The Colonel and the Dog Catcher
A Democratic campaign rally ends in chilly indifference, punctuated by a bit of slapstick oratory.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Democrats held a big rally at the Armory, but the hall was cold and enthusiasm was lacking. When Colonel James Hamilton Lewis stepped to the platform, his trousers were not hanging very well, and a small boy cried: 'Pull down your pants, mister!' The Colonel replied with a graceful bow and complied, drawing a roar of laughter. Later, he told a story of a local dog catcher named John Coleman, who, when criticized by Mayor Ronald, insisted that while the Mayor might run a city, catching dogs required a specific kind of 'science.' The sally of wit at the mayor’s expense suited the humor of the crowd, but it could not save the meeting; by the end, the hall was nearly empty.
“Now, jes' you see here, Mister Ronald, you may be all right in youah business; mos' any man kin run a city. But when it comes down to catchin' dogs, why you isn't qualified; dat takes some science, dat does.”
The 'war-horse' political rally was once the primary stage for local power struggles. The specific humor regarding municipal incompetence, particularly directed at the mayor, reflects a long tradition of public skepticism toward City Hall that is still very much alive today.
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