The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-05-03

child's body would be enough to convict
Rivers and Leach of criminal neglect.-N.
Y. Tribune.
An Alleged Confession BY VIM. n
Tweed.
NEW YoRK, April II.
William NJ. Tweed, from his quarters
in Ludlow Street Jail, sends the Attorney
General q proposition reciting that, in re-
turn for the favor of liberty and rest, he
will yield up all his property and be
faithful witness on behalf of the people.
He says he has suffered much and suffered
long in silence, and has borne the burden
of what others should have shared. At
flicted with disease, feeble from age and
confinement, and i'll at ease in mind, he
seeks for the rest and relief he SO much
and so sorely needs. He adds that the
apply for leniency and pardon is that he
property and full disclosure of his GRIM
inal companions.
The proposition is a long and exhaust
i've document, and assumes the nature of
a confession, which goes back as far as
1867, when the Ring first began to as
sumo form. 1t gives in detail the story Of
various conferences between the writer,
Peter B. Sweeny, Richard Connolly,
fIenry Genet, A. Oakley Hall and others,
by which Tweed was elected to the State
senate, Connolly, Comptroller in 1867,
and Hall, Mayor. Jan. l, 1860, Tweed,
according to the story, transferred to
State Senator Winslow in person $500, 900
to secure the charter Of 1870, which
gave to the Ring the control of the city
through the support of several influential
Republican members of the Legislature.
1t was Tweed's understanding with Wins
low at the time that the money was to be
divided between Woodin, Samuel H.
Frost, Augustus r. Elwood, William H.
Brand, Norris Winslow, James Wood,
Isaiah Blood and George Morgan, all of
the Senate, and also with Van Pelton,
Williams, Crowley, Merriam and Beaman,
for their influence in the Assembly.
The confession gives the circumstances
Of the division of the spoils between him.
self, Sweeny, Hall, Connolly and Wood
ward. 1t duplicates Garvey, Ingersoll,
Davidson, Watson and majority Of the
Board of Supervisors Mayor Halls pro-
portion was 10 per cent. He shared
throughout in all the profits. He was in
full collision with the fraud in its various
details, and was fully aware of the
fraudulent nature of the contracts pre-
sented for his signature. A docu-
ment, purporting to be the record of the
proceedings of the Board of Audit
Of May S, 1870, by which Mr..
Hall on his trial secured acquittal
on the ground that he acted only in a
ministerial character, Tweed says was
manufactured after the exposure. Hugh
Hastings, of the Commercial Adcertiser, is
mentioned as having received check for
$2Q, 600, and checks for smaller amounts
at Various times. Mr.. Hastings is also
credited with the diplomatic achievement
of having brought Jay Gould and Tweed
together, by which alliance the Tammany
and Erie Rings were operated to their
mutual advantage.
The confession, also, according to the
World, says that all the house. painting
and book. cases in Recorder Hackett's
house were paid for by the city.
Mr.. Tweed gives the names Of i've per.
sons who. he promises, ii immunity is
given them, will swear to the truth of all
his statements. He has preserved all
checks and kept memoranda of all his
transactions, all of which will be placed
at the disposal of the State. OF the five
persons named, four are E. D. Barber, ex.
Collector James Pierce, Alexander Frear,
and William King, Tweed's former
Deputy Commissioner of Public Works.
Shortly after the publication of the "se-
cret accounts, }" in July, 1871, Tweed says
Francis N. Bixby and ex-Sheriff then
State Senator) O'Brien came to him and
offered to secure him against any further
investigation of his bank accounts, his re-
lations with the city, or, indeed, from any
further trouble, if he would pay $3.50, 900
toward O'Brien's claim against the city
for scot, 900, for unpaid fees. The two
represented to him that they had such
influence over Mr.. Tilden, Judge Barrett,
and William G. Barrett as to Immediately
Quash any further steps in the pending
Investigation. Tweed says he paid them
$50, 900 in cash and mortgages, which
they afterward collected, for the rest, and
he understands they afterward secured
the same amount from Connolly upon the
same representations. He says he does
not consider O'Brien's claim has any real
merits. Hugh Smith, Swecny's particular
friend, attended to all transactions with
Judge Car,lozo, by which judicial action
was taken in behalf of the Ring. Tweed
says the Navarro claim of 81 ,OOO, 900 against
the city for water meters is . fraud. He
mentions Thurlow Weed by name, but
does not connect him with any equivocai
transaction. He mentions Judge Folger,
Of the Court of Appeals, and George H.
Purser, of New York, as persons to whom
he paid money. The confession concludes
with promise that the writer will be q
witness for the city in any suit brought
by the city for the recovery of moneys
from any of the persons mentioned. He
does not ask that suits against him be
quashed, but that he be released from con.
fnement without bail.
Relative to the above statements, Mr..
Hastings says the $2O, 900 check affair was
purely business transaction, and he en-
phatically denies that, upon any occasion,
any moneys passed through his hands to
Senator Woodin, to secure his vote, or for
other purposes. Judge Folger denies that
Tweed ever paid him any money. Sen.
ator Woodin says the confession lis abso-
lutely and unqualifiedly false in every
particular in its assertions touching my
conduct I never received any money
from William NJ. Tweed, directly or in
directly, either from him or from any
other person on his behalf" Other denia1s
arc also reported.
4 Thrilling Scene.
A thrilling scene occurred at Fishkill
Landing depot Wednesday morning. The
upward bound passenger train, due here
at ten .. m, had just arrived al the sta
ton, and forty or fifty passengers had
started to get on and off when the st. Louis
Exrreaa hn,1n.; ao,fh and which does not