New-York tribune., 1878-04-13


came in rapid and exciting succession and are s well
remembered the arrest OF Tweed the Night OF re-
ter b. and James NJ sweeny to Europe the arrest anu
subsequent fight of Richard b. Connolly the genera
scattering of the smaller rogues-Woodward' C'rsoh
and others-the impeachment of McCunn and Barharu'
the resignation Of Cardozo to avoid the same impehu
fate and the total overthrow at the polls Of the last OF
the Ring adherents
THE RING TRIALS
The most notable event after the success OF inc poh
ca efforts against the Ring, the organization OF the
prosecutions against the leaders, which was determined
upon. At the first this intended 10 be thorough u
relentng, and without compromise. The best talent
available was employed Charles OConor voluntarily
assumed control of the legal prOceedngs the Attorney
General OF the State that time Democrat, cohsu-
ued him his representative, and bis successor he
publican, continued him In charge OF the seFera
cases, which at once opened IN cNi anu
criminal courts Samuel J.Tden made himself not only
an adviser educated himself TO be Witness ana
contributed the evidence against the Ring remark
able tabular statement tracing the disposition ana d'
sion Of the spOils.
The first apparent mlsstep was the employment OF one
of the agents Of the Ring state witness This was
Andrew j. Garvey. His testimony was Important pu'
in view of subsequent disclosures proved unnecessary
II was the beginning of series OF compromises Wheh
at once paralyzed the prosecution and gave renewed
courage to the Ring. One by one compromises were
made and releases effected Connolly, though ar
rested and almost forced 10 restore latse
part Of his plunder, finally succeeded In oD
tanning his release and fed to Europe. where nc
remains in full security from arrest. IOgersol though
convicted for a minor offence, pardoned that he
might give testimony which was not really needed
Genet was enabled TO escape after conviction ana ave
In security and seclusiOn for five years at distance OF
few hours journey from the city. WOODWARD was per-
med TO return and pay fraction OF MS piunder IN res
ttuton Of the whole. Peter b. sweeny came back from
forZ foF
times that amount. at the time secur-
ing an ndorsement by the court OF bis honesty at
the expense OF his dead brothers reputation. Tweed
was encouraged by all these compromises to nope for
lenlcucy in his case. and so fought 1t out.
He was three tried before being convicted II Is no
secret now that he bought up the iuries IN the
first two trials, but unable to obtain any
more than disagreement In either case
In the third trial the jury were SO hedged
about that it was impossible for Tweed's agents
TO approach them. law had been specially passed at
the previous session of the Legislature, by which the
presiding justice the court constituted tue rier
Of the jurorstbat is left decide to their quaca-
tons to act mpagtialy. force OF 100 detectives was
employed under the direction OF Henry l.. Cintoh' a
lawyer familiar with the antecedents OF nearly every
prominent citizen likely TO be partial TO Tweed, ana
these were occupied might ami day guarding the jury
from approach by persons IN Tweed's interest Ihey
also hunted up evidence TO the anteeedents
associates and opinions Of those summoned
AZ Jurors 80 that the prosecuting attorneys
rarely failed the judge reasons for rejecting OBJ
irconable Jurors The result that Tweed was un-
tSle 70 on The Hry and The result was I0regone
clusion. In this third trial he was convicted.
The offence charged was simply a misdemeanor and
the punishment according to law could be only one
years Imprisonment and fine Of $3.50. But the ndici-
ment charged over hundred distinct offences, and
Tweed being convicted OF ALL Judge Davis made the
sentence cumulative and sentenced him TO twelve years
hard labor in the penitentary BackwelPs Island and
fines accordingly. The Court OF Appeals DECIDED ths
cumulative sentence 10 have been an error and az the
end OF one years imprisonment Tweed was released
He was Immediately arrested however, on civil war
rant and taken, 1874 to Ludlow Street jail, where
he remained for over year, making legal effort 10
obtain his release. but without avail His lawyer at this
time was David Dudley Field, who had dissuadcd him
from all thoughts OF restoration Of MS Hotttu gains
DstrctAttOruCy. In order % Illustrate the efforts 10
secure Twecds release under the civil acton or by
reduction Of his bail procured new criminal indictments
against him to the number of tWenty-elght list OF
these served on his LAWYER VINO lad them Deioie
Tweed The prisoner then clearly for the first time
that the Government did not mean TO relax its grip
upon him And then MS Thoughts were first turned TO
now THE ESCAPE WAS EFFECTED.
The story OF Twceds escape from Ludlow Street JAIL
and of his wandenng- published in HGrpes WeekVof
April f. 1877, Is doubtless correct IL ls romantic mar
ratye Of adventure but need be- reproduced here only In
brief on the morningo Deccember5, 1870 the city was
sa lied by the intelligence that Tweed had escaped from
the sheriff and Notwithstanding the efforts made 10 dis
cover whittier he had ded nothing was known for ten
months. The facts these; One OF Twecds fellow
PrnbaRIy the man who planned the Norinamp- /
ton bank robbery, first suggested the escape, aud after
repeated conversations with Tweed as hey TOOK thelr
daily promenade in the prison court, finally inducei-
him TO consent II was planned that the tugyc should
be taken charge ot oy ai orEanIu nouI o u,n, WIN
established communications throughout the country.
The night Of December 4 chosen for the flight, /
and In the company OF two Keepers IWeed was !
driven as De often had been previously, !
to the residence 0f ms wife IA Madson-aye While The /
keepers were ENJOYING the hearty supner winch was az
ways spread the occasion OF these visits Tweed eft
the and the house. entered covered wagon, was
driven the North River in zlgzag line crossed IN
farm house behind the Palisades
There under the name OF John Sccor Tweed, remained
until the first week in March Then IL determined /
that he should retire greater distance from the city,
aud as an nteerm dte step he was removed |
to fsherman's hut at the Narrows, about |
half n mile from Fort wadsworth He re-
tted up for the purpose be sailed to the Florida Keys
Here he was left by the men who thus lar mad mad /
whose company he was subsequently captured, man !
no made his living by guiding and attending invalid
as he declares who his employer was. The two men |
mems lives for several weeks. Tweed having deter |
mined escape TO SPAN, the two companions bad them
selves carried, as u preliminary. to Cuba fishing
smack
They landed miles from the harbor Of Santiago do
Cuba on June L. 1876. and the following day skirted
the 10 the city. Here, their passports having
Spanish rise they promptly arrested and taken
board Spanish man-of-war After some delay they |
were liberated the American Consul, Alfred n. Young.
becoming their bondsman. After negotiations, pro- |
longed through several weeks, they allowed
bark on the spanish sailing vessel Carmen |
for yigo, SPAN and sIiled July 27. The Amer |
lean COnsuLGeneral, at Havana, regarding the cir |
circumstances their first arrest suspicious tele
gra phed to Secretary Fish Photographs seut
Cuba and SeCor was Identified as Tweed hut he bad !
gone CaptainGencral Jovear at once telegrapheG tO
The Spanish mister 10 have them arrested at VgO This
was done on September g. Thr United States war |
vessel Franklin. then about returning 10 this country,
was ordered To touch az NgO ANA take on board the
prisoner whose identity had been fully confirmed