The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 19, 1902, Page 3

THE SUNDAY CALL. A Sunday Call Reporter nas Several Inter- Chief Executive and Writes of Incidents 0dd and Unique. By Alfred Dezendorf. O be the brand new, much-discussed Meayor of like San of a new m like a That is, in for much a pation. In re work and a good courage. I slweys hed an the most arduous dutles of > first day in office a velvet chair and receive s of his friends, if his friends are in Mayor's first day in a processional, stand- ption of a con- speeches ad in- piles of letters Hon.” or Mayor on ders from waiting a good deal limentary and That is se there's a lot elieve it you should have i the first officlal day with r I did. He utive cham- orchestra at 9 morning, January ing but new There was one ion out In the W. H. Wil- ortant fixture it everybody relieve him the best we 1 family in the appoi com- greet him, and ardest worked attor- d into the er to congratulate something for nis T fifteen min ia to look around of the new of- of. It was all of it all the rs on the cene, and it urprised the living erested me more. nto the big office y and soon the well on. st notary in behind the commission- i who had been congratulations to the ¥ swear that the; . t t nstitution and perform the £ flices to the best of their w not an alarming the operation, by Abe Ruef, 3 he Empire State s mpany and George B. Keane, who will write handshakes for the te secretary. Eve fon of con- le through to f headed by a k men who wore diamonds. This e new usher to the n also and leads whispered to me ne of the lulls of keep on with the band told the Mayor when I is would be sec- band here for I ought to make lege of being the so I meandered in ing at a desk that be- him) looking All of his done befora He looked well f like a handsome and, nest man. I remembered hat a fortune teller rge nose was a ¥ and aggressive- = the nose and, I ked him later how r seemed to him as He replied, “Oh, That was heard him say dur- not entirely nat- ke the boy who did not ht a heap. Inquiries £ in all this time g to look more e a conservatory. To crown pher came in and took s Honor sitting amid the were co was gro usher came in with a bunch s, among them one with the ns of Mayor Snyder of Los asked if the Mavor was he new Commissioners s, After him came ring Mayor's clerk, e almost before he v his respects. He oomed as a racer. May- fashionably late, later looking the man isual and as happy as if 1ve to put an X before his ayor got behind the broad 1 received the Commis- ies who stood in an fore it, with an inter- of newspaper men and busy. He made a grace- s, well delivered in a . to the new officers. The presented them with their . H. W. Hutton of the Police n made a little speech, assur- all the new appointees sether with his Honor for and the new admin. ral handshake all around s important part of the was over. of men who stood be- chief executive were of erent types. Alfred Roncovierf, nd A. Altmann could cl ace on the score of good ooks, and Roncovieri looks enough like John Philip Sousa to be his double. As THE Mayom. LEAJING THE C!‘L")’ HAa L —~_ Roncovieri is a musician 2 blance does nbt come amiss. John S. Parry, the new Fire Commis- sioner, 100ks to be a posi of a big fellow, and found the first ’wu{ with the new offices by remarking i to sign his bond: *Loo has been vacant for some tim ink.” There was straightforward ( X new Commissioner of Public , wh ex-Mayor Phelan remarked that he like- and who has a grip of the hand that 1s like fron. Thomas F. Boyle, Election Commissioner, was a type of the nervo clean cut business man, and his opp was Harry W. Hutton. Police Commis- sioner, a comfortable looking man, y with an alert expression of face. Thers wag he of the name, Louis J. Ohnimus, Civil Service Commissioner, whom stran- gers who are anxious to get his name right call “Mr. Anonymous.” The man of savoir faire of the crowd, and who has more medical degrees than he knows what to do with, is Dr. J. W. Ward, the new member of the Board of Health. By the way, this gentleman did not arrive until 12:30 and had a private presentation and the honor of receiving his credentials from the Mayor alone. As I went out into the anteroom I heard Walter E. Trefts, the rosy cheeked young stenographer and assistant secre- tary to the Mayor, say to a visitor, “It wouldn’t be a bad idea for the city to order a new typewriter, for I expect to bave very important work during this administration.” 