Kelly, John, 1821-1886

Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt appreciated C. P. Connolly’s letter about his article. He agrees that it is ridiculous to condemn an entire class of people based on the misdeeds of a few. He cites examples of his working with people from various backgrounds as an assemblyman in New York. As Civil Service Commissioner, he equally supports Catholics and Protestants.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1894-04-11

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

William Rockhill Nelson believes that the forces opposed to Theodore Roosevelt will continually be trying to aggravate him in order to put him at a disadvantage, and tells Roosevelt that he does not need to defend himself, as the people will come to his defense. He illustrates this with an incident he remembers from New York politics.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-09-07

Creator(s)

Nelson, William Rockhill, 1841-1915

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Thomas F. Bayard carries a banner that shows a portrait of Thomas Jefferson and is labeled “Jeffersonian Principles,” with a streamer at top that states “A Government of the People, by the People, for the People.” Attached to the corners of the banner are ribbons that are being pulled in different directions, tearing the banner in the process. At the upper left, a ribbon labeled “Civil Service Reform” is pulled by George H. Pendleton, holding a notice that states “Civil Service Reform will Save the Country.” At bottom left, a ribbon labeled “High Tariff” is pulled by Samuel J. Randall, holding a notice that states “High Tariff benefits the Laborer.” At center is Bayard with a notice in his pocket that states “Let us dodge every question.” On the bottom right, a ribbon labeled “To the Victors belong the Spoils” is held by John Kelly, along with a notice that states “The Spoils Policy is the Safest Policy.” At top right, a ribbon labeled “Free Trade” is pulled by Abram S. Hewitt, holding a notice that states “Free Trade benefits the Laborer.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-04-25

Creator(s)

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894

At a dog show, a variety of breeds are competing. In the upper left corner, labeled the “Judges’ Stand,” are several newspaper editors, including James Gordon Bennett, Whitelaw Reid, Murat Halstead, Charles A. Dana, Henry Watterson, and George W. Curtis. They are judging two dogs, Winfield Scott Hancock and Samuel J. Tilden. Other dogs depicted are “Sesquipedalian Sleuth Hound Evarts, Mulligan Mongrel, Rossa Runt – take care dangerous, Lap Dogs Monopoly Breed”, also Chester A. Arthur, William Mahone, Thomas Collier Platt, Roscoe Conkling, James D. Cameron, John Logan, “Pointer Bayard, Tammany Tarrier, House Dog Edson, Dachshund, Toby Dog, Poodle, Water-dog,” David Davis, U.S. Grant, “Tewksbury Ratter, Hoar-Hound, Hybrid Hayes” and at center, “Puck’s entry Cleveland [and] S. Low.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-05-09

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Grover Cleveland, as William Tell, holds the hand of Franklin Edson, as his son, striding past a hat labeled “Tammany” perched atop a stick labeled “Ignorant Voters” around which Samuel S. Cox, Thomas F. Grady, Hubert O. Thompson, Francis B. Spinola, and others bow down. On the left, an enraged John Kelly sits on a donkey, commanding soldiers carrying a banner labeled “Board of Aldermen.” In the background, on the right, standing beneath a sign that states “Regular Democracy,” are a group of men that includes Samuel J. Tilden, William R. Grace, Abram S. Hewitt, and Edward Cooper.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-05-16

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

A large procession crosses the newly-completed Brooklyn Bridge. At the front, dressed as policemen with nightsticks, are several newspaper editors. Among them are James Gordon Bennett, Oswald Ottendorfer, Whitelaw Reid, Murat Halstead, Joseph Pulitzer, Charles A. Dana, and Carl Schurz. Puck follows at center on a white horse, with a group of dandies on the right, one labeled “Freddie,” and a group of “Political Tramps” on the left, including George M. Robeson, Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas Collier Platt, James G. Blaine, and Roscoe Conkling. John Kelly is at the lead of the “Tammany Heelers,” followed by Hubert O. Thompson with the “New York Street Cleaning Department.” Behind them comes “Puck’s Monopoly Target Company” with Russell Sage, William H. Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and Cyrus W. Field. On the left is a masonic group labeled “F. & A.M.” carrying a goat on a pedestal. Beneath the bridge is a boat labeled “The Dynamiter” filled with angry anarchists. Caption: Puck follows the example of the illustrated newspapers, and gives an accurate picture of the event one day before it takes place – and don’t you forget it!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-05-23

