New-York tribune., 1873-03-17
WOODWARD'S PARTNER.
ANOTHER SHARE OF RING PLUMBER
TRACED TO JOSEPH B. YOUNG.

TRACED TO JOSEPH B. YOUNG.
WHERE $56,OOO MORE OF THE PEOPLES MONEY
WENT To-wOoDwARD's SHARE OF THE
PLUMBER DIVIDED WITH HIS BRoTHER-IN-
LAw-THE IMPLICATED OFFICIAL RETAINED
BY THE REFORM sUPERyIsORs-A LINK BE-
TWEEN THE OLD RING AND THE NEW.
Late investigations in various Departments and
banks have resulted in tracing another OF the Ia
nous diyyes' in the Interim Board Of Audit plum
der of 1s697O to Joseph b. Young, at present Clerk
of the Board Of Supervisors as he was also at the
time of the systematic robbery of the city by that
body. The facts as now clearly established are
stated in reports to the proper authorities, too
mary of the whole testimony, and the tables, with
such explanations as necessary to full compTe-
hension of the matter are given below. Otner
statements. showing the percentage received by
other minor members of the Ring, are also preparing
1t will be remembered that Ebert A. Woodward
was the agent employed by Connolly, Sweeny,
Tweed, Ingersoll, and the others of the King 10
make the pro rata division of the spoils among the
Garvey, Keyser, Davidson, Smith, Miller, and the
other real and fictitions tradesmen whose names
figure on the vouchers for Courthouse Armory, and
other work, were given to Woodward by watson
deposited in bank, and drawn against by checks in
favor Of each of the conspirators Woodward was
a deputy clerk in Mr. YOung's office; it has since
become known that he was also bis brother
in-law. In the special business in which he
was engaged Woodward was also the 60
between" of County Auditor Watson whose
duty it was to collect the bills and claims, anu
Supervisors Clerk Young, who was required Dy the
acts creating the SPECIAL or Interim Board to certify
them correct before they could be paid. Watson
and Woodward collected the false claims and Young
certified them correct His certifcation has been
found on all the warrants issued in payment OF the
S6.3l2,541 81, which was the total of the Special
Board of Audit swindle of 1870. Only neglect OF
duty OF completely in the frauds could have permit
ted this; 1t is claimed by the officials making the
investigation that the tracing of a portion OF the
plunder into Mr.. Youngs hands cOnclusiyely estaD-
lish that he was cognizant Of and party to the
fraud.
An examination of the printed proceedings of the
Board of Supervisors from JAN l. 1868, to May, 1870
for the purpose of asceranng the dates of action by
that Board or OF any of its Committees, upon the
S63125il 81 of claims passed by the Interim Board,
has shown that no correspondence exists IN amount
between any of the bills purporting to have been
allowed by the Interim Board and those referred TO
IN the printed proceedings, except in the case OF
abont $1,000 of minor claims. This comparison
shows that no claim passed by the Interim Board OF
Audit had ever been referred to the Board of Super
visors. or TO any member Committee thereof,
except the minor claims above referred to- In other
words Mr. Young reported $4,000 OF just claims 10
the Board and these regularly passed upon he
kept carefully concealed from the Board and omitted
from the records any alusOn to the rest OF the SIX
million and more fraudulent claims.
II adds to the magnitude of Mr. Youngs alleged de-
lnouency that the gross frauds which were 50 sue
cessfully carried through by this Board never could
have been consummated had he exercised ordinary
vigilance before signing the warrants He had
acted as Clerk of the Board of Supervisors for years
and was fully cOnyersant with all the matters be-
fore the Interim Board, and must have known that
these claims had never been before the regular
Board for approval, and that they had not been
collected from the appropriate committees
thereof" as provided in the first and only resolution
of the Interim Board. The claims had indeed never
been before these committees, and he knew IT,
Notwithstanding this he signed all the warrants for
the claims without apparently one word OF protest
and received his share of the plumber, as shown be-
low. without known objection.
The following table shows certain dividends
arranged between Woodward and Young pnor to
the organization OF the Special Audit swindle The
ventures previous TO this time seem to have been
small, though after years practice the operators
appear to have grown boder with success and to
have divided thousands where previously they had
taken only hundreds. This was part OF the pre-
liminary fraud which suggested and opened the
way for the grander scheme OF the Special Board OF
Audit.
STATEMENT sho,cing payments by z. A. Wood,sGrd 10
County Warrants 6y checks on the National Brodd,ody
Bank: