The Curtis Courier. (Curtis, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 26, 1907 Page: 3 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Confession of a Boodler.
.... ..4 . «... ol to*-. .. .-to-rvUMto. U»« .. .« «. *» | -«* »>
>buUv. Juufc. .0 .he >»■ that afflict ta.r an., agoare with one anulher It. Bt.na he a , j
Khtn Km Beisco the gay and wicked the light of what haa passed. however. . all knew that the gas eomi«n> h
II know that many of ua were double- been held up in the [mat and that n
—JIZZ rthTZJna o, the toll* .1, h~h.hl»tt .« «. W V. ........
teller money ..4 «.e .ho ,o. Urge .on,. ...In. The e,on.. <4 .he »W
*a 0,1 , M d ri for doing certain thlnga were not en- came before the board and told of
r -......*......-......- «• - *—-
organlaed boodllng. comparable In ceired comparatively .mall amount.
duo d me i
vlted me t
muulcos.
bottom I couldn't *ee why I should which »a
not accept an> money offered me.
wife aud family, and needed the
money, and ua I knew all the other,
were taking It from the top to the
magnitude to the work of the Tweed
ring in New York occuplea public at-
tention.
Thl. la the confea.lon of a boodler.
for aelling their votes.
One day we all seemed to under-
stand simultaneously—for the life of
me I couldn't tell you who told me
„ I. to. .lory .« hi. ».» wort. o' , -Umt ll-Umt <h. KUht ..... wnnUnl
ably honest. Into a grafter. The Pac handed me 1500.
,flc SUttea Telephone and Telegraph; That was my downfall. It taok^
company wanted to block a proapec | like a lot of money to me at the time
live charter for a rival company. Lan- , and there seemed to be a nnitual um
ergan accepted >5.000 to vote against I demanding among all concerned that
the new charter. His story told to the ] a rich harvest was to be reaped dur-
grand Jury Is the most valuable evi-, lag pur term of office. Now mind you
Znce the grand jury ba, received In | I never seriously thought of going and
of the big |>ower house by fire. They
explained lo us thut the Ir losses had
been very great and that It would be
necessary fur them to have a fair,
rate fixed by the board.
Myself and others who had pledged
ourselves before election to vote for a
75-cent gas ram decided to stand by
our pledges, llut the legitimate argu-
ment of the agents of the company
were so plausible and the damage
and loss caused by the fire so far
reaching that we decide d to grant the
company an 85-cent rale.
During all this time there never
Nothing w
ephoue fra
sort. Hall
was slii'bh
acquainted
made uie
Maybe a month passed. And again
everybody seemed to think that an oje
position telephone would he a good
thing Now, the nu rits i f the Factor
Rtati s Telephone company were nev-
er discussed by us in caucus, but |ios mrm ........ — _
sibly a few of us might exchange he n.ade his flirt "overture*
notes when discussing the local situ-, want bribing me.
-♦1 ♦♦♦♦!
lla'sey. who in turn in-
pm. h wUh him at l*>
sent to the btn< heou.
IteUms. »nd we certainly
^ .ujoyable afternoon.
,tevei was said about tel-
,1s. s or anything of the
. m i .in* .1 to tU<,t lt
„ me<<B« getting better
V bee WO parted. h,!
r ,t . -o come down and
s.e him la his ot.iCe. I did *'»
atlon. llut everybody eeeim d to have |
"Indian' Information about the ner-
vousness of the Pacific Stat*i Tele
phone company over the application
of the Home Telephone company for
a franchise here.
After a few days a man named
Krause called on me. lie was very af-
fable and told me that he wanted me
word said about a holdup or to meet Mr Halsey. Up to that tlrno
its effort to trace graft to "Abe*
Ruef, Mayor Schmitz and the agents
of t ie Pacific company.
The confession follows:
Never since 1 have been in public
office have I asked a man seeking a
public favor for a dollar. I have nev-
er held up an Individual or a corpor-
ation in my life. But I have accept-
ed bribes volunteered by many of the
public service corporation* of this
city and county. But tne money I re-
ceived f.om the bribe givers connect-
ed with these institutions did me lit-
tle good. For when the fire came
most of my fortune was burned up. In
nearly every instance the bribe mon-
ey paid me was In currency.
