ijgg-syitf rri;.i
THE COURIER.
ance of his earnestness. Monday night
the new telephone ordinance was read a
second and third time and passed.
Mr. Webster attempted to amend the
ordinance, but the council, as a whole,
wouldn't permit any tamrering with the
measure, and it was made a law as
read, or rather it was made a law with
out being read. For the clerk was only
permitted to read two sections. Now
Sheibley is given credit (or being an en
terprising man, and some people say it
will be a fine thing to havo a new
exchange. I do not think anyone will
deny that Sheibley is entei prising;
but there is room to doubt that ho will
put in a new exchange. Thero is reason
to believe that he never intended to put
iu an exchange. The contracts which
subscribers havo signed do not obligate
him in any respect. Ho is not bound to
do anything and his business is all done
in his own name "and assigns." The
Harrison company does not appear in it
at.al), and people who have taken the
trouble to inquire have learned that it
the Harrison company is back of Mr.
Sheibley's enterprise it is a very long
back. I am safe in predicting that it
will bo a long tiruo before thero is a
second telephone exchange in this city.
Mr. Sheibley has been running a strong
game of bluff. Pretty soon he may be
in the market with his proposed ex
change. Maybe ho will work the Ne
braska Telephone company and maybe
he won't. But he has done some good
anyway; for telephone rates have been
reduced. The city council should be
careful in cases of this kind. It should
be thoroughly convinced of the sincer
ity of the promoter before it lends itself
to his scheme, and commits the city to
useless expense.
General Brooke, who for some years
has been stationed at Omaha has been
ordered to St Paul, and General Cop
pinger, one of the recently appointed
brigadiers, is to take his place. The
newspapers are full of more or less sen
sational accounts of how Colonel 'Cop
pinger secured promotion to a brigadier
generalship. According to one corres
pondent, Mrs. Blaine asked the president
to promote her son-in-law, and the
president acceded to her request on
grounds wholly creditable to his heart,
if not to his head. Now comes Mrs.
Blaine's friends, or those who pretend
to speak for her, with denial of the ac
curacy of this statement. "Mrs. Blaine
had nothing to do with Coppinger's
promotion," it was said by one of these
friends, and it is probable that 6he was
very much surprised upon learning of
Coppingjr's advancement. This denial
would be more satisfactory if President
Cleveland's testimony could be taken, as
he is the only man able to set the matter
at rest Certain facts bearing upon the
caso are worth citing In this connection;
for, if it was not Mre. Blaine's influence
that secured Colonel Coppinger's pro
motion, army officers would like to know
whence the pressure came to induce
President Cleveland to push Coppinger
over the heads of fivoorsix senior officers
Inquiry at the war department developed
that not a single paper in favor of Cop
pinger's promotion was on file there, and
there is plenty of authority in army cir
cles that Coppinger could not have se
cured the endorsement of any officer of
that line if he had asked for it. Again,
it is known that -Mrs. Blaine, during
the past six weeks, has gone far out of
her way to cultivate the friendship of
certain members of the cabinet and cer
tain officials of the war department. Fin
ally, it is als) known that Mrs. Blaine
called on President Cleveland at his coun
try seat a few days before Coppinger's
promotion was announced.
"We are well satisfied concerning the
influence 'which secured Coppinger's
promotion," said an exceedingly well-informed
army officer. "Mrs. Blaine call
ed upon the president at Woodley and
made a speech to him. She urged that
General Harrison refused to promote
her son-in-law notwithstanding her and
her husband's most urgent appeals;
that Mr. Blaine was dead; that her two
sons were gone, and that in other ways
death had entered her family; that the
only request she had to make of the
man who had beaten her dead husband
for the presidency was the appointment
of the husband of her daughter to
a brigadier generalship. Mr. Cleveland
is not the man to refuse such an appeal
as this. He could not decline to grant
a request put upon a basis of sentiment
and gallantry in this manner. Harrison
badrcfusedher the same thing.although
he well understood what the penalty
would be. He knew Mrs. Blaino would
stir her husband to opposition to the
president's renomination an expecta
tion which was quickly verified. Presi
dent, Harrison told Secretary of War
Elkins that he could not promote Cop
pinger because that officer was not com
petent to fill the post of brigadier gen
eral, and, haringreached that conclusion
Harrison was the man to stand to it in
the face of all opposition and dispute,
despite appeals."
When Benjamin Harrison comes to
write his autobiography this Coppinger
incident will make one of his most inter
esting chapters. The present contro
versey concerning the nature of the in
fluence which induced President Cleve
land to promote that officer seems trivial
in comparison with the effects of
General Harrison's refusal to do the
same thing. General Harrison, if he
wishes, will be able to tell how Mrs.
Blaine lost her temper when he last re
fused her appeals, threatened him with
defeat, slammed tho door of the cabinet
room and flew down stairs and across
the park to the Blaine mansion. Mr.
Harrison will be able to tell that within
two hours Mr. Blaine's friends knew
that his name could be used as a candi
date for the presidential nomination in
a last desperate effort to defeat the re
nomination of Harrison. If General
Harrison chooses to carry his descrip
tion of the episode to its logical con
clusion he may attribute his defeat for
a second term to his failure to accede
to Mrs. Blaine's request in behalf of her
much discussed but really very common
place son-in-law. A good many astute
politicians believe Harrison might have
been re-elected but for the trouble which
arose between him and Blaine, due to
the machinations of Mrs. Blaine, and
which had its effect upon a large num
ber of voters in New York and other
states.
IN THE FRIGID ZONES.
It was in the far and frigid north,
where the aurora boreal is lights up the
icy wastes.
"Say!'' the voice of the elder Eskimo
carried a world of menace in its tone.
"Does that young fellow from Upper
Navik intend to stay all night?"
