Chapter II

Birthplace and Parentage.—A Good Mother.—Anecdote of
the Son.—Chastises a Larger Boy.—Narrow circumstances
of his Youth.—School Days.—Loses his Father.—Employed
by James Gordon Bennett in the _Herald_ Office.—At
Night School.—The Future Man as Sketched
in the Utica _Observer_.—Discusses Political Economy with
Bonamy Price of Oxford.—Relations of the Boy with Mr.
Bennett.—Their Friendship.—Leaves the _Herald_.—Apprenticed
to Jacob B. Creamer.—Encounters a Factory
Bully.—A Prosperous Young Man.—Loses his Mother.—Provides
for his Sisters and Brother.—No Thought of
Politics.—A Glimpse at his Future Life.—Interviewed by
a _World_ Reporter.—Utica _Observer_ upon Hostility between
Kelly and Tweed.—Tweed Talks of Kelly to _Herald_
Reporter.—The Ivy Green.—David C. Broderick.—Kelly
Fond of Athletic Sports.—Becomes Captain of
Emmet Guards.—A Fire Laddie.—His Intrepidity.—His
Life Threatened.—Fondness for Private Theatricals.—Plays
Macbeth, Othello and Hamlet.—Essays Comic Role
as Toodles, &c.—Religious Strife.—Persecution of Catholics.—The
Incendiary’s Torch.—St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Threatened.—Bishop Dubois.—Native American Riots.—An
Outbreak Imminent in New York.—Bishop Hughes
Calls on the Mayor.—Election Frauds.—A Battle at the
Polls.—Kelly as Leader.—Ascendency Over Others.—Enters
Upon His Public Career.—Kelly, Stephens, and
Wise, an Anti-Know-Nothing Triumvirate. 9