Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-11-02
tCsAnusscArrp:.
ULDlu INDICATED.

NC metS i've 09oO. ~ eG6.
iy Ssa editosialiy remarking upon this
says: "Meantims the charges preferred
against Gov. Tiiden Of making false
returns 1t his income hare had The,
ground so thoroughly cut from uader
them BY Judge Sinaotti who took up tke
items in detail that II The opinion Of
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
p5etely sefuied-" III Taes nor With
II alliss n this matter staads eoavieted
beSoce The pubic ofthe grcsse,t c,1pm.
ny against Gov. Tilden; yet. q If they
had lost IN sense OF decency. and BE-
Gene deaf 10 all principles Of truth and
honor, they still continue their work Of
detanatipa. and a fast - one -ealum-
ny i rsfnted they fabricate aaother.-
Truly their eanse must Be reduced 10.
most despessAe straits when they have
to resort To- sch infamous expedients.
II has slso been sought to detrsct from
the heaor due to Gov. -Tilden for his
e6oris in breaking up the Tweed Ring
In the city Of New York, but it can be
shown that he attacked this gigantic
swindle when il had control OF al the
city departments and both branches Of
the Legislature, and had q willing or ig-
norant tool in the N. Y. 7fmes, though
that paper afterwards. tried to secure 10
itself the credit for the destruction of
this great fraud. The Tweed Ring orig
mated in board Of supervisors created
in 1857 by Republican Legislature and
Governor. 1t did not attain to its full
proportions till 1868. when Oakly Hall
became Mayor. In 1869 Mr.. Tilden com
.menced his open attacks against the
Ring and received its blows in return.
During its rule be usually appeared in
State Conventions IS delegate from
his native county, Columbia, as the, ring
would not allow him to be elected As
such from the city. He has himself
stated why he took the position. The
Ring tried to get rid Of him as Chair
man Of the State Committee, but he beat
them in the Convention of 1869 eight
to one. II is said that $4,000 was
taken to Albany to carry the Ring
Charter. Mr.. Tilden went to ALBANY
in the spring Of 1870 and denounced il
in q fearless speech before Tweed Is a
Charter which would put seli-govern-
ment IN N. Y. City ''in allegiance for
from four to eight years." The Ring
Charter was passed against the protest
of Mr.. Tilden and such republicans as
H. Greeley. w. NJ. Evarts and others.
On its passage it received the vote OF
every Republican Senator but one and
large Republican vote in the House.
The ". Y Times pronounced ITS pas
sage as "a most important and salutary''
work. In less than month the great
robberies OF the Tammany Ring wa.
committed. The aggregate Of fraudu-
lent bills from April to December, 1870,
was $l2, 250, 900 and in 1871 So, 4OO,-
900, OF which $14, OOO, 100 was plumber.
The Ring had now control of all De.
partments, all Courts below the Court Of
Appeals and the State Government
Mr.. Tilden saw that the only effectual
way of crushing il was by the same
means by which it had attained to pow.
er, that its, hold on the Legislature
must be broken. The Ring tried to
conciliate him and offered to allow him
to name all the Delegates from N. Y.
to the State Convention of 1871 to avoid
a contest. He refused and arranged
his tactics for the capture Of the New
York delegation to the next Legislature.
He sought the aid Of such men as Chas.
o. Conner, VIM. NJ. Evarts, Francis
Herman" With Mr.. O'Conner he ar
ranged the plan for suits against the
Ring. Early in September he issued
an address to the Democrats through
out the State calling on them .to take
knife and cut the cancer out by the
roots" Comptroller Connolly became
alarmed and anxious to betray his as
sociates if he could obtain immunity
for himself. Mr.. Tilden's knowledge
Of law enabled him to discover that the
Comptroller could appoint Deputy
comforting upon him all powers for a
definite time. He got his lifelong
friend Andrew II. Green appointed as
deputy Comptroller. The Comptrol-
Ter could refuse to pass all bills and
thus the Reformcrs became possessed
of the key to the whole position. Mr..
Tilden checked the efforts of the Ring
to force Connolly to resign with a le-
gal opinion he obtained from Chas.
O'Connor. He watched the ring un-
remittingly, keeping carriage at his
door ready to carry him to an honest
Judge who would set aside the decision
Of the Ring Judges.
By a ten days examination Of the
Broadway Bank, he discovered that but
one-third Of the fraudulent bills had
reached the persons in whose names
they were made out, the remaining two
thirds having been divided among the
officers and others Of the Ring. This
examination furnished judicial proof.
"On this evidence and On Tilden's ali.
davits the action brought by Mr.. o Con-
nor, acting for the Attorney General oil
the State. was founded" The N. Y.
Times, Oct. 1911, referring to this inves.
tigation, said: Here We have. thank.
to the labors Of Samuel J. Tilden. full
and complete evidence that VIM. NJ
Tweed differs from common thief only
in having stolen tens Of thousands in.
stead Of tens Of dollars" The Tine,
was now fercely assailing the Ring
At the great reform meeting al Cooper
Institute Mr.. Tlden, then Chairman oI
the Democratic State Committee, sd.
vised union Of all elements against the
Ring party. For this he was bitterly
denounced BY some. but ii resulted IL
10000 Democrats voting the refosE
ticket, and under the weight Of this the
Ring was crushed. He continued hi.