God knows 1 have paid dearly for
accepting those bribes and now, when
I look over the happenings of the
last few weeks, I wish I had taken
the advice of my broken hearted wife
and remained on the seat of Foley s
bakery wagon. (Lonergan formerly
drove a bakery wagon )
A great many people have an Idea
that the supervisors got together and
planned the looting of the public ser;
vice corporations. Such is not the
case. In every instance the bribes
were carried to the supervisors.
There is also an Impression that the
hoard, at every Sunday night caucus,
planned a scheme of hold-ups for the
next week. That, also, Is untrue.
During the gatherings on Sunday
night the question of extorting bribes
from the big monopolies or accepting
bribes was never once mentioned
Who arranged the schemes for cor-
rupting the members of the board I
never knew definitely. -Of course, I
have my suspicions just the same as
everyone else. But so far as I know
every job put through was personal-
ly manipulated by Supervisor "Jim |
Gallagher, who always handled the
bribes.
In saying always, I made a slight
error. He did not handle the money
In the case of the Pacific States Tele-
phone company. In that instance the
money was handed over to the mem-
bers of the board by Mr. Halsey. The
transaction took place in his private
office.
I do not think that Ruef spoke to
me about money matters. While we
were all of the Impression that ho In
a general way planned the holdups,
when it came down to the actual pass-
ing of the money, none of us knew any
one save Supervisor Gallagher, who
was always referred to as the big
fellow.”
Shortly after we went Into office. It
became generally known that we
demanding money from anyone, for 1
waB entirely convinced that the cor-
porations lind been hired for the pur-
pose of bribing supervisors.
was s
bribe or corruption fund or anything
of the sort. Hut a few weeks after-
ward "Jim” Gallagher handed mo
>750. I took the money and on my
way borne pondered over my second
bribe. But I was a poor man, with a
I didn't know who Halsey was. I made
some Inquiries and learned that
Krause was Halsey's man-of-*ll-work
"Ixinergan.” be said, all l need l"
your vote lo kill the application of the
Home Telephone company for « '•
chise. I want you to come with me
and look»over oar plant. I want >oU
tn realize the vast amount of money
that we have put Into machinery and
telephone apparatus. 1 will also show
you that the telephone business, that
is. the mechanical end of It. Is of such
a peculiar nature that an opposition
service Is not feasible.
"Well, after 1 looked at the machin-
es Halseys man-o-a..-w...s. |he „ and ,he switch-
and he arranged introduction meet, ' tUe complicated staff
lugs and things of that sort- isuirus .mu
Well, lie took me down and Intro- thHt they ia n
the suit-offices, 1
quite agreed with Halsey that an op-
*a very
poee or imomg supervisuis. ““v *--- r quite agreed wnn nai»«j
♦»«*»»»*»»»**»»»«**«*■*»*«'***************
Jests and Jingles.
“You have read some of my late
husband's works, haven't you? Whai
one do you like best?”
is the most Interesting
"HIb will in ------- - f> jje—Hackwara spring-
***********************W$ '
t Gbe latest fashions, f
$ ************* ***********
“Did you give your mistress my
card?”
"Yes; she said she'd keep It and If
she ever wanted you, she'd send for
you.
Bright Man.
He—This is what you call reverse
somersault weather.
She—How so?
He—Backward Spring.
bv,
Hat Model for Spring.
The cut depicts an unusually attract-
i.\y
/
constituted a happy family of eighteen ive and becoming little hat, the fbape
members. Tn the old days and in the being a tricorne In fine black M ian
sms: 7 —.
would holdup the gas trust and divide and was ^ughtatthe ftbrlm b a
the loot equally among the members cut Jet buckle, which also held in place
of the committee. Naturally, the re- three ostrich plumes.
mainlng memberB of the board would , I" flowt,r sprays, about
stan4 to when It came to a Una, vote. | The Ambaeearfor ol A«.trl.-H„„. too »™ the col-
It being un4eretoo4 that each eeparate jiary hae notlfle4 the Department of the front ol the valet, a
. .A. ittA VnH/miil i nlon of IllllV
Lingerie Blouse.
