Harry then reveals how Mr. Mister came to dominate Steeltown: Years earlier, during World War I, Mr. Mister's wife pays the town priest, Reverend Salvation, to preach sermons supporting her husband's interests. Editor Daily, the head of the local newspaper, begins running articles attacking the steelworker's union and its leader, Larry Foreman, while also hiring the inept Junior Mister as a foreign correspondent. Gus Polack, a newly elected member of the union, is killed in a car bombing that also kills his wife and Harry's son Stevie. Harry is pressured to keep quiet and subsequently loses his business permit, falling into absolute despair.