Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-12-18
NASBY.
The Downfall OF Tweed-NIr. Nasty
lndulges i'm Sad Rem scenses, but
does not Give Up like One without
Hope.
From the Toledo Blade
CoNFEDRIT Y RoADs,
(Which Is in the State NV Kentueky,0i
November 26, 1871.

(Wich Is in the State NV Kentucky1l
November &c, 1873.
The nooze Nv the convickshen NV the
great Tweed by corrupt court, and his
sentence to a common penitenshary, by
heartless and mercenary Judge Il refer to
that modern Jeffries, the infamous Davisl
perdoost perfound sensashen at the Cor
ners. Deekin Pogram, when he heerd
that Tweed he'd bin convicted NV plum
drin the Treasury, and he'd been sentenced
to prizn, drawd long sigh and sed that
our liberties wuz gone now, shoor He
didn't know who Tweed wuz, but he felt
il safe, ez a Demokrat, to draw sigh for
anybody who wuz in limbo for plundrin
public treasury. That mans instinks
alluz guide him safely, and his faith hez
in it suthin sublime.
But the nooze did effect me seriously.
My mind leapt over the past, and lighted
down upon the days when | wuz the sole
proprietor Nv the Harp NV Erin S'loon,
in the 9Th Ward, Moo York. Oh them
happy days Oh, them hours NV delite!
There wuz no long dry hours, SIGH ez /
now spend, with parched throat and shaky
system, waitin for friendly invite TO take
suthin. MOI There wuz the bar, with the
glasses onto it, the barrel underneath out
NV witch drew both Bourbon and Rye,
ez the customers wanted it; there wuz
my own privit key, witch wuz not watered,
for my own privit drinkin-there wuz
the red hot stove, the pipes and the crack.
ers, and the back room!
All that back room! 1t wuz there that
we held our caucusses for our deestrik.
Many time hez the great Tweed hisself
sat in that room--many time hez that
great diamond NV his flashed its light
across that pine table. In that room
Patsey McGonigle, Dennis O'Shaugn-
messy, Tom McGrath, the Boss and myself,
hav many n time and oft arranged our
repeaters, our fighting committees and our
counters.
myself hev seen the Boss in that room
make his bargains with his repeaters--
this one TO vote so many times in that
ward, the other to vote so many times in
the other, and so on. In that room the
ballot boxes and the poll books used tobe
brought after the polls wuz closed, and
there we wood wait till we got the returns
from out NV town, to see how many votes
we needed to stuff into EN- to carry the
State, and it wuz site vouchsated to but
few men to see that great man take peck
of ballots and chuck EN- into box, and
tell Thad. Hamerley witch Good write to
put the names TO correspond on the books
from directory.
Boss Tweed wuz not only great man,
but he wuz good man and just. |
shell never forgit that mite when | he'd
got four niggers drunk and took EN- to
the polls myself, and changed the Repub.
lican tickets they intended to vote, to the
Demokratic ticket, and then took wat
money they he'd in their pockets to pay
for extra repeating.
Nasty" sed he, "Yoo are man who
deserves encouragin. Go on ez 700 hey
begun end high place awates 700. For
the present take this"
And he handed me five clean hundred
dollar notes.
"Charge $1,000" he remarked to his
Secretary, "to the account NV pawn in the
City Hall square"
Then | remember when Patsy MCGEE
wuz seriously hurt in an elecshun fife,
how the Boss took material that he'd
bought for the new Court House, and took
carpenters and hrick-layers and masons
witch wuz at work for the city, and built
Patsy an elegant little house on lot he
owned up town. That wuz arranged in
my Darkroom.
And in that same room, Dennis
O'Shaughnessy, Ell reward fur repeatin
twenty times more than he he'd agreed to,
wuz made Assistant Counsel to the Board
for the condemnation of private property.
"Take this" sed Tweed, land draw yer
salary promptly"
"But don't know nothin about law"
sed Dennis.
"Yoo know enuff to draw yer salary
don't 700, and 700 know enuif to repeet
That is enuff for me-"
And Dennis drawd his $4,000 year up
to the very day he wuz histed.
But / can dwell on this theme no
longer. II is too painful. "Joys that
we've tasted" Amt good 10 taste over agin
There is bitter in EN-.
A corrupt set NV Republicans and
recreant Dimocrats got after the great
and good Tweed, and down he went
and with him down we all went. The
Harp of Erin Sloon became wreck.
There wuZ no more cauCusses held in
the back room; them Ell held offs under
him he'd their pay stopped and instid
Nv payin cash for their likker / herd
perpetooally the disgustin words "Chalk
il down" Then come crisis; | got in
debt, and the Sheriff, the most successful
ov all collectors, got after mc,
Well do | recall back that terrible
night. knowd my stock wood be levied
onto the next mornin. There wuz a gal.
lon and half Nv farish likker left in
one bari.
Gle shell not hev that" muttered thro
my clenched teeth.
And so ! closed the door and locked it.
! closed the blinds and locked 'em,
and lightin every gas burner in the house
sot me down for my last revel, all
alone.
They busted the door open in the morn
in. The found me on the floor, the
crackers gone, the red herrins gone, and
the last drop NV likker gone.