The drawing shows a charming de-
sign for a line blouse, the model a so
being good for the corsage of a hue
white dress. Heal Cluny beading was
used as pictured, the yoke of the blouse
being of fine allover Valenciennes lace,
A little band embroidery was used In
it being understood that earn sepaiaec ------------ - -
committee would take care of itself. State that the National Union of Hun-
But with us, It was to be a case of garlan Bakers is organising a grand
one-eighteenth of the fevenut« -for international exposition of bakery, to
each. While the matter was never dls- be held at Budapest from May 15 to
euned in detail, there was a sort of | June SO, 1807.
lar, and on the bands
sleeves.
of tlie short
Street Suit.
The plainer street suits made in se-
vere tailored style are ieall> mu I)
smarter for every-day street wear than
are the fancy costumes, and mannish
little suits In checked, striped, invis-
ible plaid and plain surface materials
will be much worn this spring by the
best-dressed women. The Illustration
shows n favorite model, the lines of
which are apt to he becoming to most
figures. The coat Is semi-flttfd, and
entirely without trimming. The skirt
Is side-plaited, the plaits being quite
close together and stitched down 10 in-
ches or so below the waist line.
Think of the future as of the past,
and avoid care and remorse.
The difference between failure and
success Is that between wish uud win.
good thing for the city. So back again
, we went lo his office.
"Now. Ijouergan," he said when wo
were alone. 'I want your vote and 1
don't want It for nothing. I will give
you $5,000 If you will veto against the
Home company's franchise and next
year I will give you an additional
$2,600. That will make $7,500 In all
for your trouble and really do the
city a good turn.”
* I aBrocd to his terms at onco aud
he handed me the $5,000 In bills.
I Now, mind you. I was assured a»
that meeting that enough other mem
hers of the board had accepted his
money to guarantee defeat of the
Home company's franchise. I had my
suspicions of who the members were,
but nobody said anything to me, so
I kept my mouth shut. Again It was a
case of that "Indian” Information.
On Friday afternoon “Jim” Galla-
gher told me that the administration
was for the Home company's fran-
chise and then I realized that some-
one was trying to “double^ross" us
all. I said I did not think It was
right, meaning that when I accepted
Halsey's nionfcy I did It with the un-
derstanding that I was really carry-
ing out the wishes of the admlnlstra*
tlon.
"Well, never mind," said Gallagher.
"The Home Telephone company’s
franchise is the dope and It’s got to
go through.”
Well, It was a pretty pill to swallow,
but I swallowed It and held Halsey s
money. I tell you it seemed a big pile
for a poor man, and as 1 knew ever>-
body else was In the same boat with
me, I could not see any reason why
I should give any of It back. But as 1
was a member of the administration,
I Immediately determined to vote as
the administration desired.
So when the time came we all voted
for the Home franchise. And a few
days later “Big Jim" Gallagher came
to me and said, "Tom.” this Is yours”
as be handed me an envelope contain-
ing $11,500 In currency.
You see, 1 had a lot of money in my
house down south on Market street
at that time. And, like an act of God
the fire came along while I was in San
Jose attending a convention with
“Abe" Ruef. When l got back my
house was gone and so was mo; t - f my
money. It was a hard blow and it
seemed like fate.
Subsequent holdups were small af-
fairs. Of course, you know about the
unfortunate affair over tin- skating
rink, in which that scoundrel Hoy. be-
trayed me. Then there wn the oil
burning ordinance and a few ott r
tilings that don't amount to nui h.
This Is. they didn't amount to much
In a financial way.
But now the Jig's up end I'm In a
mighty bad way. I've lost my reput i-
tlon. I've ruined my family, my b l b
Is shattered and 1 have not long tu
live. It's the old story c f blood nuui
! ey. and Cod knows a* I'm t ill VI you
this I wish 1 was back to- ''ak*"J
wagon.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Curtis Courier. (Curtis, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 26, 1907, newspaper, December 26, 1907; Curtis, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc405863/m1/3/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.