The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-01-09
From our Special Correspondent
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
The Great RIng-what it Is-WhI
Keeps it Up, and What will XIII it
Brief HIstOry-The PanIe-Luxurie
New YORK, Dec, 1873.
When q noxious weed is cut dow1
it is not always sure that it is extel
minated. The roots must be dug q
and cast out before the work shoul
be considered completed. Whel
Boss Tweed was arrested, tried ant
sentenced to the penitentisry, tn
good people OF New York farcie'
they had cleansed the Augean stables
and that henceforth all they had Il
do was to fold their hands and si
down to the enjoyment Of good gov
ernment. Mistaken souls /! Tweed
was simply the trunk, the roots exis
as vigorous and full Of lite as ever
and new shoots are showing theil
heads every day.
| l propose to devote this letter
mostly to the "Ring,' for it is one ot
the most curious chapters in the his.
tory of this country. TIE ring wss
of course, q Democratic invention
The Tammsny Society had control oI
the City of New York, and, conse
quentl, of the State. 1t became well
known that the solid mass Of igno.
rance, ruin and crime in the city,
having but one head, could nominate
whomsoever it pleased, and then elect
or defeat. Every Democratic poll
tician in ths State swore allegiance
to Tammany. 1t became the party.
At the beginning this strength was
used simply for purposes OF plunder
in rather moderate way; but when
VIM. M. Tweed secured the control
he was not content with that. He
aspired to the control, not only of the
City and State of New York, but the
nation. As the politicians Of the
State bowed to him, because ht
could control q State Convention, 81
the politicians OF other States eourteC
his influence, for New York is lsrg'
State and hiss power IN Nationa
Convention. Doubtless the grea
Tweed had an idea that after making
a President or two, he might fill tina
great Office himself.
It is not to be denied that tht
played his game shreWdly. He frs
got control of his own party, snG
then proceeded to debauch the Re
publican party of the State. He
found enough venial Repu licans who
we're willing to share his steslings
and he organized a Tammany ring
inside that party. Editors Of promi
nent Republican journals, Republi-
cans of influence in all parts Of the
State, came to private understand
ing with him, the service required
being the demoralizstion of the party
by bolts and splits, and the consider
alton heiug a share, proportioned to
the service, in the millions of steal.
ings he had control OF. New York
City and State was thus bound hand
and foot, and Boss Tweed welded
more active power than any man in
the United States. He stretched
forth his hand to New Jersey, Penn
sylvanis, and Connecticut, and had
commenced to work in Ohio and the
States farther West when he met his
| Waterloo and went down.
Boss Tweed is in the PenitentIsry,
on Blackwell's Island, but Tweedism
is neither killed or scotched, it is
rooted in the rum-mills, the foreign
vote, the gamblers snd thieves OF the
city, snd It is as strong and vigorous
to day as ever. For the material is
all there, and other men, just as
strong as Tweed, ,snd as unscrupulous,
are there to mould it and use it
i Several OF the principal men in
TReed's ring are out Of the way
Conan, Miller, Mike Norton, Johr
II. Walsh are in hiding; Connolly
took flight in time and went into
hiding. Connolly, it will he remem-
bered, put the "sslt say'' between
him and prosecution shortly sftel
proceedings were commenced sgains
Tweed. He took with him not Ies
than an even million, and is living II
great splendor in Ireland. The 9th
ers mentioned got out of the way q
soon as they were convinced that tn
J prosecution of Tweed was in earnest
and cannot be found. Harry Genet
one of the most brazen OF the thieves
was caught, tried and convicted, ant
on Monday last he was to have bee
sentenced to join the throng ths
moves toward Sing Sing, but ol
Monday morning be was not to b
found. Mr.. Matthew T. Brennan i
Sheriff of New York, and Mr.. B. is
Tsmmanyite whose term is nearly out
) and who desires q reelection. HoV
! could Mr.. Brennan go before tn
Democracy of New York with hi
! hands stained with the punishment q
a nan ike Genet? So Mr.. Genet
: Imprisonment was merely nominal
, "Harry'' was about the streets Of th
city, in care OF q Deputy, it is true
for days, and on Friday night b
went to bis home in Harlem, tn
: Deputy accompanying him. He re
tired with his wife at the usual hour
! the accommodating Deputy lying i
+ an adjoining room on q sofa In th
1 morning Mr.. Genet was not to b
found, ''much to the chagrin OF tn
/ Deputy"
= This instance proves what / state
: at the beginning. The Tammsn
snake is hydra-headed and Tweed
only Que OF the heads. Harry Genet
> friends, i e, the rum-mills, thievel
, gamblers and murderers, whom b
controls, have power enough in thei
!; hands to beat Mr.. Matthew T. Brer
5 nan, for re-nomInation, and had Hal
7 ry gone to Sing Sing, they woul
E have beaten him. Therefore, thi
purjured plunderer--this convicte
thief, is permitted to quietly walk Of
> and the courts are set at defiance.
Who are these fellows, who ride 8
J, boldly over the tax payers OF Ne
York? Mostly Irish- The grei
mass of Irish emigrsnts who Ian
= have no more idea Of an intelligel
exercise Of their newly acquire
rights than q Virginia mule hiss
the Greek alphabet They organic
about GROCERIES; the keeper OF Il
mill controls 8 hundred Of them f.
. which he receives q small Office. H
in turn, Is controlled by leader
little high up, whose power in Il
J government is gsuged by the numb
he can control, and 80 on up to q
supreme head.
A brief history Of one of these (,
lows will throw q little light on 4
way they do it. An Irisbman, who
m for the sake Of a name We will C
O'Brien, though that was not /
IT name, was, ten years ago, 8 report
te on a Liverpool paper. He had q wi
u and tour children who were kind
= permitted to care for themselves, 4
II was all Mr.. O'Brien could 10