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

A large group of politicians and others stand in a cemetery on Memorial Day. Each seems to be grieving at gravestones that bear special messages. Pope Leo XIII stands in front of a stone that states “Here lies my Irish Influence.” Ulysses S. Grant places a wreath labeled “Tho’ Gone Not Forgotten” at a monument that states “Here Lies the Third Term 1880.” Stephen Dorsey and Thomas Brady, arm in arm, stand in front of a stone that states “[Star] Route Here Lies Our Hope of Acquittal.” James G. Blaine places a wreath on a stone that states “[He]re Lies My South American Policy.” Samuel J. Tilden and Charles A. Dana stand in front of a stone that states “Tilden Boom 1876 Rest in Peace.” Clustered around Grant are Roscoe Conkling holding a tattered military standard labeled “Stalwart Battle Flag 1880,” J. D. Cameron on crutches labeled “1882,” John A. Logan as a drummer with number “306” on his drum strap, and Thomas Collier Platt as a little girl. Also grouped before a stone that states “Here Lies Democratic Consistency on the Tariff” are Benjamin F. Butler, Winfield Scott Hancock, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Stephen B. Elkins. Others depicted are Simon Cameron, John Kelly, Jay Gould, George W. Childs, George M. Robeson, David Davis, Robert Ingersoll, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, and a man identified as “Campbell.” Caption: They deck with flowers, this Day of Decoration, full many a blighted hope and reputation.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-05-30

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Eight stagecoaches stand in a procession, each jammed with passengers. Riding in the first coach, labeled “Republican Harmony Coach,” are Chester Alan Arthur, Roscoe Conkling, James Gillespie Blaine, John Alexander Logan, Ulysses S. Grant, J. D. Cameron, George William Curtis, John Sherman, John F. Miller(?) and an unidentified man. Riding in the second coach, labeled “Dem. Love Feast Coach” and “One Republican thrown in to please Mr. Dana,” are Charles A. Dana, Benjamin F. Butler, Edward Cooper, Rutherford B. Hayes, Franklin Edson, Samuel J. Tilden, John Kelly, and Hubert O. Thompson. Riding in the third coach, labeled “Heavy Hack,” are Cardinal John McCloskey, Robert Green Ingersoll, “Jacobs, Potter, Storrs,” Howard Crosby, Henry Ward Beecher, and Theodore Tilton. Riding in the fourth coach, labeled “Monopoly,” are William H. Vanderbilt, Russell Sage, Cyrus W. Field, Jay Gould, and a box labeled Henry Clay. Riding in the fifth coach, labeled “Thespis,” are Lester Wallack, Rose Coghlan, Marie Geistinger, “T.P., J.E. Pearson, Levy,” Dion Boucicault, Edward Harrigan, and Tony Hart. The sixth coach is labeled “Homeopathy”; the seventh coach is labeled “Allopathy”; and the eighth coach is labeled “The Bruiser.” The horses pulling this last coach wear boxing gloves. Caption: [If this takes, we will have another one next year.]

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-06-13

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

In the interior of a blacksmith’s shop, Samuel Randall, Abram Hewitt, and Benjamin Butler are putting oversized shoes labeled “Protection, Free Trade, [and] Incidental Tariff” on a mule labeled “Democracy.” Henry Watterson works on a shoe labeled “Western Policy” and Thomas Bayard reaches for a shoe labeled “Elastic Policy.” In the right foreground, Charles A. Dana is cooling rods labeled “MacDonald Boom, Hancock, Grace, Hendricks, [and] Tilden.” At the furnace are Grover Cleveland, Lucius Q. C. Lamar, and “Robbinson” with irons labeled “Business Principles, Southern Policy, Tariff for Rev. [and] Dodge Policy” in the fire. In the background on the right are John Kelly, Joseph Pulitzer, and Oswald Ottendorfer operating the “Dem. Press Bellows” for the “N.Y. World, N.Y. Star, [and] Staatszeitung.” Puck sits on top of a wall in the upper left, next to a notice that states “Tariff Tinkering Done Here.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-06-20

