Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-11-27
The Great American Thief in the
COmbs.
a Fane of$12 100 asd Lnsprisosmeatf 4 o.
zpelus Years.
THEREMARKSo OF JUDGE DAVIS,

tlon5 as the. Judge In his clemency
might make. Mr.. Graham struggled
to avert the penalty asked for, and,
falling, gave way to his emotions.
Tweed himself seemed much affected.
Counsel having concluded their argu-
ments, Judge Davis said it would be
womanly in him to seek to evide an
apparent conflict between his views ex-
pressed on the first trial of the prison
er and those now entertained by the
court. He said he entered upon the
present trial holding the views he had
entertained at the first trial, that the
prisoner could be sentenced, il found
guilty, to but one years imprisonment
and to pay fine If $50; bot he had
changed those views after CONSULTING
all accessible authorities on the subject.
After stating that by the verdict of the
jury the number of convictions were
fifty-one, the Judge said: -.,.., .....
''sIf any one thinks it is agreeable to
me to pass such Judgment he is Inista-
ken, for 4 would gladly have the ac-
ceptance of such a position fall upon
other shoulders. I shall not shrink
from any feeling of harshness oriseve-
rity to prevent the performance of my
power, and in pronouncings judgment
[ shall endeayOr to exercise it SO as 10
temper Justice in some degree with
Mercy. It is deeply to be regretted
that the Legislature have not provided
a long sentence and punishment to
characterize ofenses of this kind, in
different forms, and fix penalties for
each offense where committed in diff.
fel ent forms from those which may be
imposed by our, statutes. Public off,
GERS who rob the people by, appropria-
ting public monies, or allow others to
do so through their instruinentality or
eonnivance, are unfortunately in the
STATE of our law not to be adjudged fel-
ons or pdnished by imprisonment in
the State Prison, but escape under
forms Of indictment for misdemeanor,
subject for each to pay . penalty Of
$50. or a single year in the penitentia-
ry. 80. " -. III f.5..
Ifthis were a general verdict this
would be all the Court cOuli impose,
Notwithstanding that the prisoner took
more than a million dollars in the man
ner described. IF there were a gener-
al verdict rendered, the Court could
onty pass through the farcical perform
ance of rendering Judgment for $3.50
and one years imprisonment for the
audacious robbery Of the city and coun-
ty of more than one million dollars.
Under the verdict the court has larger
powers, which it will exercise, and I
hope with prudence and due regard to
the interests of the public and the ex-
ample to be made. ~ -,
L. ff>-c 70
which he did slowly, and on being
asked if he had anything TO say why
sentence should not be pronounced,
replied almost inaudibly, nothing
his counsel adding, He has spoken
through his counsel Judge Davis
then resumed: William NJ. Tweed,
you stand convicted by a verdict of a
jury of twelve honest men, of a large
number of crimes charged against you,
united i'm one indictment, and that ver-
dict in the opinion of the court could
not have been otherwise without vio-
lation of the oaths which the jury had
taken-an utter disregard with the OBJ
legations under which they rested to-
speak the truth and the whole truth.
With all the opportunity you had,
had you faithfully performed your do
ties to the public, to win the honor and
respect of the whole community, you
saw fit to pervert the opportunity you
and the powers with which
you were clothed, in manner more
wicked, more infamous and more out
rageous than any instance af like char
acter which the whoie history of the
civilized world contains. Instead of
the public you plundered it;
instead of standing guard where the
law placed you, over the treasury of
your county, you threw that treasury
open, not merely to your own rapacity,
but also to the advice of your associates
that you were engaged in
a concerted conspiracy to plunder the
treasury of this county in which your
self and associates in crime were prin-l
cipally to be benefited. The evidence |
On this subject now leave no manner
Of doubt in the minds of any, that thet
of it all was the enter
ing by you on those dutiesas President
Of the Board of Audit on the 9th of
May. .. s...- s4s-
The very next day after that, your
areer of plunder began, and from that
lay forward consecutively till thel
whole nineneen accounts before that
Board had been audited and certified,
md warrants issued and money paid.
The evidence is conclusive that the
whole proceeding was instituted to
AIRY out concealed plan to. enrich
yourself and those associated with you.
It is in vain to suggest that your trl-
md conviction have been the result of
my partisan feeling, that this was after
Ill, as one of the jurors summoned on
he panel expressed it, q struggle be-
;ween the ins and the outs No, theI
whole struggle has been Q struggle be-
ween honesty and fraud; between vir-t
;ue and crime" The Judge here, in
of the non-partisan naturei
If the prosecution, allnded to the Times /
n first giving the figures the light, and
o the great assistance rendered by
Charles O'ConnOr and Samuel j. Til.
len in the preparation of the legal pro-
,eedings, and continued: I'll
If there were no other testimony
hat, in my Judgment, would be con-
.lusively established by the fact that
IN each of tho several claims, as they
we're passed on and ultimately paid
your share of the plunder was clearly
liked and prescribed at "a per cent,
while the share of your associates had
oeen fixed by a somewhat similar
standard of plunder. 1t is impossible
10 believe that in the distribution OF
LOO cases, in which the monies were
received on these warrants, just "a per
cent of each sum should always be al
oted to you, without an understanding
in advance by a concerted arrange
ment that this exact sum should be |
your fixed proportion OF money OIL
which the county had been plundered.
tertain for moment the idea that your
has been the result Of perse-
,ution at the hands Of any person or