BOSS TWEED: The Corrupt Pol who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York (66 page)

Chapter 10. July
(pages 153–166)

1. “[W]e find [the wealthy uptown landowners
   …”:
   New-York Times
   , December 30, 1852.
   

2. quarrymen …around Yorkville—strike: Generally on the May strike, see
   New York Sun
   , May 2, 3,4, 18, 1871,
   New-York Times
   , May 2, 3,18, 1871, and Bernstein, p. 229-230.
   

3. “to prevent the formation or progression …” :Police Order 57, printed in newspapers, July 11 and 12, 1871.
   

4. Produce Exchange …petition:
   New York Tribune
   , July 12, 1871.
   

5. Hoffman… counting Washington … Congressmen S.S. Cox and Fernando Wood : See, for instance, letter from Cox to Hoffman, May 14, 1870. Hoffman papers, NYHS. Tammany had begun lining up Southern delegates for Hoffman’s nomination as early, as seen in an interview with Jimmy O’Brien from January 1871: “The South is poor, and the delegations from the Southern States will go solid for Hoffman if Tammany wills it…. (this was said with a peculiar smile suggesting that Tammany was buying all the southern votes they’d need, and the south was happily taking the money).”
   New York Herald
   , January 8, 1871.
   

6. “the [Tammany] ‘Ring’ … will be …”:
   Cincinnati Commercial
   , November 28, 1870, in the
   New-York Times
   , November 30, 1870.
   

7. “[Hoffman’s] subserviency …”:
   London Times
   , in
   New York Tribune
   , June 1, 1871.
   

8. “Senator Tweed, I propose to be governor …”: Hudson, p. 32.
   

9. “I hereby give notice …”: Hoffman proclamation, July 11, 1871. Newspapers, July 12, 1871; Lynch, p. 367.
   

10. “I may … conform my action …”:
    New York World
    , July 13, 1871, in
    New York Tribune
    , 1871.
    

11. “The sight which was disclosed…”: Walling, p. 158.
    

12. fatalities at almost 130 …: The
    Sunday Irish Democrat
    claimed 142 civilians killed, including 75 Irishmen, in the
    New York Sun
    , July 17, 1871.
    

13. “Excelsior”:
    New York Herald
    , July 13, 1871.
    

14. “They did not even fight …”:
    New York Sun
    , July 14, 1871.
    

15. “criminal weakness and vacillation “:
    New York Tribune
    , in Bernstein, p.231.
    

16. “instead of reefing down close …”:
    New York Sun
    , July 17, 1871.
    

17. “Murdered by the Criminal Management …”: Bowen, p.95.
    

18. Hoffman … “by order of his physician”:
    New York Sun
    , July 14, 1871.
    

19. “There were three regiments of soldiers …”:
    New York Herald
    , July 14, 1871. See sympathetic letter from Editor W.H. Hulbert of the
    New York World
    to Marble, July 15, 1871. Marble papers. LC.: “I agreed with P.B.[Sweeny] and Hall as to the wisdom of suppressing the Orangemen . P.B.S. went to Long Branch, Hoffman to Albany… Let us do justice to Tammany—it kept faith with us & kept us informed of what was going on.”
    

20. “wept bitter tears over the ingratitude …”:
    New York Sun
    , July 14, 1871.
    

    “I still believe that the Orange procession…” :
    New York World
    , in
    NY Tribun
    e, July 14, 1871.
    

21. “But your position is a great deal more comfortable …”: Letter form Sweeny to Hoffman, July 21, 1871. See also,
    New York Sun
    , July 14, 1871 (which reported “an envenomed hostility against Gov. Hoffman among the Irish.”) and
    New York Herald
    , July 12, 1871, in Iver Bernstein, p. 231 (stating that many Catholics had expected the city to stand aside: “the city government… will do as they did in 1863—sit at home and drink punches and smoke cigars comfortably after dinner”). Sweeny, in the wreckage, considered retiring from politics altogether. His letter to Hoffman continued: “Your position relieves me of a great task which I had set for myself [engineering Hoffman’s election as president] and leaves my future comparatively free…. I have bought a handsome residence at Lake Mahopac and
    entre nous
    , there, I will retire with my wife and child and try to get a little comfort and enjoyment out of life.”
    