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

John Kelly, dressed as a woman, threatens New York City Mayor Franklin Edson with a stick labeled “N.Y. Board of Aldermen” and points toward jars on a shelf, containing former Mayors Edward Cooper and William R. Grace. Kelly has another stick labeled “N.Y. Legislature” tied behind his back. Caption: New York’s Mistress – “Want a new charter, do you? Take care, or I’ll put you up there with the others!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-02-21

Creator(s)

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894

Ulysses S. Grant is leading his “Grant Boom” band comprised of Samuel J. Tilden, Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Roscoe Conkling, William W. Phelps, David Davis, James D. Cameron, John Sherman, James G. Blaine, John Kelly, Winfield Scott Hancock, William Mahone, and John Logan. Most carry drums that are broken or in disrepair. Across the street, in front of the “Political Armory,” Puck is operating a makeshift stand, issuing “New Drums for Old Drums.” Benjamin F. Butler kicks away his old drum labeled “Butlers Old Policies” and is getting a new drum labeled “Civil Service Reform.” Brooklyn Mayor Seth Low and Grover Cleveland are trying out new drums labeled “Independence” and “Civil Service Reform.” Other new drums are labeled “Tariff Reform, Political Honesty, Anti-Monopoly, Honesty, [and] For the People.” Caption: The U.S. Army is to have new drums. In their day the old drums did good service. Now they must retire and give place to better drums. Phila. Record.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-02-14

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Franklin Edson lies on a dirt path labeled “Road to Honest Government,” hanging onto the tails of two hogs going in the opposite direction, one with the face of John Kelly, labeled “Tammany,” and the other labeled “County Dem.” wearing pince-nez labeled “H.O.T.” In the background is a road sign labeled “To Tammany Bossism” and “To County Bossism,” with New York City in the distance. Caption: He had better let them both go.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-01-03

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Grover Cleveland is pictured as a large tree labeled “Eucalyptus Clevelandus” with roots labeled “Honor” and “Honesty,” and branches that spread over swamp land from which rise gaseous ghosts labeled “Stupidity, K. K. K., Bourbonism, Butlerism, Dynamiter, Kellyism, Ward Bossism, [and] Spoils System.” In the background is a large building labeled “Democratic Head-Quarters.” Caption: The eucalyptus tree has recently been introduced into marshy and malarious regions, where it acts as a purifier of the atmosphere, driving away the deadly miasmatic vapors.–Encyclopaedia.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-08-27

Creator(s)

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, the Puck figure for the “Independent” party stands on a raised platform, hoisting a flag that states “For President G. Cleveland” showing a portrait of Grover Cleveland, while a female figure labeled “Democratic Party” gestures toward the flag. In the foreground, Benjamin F. Butler, dressed as a clown, and John Kelly, dressed as a Native American, are crying. Extending from Butler’s pocket is a string of sausages labeled “Tammany’s Nomination, Women’s Suffrage Nomination, Tewkesbury Pauper Nomination, Convict Party Nomination, Greenback Nomination, [and] Butler’s Nomination.” Kelly is labeled “Tammany” and carries a peace pipe labeled “Grady.” In the background, the disappointed Tammany delegation has gathered up their signs and is departing. Caption: When party lifts a flag like this on high, small wonder clowns and demagogues should cry.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-07-16

Creator(s)

