Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-11-23
The Chief of the ThieVing Off,
cials Of New York City Con-
Victed and Sentenced
at Last.
He Goes to Sing Sing for Twelve
Years, and Has to Pay a Fine
of $l2,75O.
Charge Of Judge Davis-The Pris
Oner Completely CoWed, Has
Nothing to Say-A Sad
Scene.

for the prosecution and defense are al
present. Tweed entered the room, fol
lowed by two deputy-sheriffs, who hav
been his custOdians since his conviction
John Graham began the argument Ol
the motion in arrest Of judgment, hold
ing that the act of the legislature tekinl
the power to audit from the board G
supervisors and creating a board O
audit, of which Tweed was a mem Der
was unconstitutional; hence his ellen
was not liable for acts committed unde
an unconstitutional act.
This and all other points raised by Mr.
Graham were Overraled by the oOur
when he concluded his address
After recess Mr.. Tremaine movet
that the prisoner be sentenced on eacl
separate count in the indictment, sub
ject only to such notifications as tht
Judge in his elemency might make. Mr.
Graham struggled to avert the penalty
asked for, and failing, gave way to hi
emotions. Tweed himself seemed much
affected. The counsel having concluded
their arguments,
JUDGE DAVIS SAID:
1t would be unmanly in him to seek
to evade so apparent conflict between
the views expressed on the first trial Of
the prisoner, and those now entertained
by the court. He said he entered on the
present trial holding views entertained
at the first trial, that the prisoner could
be found guilty, to but one years i'm
prisonment, and to pay fine of two
hundred and fifty dollars, but 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: "If any one
thinks it is agreeable for me to pass such
judgment, he is mistaken; for would
gladly have had the acceptance of this
position to have fallen on other shoulders.
shall not shrink from any feeling of
its harshness or severity to prevent the
performance of my single duty. Never
thelees, have the power, and in pro-
nouncing Judgment I shall endeAvOr to
exercise it so as to temper justice in
some degree with mercy. 1t is deeply
to be regretted that the legislature has
not provided long sentence and pun
ishment to characterize otfenses Of this
kind in different forms, and fix penal
ties for each Offense where committed
in different forms, from those which
may be imposed ordinarily by
our present statutes. Public officers
who rob the people by appropriating the
public moneys, and allow others to doso
through their instrumentality or con-
are unfortunately, in the state
of our law, not to be adjudged felOns, or
punished by Imprisonment in the State
prison, bat escape under forms Ofindict-
gTnE for
each to pay 8 penalty of two hundred
and fifty dollars, or a single year in the
If this was q general YER
dict, this would be all that they could
impose. Notwithstanding that he
took for his own use
MORE THAN A MILLION OF DOLLARS.
in the manner described, if there was
3 general verdict rendered, the court
could only pass through the farcical per-
formance of rendering a judgment of
two hundred and fifty dollars fine and
one years imprisonment for the auda-
cious robbery of the city and county of
more than one million dollars. Under
the verdict the court has larger powers,
which it will exercise, and, l hope, with
prudence and due regard to the interests
of the public and the example to be
made.n Tweedswas then ordered to
stand up, which he did slowly, and on
being asked if he had anything to say
why sentence should not be pronounced,
replied, almost inaudibly, Nothing"
bis counsel adding, "He has spoken
through his counsel" Judge Davis then
resumed
THE SENTENCE.
William NJ. Tweed, you stand con-
victed, by a verdict of a jury of twelve
honest men, of 3 large number of crimes
charged against you, united in one in
and that the verdict, in the
opinion of the court, could not have
been otherwise without a violation of
the oaths which the jury had taken, and
an utter disregard of the obligations un-
der which they rested to speak the
truth, and the whole truth. With all
the opportunity you had, had you
performed your duties
to the public, to win honor and
respect of the whole community, 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 out
than any instance of like char
acter which the whole history of the
civilized world contains; instead of pro-
-ecting the public, you plundered it; in
stead of standing guard, where the law
p aced you, over the treasury of your
lyOu threw that treasury open,
not merely to your own rapacity, but
also to the avarice of your associates,
under circumstances which make
it apparent that you were en-
gagged in a concerted conspiracy
to plunder the treasury of this county,
in which you and your associates in
crime were principally to be benefited.
The evidence on this subject can leave
no manner of doubt in the minds of any.
The commencement of it all was the
by you on these duties as presi-
dent of the board of audit, on the fifth
Of May. The very next day after that
your career Of plunder began, and from
hat day forward consecutively, till the
whole one hundred and ninety accounts
before that board had been
audited and certified, and the
warrants issued and money paid.
The evidence is conclusive that the
whole proceeding was instituted to car
~ out a concerted plan to enrich your
self and those associated with you. If
there was no other testimony, that in
my judgment, would be exclusively
established by the fact that each Of
these several claims as they were passed
on, and ultimately paid, your share of
the plunder was clearly fixed and pre-
scribed at twenty-tour per cent, while
fixed by somewhat similar
4. ~ s,f n
BILE to believe that the distribution
Of one hundred and ninety cases in
which the moneys were received on these
that just twenty-four per cent.
should always be allotted to you with
out an understanding in advance, by a
arrangement that this exact
sum should be your fixed proportion of
the moneys of which the county should
be plundered. 1t is in vain to suggest
that your trial and conviction has been
the result of any partisan feeling, and
that this was after all, as one of the ju-
rors on pannel expressed it,
A STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE Gins AND
OUTS"
No. The whole struggle has been
a struggle between honesty and fraud,
between virtue and crime" The
Judge here spoke in vindication
Of the non-partisan nature of the prose-
cution, alluded to the Times in first CIV
ing the figures publicity, and to the
great assistance rendered by Charles
O'Connor and Samuel j. Tilden in the
of legal proceedings, and
continued: 1T would be wrong and un-
lust to entertain for moment the idea
that your conviction has been the result
of persecution at the hands of a person
or party. 1t has been the result