New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-09-14
THE MAN WHO LAUGHS.

THE MAN VINO LdCOHo.
That was fine bit of description which
Tweed threw off on Wednesday when he was
asked who took general charge of the collec-
ton of the plumber on the bills for the new
Court House. lie could not remember which
individual of n firm attended to this business,
but cit was the gentleman who was always
Laughing and always around the Court
House." He gave us there in two lines
faithful sketch of the place and OF tie time.
The gentleman who was always laughing
and always around the Court House was
the type Of an interesting class, the en-
bodiment of the municipal government OF the
period. He pervaded all the departments
he raised our taxes he piled up our debt; he
spent our income; he presided, full fed and
rosy, over our courts our council chambers
our public works, our schools our charities
and our ballot-boxes He was always around
the Court House, experimenting jobs and swim
dies, making bargains with ambitious politi-
clans. buying judges, and concocting fraudu-
lent bills and when he had filled his pockets
with stolen money, he called for a bottle of
champagne and spent the rest of the day in
laughing. All, there have been merry times at
the City Hall!
for instance, in the janitOr's private apart
ments, when the Controller, the Mayor, the
Street Commissioner and his Deputy aban-
doned the cares of office for an hour so
every day, and met around the festive board.
Wit flowed with the wine, and pquant COM
ments upon public affairs peppered the com
forting oyster, until the gentlemen who were
always laughing. returned to their desks, re-
freshed and invigorated for new schemes of pIl-
lage. Out of these social gatherings grew the
business partnership commonly known as the
Ring: but, as the magnitude of their opera
tons increased, the good humOr of the City
Hall statesmen seemed only to grow more
boisteIous. The janitor's little dinners gave
place to gatherings which were larger, but less
formal. The cork was always drawn in David
sons back parlor; the punch-bow was per-
petualy replenished in the room over Tweedis
stable; some exhausted reveller was always be-
ing put to bed at the Americas Club House, and
the favor of unspeakablc jokes mingled with
the aroma of cigars and whiskey In
its gorgeous parlors. The Ring became
the greatest organization of the century. No
petty commission on tradesmen's and mechan-
les bills would satisfy it now. Away with the
beggarly 10 per cent. The Ring must have
half, two-thirds; nay, the bills hereafter shall
be all fictitious and money shall be drawn
for claims that never existed, in the name of
firms that nobody knows. The more they stole
the merrier they got. With the extension of
business the gentlemen around the Court
House shook out another reef in their waist
coats, drew up to the table afresh, and laughed
louder than ever. Always laughing! They
were always roaring nowadays.
And Tweed, it seems, has not quite lost the
old habit. "Persecuted," az he says, land
driven from pillar to post" he nevertheless
comes to the performance now going on at
the City Hall in such a genial and witty mood,
that one can hardly realize that he as not
lust got up from dinner with Messrs. Hoffman,
Cornell and Brennan. He spices his confess
sions with humor, and the spectators punctu-
ate them with laughter. When the Aldermen
ask him why he thought it worth while to
pay So, 800 to secure the appointment of
Democratic Inspectors of Election, he replies
that he "dd not wish the Republicans to
"cheat" Did he ever know of any cheating
on that side7 81 don't know that We ever
"gave them n chance; we always had our men
"there, and had them dred.n Did he think
it safe to trust Supervisors who could be
bribed? "Oh, in such matters men were all
"aike You couldn't trust anybody" Why
did he trust the Gentleman Who was always
Laughing to collect the percentages on the new
Court House "Well, had too much to do,
"and we were not afraid of being cheated
"there because we knew what the bills WERE"
At every smart sally and pert reply. at every
airy allusion to the meanness of cheat
ing, at the story of how he was fooled
out of $4,000 by James OBren, and
the droll solemnity with which he described
the result of his attempt to buy Mr. Tllden
and Judge Barrett, the crowd was highly
amused, and when the pleasant old fellow re-
tired to Jail. there was a widespread senti-
ment Of regret that his comic fancy had not
freer opportunity for exercise. The examina-
ton 80 far has not been an improving specta-
Gle. The suppliant for the clemency of the
State does not pose we'll as a penitent. But
his conduct is characteristic. His humor was