The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1874-01-08
NASBY.
The Downfall of Tweed fir. NaSby
Indulges in Sad Reminiscenss, but
does not Give Up like One without
I From the Toledo Dlade.1
CoNFEDRIT Y ROADS,
(Wich is in the State NV Kentucky,)
November 2G, 1873.


The nooze NV the convickshen Nv The
great Tweed by a corrupt court, and his
sentence to a common peuitenshary, by
beartless and mercenary judge [ refer to
that modern Jeffries, the infamous Davis)
perdoost perfound sensashen at the Cor
ners. Deekin Pogram, when he heerd
that Tweed he'd bin convicted Nv plum
driD the Treasury, and he'd been sentenced
to prizn, drawd long sigh and scd that
our liberties wuz gone now, shoor He
didn't know who Tweed wuz, but he felt
it'safe, ez Demokrat, to draw sigh for
any boby who wuz in limbo for plundrin
public treasury. That mans instinks
alluz guide him safely, aud his faith hcz
in it suthin sublime.
But the noozo did effect me seriously.
My mind leapt over the past, aud 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, sich ez |
now spend, with parched throat and shaky
system, waitin for friendly invite to take
, suthin. No There waz the bar, with the
glasses onto it, the barrel underneath out
nv wich drew both Bourbon and Rye,
ez the customers wanted it; there wnz
my own privit keg, wich wuz not watered,
for my own privit drinkin-there WIZ
the red hot stove, the pipes and the crack
ers, and the back room
All that back room Itwuz 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 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 time, in that
ward, the other to vote so many times in
the other, and so on In that room the
ballot boxes aud the poll books used to be
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 a site youchsated 10 but
few men to see that great man take peek
of ballots and chuck EN- into box, and
tell Thad Hamerley (wich 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. |
shall never forgit that mite when | he'd
got four niggers drunk and took em to
the polls myself, and changed the Repuh
lican tickets they intended to vote, to the
Demokratic ticket, and then took wat
money they he'd 10 their pockets to pay
for extra repeating.
"Nasby," sed he, "Yoo are man who
deserves eneouragin. Go on ez 700 heV
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 MeGee
wuz seriously hurt in an elecshun hie,
how the Boss took material that he d
bought for the new Court House, and took
carpenters and brick layers aud masons
wich wuz at work for the city, and built
Patsy an elegant little house on lot he
owned up town That wuZ arranged in
NY back room.
Aud 10 that same room, Denais