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894

President Cleveland, as Ferdinand V sitting on a throne, observes as civil service office seekers are baptized at the font of “Civil Service Reform.” Among those depicted are Thomas Hendricks, Charles A. Dana, Thomas F. Grady, “Barnum,” George H. Sterling(?), John Kelly, L. Q. C. Lamar, Thomas F. Bayard, “Pendleton,” “Carlisle,” George W. Curtis, Carl Schurz, and Grover Cleveland. Caption: In 1500, after the conquest of Granada, Ferdinand V. compelled the vanquished Moors to submit to the rite of Baptism.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-03-11

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

John Kelly holds a shillelagh in one hand and a rope tied to an injured tiger labeled “Tammany” with bandages labeled “1880, 1882, [and] 1884” in the other, standing outside the “White House” gate. Grover Cleveland stands on the other side of the wall, holding a rifle. A sign posted on the wall states, “Resolved that – Tammany Hall recommends to the attention of the Presidents the prominent members of this organization as worthy of recognition in selection for public service. March 13th.” Caption: John Kelly – “What say you – Peace or War?” / Cleveland – “War, Johnny, war!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-03-25

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

A group of Tammany “Ward” workers and men identified as “J. R. McLean, Grady, H. O. Thompson, Spinola, [Alexander V.] Davidson, H. McLaughlin, [and a] Chicago Boss,” along with Charles A. Dana and John Kelly stand on a mountain overlooking the United States Capitol. All are wearing top hats that emit rays of light (Kelly is stomping on his hat with his left foot) as if all are Moses. They are disappointed office seekers who feel they should have been rewarded by the Cleveland administration. A large broken tablet on the ground is labeled “Old Commandments – Thou shalt divide up the spoils.” Banners atop the Capitol, “Interior Depart[ment], Treasury U.S., [and the] White House,” state “A Government for the People not for Politicians, Reform Administration, Civil Service Reform, No Removals except for Cause.” This last banner is probably in reference to the recent removal of Capt. George B. Bacon in favor of George H. Sterling for government weigher at the New York Custom House, an action that was reversed pending investigation. Caption: Disappointed Democratic Moses – “Was it worth going through so much to get so little?”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-04-01

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

President Cleveland, as Cardinal Richelieu, embraces a young woman labeled “Civil Service” as he is confronted by a group of courtiers labeled “Manning, Barnum, C. S. Blackburn, [and] Hendricks”, also John Kelly and a man identified as “Party Boss.” Manning holds a paper that states “Bad Appointments – Higgins, Pillsbury, Troup, [and] Chase.” Includes text by “Manning-Baradas” and “Cleveland-Richelieu.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-05-06

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

John Kelly and Benjamin F. Butler struggle against a waterwheel labeled “Cleveland Boom” driven by rushing water from a trough labeled “Popular Enthusiasm” in a millrace outside a “Reform Mill.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-07-23

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

Illustration, reminiscent of Thomas Nast’s cartoon of the same title published in Harper’s Weekly, October 7, 1871, hence “That trick is very stale”, shows a group of monopolists and Blaine supporters scattering on the street in response to the cry “Stop thief!” Joseph Keifer carries a sign that states “Beware of Cleveland the Monopolist” and Cyrus Field waves a sheet that states “Down with Cleveland the Monopolist.” Among the pursuers and those being pursued are William W. Phelps, Benjamin F. Butler carrying a bag of “Monopolist Fees”, Robert Ingersoll, Keifer, George M. Robeson, Whitelaw Reid throwing “Dust” in the eyes of workingmen, Alonzo Cornell, Field, James G. Blaine carrying a bag of “$ from Monopolists” and “R.R. Stocks,” Russell Sage, John Roach, and Jay Gould, as well as a dog with the face of John Kelly(?), and with a teapot labeled “Alliance with Monopolists” tied to its tail; all are determined to look like pursuers, instead of the object of the pursuit. Carl Schurz, dressed as a policeman, is standing on the sidewalk at far right. Two laborers are standing on the left, next to a sign that announces “Friend of the Workingman Meeting at Monopoly Hall To Night – J. Gould, C. Field, R. Sage, Robeson.” Caption: Level-Headed Workingman – “Too thin! That trick is very stale. I guess we know a monopolist when we see him!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-08-06

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896