvj tu
ure, perhaps for the Cnt urzl
fused to work unle8 thr r-:t
much higher wages than ttey ue
been receiving. The govtrcn.f-t r
sponded by passing the iut;'.
laborers, which forbad anj ce
take higher wages than he Ui
celved before the outbreak cf m
plague, and both "givers" sud
era" of excess wages wers puutrt
The very year that the statuts m
passed there was trouble scon 'JU
shearmen of London; the tuuin
complained that if a dispute iro
tween one of them and h!i ci
servant went to his fellow wcrk
and "by covin and conspiracy t:
them" they ordered that noc iuq
them should work until tht ni
master and his servant ba4 ccz to
an agreement. To put a stop to lis
state of affairs they made ss cr5
nance, with the sanction of tU ct;ar
and aldermen, that In the future t
putes should be settled by the viritu
of the company and that semc'j r
fusing to submit to then iboJi l
handed over to the mayor for p
ishment. Later regulations r;:'.rt4
all members of the craft tc ul
stringent oath of obedience to lit
wardens and forbade any tb&mi ts
give work to a servant st nrtisce
with his master.
A Strike In the Year 13S7.
In 1387 the Journeyed: CcrJ
walners were charged before tie e?
or of London with forming aa U'fil
fraternity and with asaaultlnx tts d
the trade who would not join It 7L
ringleaders did not deny tfce sccc
tlou and also admitted that a Dc
can friar had agreed to petition 2
pope for a confirmation of the fnuf
nlty, so that no man. on pain cf a
communication, would dare to Is
fere with It, a deed which the nr
declared would weaken the liber-1
of the city and the power of its d
flcers. He consequently corszi
them to Newgate, to remain t
until he should be better advised y-
to do with them, and bis Ceil
dslon is not recorded.
The letter books of the city cf
don contain accounts of the su?F
sion of workmen's association
three trades the saddlers', the u
ors and the bakers'. They are a
very much alike, and It will
Quote one of them. The master
dlers asserted that the serrtcu
or "yeomen," oftentimes held
and that they demanded docbk
wages they used to have. TU nr.
to whom the complaint was n4
dered the representatives of
parties to confer together and rrj
the result to him.
Meetings Were Prohibit!. t
On the appointed day they rettr
and the serving men assured hia t-
they had not tried to raise vsrs .
begged to be allowed to continoe t
meetings, but all to no twr?e'Jl
decreed that they should bneJw
be under the rule of the M
the Guild, and that they J!
longer have a fraternity of their c
or hold meetings. At the
however, he enjoined the e,
govern them properly, and PJJJtT
to afford them speedy Justice if st
ances were unduly Inflicted
them, and this Is the only lBf
In all the cases we have censii""
any sympathy whatever being -j
with the men's point of vie. .
mission to the rule of the Bfrty
wardens must have been
Irksome, when, as happoed la
guilds, the Journeymen ere ceoa.
from any share in electing them.
Labor Troubles In English
London wss by no means
place which suffered .
troubles. The fullers cf fflfT
dained that If servants jfZx
would network they abould JT
before the mayor, to be d"'
cording to law and resm."
neymen weavers cf Coven
a guild three times, but ecMj09
It wss put down. On 0O rsr
they not only refused to
selves, but also prevented ot"ttJofl,
lng. Sometimes the fjj"
strong as it wss. could not cci
the Journeymen, and was " gc
apply to the crown for s-