ALS Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, campaigner who brought down corrupt Tammany Hall

1893. Very good condition. ALS from Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842 - 1933), American social reformer and minister, on Boston Athletic Association letterhead, dated Oct. 1893: "Your letter reaches me at a moment when I am engaged in a pretty hot fight and the only sentiment that seems to me on the [topic?] is a quotation from St. Paul: "Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil".

This quotation is likely a reference to the undercover anti-corruption work that Parkhurst was personally engaged in at the time; he had gone in disguise to collect hard evidence of police-protected crime demanded by a New York municipal grand jury. Parkhurst went to gambling saloons, prostitution dens and after hours saloons to gather the proof of crime and police extortion which he presented in a sermon to the scandlized city.

Parkhurst had been elected president of the New York Society for the Prevention of Crime, and had challenged Tammany Hall from his pulpit. Parkhurst's campaign against Tammany led to the appointment of the investigatory Lexow Committee, and the eventual election of a reform minded mayor. [with] the title page to 'Our Fight with Tammany', by Parkhurst, Scribner's 1895. Title page with previous owner name, Joseph H. Randle. ALS folded, 4 1/ x 7"