The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 58

22 THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE CONSOLIDATION SUPPLEMENT, JANUARY 2, 1898. elected George C. Bennett chairman of the general committee. III. This was about the time when Erastus D.

Webster became a potent factor in the Republican politics of the county. He was about as nearly a boss as any one man had been or has been since. He was hand In glove with Thomas Murphy and Chester A. Arthur, the New York magnates, and this intimacy made him the more solid with party workers in Brooklyn. His career here was a meteoric one.

a politician of some note in those days and at the moment alderman of the Twentieth Ward. He was a candiate for re election as alderman as well as a candidate for congress. The congressional contest was one of the very fiercest ever waged in this city. One of the issues was the removal of the Navy Yard from Brooklyn. General Slocum favored its removal on the ground, among others, that Navy Yard was a political prize for which there was constant contention, and that the land which it occupied was too valuable to be used for the purposes to which it was devoted.

In answer to the suggestion that the removal of the yard would throw hundreds of men out of employment he said: "If the yard is removed it will go where land is cheaper and where the laborer can, If he will, secure a home for himself. Last, but not least it will remove him from the field where there are so many political prizes "Webster originally hailed from Buffalo, but just prior to coming to Brooklyn he had lived In "Washington, where he had a wide acquaintance and considerable influence among public men. He was a protege of Thur low "Weed and acted in the relation of a secretary to "William H. Seward when that distinguished man was at the head ot the to be fought for and where, if he is an honest man who desires to serve the government faithfully, he can stand upon his own merits and not be compelled to sell annually that which every American should hold dear the right of exercising the elective franchise free Department of State. Later on he was in other branches of Federal employment and was finally appointed by President Johnson to the assessorship in the Thirty second Internal Revenue District, with offices at S3 Cedar street, New York City.

Then he took up his residence in Brooklyn, engaged actively in politics and in a year or two was a leader of the party organization, if not absolutely its boss. With the inauguration of General Grant he lost the assessorship mainly, he always contend and untrammeled." Meetings of the supporters Webster and Slocum were held nightly during the campaign and developed a rancor the like of which has rarely been known in local politics. Vilification, misrepresentation, calumny and GENERAL BL F. TRACY. tratlon law for the first time In this state, and a law for a system of metropolitan commissioners covering the police, health and excise departments in New York, Kings, Queens, Richmond and parts of Westchester counties, thus foreshadowing, as it were the Greater New York.

The first police commissioner for Brooklyn under this system was Mr. Stranahan, who had been a conspicuous Know Nothing, and had been elected to Congress by that party. He was among the first to go over to the Republican party and easily took his position as one of its leaders in the county. The Aldermen elected by the Know Nothings in 1S56 and those holding over from 1854 formed an alliance with the Republicans, and this combination maintained its ascendency in the board until 185S. Although the Democrats won the other city offices the Know Nothings and the Republicans had control of the Common Council.

At that time Kings County had but three assemblymen and one senator, but the rapid Increase of population resulting! from consolidation increased the county's representation in the Legislature. Among the most prominent and energetic Republicans of the county were John G. Bergen, who succeeded Mr. Stranahan as police commissioner; John Winslow, Henry R. Pier son, Abram P.

Bayliss, William H. Hazzard, Walter Gove, John J. Studwell, George Andrews, J. W. Riggs, Deinas Strong, A.

H. Dailey, Bernard Peters, George C. Bennett. Samuel T. Maddox.

Anthony F. Campbell, Bailey J. Hathaway, William Wall, Charles Jones, Francis L. Dallon, Charles Fowler, Joseph Reeve, Amzi Bliss, father of Archie Bliss; Charles B. Morton, William H.

Gaylor, Samuel Booth, Fred Sehoies, Henry S. Bellows, D. B. Hasbrouck, Chauucey Felt, James Humphrey and John Thompson. There was a general comr.iiLtee, which met at Music Hall, corner ot Fulton and Orange streets.

The pioneer Republican organization of the county was the Rocky Mountain Club, to which many of the men just mentioned belonged. The first Republican, banner was swung to the breeez on Grand street, between Third and Fourth streets, and bore the names of Fremont and Dayton. It was made of muslin, purchased by Charles B. Morton and Samuel T. Maddox and sewed together by Mrs.

Morton and Mrs. Maddox and other women, for many women in those days were as enthusiastic in politics as are these of to day. Morton painted the banner, a neighbor named Gunn donating the paint. It was a large and picturesque emblem, containing in addition to the names of the two candidates, a scene on the plains, with the Rocky Mountains in tho background and an eagle whose outstretched wings seemed to form aprotection for everybody. It was Morton's first and last essay in the fine arts.

The election of Lincoln in 1S60 and the continued ascendency of the Republicans in the state naturally increased the power of the party in Kings County. There was a liberal distribution of federal and other patronage and Navy Yard and Custom House placeholders assumed leadership. In this category were Robert W. Steele, master carpenter in the Navy Yard, who was afterward defeated for sheriff; William H. Jennings, master cooper, and Alonzo Gale, master laborer.

Gale was the author of the saying, "One more dash and the Navy Yard is ours," which has often been attributed to Joseph Reeve. Hugh McLaughlin had been a boss in the yard. Factional deferences resulted in the Fort Greene movement and the election of a combination ticket, as narrated elsewhere. Samuel Sloan, Democrat, and Jesse C. Smith, Republican, were nominated for senators on the ticket, with Hugh McLaughlin for register.

The succession of Andrew Johnson to the presidency brought about a shifting of patronage and renewed factional disturbances. Meetings of the general committee were often the scene of great bickering and disorder. Arrayed on the one side, as leaders, were Charles W. Godard, captain of the port of New York; Joseph Reeve and A. M.

Bliss, who was to be the candidate for mayor in tho not very remote future. On the other side were such leaders as Anthony F. Campbell, D. B. Hasbrouck and Samuel T.

Maddox. The Campbell faction generally won at the primaries and conventions. They were in line with the supporters of Governor Morgan and Thurlow Weed in the state. Mr. Johnson was ambitious for a nomination Tor President at the close of his term, and used the Federal patronage here to advance his cause.

As a result, there came what was termed the "Johnson movement." in which Democrats and Republicans took part. The beneficiaries of the patronage included Anthony Campbell and Thomas Kinsella, postmasters in the order named; Theophilus C. Cal llcott, collector of internal revenue, and William E. Robinson (Richelieu), assessor of internal revenue and afterward Republican candidate for tax collector and Democratic Congressman. The election ot Grant, in 1868, produced another shift patronage, and the Johnson of ficeholdcrs went out.

Grant appointed men belonging to the Fenton wing of the party, Reuben E. Fenton having been elected United States Senator to succeed E. D. Morgan. States district attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which included Brooklyn.

Dutcher was supervisor ot internal revenue. In later years he was superintendent ot public works of the state, and wielded much influence in state politics. The "Three Graces" held power for two or three years and were largely instrumental in the making of party nominations although they have come down in history as a far more powerful body than they really were. General Tracy moved from Brooklyn and under the administration of President Harrison was the secretary of the Navy, which exalted position he held with great distinction. He was always a stalwart, aggressive Republican, and an unfaltering machiDe man.

Hence his hopeless candidacy in the contest for the mayoralty of Greater New York. General Jourdan has long been out of politics. He has held no office since he was police commissioner, from which position he was dropped by Mayor Low. Mr. Dutcher also retired from politics and re entered the field.

He did this several times, the last, or latest time, during and after the mayoralty contest in 1897. The election of 1871 in the state was a Republican sweep and the party had a large majority in each of the houses of the Legislature. A contest of remarkable closeness arose over the election of speaker of the Assembly and resulted in a division which continued until the great liberal Republican movement split the party still further. The Liberals put up as their candidate for speaker Thomas G. Alvord.

