Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-11-28
Tweed's Conviction and Sentence.

the courtroom Immediately after the
rendering of the verdict in the Tweed
case:
1t was to very many persons in the
court-by the way, there was not one lady
present to even give the great corruption-
list a solacing smile-a most significant
moment as the burly figure of Brennan
stopped down to the side of the bench,
and looking in the face of the infexible
Judge Davis, whispered a few moments
to His Honor, and the magistrate then as
senting, Sheriff Brennan picked his way
with great difficulty through the crowded
court to the side of the doomed and con-
victed man who was soon to fill felon's
cell. Sitting near Tweed on the left hand
was Richard Tweed, the brother of the
accused, an aged, white-haired and white
bearded man, with the same prominent
and marked Jewish features that are no.
ticeable in all the male members of the
Tweed family, both young and old. Rich
ard Tweed seemed greatly moved at the
disgrace put UPON his brother, whom Le
has always looked upon as one who could,
like Archimedes, move the world il he
chose, and now none were so poor as to do
him reverence Closer in the circle sat
young Bill Tweed, or General" William
H. Tweed, who was made, it is said a
General" in the militia and member of
the bar on the same day, and two weeks
after being made member of the bar was
made an Assistant District Attorney for
the good County of New York. This
young man is dark-visaged person with
side whiskers, and has the name of a
good-natured young fellow about
town. His eyes were red with
weeping, and he seemed overwhelmed
with the disaster which had befallen his
father. Behind the prisoner sat his SON.
in-law, Ambrose Maginnis, of New Or
leans, whose bridal hour had been crown
ed with bushels of diamonds, and silks,
and purple, and fine linen, that outshone
'the wealth of Ormus and of Ind" Ma
ginnis was crying, and his face betokened
real sorrow at the doom of the false pub
lie servant. At the right of Tweed sat
Charley Lawrence, formerly a speculator
in the ballet business, and who was now
up to his ears in a business of far more
serious nature. He wore glasses, and
looked at Judge Davis appealingly, but
that face was like the face of rock set
against storm. These people were the
special guard of Tweed, and they seemed
to think, from the expressions which fit
ted to and fro uneasily in their counte-
nances, that the conviction was most
incredible thing to their minds.
Tweed himself seemed struck with dis
may, and terror shone from every line of
his large and usually jolly features. His
face blanched as his old political COM
panion, a man whom he had lead in many
a ward and General Committee struggle,
placed his hand on his shoulder--the
hand of the law-and asked him if he
was ready. Tweed tried to smile, but the
attempt was failure, and he blanched
like sunfower in the rain as he nodded
his head that he was ready, and Sheriff
Brennan, warrant in hand-or rather COM
mitment in hand--beckoned to his deputy,
Shields, who had been deeply interested
in the drama. And now there is hum,
almost amounting to low roar, and
Tweed, the great plunderer, ex-prince of
politics, proprietor of palaces, diamonds,
and who was at one time in command of
10000 retainers, rose to 60 forth in the
stern grasp Of the law Passage was made
slowly, and the numerous bands of Tweed
sympathizers gave way on either side
Tweed and his friends passing into an
adjoining room. The doors were shut to
with bang to prevent rush upon the
prisoner, who disappeared.
Then small group gathered in the
little ante chamber, and Richard Tweed
shook hands with his brother and said to
him:
"I guess it will be all right in the end. !"
"I hope so, am sure" said the con-
victed ex-potentate of the buried Ring.
An Associated Press dispatch of the
22d gives the following account of the
sentence pronounced by the Court on that
day:
After the counsel had concluded their
arguments on the motion for an arrest of
judgment, Judge Davis delivered few
preliminary remarks, after which Tweed
was ordered to stand up, which he did
slowly, and on being asked whether he
had anything to say why sentence should
not be pronounced, replied, almost in
audiby, Nothing" his counsel adding,
"He has spoken through his counsel"
Judge Davis then resumed:
''Mr Tweed you stand convicted by jury of
twelve honest men of large number of crimes
charged against you united in one indictment, and
that verdict in the opinion of the Cour, could not
have been otherwise without violation of the
oaths which the jury had taken, an utter disre-
gard of the obligations under which they rested to
speak the truth and the whole truth.
faithfully performed your duties to the public-to
win the honor and respect of the whele commu-
nity you saw fit to pervert the opportunity you
possessed, and the powers with which you were
clothed, In a manner more wicked, more infamous
and more outrageous than any instance of like
character which the whole history of the civilized
world contains. Instead of protecting the public
you plundered it; instead of standing guard where
the law placed you, the treasury of your
county, you threw that treasury open, not merely
to your own rapacity, but also to the avarice OF
aSSOriqtpS Un6pr circumstances that make IL
transparent that you were engaged in concerted
conspiracy to plunder the treasury of this county
in which both yourself and your associates in crime
were principally to be benefited.
The evidence on this subject can leave no man
ner of doubt in the mind of any. The commence
Of it pr f BOad SS on on e
5th day of May. The very next day after that
your career of plunder began. and was followed
from that day forward consecutively tlfthe whole
100 accounts before that board had been audited
and certified and warrants issued and money
paid: The evidence is conclusive that the
whole proceeding was instituted to carry
out a concerted plan to enrich yourself and
those associated with you. If there was no
other testimony that, in my judgment, would be
conclusively established by the fact that on each
of these several claims as they were passed on and
ultimately paid, your share Of the plunder was
clearly fixed and prescribed at twenty-four per
cent, while the share of your associates has been
fixed by a somewhat similar standard of plunder.
1t is impossible to believe that in the distribution
of 100 cases in which the moneys were received on
these warrants, just twentyfour per cent. of each
sum should always be allotted to you without an
in advance, by concerted ar
rangement. Why this exact sum should be your
fixed proportion of the moneys of which the county
should be plundered, it is vain TO suggest.
Your trial and conviction has not been the re-
suit of any partisan feeling that this was, after ALL
as one Of the jurors summoned on the panel ex-
pressed it, a straggle between the ins and the
outs'' No; the whole struggle has been struggle
between honesty and fraud; between virtue and
crime''
The Judge here, in vindication of the
nature of the prosecution,