in the
Ward. This independent action was an open challenge to the dominance of
the boss of Ward Eight, Mike Mullen. Though the courageous lawyer was
defeated, and without the aid of the women of the streets, the affair
was one of many which presaged the uprising that eventually wrenched the
control of Cincinnati from the hands of one of the most notorious
political gangs in American democracy.

A second "passage of arms" between the rector and Boss Mullen had its
origin in the work of Christ Church among boys, and ultimately involved
the boss of the entire city and his powerful machine. The privilege of
running gambling games throughout Cincinnati had been alloted to one of
the higher-ups in the organization. Within a block of the Parish House
of Christ Church was a flourishing candy store, so-called, but the chief
"confection" was a crap game run for the boys of the neighborhood under
the direction of a member of the City Council, and with the knowledge
and acquiescence of the police department. It was inevitable that some
members of Christ Church Boys' Clubs should lose their earnings, and
whatever of character the church was building up was thus broken down.
To meet this danger, Mr. Nelson organized a good citizenship club among
his parishioners. The members made a survey of the gambling places which
were catering especially to boys, and found nearly one hundred
throughout the city. The publication of their findings was one of many
"shots heard 'round the ward."[2] When in later years Frank Nelson spoke
for the City Charter or Reform Party, he knew from first-hand experience
the moral and spiritual influence of good government in the lives of
boys and young men. Behind the youthful clergyman's deep concern for
decent government was a vital religious faith, without which he was
convinced social service and reform work can never attain the best
results.

Frank H. Nelson was Rector of Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1900
to 1939, having been the assistant minister in the year 1899. These
forty years in the one parish constitute a career seldom paralleled for
breadth of vision and devoted service. He became one of the first
citizens of a great city, a crusader for honest municipal government,
and the foremost Protestant clergyman. For the understanding of his
ministry and of his religious convictions, one must know something of
his early life and family, and the preparatory years.

Frank Howard Nelson was born i