1 saw the blue cap of Corporal Willlams & the door and I went out to visit with him while I wae waiting for all the dig- nitaries to go upstairs for the most pub- lic event of the day—the reading by the Mayor of his inaugural address in the Supervisors’' assembly room. The words of a weak-voiced Irish- woman who stood leaning on the red vel- vet covered counter in the anteroom struck my ear. She was clad in rusty black and wore a veil that failed to be beautifying. *“Is Mayor Phelan in?" she asked. And then I knew she was not a politician, or she would have known the ins and outs better. “He is not the Mayor now,” said the polite corporal. “Oh, shure I tought he was. Ah, now, that's t00 bad. Well, can yez tell me if there’s anny money in the treasury? I hev a bill agin it.” She was sent to the Audi- tor's office, and she had hardly got out of the door when a tall suffrage looking female brushed in, walked through the big office, took a good look at the new members and the Mayor, who happened to be in there, and walked out again. As the door opened for her to pass out I caught a glimpse of a burly form leaning arainst the window embrasure that was exactly opposite the door of the offico that has the sign “Mayor” above it in the resem- Yor Hc PLAYA DE VIOL.IN,— black and gold. T could tell that nothing that went on or came out of that door would escape his attention. I felt as if I was a part of the Mayor's office. by this time, so I slipped out and sald to the great big unwieldy man as he waited, “Are you waiting for any one?" His hands came out of .his pockets and he #aid slowly: “Me name is Boyle and I worked for him over in the Potrero. 1 took him through the gas works. He won out big there, ye know. I had to buck agin all that crowd for Wells. T keep a saloon over there, ye see? Yes,” as he'saw I was ready to ask another question; “I was thinkin’ of the Board of Public Worke. I guess he'll put in a good many there.” I knew I was inter- viewing the office-seeker, the real thing, so I told him that I hoped he’d get what he wanted. I saw him twice again through the day. The first time he had ventured to the door and was leaning over the red velvet counter. The second he had reached the secretary’s big office dnd was sitting there in a big chair ia the attitude of a man to whom the min- utes dre hours. When 1 looked ‘around after my con- versation with the job hunter I saw that the corridors were beginning to fill with the people who are always on hand to alall] /sp FOR HIM OVER IN THE POTRERO} ALHAL SCHMEE T Z., HE = see a public function cf any sort; the plain comers out of curiosity, the graft- ers, the “must be rewarded,” the musi- cians, the kid glove gentry and the labor- ing men. They were all represented. The procession was an informal one that made its way from the Mayor’s office up to the Supervisors’ assembly room, which was packed to greet the retiring and the incoming executives as they ascended the platform together. They, as they say In the accounts of the political powwows and prizefights, “the applause was deaf- ening,” The retiring members of the board did the handsome by escorting the new members to their seats and gava them their personal support by sittin® with them during the session. There were only two ladies to watch the proceedinigs and approve of the Inaug- ural utterances of the new Mayor. One of them was Mrs. d’Ancona, who wore a big picture hat and sat by Abe Ruef In the best place in the whole room to see the Mayor’s face. The other was M Mary Lynde Craig, counselor at law, and wife of Scipio Craig of the Redlands rograph, and she sat by me and reported the proceedings. Mrs, d’Ancona was there both from interest and principle, for she has never missed a meeting of the board since her husband was made Supervisor. There were all types of men in the gal- lery, from a face as clear cut as that of ‘Washington, to that of a. man who looked as If he drank a steln of beer for every mickel he could get. They all listened TAIS wWAS MARCUS . BLum THE NEWw USHER T O THE AMAYOR. TI=ST HoUR AT IS DESS FIRST DAY iN OFFICE. with attention as Mr. ‘Phelan read his well-worded valedictory and threw bou- quets until he got to the words, “the re- tiring Mayor,” when some sclon of the People in the gallery yelled “Good-by." But thelcalclum light of public in- terest was all turned on one flg- ure, that of the new Mayor, as he rose to make his declaration of pol- fcy and good will, with its note of peace and consideration for the