22. It was an unfortunate business …”:
    New York Tribune
    , July 14, 1871.
    

23. Seventh Regiment … Thomas Nast: Paine, p. 172
    ; New-York Times
    , July 15, 1871. Nast had joined the reserve regiment in 1866. See Notice from Regimental Secretary to Nast, May 23, 1866, in Nast Scrapbooks, NYPL.
    

24. “A correspondent wishes to know …”:
    New-York Times
    , July 15, 1871.
    

25. “I was arrested two or three times …”: Morphet p. 112.]
    

26. “Hot night,” Jimmy O’Brien said: This version of the incident is taken
    from Berger, p. 42; Lynch, p. 362, who, in turn, took it from the
    London World,
    1887
    

27. Jennings told this story to the
    London World
    in 1887…: See Paine, p. 168; Wingate, p. II, 154;
    Harper’s Weekly
    , February 22, 1890;
    New York World
    , August 16, 1871; and Bigelow (Tilden writings), p. 588.
    

28. New York Sun
    … Charles Dana … out of the building: See Wingate, II, p. 154.
    

29. “[Jones] couldn’t believe the steals …”: O’Brien interview.
    New York World
    , August 16, 1871.
    

30. “Something that Wouldn’t Blow Over …”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , July 29, 1871.
    

31. “The New Horse Plague”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , July 29, 1871.
    

32. “The old Colonel [Morgan] was angry …”: Daniels, p. 24.
    

33. “The shares in the
    New-York Times
    …”:
    New-York Times
    , July 19, 1871, in F. Hudson, p. 643.
    

34. “Two Thieves.” “We shall prove …”:
    New-York Times
    , July 19, 1871.
    

35. “[T]hey charged the money …”:
    New-York Times
    , July 20, 1871.
    

36. “Will It ‘Blow Over?’”:
    New-York Times
    , July 21, 1871.
    

Chapter 11. Disclosure
(pages 167–173)

1. “THE SECRET ACCOUNTS”:
   New-York Times
   , July 22, 1871.
   

2. “We have seen what a good thing …”:
   New-York Times
   , July 26, 1871.
   

3. “314,145 chairs, and if placed …”:
   New-York Times
   , July 26, 1871.
   

4. “Is not this Miller ….”:
   New-York Times
   , July 23, 1871.
   

5. “would go nearly from New-York to New Haven …”:
   New-York Times
   , July 26, 1871.
   

6. “Who is A.G. Miller?”:
   New-York Times
   , July 24 and 29, 1871.
   

7. the “Company” in Ingersoll and Company: See Ingersoll testimony, Aldermen, p. 566-70.
   

8. “I don’t want to see this man …”:
   Harper’s Weekly
   , February 22, 1890; Wingate, II, p. 152, See also Paine p. 170 and Davis, p. 103.
   

9. “at any valuation…” “This offer was made…”:
   Harper’s Weekly
   , February 22, 1890.
   

10. “For God’s sake! Let me say…”: Wingate, II, p. 152;
    Harper’s Weekly
    , February 22, 1890.
    

11. “I have been over the hills with Greeley …”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , February 22, 1890.
    

12. “[t]he public run instinctively …”: Cortissoz, p. 151.
    

13. “We have scrupulously refrained …”: Bowen, p. 106.
    

14. “We do not indorse …”:
    New York Tribune
    , July 22, 1871.
    

15. “The bladder with beans …”:
    The Nation
    , July 27, 1871.
    

Chapter 12. Panic
(pages 174–190)

1. “buncombe” … “Curses and indecent language…”: Accounts of the Citizen Association meeting are from the
   New York Tribune
   and
   New-York Times
   , August 8, 1871.
   

2. “[A]ccusations are not proof”:
   New York Herald
   , August 5, 1871.
   

3. “a reckless attempt to shake..”:
   New York World
   , July 28, 1871, in Lynch, p. 366.
   

4. “the most brilliant dashing foray…”: Conkling to Jones, July 28, 1871. Jones papers. NYPL.
   

5. city had bonds … debt had exploded … to over $97 million : See “Statement of the Dept of the City and County of New York,” Hall papers, NYMA; for city financial structure, see
   New-York Times
   , July 20, 1871.
   

6. $40,000 in bonds … failed to receive a single bid : Strong, July 27 and 29, 1871, p. 376-377.
   

7. Commercial and Financial Chronicle
   warned… Berlin Stock Exchange banned …bonds from its official trading list.: Mandelbaum, p. 80.
   

