There's Dick Croker and an associate walking on the east side of Madison Square Park. A small girl and a woman hurry past in the snow. The little girl looks back at Tammany's Grand Sachem, the head of New York's political machine since 1888. Or maybe at the movie camera.
Croker was born in Ireland, and came to the US at the age of two. A long career that began in the Fourth Avenue Tunnel Gang. Now everyone knew who he was, and except for Jay Gould's son, everyone paid him off. After the (temporary) loss of the mayorality and the failure to carry the city in the presidential election of 1900 -- McKinley's VP was Teddy Roosevelt -- he left the country. His horse won the dervy in 1907, and he died in 1922, aged 78.
Croker was born in Ireland, and came to the US at the age of two. A long career that began in the Fourth Avenue Tunnel Gang. Now everyone knew who he was, and except for Jay Gould's son, everyone paid him off. After the (temporary) loss of the mayorality and the failure to carry the city in the presidential election of 1900 -- McKinley's VP was Teddy Roosevelt -- he left the country. His horse won the dervy in 1907, and he died in 1922, aged 78.
