Shepard. There need be no mistake; Mr.
Shepard was not a candidate, he was a refuge. And such a refuge as is
Scylla when one is threatened of Charybdis.
"When Mr. Croker seized on Mr. Shepard, he defeated the Coler plot,
but made no safety for his leadership. He succeeded only in losing the
latter in a fashion less harrowing to his vanity, less obnoxious to
his self-respect. It was the old Roman at the last, who, preferring
suicide to capture, throws himself on his own sword.
"Study the situation as Mr. Croker studied it, following the city
convention; it will aid to an understanding of what has happened
since, and tell the story of his lost leadership. Following Mr.
Shepard's nomination there lived no Croker hope. With either Mr.
Shepard or Mr. Low elected, Tammany would dwindle--as one now beholds
it--to be a third-rate influence. The autocracy of Mr. Croker would
disappear. At the best, he might beg where he had once commanded, with
every prospect of being denied. Mr. Croker, in alarm for his pride,
decided that his sole chance to quit with credit was to quit at once,
and on that thought he acted. Following the naming of Mr. Shepard he
treated with the plotters and abandoned to them half his dominion. It
was they, and not Mr. Croker, who determined the personnel of the late
county and borough tickets; one has but to remember the folk who were
named, and recall those who were not, to know that this is true.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26