employer and wage-earner alike. The politi- cal significance of the opening utterances on the threshold of this “musical admin- "' istration” which is not to be “‘a one-man government” was very great, of course, but the men of the dailies were making the most, and more, of all that, so I let my tent! turn wholly to the Mayor and his characteristics. When he stood up he completely overshadowed his pre- decessor. Somehow or other with the ralling in front of d the outline of his hair done a I dour I felt as If he were ng to wave a ton. But he didn't, nd when, with graceful manner, he got into his well delivered address- I knew that many of his qualities were positive ones, an at his con ons .were his as yet. There were a good m ed heads scattered d, and it too bad that there fanfare of oboes or trombones But the ap- d made up any lack. or Alvord was a prominent the listeners, and he looked nterested as did Abe Ruef, the 's attorn He looked as it 5 ed it for anything. favor was playing the dev- > deal on the' desk in front of h n points in his Hon- or’'s speech, and I decided I would rather not be the outgoing one, at Jeast not on ot a the first day. The photographers wers there with batteries at close range, and of these ceremonles they s Honor almost to the Tunch son was not s rather the ily and the re- gs of a red let- Every whereat going through the cor- his chambers a wom- cople.” After d a varled experi- ice as a musician, much hip in the Klondike (where he went with Roncovi much theory as a stu- dent of medicine and much victory as a candldate. I was reminded of the medical stunt when he sald In regard to in- augural “‘No. I never get nervous. I could have performed an operation at the same time.” All the afternoon there were more pro- el cesslons through the big office to the Mayor's private office. The Board of Pub. lic Works, with the heads of the different departments, came to extend their fellci- tations. The Election Commission also arrived, and the Police Commission, head- ed by Chief Wittman, whose uniform gave a little touch of color to the scene. Prom- inent men in groups called; qffice-seekers of all grades, who have .waylald the Mayor for many weeks, got bolder in the afternoon and drifted In, and were hard to get out. A sandy looking young man with a sandy mustache was walting, hoping that he could get “something to do around the schoolhouses—anything he could do.” Out in the anteroom a man told the corporal, ““Well, I've done a heap for him and I don’t want him to forget me.” An Itallan fruit dealer out in the corridor remarked to one of the Supervisors, “Ah, ha! Schmeetz, he playa de violin; he maka all you Supervisores dance! The newness of the atmosphere was full of these little incidents, and In the ante- room Corporal Williams, who, as he told me himself; has been “twenty-four years on the force and neverthescratch of a pen against him,” was having his hands full. “But there's nothing new about this; we have these things every day,” he said, as he came out second best from a conversa- tion with a little wizened woman who was in the wrong office and for the steenth time. “When I come here to see the Mayor, and I ask to see the Mayor, I wish to see the Mayor. It's maybe you won’t be hers always, and It's a good thing if you wouldn’t.” That was her parting shot. There were many charity applicants, and a pathetic one was an old woman who sald, with a sob In her volce, “I have worked as long as I can, and now I have no one but myself and I must g0 to the Almshouse. Wil the Mayor send me there?’ James Broadie, the dls- tinguished looking colored gentleman who was messenger under the old administra- tion, slid in end got his clothes from the closet, and that was another old land- mark fnal ng. In the meantime the afternoon shadows were making the big rooms look gray, the stream of callers was growing less, and in the Mayor's private office ons might have a chance for a few words with him. Work was piling up before him for the morrow, and his signature was in demand not a few times. med by this L.me to be the most thoroughly at home of all those surround m, as if he had ex- ercised the many special privileges to which he was entitled as Mayor for many lieutenant, Abe Ruef, briskly in and out, stopping often for a “give and take” sort of chat. And so the clock hands moved around to the hour of 5, and promptly on the minute the & me Mayor left the City Hall, bound toward the rest of home after his first busy day in office.