8. “They distrust our securities ..”:
   New York Tribune
   , July 29, 1871.
   

9. “[I]f our local government cannot …”: Clews interview,
   New York Herald
   , September 19, 1871.
   

10. “insurrection of the capitalists”… lawsuit to block the Broadway widening job: See
    New York Tribune
    and other newspapers, August 1, 1871.
    

11. “[W]e want to know …”:
    New York Tribune
    , July 29, 1871.
    

12. calls went out for city leaders to convene … on September 4 : See
    New York Tribune
    , August 4, 1871; Diary of George Templeton Strong, August 19, 1871, p. 379.
    

13. “Shocking levity”: Bowen, p. 67, 97.
    

14. “indicate where the fraud …”:
    New York Tribune
    , July 29, 1871.
    

15. “Is there any danger…” “Who is going to do it?” Garvey testimony, Hall trial, in
    New-York Times
    , October 26, 1872.
    

    This remark from Hall…: see Bigelow (Tilden writings), p. 590.]
    

16. “Look at that wall, gentlemen
    …”: New York Herald
    , September 19, 1871.
    

17. “[H]e [the mayor] had been a twenty-year friend…”:
    Leade
    r, July 22, 1871, in the
    New York Sun
    , July 22, 1871.
    

18. “During the summer of 1870 …”:
    Leade
    r, July 22, 1871, in the
    New York Sun
    , July 22, 1871.
    

19. “I know that none of my friends …”: Letter from Hall “To the Public,” in
    New York Sun
    , July 24, 1871.
    

20. mayor’s total assets as barely $70,000: Brown testimony, Hall Grand Jury, p. 51.
    

21. “ministerial” acts… “the malice of Mr. Jones” : Letter form Hall “To the Public,” in
    New York Sun
    , July 24, 1871.
    

22. “Are the figures …”: New-York Times
    , July 23, 1871.
    

23. “The defense set up by the mayor …”:
    New York Tribune
    , July 29, 1871.
    

24. “I shall remain at my post…”:
    New-York Times
    , July 30, 1871.
    

25. “My dear Sir … you may rest assured…”:
    New-York Times
    , July 30, 1871.
    

26. “Being interviewed, [Hall] took the line…”:
    The Nation
    , August 3, 1871. Another version was: “It will all blow over. These gusts of reform are wind and clatter. Next year we shall all be in Washington.” Bowen, p. 110. And yet another: “The people’s indignation will all blow over,” says Boss Tweed; and his companions echo his words.
    Syracuse Journal
    , August 22, 1871, in
    New-York Times
    , August 24, 1871. Another Hall-ism from this period: “We are likely to have what befell Adam—an early Fall.”
    New-York Times
    , August 29, 1871, in Flick, p. 213.
    

27. “The most cordially hated man …”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , August 26, 1871.
    

28. Police Captain Ira Garland … city officials removed: Paine, p. 179.
    

29. “Every stroke of his pencil …”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , August 26, 1871.
    

30. “Three Blind Mice”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , July 22, 1871.
    

31. “Not a Bailable Case”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , August 12, 1871.
    

32. “Nast-y artist of Harper’s Hell Weekly”: Bowen, p. 82. Tweed, in Albany, had put language in a school tax levy bill that winter calling Nast’s drawings “vulgar and blasphemous” and designed to arouse “prejudices of the community against a wrong which exists only in their imaginations.” Bowen, p. 81
    

33. “I used to walk down to the office …”: Harper, p. 294.
    

34. “I hear you have been made an offer …:
    The story comes from Paine, p. 181-2, a biography written with Nast’s active collaboration.
    

35. FN: “A million? Nast could have been bought…”: Hershkowitz, p. 175.
    

36. “as individuals [are] corrupt …”: Letter to the editor from Nooney
    New-York Times
    , September 25, 1871.
    

37. “astounding insolence” … “only by the permission …”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , in
    New-York Times
    , July 6, 1871.
    

38. “The American River Ganges”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , September 30, 1871.
    

39. “doesn’t care a straw for what is written …”:
    Harper’s Weekly
    , August 26, 1871.
    

40. “if the people got used to seeing …”: Werner, p. 211.
    

41. guilt “
    pro confesso
    ”: Strong, July 26, 1871, p. 375.
    

42. FN: “Let’s stop them d__d pictures… “: Payne, p. 179.