The eldest daughter of the house- of
Husky tossed her head.
"Pa!"
Her pretty lips formed into a pout.
"How can you talk so? He hasn't
been here more than two months, and
you know it?"
The old man remembered tho four
months of darkness yet to be, and as he
heard the courting couple put more
blubber on the fire, groaned, but said no
more.
POINTS IN POLITICS.
A. J. Cornish is a candidate for judge
of the district court Mr. Cornish is
said to be having considerable luck in
finding people who think he would make
a good judge.
Jim Caldwell is another man who
aspires to sit on the district bench.
Both Cornish and Caldwell have served
in the legislature; but they have reform
ed. They are both active republicans.
In New "York.
Mme. Gotrocks Tell me, how did he
propose to you?
Mrs. Muchcash Why he asked me to
get a divorce from my present husband,
of course.
Charley Waite says there is no truth
in the story that he will withdraw aB a
candidate for clerk of the district court.
J. D. WoodB, who has served two
terms as county clerk, has a good record
as an official. Mr. Woods has given
strict attention to the duties of his
office.
A Fourth Ward Politician- "I don't
believe there will be any contest be
tween Hall and Holmes in the Fourth.
I look to see both of these gentlemen
get into the convention. A good many
people are in favor of letting them name
a delegation between them, the rest of
the candidates in the ward to take their
chances with the delegation."
Notwithstanding the fact that he lives
in the Fourth ward there are people
who believe Judge Lansing will be renominated.
One of the strongest candidates for
county judge is John B. Cunningham of
the Sixth ward.
There is a report that the deal is to
nominate Long Legs Trompen for
sheriff. It is by no means certain that
Trompen could be elected. The repub
lican candidate for this office should be
a strong man.
Fritz Westermann.of the Third ward,
has been talked of as a candidate for
county judge.
Tom Munger has moved out of the
Fifth Ward at a time when there is a
general movement of politicians toward
this ward.
Most people regard the Civic Federa
tion as hopeleesly extinct, and there are
not many who believe there will be a
mugwump movement this fall.
A meeting of the executive committee
of the state leaguo of republican clubs
will bo held in this city the last of the
month for the purpose of selecting
delegates to the national convention.
Tom Pratt, of the Fourth ward, is a
candidate for clerk of the district court.
A. M. Trimble, of Grant precinct, is a
candidate for county clerk.
Kimmell, of the Fifth ward, is a can
didate for clerk of the district court.
Hartley, of Bennett, is a candidate for
county clerk.
John M. Stewart, of the Sixth ward,
is a candidate for district judge.
So is A. W. Scott, of the same ward.
Charley Caldwell is said to have with
drawn as a candidate for sheriff.
E. Baker will run for clerk of the dis
trict court again. And his pace, like
that of Fred Miller's, will not be slow.
Judge Tibbets will be renominated by
the democrats.
J. W. Kearns, of Bennett, is a candi
date for county superintendent of
schools. He has been principal of the
school at Bennett for three years, and
was formerly-principal at Raymond,
. CHARACTER SKETCH.
SECOND SERIES.
No. G.
For Borne years he has exercised a
wonderfully potent influence as a poli-.
tician.He has enjoyed uninterrupted su
premacy in his own ward, and very often
he is the dominating element in the city
ante-convention campaign. Ho is gener
ally known as the political boss.
The republican convention will prob
ably be held in August, sometime
between the 15th and the last of the
month.
This man is an odd character. He
has no social position. His business
and surroundings havo been such that
men who willing are to pay him
the most abject tribute in the street,
could not well meet him in their homes.
Withal, he is a better man than many of
his associates. He makes no pretensions,
and he doesn't extort money from those
to whom he gives his influence, like
some of the politicians who move in his
class; and herein is one of the strange
things that are occasionally found in
politics. This man gives three-fourths
of his time to politics. He makes poli
tics his chief business. Ho interests
himself in behalf of some men and works
night and day for them. He opposes
other men and works just as hard
against them. And for what, it may be
asked, is ho so active as a politician. It
is not charged that there is a price on his
friendship and co-operation. There are
no stories of his holding up candidates.
"All I want," he says, "is to be treated
square. I don't want anybody that I
help to go back on me. I want them to
use me right." Treating him "square,"
and using him "right" consists in bolster
ing up his political power in helping
those whom he .,"antB helped. Tho
man seems to take great satisfaction in
the fact that men are forced to come to
him. This satisfaction is, largely, tho
compensation ho gets out of politics.
He uses men to further hiB ambitions.
Sometimes he gives little consideration
to the individual preferments of those
whom he would use. His will must be
paramount. In a ward meeting he
rules with absolute power. He is not a
parliamentarian; but he gets there just
the 6ame. He allows men to talk and
shuts them off at will. He states his
wishes and he gives the meeting to
understand that what he says goes.
And it does. In the last city republican
convention he exerted his power to the
uttermost, and when he raised the polo
the persimmons dropped. It was a
sight to see him! He moved around
among tho delegates, passing tho word
along. He made men get up and make
speeches. He pulled men off their feet
who had, in his opinion, talked long
enough. He approached the solid citi
zen and calmly told him how to vote.
And he saw that the vote was cast as
he desired. His personality dominated
the convention. The men he wanted
nominated were nominated. But there
was not any actual money in his success.
It ib doubtful if he is any richer now
than he was a year ago. Indeed, it is
probable that he is poorer. Misfortune
has lately knocked at his door.
He has, as I have said, no social posi
tion, and his moorings are not such as to
make him responsible. But when ho
says he will do a thing he does it. His
word is good. Men who build on his
his friendship build on something
tangible and solid. He is frank and
open in his methods. He may be lots
of other things, but he is not a hypo
crite. He is what he is, and he doesn't
try to conceal the fact. He doesn't