When the Civil War broke out, he had been for
some time prothonotary of Beaver County, and during the war he
served as Governor Curtin's private secretary. In 1865 he was
elected to the legislature. In 1877 he induced the legislature to
resurrect the discarded office of Recorder of Philadelphia, and
for two years he collected the annual fees of $40,000. In 1887 he
was elected to the United States Senate, in which he remained
except for a brief interval until his death.
In 1899 came revelations of Quay's substantial interests in state
moneys. The suicide of the cashier of the People's Bank of
Philadelphia, which was largely owned by politicians and was a
favorite depository of state funds, led to an investigation of
the bank's affairs, and disclosed the fact that Quay and some of
his associates had used state funds for speculation. Quay's
famous telegram to the cashier was found among the dead
official's papers, "If you can buy and carry a thousand Met. for
me I will shake the plum tree."
Quay was indicted, but escaped trial by pleading the statute of
limitations as preventing the introduction of necessary evidence
against him. A great crowd of shouting henchmen accosted him as a
hero when he left the courtroom, and escorted him to his hotel.
And the legislature soon thereafter elected him to his third term
in the Senate.
Pittsburgh, as well as Philadelphia, had its machine which was
carefully geared to Quay's state machine.
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