The sun., 1879-06-08
rAmmAHY,s ANCIENT RECoRDa
A Story sf Ez-Mayor EIy's ORer 60 Returi
Theua, and Of his Refusal 60 DO SO.

A Story of Ex-Mnyor Ely's Oher 60 Return
The-, and OF his Refusal 90 DO 80.
Tammany Society has not reooy cred tho
old minute book and stock book which Mayor
Ely notified Treasurer Arthur Learv we're In
his possession. Rx-Mayor Ely was out OF town
yesterday. II Ia said that committee has been
appointed by Tammany Society to inquire into
tho manner In which the ex- Mayor Obtained
possession Of the books. Mother the Commit
tee nor the exMayor have yet announced how
this came about.
Ex- Grand Sachem Nelson J. Waterbury says
that when he was Grand Sachem In 1862, he
carefully examined all the books In the possess
sion OF THmmany Society. He took thom home
and read them. in an ondeavor TO acquire the
early history OF tho society In detail
The society Mt this time possessed but
few books and they were all records in manu-
script. They were kept in the safe. Among
them were no stock books. and no records or
minutes. except OF comparatively modern date
Mr.. Waterbury does not know what became OF
the original records but takes II for granted
they were lost and scattered during the early
history OF the organization. Not many years
ago. Mr.. Waterbury was offered the minutes Of
| the Commit ittcp Of Safety of Duchess aud West
chester Counties, patriot org9nizntion con
| Waterbury dcrmod 1t selfish net to purchase
| the volume so he notified the State Librarian
lid higher @ Than Ihan tho he New New York i stor"a % So.
| ciety. and secured the volume. These minutes
were OF great value. yet had been held of no
account Tor nearly century. and were discov-
cred in some wnsto paper. Mr. Waterbury
thinks II Is quite possible the minutes Of Tam
many Society may haye come to light In this
manner and thus ex-Mayor Hy may have OBJ
| tanned possession OF them. Mr.; Waterbury
| does not doubt that ex Mayor Ely has got Just
| what he claims to have. and it is not Mr. Water-
bury's opinion that the cxMuyor desires to
profit by the possession Of the volumes.
(fhurlpa "a Quqhnm nf
many Society. and one OF it's oldest members.
said yesterday that the Affairs Of tho society
were in bad state when the Ring regime went
| out and the Kelly management mt took charge. The
| money OF the society was taken. and many thou
| sands Of dollars In unpaid debts were charged
| TO the new managers, The insurance AMI the
| interest on the bonds were not paid. Worse
than all, in Mr.. Haswells opinion tho archives
! OF the society were not spared. Some OF the old
| records had been stolen. and those that re-
mained were the least valuable. rammany
Society does not possess much OF q library; but
| great men have figured in It's affairs, and its
minutes record their acts and bear their sigma
drew Jackson and De Witt Clinton as members
| Mr. Haswell Is IN enthusiastic antiquary. Old
| paintings and rare enRravngs adorn the walls
| OF his home. and he treasures whatever IL
priced for its age. He made II his special con-
ccrn to trace the volumes that had been taken
| from Tammany Hall. and he recovered twenty
OF them. The most important volume Of all be
| the minutes OF the earliest sessions OF the So
| ciety. He did not know what had become OF II.
/ MOI many mOntnS uHO an OH MEMBER Oi ram
many Society died. and the ten bonds OF the So
| cie,y that he had owned were put up nt auction.
They were part OF the issue OF 1925 600. with the
| proceeds OF which the society built its present
| hall In East Fourteenth street. These bonds pay
seven per centum interest. The society's hnan-
| cial condition enables II TO buy in these bonds
| and destroy them when they are offered for sale.
| In this instance. however. ex-Mayor Ely and
| two or three citizens attended the sale and ex-
| were sold for fifty cents on the dollar. although
their value is above par. Mr. Haswell Is not
| that three Of the bonds wero knocked down TO
| ex-Mayor Ely. three went TO another party. and
| tho society bought in four.
| Ex-Mayor Ely was pleased with his purchase
| and desired more OF the bonds. He wrote TO Mr..
| Arthur Leary. the treasurer Of the society, ask
| ing leave 70 purchase other bonds; Mr., ienry
| cannot sell the bonds but Mayor Ely evidently
| did not know that FOR ne wrote again Offering
as an inducement 70 the society the return
| OF two historical volumes which belonged 10
it, but which were in his possession, He
| gave their titles. One was what ia called n
| stock book. and the other was the Identical
| record 81 the minutes Of the earliest meetings.
| which Mr. Hnswcll valued above almost all the
| other ''.iv.s Of the ancient body In his let
| ter. eX-hi; yor Ely gave the title and the date
| (somewhere about 1881, so that there could be
| no mistake about the volume.
You are sltive ex Mayor Ely said he would
give up thSse g; e. books II Mr. Lear, wonld sell
| mol" replied Mr. Haswell. severely; he
did not say that; he actually wrote 1t. and put
Aiicrward Mr. Icary turned the correspond-
|
| that eX-Mnyor Ely possessed rs he had been In
| recOveringthe other missing volumes. The old
| sachem took time 10 consider the best means OF
| touching the eX-Mayors generosity.
| Mr.. Ely had been Mayor Of New York, said
| Mr.. HHswe,l. " and Is good Democrat and a
member Of rammany Society. With this knowl-
| edge Influencing my pen. | wrote him letter
| that am proud Of. told him OF the pleasure
| IL gave me To know that those volumes were sate
| In his hands and | said that he wis to hg con-
| graduated for the possession Of such an oppor-
| tunity to prrform a signal act Of Kindness 10
| Tammany Society 10y returning to II the vol
umes It valued 81 highly. yet were missed from
| among It's archives"
Well, he did not answer that letter" said Mr.
| Haswell, " so after few weeks | wrote him
| again. | took the ground that the matter might
| have slipped his mind. I've got all the corre-
| spondence-or at least u record Of it-but it's
| down at my Office Ex-Mayor Ey answered
| he would not part with the volumes"
| What then. Mr. lIaswellf' p
| What thcnf' the old gentleman repeated.
| why. then wanted to recoveHlhe books by re-
| plevn. | went to Mr.. Sche told him Of my
| cores spondence. Mr. Schell II n shrewd clear
wanted to do he cautioned me not TO, He said :
Wait n while. Wait WHILE said he. and
| we'll see what comes Of IT,"
| And what il coming 2" the reporter INQUIRED.
| why" replied Mr.. Haswe " l turned the
| matter over to the society and the society has
| acted upon the matter-it has determined TO act
will the society sue for tho books ?" the re-
1T may have to-" Mr.. Haswell replied. 1t is
| Mr. Haswell's opinion that eX-Mayor Ely pur-
| chased the books OF some one who offered them
for sale; nevertheless. he holds that the books
ara the sOciety's since they were not sold by the
| afy pr fA1 with vol nrtlV