Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-09-21
tFrom the New York Tribune ]

! From the New York Tribunel
The Ring Broken.
We are beginning to reap the reward
of the great popular campaign against
| Tammany. A conSummatiOn has al
ready been reached which it would
have been ;unduly sanguine to hope fol-
| a few months ago. Mayor Hall has al
last taken the step which has been half
derisively recommended to him by
| journals that did not fully believe in its
possibility, and by this act the Tam
many ring is broken. He has requested
the resignation of Controller Connolly
| in terms which should render his furth
er continuance in Office impossible. AT
the late hour at which this important
| information reaches ms it cannot be as
certained whether this action of the
Mayor is taken with the acquiescence
OF Tweed and Sweeney, or is manifes-
tation of revolt. But in either case it
is an event of which it would not be
easy to exaggerate the bearings and the
consequences. 1t was rendered neces-
sary by a charge against the Controller
so monstrous, that but for the Obliga-
ton resting upon the Tribune as a Jews
paper, we should have hesitated to adj
NIT it to our celums. 1t is asserted and
generally believed that the Controller,
on Sunday, robbed, or caused to be rob-
bed, the official archives of this depart
ment to conceal the evidence of the
frauds which he has been, in company
with others, committing during the
last few years. We give in another
column all that is at present known in
regard to this disgraceful occurrence.
From this it appears that on Saturday
last, the Committee of Investigation
now in session requested Mr.. Connolly
to lay before them on Monday the
the vouchers for disbursements during
the year 1870. At 6 o'clock on Sunday
the night watchman at the Court House
went away for his supper, remaining
two hours. When he came back he
saw that the door to the room contain
ing the accounts had been tampered
with, and hole had been perforated
in it. With that apathetic neglect of
duty which seems inherent in all the
hangers-on of our corrupt municipal
government, he said nothing about
this until the next morning, when the
matter was investigated, and it was
discovered that the accounts for 1870
had been carefully singled out and
stolen.
1t would be, even to the political op-
ponents of Mr.. Connolly and to those
that think his administration dishon-
est and corrupt one, and who wish to
see him dismissed from position he
so misuses-it would be even to them
a relief to see the suspicion which i'm.
mediately and universally fell upon
1, -, %<,f
and explained away. There is some
thing so desperately lawless and in
sane about an act like this committed
by the rulers of the city, that we would
all share in the inevitable disgrace of
it. The effect of it upon the city credit
would be disastrous. There was great
feeling in Wall St. in the afternoon,
and all the securities in which the Ring
leaders were especially interested felt
the heavy weight of the public suspic-
ion If this suspicion should become
certainty, it would produce most sin
lister state of feeling. The impression
has been growing for some time, that
the law does not afford sufficient guar
antees against the corruptions and the
audacity of these people. It is an inn
preston we deplore, and shall not cease
to combat But if anything could give
a color of injustice to such an impulse,
it would be crime in that now charg-
ed against the Controller.
However it may result, there is a
profound significance in the event and
the action taken upon it. If it shall
appear thatMr. Connolly, on consulta-
tion with his associates (for he would
not take so desperate step alone), has
committed this felony to screen their
frauds, it would only show how closely
they feel the dogs of retribution baying
upon their tracks. 1t is an act of des-
poration and nothing less. 1t would
show that we are nearer the end of the
war against this seemingly irresistible
power than any one had hoped. AS
Voltaire once said of the priests, " 1t
is our credulity which makes their
science" so we may say of the long
subsection of the decent people of New
York to the sordid despotism of Tam
many, it was our pusillanimity that
made their power. They have shown
for some time the most unmistakable
symptoms of anxiety and alarm. If
they are driven to subornation of burg
larry their race is certainly near;its close.
lion the other hand, what now seems
impossible, it, should be proved that
this robbery is the work of some one
besides the Controller, the general at
tribution oft to him is fact of the
highest meaning. 1t is true that he
has stronger motive than any one
else to destroy the evidences of his own
malfeasance. 1t is true that there
would seem no temptation to any
ordinary thief to steal what could be of
no possible use to him. But against
man of common honesty these sup
positions would have no weight what
ever. While in the case of Connolly,
so thoroughly convinced are the people
of this city of his bad character, and Of
his completely in the crimes of his
associates in the Ring, that the unani-
nous opinion of the town yesterday
was that he had stolen the vouchers,
When an impression like this prevails
in city which less than year ago
gave an overwhelming majority to
continue these men in Office, could
anything more clearly prove that the