Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-08-23
rlLpEM AG0 RlNcS.
Record OF q Reformer-hleR Relations
with Boss Tweed and His Gang.
brooklyn IN. y, Argus tDsm.,.

with DoSs Tweed and His Gang.
Brooklyn IN. w Argus tDem.).
Samuel j. Tilden became the re-
sponsible director of the Democratic
party in this State in 1866, when he
succeeded Dean Richmond to the
of the State Commit
tee. He held the latter place until he
became Governor in 1875. He had
been all that time, and long before it,
an officer, with Tweed, Sweeney, and
Connolly, in Tammany Hall. How
Tilden managed the party, what re-
suited from the management, and
how he Endorsed the results, will be
shown.
In 1868, the Republican majority
for Griswold, outside the City Of New
York, was 4l,2O7. Hoffman, the
Tweed Tilden candidate for Govern
or, had been Mayor of that city for
nearly four years. The Ring had
been under full Roadway during that
time. Hoffman had served the Ring
to their satisfaction as Mayor, and
they were determined to count him
in as Governor at any hazard. This
they did. just before the election q
circular, signed Samuel j. Tilden,
Chairman Democratic State Commit
tee" was sent to county agents, re-
Questing that advance returns from
each town be forwarded to Tweed.
The circular said:
"There is of course an important
object to be obtained by simultane-
GUS transmission, at the hour Of clos
ing the polls, but not longer waiting.
The important object was obtain.
ed; $1,000 false ballots were counted
in the city, on pretended majority
of So, l5O, and Hoffman was declared
elected "a 1886 more votes were count
ed than were cast for Governor two
years afterwards, and 41,725 more
than were cast two years before. Gov.
Tilden favored the nomination of
Hoffman, knowing his MayoraIty
record. That he abetted, profited BY,
and sustained the fraudulent counting
Of votes, will be shown.
Hoffman did not disappoint the ex.
pectations of either Tweed or Tilden
He made them as satisfactory Gov
ernOr as he had Mayor, and promo.
ton was still in order. Arrangements
were made to put Hoffman in tn,
Presidential chair, with Tilden al
Secretary of the Treasury. The ex
iplOsiOn, however, landed Tweed or
Blackwell's Island, Hoffman il
Europe, and Tilden in the State wit
ness-seat. After Hoffman becam,
Governor. the gang were emboldened
and Tweed, Norton, Fields, Genet
and others of them planted them.
SELVES in the Senate and Assembly
These worthless joined hands will
Murphy and Jacobs, of Brooklyn, an(
with the Canal Ring of the State, an(
controlled every Legislative measur,
passed during H0ffman's two terms
Laws were enacted by which New
York was plundered, by which
Brooklyn was plundered, and b.
which the State was plundered.-
+ The Rings were in the mos
, flourishing condition in all direc
tons. Tweed, the poor chair-makcr 0
1860, became the great Money King
of 1870, and the others were like unit
him. His hotel and wine bills at AL
bany during the winter session of tn
Legislature were $500 per day; tn
Americans Club House, at Green
wich, was run at the expense of sew
7 eral thousand dollars during tn
: summer months. Tweed's Fifth-ave
nue. place and adornments are said t
have cost over 100000; his stable
l cost $4,000; flowers at bail give
I by the Club cost $4,000 Present
valued at $780, 600 were brought to tn
, side Of Young Princess of the fami
ly on her wedding day. Countr
villas, fast horses, yachts diamond
t railroads, gas stocks, bonds, ban
' shares, blocks of real estate, newspa
!. pers, Court Houses, aqueducts, pave
ments, sewers, docks, parks, bridges
and even Judges, and all the office
in the two cities, were among the 81
sets of the members of the two Ring
!. These things were as we'll know
: for years prior to 1870 as they ar
now. The unsuborned newspaper
were daily filed with accounts g
Ring-robbers, increased debt, in
! creased taxes, magnificent schemes
l and the Oriental displays made b
4 those vulgar thieves. Gov. Tide
+ was not deaf, dumb and blind. H
was the main prop upon whom tn
rascals leaned. Had he not been a
satisfactory to them as Chairman q
the State Committee as Hoffman wa
7 for Governor, the thieves would ne
h have tolerated his presence thirt
: days. None but children will belie1
!, that Tilden was a fool.
From the time Tilden becam
: Chairman of the State Committe,
q 1866, to the time ofthe burst-up of tn
8 New York branch of the Ring, 1877
!, there was added to the debt Of Ne,
t York $56,O0O,OOO. During the san
8 period there was added to the debt
It Brooklyn $2O,OOO,OOO. During tho.
# five memorable years. the Rings {
n those two cities had collected in tax,
It and borrowed 1926, OOO 600. They ha
o the handling of the imperial revenu
of M7,OOO,OO per annnm. And y
!. the veay head of the organi
J, alton through which they oil
: tanned a political existence, kne
u nothing of their transactions.
n Tilden there made speech, in v hi,
:. he glorified the action of the part
Q extolling its purity, and Endorsed Il
q men, who, with himself, controlled j
|, management. He did this, KNOWN
y that many of the mon with whom
y was acting were the most unscrup
d lous yagabonds and and notoriOl
II thieves on the continent; he did
ls knowing that they had polluted Il
+ ballot-bOx, corrupted Judges, ar
, subOrned the press he did it knoy
ing that the members Of the Legisl
ture, elected by his agency, were b
mercenary vassals; he did it. knO,
ing that the Governor, who was tn,
Il signing Tweed and Murphy's bills
ic swindle the people, was placed in /
o position by the false counting of 8
It 600 ballots; he did it, knowing thu
II two years before, he had been thres
t, ened with suit for alleged compiled
j. in ballot-box stuffing, and that he b.
d been publicly arraigned by Hora
Is Greedy and Others for the act.
{, In that 1870 convention, Mr.. Tild
ii pleaded for the perpetuation Of |
own and Tweed's power in the fl
" lowing language:
: 81 stand here to claim for the par
le luhuOA hAo AVuA yC0IS nA0h06VsACA
i. that it is not merely an agency of 60
n without which we could not well {
d along, but it is the most beneficenta a
r philanthropic institution which I
j. country ever saw.
n The remarks were addressed
n and were an Endorsement of the q
m OF. the Tweed-Sweney delegates fire.
le New York, and the Jacobs Kingsl
q delegates of respectable Democra
v like Havemeyer, Schell, Backhou
10 and Harrington, were compelled
ID listen to the insults from the galleri
re The New York and Brooklyn rim
at receiving political life and sustenaI
" from Tilden's committee, were II
N most beneficent and philanthropic
ut stitution which the country ever saw
Mt This is exactly the length, bread