"To-morrow is election day. I want to say a word to the working men, and it is this: Vote for the best candidates, never minding what their politics are. You will find plenty of men running for office who will be your friends so long as they can make tools of you. But after election they do not know you when they meet you. Now, I think you will bear me witness that I have always tried to help the working man. I never turned anybody away from my house hungry, nor have I refused money to those who needed it. I never passed a beggar or blind man without giving him something. But I do not ask any political favors. I have not even told you which party I shall work for, and I'm not going to tell you now!" This little speech was received with much laughter and applause. As a matter of fact, Hogan was paid money by both political parties that night, but he worked the next day with the Democrats for a Congressman, District Attorney and Judge, all of whom were elected. This little campaigning incident goes to show that a good many leading politicians have sought Ben Hogan's aid, and have been able to carry through their plans solely by reason of his influence. Had he chosen himself to run for Congress that year, it is at least probable that he would have been successful. And the capital might then have been graced by the Hon. Ben Hogan as it once was by the Hon. John Morrissey. CHAPTER XX. Ben as a Banker--Faro Banker--Burglars--Counterfeit Money, and how Hogan didn't Handle it--Ben as a Doctor--Allen in New York City--Why the Fight Fell Through. Soon after the election, Ben closed up his place in Petrolia, and separated from Kitty. She went on to Pittsburg, and he soon after followed. At that time, for want of anything better to do, he went largely into the banking business--the faro banking business. In his tours about town he fell in with a party of first-class cracksmen, who were making ready for an extensive job. These men took Hogan into their confidence, and told him that they could make half a million dollars if they had the capital to carry them through. Ben consented to furnish the money, and to become a silent partner in the proposed undertaking. The field of operation was the city of Baltimore, to which place the cracksmen, in company with Ben, made their way. In the week which Hogan spent at the Utah House, he thought over the business which had brought him to Baltimore seriously and carefully. He reasoned with himself that all these men were bound to bring up sooner or later in prison or on the gallows, and he reached the determination that he would have nothing to do with the business. Hardened as he was, and elastic as his conscience may have been, he was not prepared to assist in robbery. He told this to the burglars, saying: "You must count me out of this job, gentlemen. I will furnish you the money for any legitimate purpose, but I must decline to hold a hand in the game!"