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Mercilessly caricatured in hostile newspapers, Boss Pendergast does not mind, but when reporters quote him as saying "I seen," he rages. Educated at St. Mary's College, Kansas, he is proud of his English, makes occasional errors which he quickly corrects. A huge, hearty man (232 lb.), he is 61, has thin hair almost white. A wholesale liquor dealer before Prohibition, he now runs a ready-mixed concrete business which local contractors wisely patronize. In his shabby little office he dispenses patronage three days a week.
Softspoken, never given to profanity, he is a teetotaler, plays neither golf nor cards, accepts no invitations to banquets, luncheons, conventions. His success he attributes to friends among the poor. Annually at Christmas he feeds 5,000 Democrats' mouths. Always he carries a pocketful of 25¢ pieces which he hands out to Kansas City bums who are useful on Election Day. Rich and full of honors, he lives in a fashionable $100,000 mansion which burglars once robbed of $150,000 worth of loot including 480 pairs of silk stockings from his daughter Marceline's trousseau. Again & again he says: "I'm just an ordinary fellow who was able to keep his word."
*Four days after Election Director of Police Reppert resigned under fire, told newshawks: "I have no apologies to make. . . . Statistics will prove crime has been reduced 45%."