Opposed to him in the caucus was Henry Smith, who was nominated by 2 votes and subsequently elected. Four of the five Republican members of Assembly from Kings County voted for Smith and it has been claimed that he owed his election to them. Two of the four were Colonel Charles B. Morton and Eugene D. Berri.

The Liberal Republicans held a national convention in 1872 in the City of Cincinnati and nominated Horace Greeley. The Liberal Republicans of New York nominated a state ticket and the regular Republicans nominated a ticket headed by General John A. Dix foir governor. The Democratic candidate for governor was Francis Kernan. The question of religion was raised by many Democrats against Kernan and he was badly beaten in Kings County.

For the first time a Republican candidate for governor oarried the county. General Dix receiving a plurality the votes cast. Prominent among the Liberal Republicans in Kings County were W. W. Goodrich, Charles W.

Goddard, A. M. Bliss, George C. Bennett, Joseph Reeve. Mr.

Goodrich had before this run for Congress and been beaten. V. There was coming to the front at this period zl man who by his acts contributed largely to the history ot the Republican party of this country Albert Daggett. The story ot his career is a most interesting and suggestive one. It shows what a man oE great intelligence and energy can accomplish ia politics He was a power ia his party in.

this county foi ten years, much ot the time its boss. Daggett was a man ot education and culture. He had attractive ways and was liberal to a fault. Had he been more mindful ot his own interests and less solicitous about the well being others, he might have been a wealthy man to day. Daggett came from Troy, the home ot many of the celebrated politicians ot both parties.

He went to Washington and held a clerical position in the State Department, under William H. Seward. In 1867, he drifted to Brooklyn and made hl3 home in the Nineteenth Ward. He at once engaged in politics and started on a career which was in many respects the most remarkable known in the history of local politics. The party leaders In the Nineteenth Ward were George H.

Fisher, Andrew B. Hodges, John F. Ames and Joseph Heath. Daggett at once took a commanding position with them. General Isaac S.

Catlin appeared in the ward and worked in harmony with Daggett and his associate lead era. Colonel Lewis R. Stegman, a gallant soldier and a man of intelligence and strong personality, moved into the ward about 1869, and was for a time a powerful ally of Daggett. In 1870 a big split among the leaders occurred. One faction was headed by Daggett, Hodges, Fisher, Heath and Ames.

Stegman and Catlin led the other. After that the primaries were exciting and closely contested, the factions alternating in winning. Each side accused the other of unlawful practices. It wa 3 said that Daggett brought over from New York some ot Tweed's heelers to help him carry primaries. Stegman and Catlin were accused of voting paupers Irom, the county buildings, and dead men.

Amidst all this contention, the rriendiy personal relations between the loaders were not Impaired. In 1872, Aras G. Williams was elected sheriff. He had a3 hi3 under sheriff Thomas Murphy, a McLaughlin Democrat, who was a hold over Irom a former administration. Republicans objected to his retention.

The Eastern District which had done well for Williams on Election Day demanded recognition at his hands. Williams appointed Daggett In place of Murphy. This appointment strengthened Daggett very much and opened up to him a broader field of political work. The contentions in the Nineteenth Ward continued. Catlin was elected District Attorney and ceased political activity in the ward.

New men came to the front and new combinations were formed, but Daggett and Stegman remained In opposition to each other until 1875, when a peace was declared. Durins his term as under sheriff Daggett had made so many friends and had so often demonstrated his adroitness as a poj. SILAS B. DUTCH ER. GENERAL JAMES JOURDAN.

"THREE GRACES." THE breaches of the peace were so common as to excite little attention. A mass meeting called for the purpose of advocating the election of, Webster and held in City Park was broken up by Democrats, who thereupon held a meeting for Slocum. Oneofthemcst fiery advocates of Webster was Colonel E. B. Lansing, a well known lawyer, who subsequently joined the Democratic party and held office under it in Brooklyn.

