On the day before the election the Municipal League sent registered letters to all the registered voters of certain precincts.Sixty-three per cent were returned, marked by the postman, "not at," "deceased," "removed," "not known." Of forty-four letters addressed to names registered from one four-story house, eighteen were returned.From another house, supposed to be sheltering forty-eight voters, forty-one were returned; from another, to which sixty-two were sent, sixty-one came back.The league reported that "two hundred and fifty-two votes were returned in a division that had less than one hundred legal voters within its boundaries." Repeating and ballot-box stuffing were common.Election officers would place fifty or more ballots in the box before the polls opened or would hand out a handful of ballots to the recognized repeaters.The high-water mark of boss rule was reached under Mayor Ashbridge, "Stars-and-Stripes Sam," who had been elected in 1899.The moderation of Martin, who had succeeded McManes as boss, was cast aside; the mayor was himself a member of the Ring.When Ashbridge retired, the Municipal League reported: "The four years of the Ashbridge administration have passed into history leaving behind them a scar on the fame and reputation of our city which will be a long time healing.Never before, and let us hope never again, will there be such brazen defiance of public opinion, such flagrant disregard of public interest, such abuse of power and responsibility for private ends."Since that time the fortunes of the Philadelphia Ring have fluctuated.Its hold upon the city, however, is not broken, but is still strong enough to justify Owen Wister's observation: "Not a Dickens, only a Zola, would have the face (and the stomach) to tell the whole truth about Philadelphia."St.Louis was one of the first cities of America to possess the much-coveted home rule.The Missouri State Constitution of 1875granted the city the power to frame its own charter, under certain limitations.The new charter provided for a mayor elected for four years with the power of appointing certain heads of departments; others, however, were to be elected directly by the people.It provided for a Municipal Assembly composed of two houses: the Council, with thirteen members, elected at large for four years, and the House of Delegates, with twenty-eight members, one from each ward, elected for two years.These two houses were given coordinate powers; one was presumed to be a check on the other.The Assembly fixed the tax rate, granted franchises, and passed upon all public improvements.The Police Department was, however, under the control of the mayor and four commissioners, the latter appointed by the Governor.The city was usually Republican by about 8000 majority; the State was safely Democratic.The city, until a few years ago, had few tenements and a small floating population.
Outwardly, all seemed well with the city until 1901, when the inside workings of its government were revealed to the public gaze through the vengeance of a disappointed franchise-seeker.
The Suburban Railway Company sought an extension of its franchises.It had approached the man known as the dispenser of such favors, but, thinking his price ($145,000) too high, had sought to deal directly with the Municipal Assembly.The price agreed upon for the House of Delegates was $75,000; for the Council, $60,000.These sums were placed in safety vaults controlled by a dual lock.The representative of the Company held one of the keys; the representative of the Assembly, the other;so that neither party could take the money without the presence of both.The Assembly duly granted the franchises; but property owners along the line of the proposed extension secured an injunction, which delayed the proceedings until the term of the venal House of Delegates had expired.The Assemblymen, having delivered the goods, demanded their pay.The Company, held up by the courts, refused.Mutterings of the disappointed conspirators reached the ear of an enterprising newspaper reporter.Thereby the Circuit Attorney, Joseph W.Folk, struck the trail of the gang.Both the president of the railway company and the "agent"of the rogues of the Assembly turned state's evidence; the safe-deposit boxes were opened, disclosing the packages containing one hundred and thirty-five $1000 bills.
This exposure led to others--the "Central Traction Conspiracy,"the "Lighting Deal," the "Garbage Deal." In the cleaning-up process, thirty-nine persons were indicted, twenty-four for bribery and fifteen for perjury.
The evidence which Folk presented in the prosecution of these scoundrels merely confirmed what had long been an unsavory rumor:
