New-York tribune., 1871-07-28
FIDENIRG THE CIRCLR-FTKING TIE r.
GPONEIBJLTTY

our City treasury to Ingcr3On & Co., A. j.
! Garvey, &c. that
"The claims alluded to by The Times large, ani they
may have been exOrbnt but responsibility for them
really with either the Controller myself Thcy
were all audited by tho ato (ani what is known a. the
OLD Board Of Supervisors abolished when the new CITY
Government inaugurated; and most Of the auditing
occurred noary two years ago Many Of the claims were
for work and materials in 1853 That Board It viii be
remembered elected by the people. and composed
equally of Democrats and Republicans. Tho same ma
iorty that audited tho claims had the power to reaudt
them over the Mayors veto But the Mayor and the
Counsel to tho Corporation both Of opinion las think
every lawyer will bel that under the Revised Satutos
the audit tho Board IL na and not o. those aca
| which Mayor could veto"
The Mayor is mistaken, as we have seen,
as to the political composition of that Old
Board. 1t had been composed OF six Republi-
cans and six Democrats, up to the close OF
| 1866, when the People saw fit to elect two
Democrats, expressly to breal; up this see-saw
arrangement; after which il was never 50 COM
| posed. He is further mistaken as 20 Z" claims
| since tho sums in question were paid ont III
satisfaction of bills presented in regular course
for work done and goods furnished, which
have no moro the nature Of Claims than has
bill rendered at Stewards for the dce5, and
trimmings winch q customer has just pur-
chased.
But the Mayor broadly intmltcS that these
payments were exOrbitant;" be only insists
that the old Board of Supervisors is lcopons-
| bic, not the Mayor and Controller "l whose
| official order they were paid. This at once
raises the question, "Who composed that Old
Board of Supervisors 7"-and, while none Of
MS may at once recall the names of all, it is no.
| Al, IL ay4n fyff af flt
| Board was William II. Tweed now sole Com
missioner of Public Works and Grand Sachem
of the Tammany Society. His lighte5t nod
was fiat to that Board; and, when it became
necessary to abolish it. he found good places
for some of It's Republican members or their
sons. To all mtents and purposes, that Board,
for several years prior to is dectaSe, was
Tweed, and Tweed was the Board.
| Now, we do not accuse him of malvoysl ion
in the premises the Mayor does TO all intents
and purposes, he says TO our Taxpayers True,
"your money is stolen but Connolly and |
" are not responsible; your man is Tweed !;
call on HIM"
MIR. Tweed il reported immensely rich, and
recently declared himself one of our largest
holders of real estate. If the old Board Of
Supervisors robbed the City, he, above all
others, is culpable and he is abundantly re-
sponsbe. Shall there not be strenuous
effort to right the presumptve wrong by due
process of lawi We do not know that the
old Board OF Supervisors passed these "ex-
orbtant" bills but the Mayor who counter
signed them says it did and he ought to know.
If suit is properly instituted agans. Tweed.
Hall must be an important witness FOX the
people Why nOts
Next comes Smith Ely, jr, whom the PcOpl;
| chose q Supervisor in 1856 over both the Re-
publican and Tammany nominees, expressly
that he might expose and arrest the pluIder-
ing then in prOgresS-he also must be a good
witness. We have had no recent communica-
ton with and are not authorized to speak for
him; but we gratefully acknowledge our obli-
| CATION to him for the rather fOrcible assertion
that each brick in the New Court House rep
resents "a stolen dollar and a false oath"
Mr.. Ely was an honest man when ho went
into that Board, and we hope still is; though
the fact that Tweed gave him the strongest
| Democratic district in the City and elected
him thence to the present Congress, is calcu-
lated to expose him to suspicion. We wish he
would voluntarily write us what he knows
of the dOings of that old BOard-hOw meet
ings were held whereof he (thOugh a member)
had no notice, and public money voted right
and left as though it were water. We are
confident that no exOrbitantn bills or claims
ever received lis sanction; we presume he
was never afforded opportunity even to disap-
prove them. STILL there must be secrets of
that prisOn-hOuse which he might reveal if he
would and the fact that he has recently been
smiled on by the Ring obliges him to prove
that he has Mt sold out. VIII Mr.. Ely oblige
us by telling the public just what he knows
as to "exorbitant bills or claims passing that
Board while he was a member Of it,
And then our old and trusted friend, John
II. Keyser, must be a good witness for one
side or the other in the suit which we trust is
soon TO be brought. He (or his frm) seems TO
have received very large sum from the City;
and he is a man easily found and summoned.
You may safely bet that he viii refuse 10
answer no question on the plea That the truth
would inculpate or disgrace him. Just
call Linn into Court on an issue
which his testimony would elucidate,
and he will tell all he knows about Corpora
ton plumbing and gas-ftting'-how much
work mas been done for the City by his house,
what was its honest value, whether more was
charged and received within his knowledge,
who was the cuIprit, and who the beneficiary.
IF there be augat daIk or crooked in this
"plumbing and ga3-dtiug" business, Mr.
Keys.f's testimony viii eIucidate IT. and all
tho money ever stolen from oar City tcasurY-