Colonel Lansing on the stump denounced Slocum as a "traitor to bis country, his party and his God." He described Webster as the "poor man's friend, who, locking arms with poor men, took them to navy yards, custom houses and post offices and said they must be given jobs." On another occasion he denounced Slocum as "a kid gloved, soft handed, aristocratic traitor" and derided him for having been educated at West Point, "tho home of traitors." Slocum wa3 elected. Whiting was not only third in the race, but was also beaten for alderman and the Twentieth Ward was for the first time represented by a Democrat in the common council chamber. Webster felt his defeat keenly, although he knew that it was Inevitable, because of the division of the Republican vote. On the night of election, after hearing the returns, he said: "We are beaten, beaten beyond our expectations, beaten by traitors, but we have only begun the fight." He ought to have said that the fight was ended, for he did not remain long a force in the politics of this town. Within a year or so he left Brooklyn.

He was appointed to a position under the Treasury Department which required him to examine tie accounts of collectors of internal revenue and it was upon one of these missions that he visited Brooklyn some ten years afterward. Meanwhile political conditions had so changed that to many of the men active in politics he was unknown. He died a few years ago. He will always be an interesting and instructive object lesson in the political history of the county. His Republican competitor in the congressional contest, Mr.

Whiting, is still living. After his experience as a congressional candidate he continued in politics and served for a term of years as a commissioner of city works and in other positions in the department. He was the secretary under Commissioner Willis. IV. The retirement of Webster was followed by the rule ot that celebrated triumvirate known as the "Three Graces." They were General Benjamin F.

Tracy, Silas B. Dutcher and James Jourdan, who received valuable support from the late William Richardson and other cunning and alert politicians, most of them now dead. Jourdan was assessor of internal revenue, and some years afterward was a police commissioner. Tracy was United ed, because of the opposition of New York bankers and brokers against whom he had rigidly enforced an offensive tax law. He continued nevertheless in active political relations in Brooklyn.

Webster was a man of great personal magnetism. He made friends easily and kept them. His physical appearance was striking. He was above the medium height, of very spare figure and nervous, impulsive manner. His face was small and set oft by an enormous mustache which he was continually twisting.

His eyes of steel gray were deeply set in his head and looked out from beneath shaggy brows. He was a fluent, earnest and convincing talker and was accus tomedtoemphasizehis conversation with oaths and other violent forms of speech of which he was a past master. No other man ever in Brooklyn politics could approach him in vigor of speech unless it were General Slocum. Webster's profanity was picturesque, and singularly enough It seemed to make him peculiarly attractive to the boys. In the fall of 1870 Webster was nominated as the Republican candidate for Congress ia the Third District.

The Democrats nominated General Slocum. Slocum had been a Democrat only a few years. In 1860 he was a Republican assemblyman and had introduced what was known as the personal liberty bill, which provided for the punishment of persons who assisted in the Return of fugitive slaves. He was county clerk of Onondaga County when the war broke out. He was military governor ot Mississippi in 1865.

At that time the war spirit was very strong in the North and the New York State Republican convention nominated a ticket headed by a veteran of the war, General Barlow, for secretary of state. General Slocum was presented as a candidate for the nomination also. Having "been turned down by the Republicans he was" nominated by the Democratic state convention for secretary of state against Barlow, but Barlow was elected. After that Slocum became a Democrat. The nomination of Webster was the causo of much hostility among Republicans.

They denounced him as a man entirely unfit for the office of congressman and the Reform Olub, a local organization of that day, charged him with having to do with the payment of money to prevent the successful impeachment of President Johnson. Webster was in Washington during the impeachment proceedings and the talk then was that he was involved in the matter spoken of by the Reform Club. These hostile Republicans In Brooklyn placed in the field against him as an independent candidate Robert M. Whiting, Through Horace Greeley he appointed Michael Scanlan as assessor, turning out S. T.

Maddox. Scanlan came on from Chicago to take the office. He turned out Assessor John Williams and appointed James R. Allaben. All this created further divisions in the party.

There were three factions, headed, respectively, by Godard, Bliss and Campbell. The two last named formed a combination and.