Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1876-08-12
rILpEN AND

TILDkN y "
Since the nomination Of Samuel j.
Tildsn ~ the Democratic candidate for
President. the organs Of his party have
been continually harping upon the great
services he rendered to New York In
o~vsrthrowing the corrupt Tammany
Ring which for 90 many years stole and
squandsred the revenues Of the metrop-
oils. There 10 no doubt that Samuel J.
Tiidsn. in his capacity as . lawyer. was
an efficient all to Charles O'Conor In
bringing to partial Justice the Tammany
thieves. But the Democratic papers
are not content with telling the simple
truth. They endeavor TO give the i'm
preston that IL was Tilden who first ex-
posed the corruption Of Tammany. anil
that hs did ~ In q spirit Of righteous
indignation aud virtn-. This idea Is
entirely false. and for the purpose Of
giving u Western readers some notion
Of tho true relations Of Tildsn 10 Tam
iuany. W now propose To tell very
briefly just what he did and just what
he did not do in that great struggle for
reform" which Was won 20 ~signally
by the Republicans. not the Democrats.
az New York.
II was not Gov. Tildsn who exposed
the villainiss Of Tammany Hall. Til.
den never Was a traitor 10 any party OF
any clique Of which he was a member.
lie was ono % the prominent leaders Of
Tammany. until the great exposure
eamo. lie was hand AMI glove with
William N. Tweed. Dick Connolly.
Peter ID. Sweeney. and all the other
thieves. who are now insitivss from
Justice. 1t WAS he who adei in
the organization 81 that gang Of re-
peaters In the Fourth aud sixth wards
Of the city. which by voting ''early and
often" n~sutralized the votes Of the in.
terror. II was he who sent that famous
dispatch in 1868 to the Democrats
managers all over tho state fNew York,
calling for the earliest estimate Of the
vote. 10 that IL there was any doubt Of
the result. the vote in New York could be
counted up 10 the requisite majority for
Tammany. So long a. nothing definite
could DO proved against Tsmmsny. he
was one OF the leading men in the ring.
He must have received some OF the
plumber. but he was astute enough a. a
lawyer to cover his tracks.
The man who exposed the villainiss Of
Tammsny is James 0'Brien. He had
been keeping the books Of Tweed. and
in an evil moment that arch-thisf dis
charged, him. o'Brsn was . shrswd
scoundrel. While in Tweed's office he
had taken copies Of tho most damaging
items in the books. and as o o q he
was discharged he sought revsng BY
publishing these transcripts In the news
papers. He went first to the Sn. that
model organ OF reform" He had an
interview with Amos J. Cummings, the
then managing editor. Mr.. Cummings
professsd to doubt the authenticity Of
the documents and refused TO print
them. The fact IL Cummings was q
member OF the Blossom Club. the great
Tamnany social resort. an intimate
friend OF Mike Norton. ~ VI The Ring.
and according to rumor bad shared
pretty sItensivsly in the spoils OF the
Ring. The Herald and World were Of.
fsrsd the documents. and both refused
to expose Tammany. Then they wsrs
presented to the Tbass. . Republican
paper. and that journal Published them.
That Wa the first exposure Of Tam
many thievery. Sam Tilden had no
more to do with IL than the man in the
moon.
But the moment the exposure came;
the moment the time for stealing safely
had passed, Mr.. Tildsu blorsomsd forth
As q grand 'rsformsr." His sensitive
spir;t "a. .bocksd when he learned that
n. had 40 Iony bsen ths compauiou Of
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oI...;.s,n, Ia. ,,;.na, u. hrou,h,
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bear in the prosecution; aud from his