America 1881: Legend of the West

Before President Arthur formally signed the "Pendleton Act", also known as the "Civil Service Reform Act" in 1883, the official employment system in the United States was a "shared system".

As former New York State Senator William Massie said: “The spoils belong to the victor.”

Official positions are treated as trophies, and politicians who come to power give back to people in their own party as gifts of support.

This system perfectly explains the meaning of the four words "nepotism".

"We must look squarely at the corruption in our own government, and civil service reform must continue! The selection of officials must pass strict assessments!"

In Union Square, 14th Street, New York.

Grover Cleveland, the current governor of New York State and the only Democratic candidate in this election, is delivering a speech to his supporters.

He was a tall man with a stern look and a resolute personality.

During his tenure, the governor was known for his straightforwardness, hard work, hard work and simplicity.

At this time, the snow started to clear up, but the temperature was still very low.

The snow on the square was shoveled to the corners, and Cleveland supporters gathered in the center of the square.

The hot breath from their mouths rises, forming a unique scenery.

Chen Jianqiu wore a mink coat and a beaver fur hat, with his left and right hands crossed in his cuffs, looking like a nouveau riche.

He promised Astor the day before yesterday to come and take a look.

I just had nothing to do today, so I walked through several streets with Holiday and walked to Union Square.

Chen Jianqiu was not very interested in what Cleveland said.

If there is some interaction between the Republican Party and him, he has not even met a few Democratic politicians.

He looked here and there.

"You are indeed here!" Little Astor suddenly appeared behind Chen Jianqiu.

He was wearing gloves and playing with a silver lighter, dressed like a nobleman.

"By the way, did you fund his election?" Chen Jianqiu took the lighter from his hand and asked suddenly.

Little Astor shook his head.

"Our family is a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. But..."

He made a silent gesture towards Chen Jianqiu.

"From a personal perspective, I admire Mr. Cleveland very much, so I have a very good personal relationship with him."

He didn't say how much he paid, but it was obviously not less.

Doesn't this mean that you don't want to put your eggs in one basket?

Without his father's approval, how could little Astor earn a cent?

Chen Jianqiu did not expose it, he just continued to observe the speech.

As the Democratic Party's first candidate and the current governor of New York State.

Security at the Cleveland address appeared to be adequate.

Although no uniformed staff appeared, Chen Jianqiu's eyes had already met with several people wearing coats.

"Plainclothes men in New York." Holiday whispered in Chen Jianqiu's ear, "We met them when we first came to New York."

The Border Detective Agency's law enforcement license in New York cost Chen Jianqiu a lot of money.

One of the sums went into the pockets of the New York Police Department.

Everything seemed uneventful.

But the eyes of Chen Jianqiu and Holiday fell on a person not far from the podium at the same time.

This man looked quite nervous, with his head lowered, caught in the crowd, and moved forward bit by bit.

He kept his hands in his pockets and refused to take them out.

"That person" Holiday was halfway through speaking, but Chen Jianqiu raised his hand to stop him.

Chen Jianqiu felt very strange.

No matter from which angle you look at it, if this person is an assassin, he is too amateurish.

Even if he didn't stop him, those plainclothes guys should be able to spot him.

"Astor, how many presidents or presidential candidates have been assassinated in American history?"

Chen Jianqiu turned his head and asked.

Little Astor was currently obsessed with Cleveland's speech and didn't pay much attention to Chen Jianqiu's words for a while.

He replied casually: "Including President Garfield, who was killed at the train station a few years ago, there should be two; if he was not killed, there would be three. President Jefferson escaped with his life."

But he reacted quickly and slapped Chen Jianqiu on the shoulder.

Chen Jianqiu turned around and saw little Astor's face full of horror.

"Chen, why do you suddenly think of asking this?"

Chen Jianqiu pursed his lips in the direction of that person.

Astor's eyes were stunned.

Even as slow as he was, he could tell that there was something wrong with this man.

He was about to open his mouth and shout loudly, but Chen Jianqiu grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Chen! Think of a way, otherwise my hundreds of thousands of dollars will be wasted!"

Astor's shoulders were held firmly by Chen Jianqiu, and he could only plead.

But Chen Jianqiu didn't pay attention to him, but looked elsewhere.

"Why are you panicking?" Holiday said from the side.

He pointed in the direction of the man.

Sure enough, several expressionless plainclothes men were surrounding that person.

The New York police also noticed this person.

The man had moved to the second row, just a few meters away from Cleveland, who was speaking.

His expression became more nervous and his lips began to tremble.

The plainclothes men moved faster and faster.

The man took a breath and suddenly raised his head as if he had made up his mind.

He took his hand out of his pocket.

The plainclothesman closest to him leapt towards him.

However, the man still completed the throwing motion.

Something flew towards Cleveland who was giving a speech.

Cleveland was talking at length, but he still caught a glimpse of something flying towards him with his peripheral vision.

An egg.

The governor of New York was agile and ducked immediately.

His evasive movement combined with the deformation of his throwing movement when the attacker is tackled.

The egg missed and hit the Washington statue behind Cleveland.

The poor founding father wet his pants, and the egg liquid flowed to his feet, giving off a foul smell.

The attacker was already pinned down by four or five plainclothes men.

His head was pushed with a knee, and he let out a hysterical roar:

"Damn you southerners, why are you depriving us of our benefits!"

His coat was torn open, revealing the tram company uniform underneath.

A few months earlier, Cleveland, as governor of New York, had vetoed a proposal to limit the working hours of streetcar company employees to twelve hours.

Although the expected gunshots did not sound, there was still some chaos at the scene.

Many people stretched their necks and looked in the direction of the accident.

Most of these people were Cleveland supporters.

When they saw the rotten egg on the statue of Washington, they suddenly became angry.

If the attacker hadn't been pinned under the crowd, he would have been beaten wildly by these people.

Cleveland, who was attacked, looked in the direction of the attacker, thinking of words to use to ease the embarrassment of being attacked.

Little Asi also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, it was a false alarm." He was about to pat Chen Jianqiu on the shoulder.

He was shocked to find that the man in front of him was gone.

Chen Jianqiu was walking towards the crowd on the other side, his gloved hand hanging by his side, still playing with his lighter repeatedly.

Suddenly, he raised his arm, and the silver lighter in his hand flew out, flew past the ears of several people, and flew towards a man wearing a hat.

The man was taking his hands out of his pockets.

And what he was holding in his hand was a revolver.