, 1877-12-02

clerks, who, it will be remembered, was ar,
rested in Chicago and forwarded to New
York, is a moral curiosity. Ho was small
stcaler as compared with his principals IN
tho Ring, but as 8 witness ho is the peer OF
them all. WOODWARD commenced business
life on S1,500 year, which was shortly
raised to s. 900. When he was taken INTO
the Ring, however, his salary shot ahead on
the gallop. He received per annum about
sl1, 1000 in salaries and perquisites, besides
the stcalings, known to the Ring Us "per-
centages." He commenced the percentage
business upon the order of 1lr. TWEED, IN
1869, to collect IS per cont on the lace OF
all bills, Of which TWEED pocketed % per
cent, he himself p per cent, and the rest
went to other members of the Ring. He
proved to bs such an adept in the business
that his share was raised to S per cent aud
the general percentage was advanced to 8o.
In 1859, WOODWARD was worth S30,0O0.
In 1869, when he had become Ringster,
he was worth 100000. Two years opera
tons of the percentage swindle enabled him
to steal $500, from the taxpayers; and
when ho retired, not long after, he could
show somewhere in tho vicinity Of n
cool million. Now, if WOODWARD in two
years could steal Ssoo,oo0, during part
of that time receiving q per cent
and per cent for the remainder,
it will not require very long sum in multi
plcation to figure up the immense sum that
TWEED aud the rest Of the gang, receiving
so per cent, must hnvo stolen. It is of no
use. however, to collect evidence or to pile
up figures to show that Ofr. WOODWARD Is a
thief or wRs thief. He admits it. and in
the admission lies the core of our original
statement, that he is moral curiosity. There
have been men without cou1try, men with
out brains, men without hearts, men without
legs and arms but here is O man without
the faintest gliinmcr Of moral responsibility,
and so ingrainod, hide-bound, and doub1y-
distilled rascal as to forever settle tho dis
putod question whether the perception Of
right and wrong is an acquired or natural
faculty. Among all other thieves there are
gradations of moral responsibility. There
aro big thieves ard little thieves, generous
thieves and mean thieves, honorable thieves
and dishonorable thieves, thieves who draw
line in the mora}ities according to the old
rhyme. that if 1T is sin to steal pin, it
is o grenter to steal q inter" But WOOD
WARD drew no lines, SEW no difference be-
tween the pin and the potato, was n
thief when ho was an embryo, has been one
ever since, and when lie goes out of the
world the ruling passion will probably induce
him to steal out of it. The only difference
that he perceives between himself mud other
men is thet Of opportunities, and he ex-
presses himself with Bor: of tender regret
that others have not had his opportunities:
which of itself is sufficient to account for his
admiration Of 11r. TWEED, whose opportuni-
ties were just twelve times greator than
his It is said that iron may get so cold as
to burn, and pain grow SO intense rs to
| amount to an ecstasy, md upon the same
principle here is man whose rascality was
SO radical that it struck him Us honesty, and,
so far from contemplating himself as thief,
he looked upon himself as paragon Of moral
worth few illusions to his testimony be-
| fore the Committee will show his position.
When asked if he thought there was anything
| wrong in his taking "perceutages" Chat is,
| stealing money out of the pockets Of the
| public), he replied he did not, for he had
| fairly earned it. When asked if he thought
| it was right for TWEED to take them, he re-
piled that he did. He did not, however,
think it was right for SwEESx, HALL, and
CONNOLLY to take percentages, but in this
| he drew no moral line. He thought TWEED
ought to have hGd the percentages, because
he had to buy Legislature, and, therefore,
imbursed himself out Of their pockets. Whom
asked if he thought he had acted right in
pursuing such q course, he replied:
think any man in the room would do the
same I don't know that I ever saw an hon.
est politician in my life, and I have met all
stripes" In other words, Mr.. WOODWARD
was satisfied that ''Ihey all do it, and that
every man had his price, and acted upon
that belief. &r. WOODWARD even went
beyond thus, and declared that any man in
his position would have done the same thing,
| and that, had ho the opportunity, he would
! do it over again. One hardly knows which
to admire the most, the dishonesty of this
rascal's frankness, or the frankness Of his
dishonesty, or both combined. He occupied
a height of villainy SO lofty that he was ab-
solutely serene, and he stole right and left
with the calm conviction that he was per-
forming the whole duty of man, and that
those who complained of it we're ungrateful
and doing him personal injury. Ho only
| pitied people because he had SO much the
| advantage of them. The arrogance, inso-
lencc, pretentiousness, and sublime cheek Of
this man placo him far beyond all other
thieves, and characterize him Us an artist.
Rip Fan lVinkk compels you to admire him.
self for his single quality of drunkenness,
Fa1staT makes you admire his swagger and
bombast but here is a thief vino
occupies SO high plane of ras-
celity as almost to make you doubt
whether he is not the honest man
and the honest men are the real thieves.
| Some philosophers have conteuded that
| lunatics are the only really sane people in
! the world. WOODWARD, in like manner,
| raises question whether a man who will