Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-09-01
Private and strictly Confidential"

III Tue Cldte Ol INcW vi WV i"''Si H'''
majority of 10000 votes over the for
mer At the same election John A,
Griswold ran against John I. Hoffman
for governor of this state, and was de-
feated by 27,946 majority in favor of
the latter. This triumph of democracy
was secured not only by ballot-box stuff
ing in the city of New York, but by a
most outrageous system of fraud in
counting the votes. Mr.. Hoffman, ac-
cording to the count, had majority in
this city of $3.50, which neutralized
the 40,204 majority in the rest of the
state for Griswold, and left the former
with a net majority of 27,946 in the
whole state. This was in the days when
the old Tammany Ring was in its glory
and William NJ Tweed was chief master
of ceremonies.
Facts which came to light after the
election showed most conclusively that
the huge democratic maj ority in the city
of New York was fraudulently secured,
and that one of the methods of the fraud
was concerted system of false count
ing, extended through nearly all the
wards of the city and specially notable
in those wards in which the canvassers
were all democrats. Some of these
wards gave Hoffman majority several
thousand greater than the total number
of legal voters, and in some of the cleo
ton districts his vote exceeded the whole
population of those districts. But for a
wholesale system of fraud in this city
the republicans would have carried the
state in 1868. They were cheated out
of victory, and John t. Hoffman was
declared to be elected, contrary to the
actual vote of the people. Mr. Griswold
was elected by this vote, and Hoffman
was counted in, and New York City was
the theater of the latter achievement.
How great majority will New York
City give Hoffman ?" inquired politi-
clan of leading member of the Tam
many Ring during the campaign.
That depends upon how large ma
jority is necessary to elect him" was the
answer. The facts which transpired af-
terward give significance to this answer
How did the democratic leaders in the
city of New Yerk ascertain, before the
counting, the majority which the city
must give in order to secure victory in
the state? 1t so happens that Samuel
j. Tilden was then the chairman of the
democratic state committee. AS such,
he issued the following private and
strictly confidential circular, addressed
to his partisan friends throughout the
state;
Private and strictly confidential.
Rooms OF THE DEMOCRATIC STATE /
STATE COMMITTEE, October q, 1868. !
My DEAR SIR Please at once to
communicate with some reliable person
in three or four principal towns and in
each city of your county, and request
him Expenses duly arranged for at this
end to telegraph to William M. Tweed,
Tammany Hall, at the minute of closing
the polls, not aOajting for the count, such
persons estimate of the vote Let the
telegraph be as follows:
80 This town will show a democratic
gain Cor loss) over last year of (number).
Orthis one, if sufficiently certain +" This
town will give republican Cor demo-
cratic) majority Of.
There is, Of course, an important ob-
ject to be attained by simultaneous trans
mission at the hour Of closing the polls ;
but not longer aoaiting. Opportunity can
be taken of the usual halfhour lull in
the telegraphic communication over the
lines before actual results begin to be de-
clared and before the Associated Press
absorb the telegraph with returns and
interfere with individual messages and
give orders to watch carefully the count.
Very truly yours,
SAMUEL j. TILDEN, Chairman.
Now will Samuel j. Tilden, the re-
former, just step to the front and give
the public running commentary on this
"private and strictly confidential " cir,
cular? What was the important OBJ.
iect to be attained by simultaneous
transmission at the hour of closing the
polls, but not longer waiting"? What
was the necessity for knowing then, by
the best possible estimate, how the vote
stood in the state outside of the City Of
New York? Why was Tweed selected
to be the receiver of this information
and what we're the conversations between
Tilden and Tweed in regard to the mat
ter? What was Tweed expected to dc
with the knowledge after he had gotten
, it? Why this hot haste for information
from all parts of the state before the
, counting was finished in this city Why
, take all this trouble and incur this ex.
pense to find out what at best would be
but an estimate and what would certain
ly be known a few hours later Was there
, ANYTHING to be oained by this early in