New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-10-02

tRY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRiBusEJ
,,n.vv Oct. lit is significant that lnVes''eu.
80 the history of the three great series VI
frauds perpetrated upon the people Oh ,nio C,tr
the days of Tweed-the new IN 49,
frands the Canal frauds, ana 'n0 H,i0 e
frauds. reveals-the fact tDa. !" 1aun u
David B. Hill had sone conheo.ior WIN g .ho
aS;.la,ure that Mr. Hill was necessary ana ser
.|SIIe ,,,st r,nept of Tweed. When that arch-
80 20. ,rsbino his corrupt schemes through the
T.o;s,o+ure of 1871 Hills vote gave lweeu n's
naooosarv majority in the Legislature, ny
,noars of which alone the lax LeVS'
xUter Meter and Street Opening acts ana otner III
;ou;tons measures were passed. In the same way
HIPS vote was given to the Enc rlng' anu
nv that means their Official hVes moio
nrolonged and the repeal OF the ClasSihca
tion act defeated Even in the Legislature VI
1872. after Tweed's monumental thelts had oeen
exnosed. Hill still adhered to his old friend and
,,o,vsnaner mariner. Even after General Dix and
b,s associates had succeeded in ousting Gould and
E,sk from the Grand Opera House. Hill still be-
frended them He stood up IN the Legislature ana
almost slngle-handed pleaded their cause by en-
daayorjng to defeat the repeal of the Classihcatoh
act This was year after his first successf III ell
fort in that direction He made speech In deience
of Gould and Fisk, which Samuel j. lllden, tneh
member of the Legislature, replied to- Dut 'ne
nipmy strength of HILL without the ala
of Tweed. was unable to save the Erie ring and the
Classification act was repealed, though lfill, Ill
company with Tim" Campbell and ). Nj. Wiley'
now a member of the Democratic State COMMITTEE
and fifteen Others voted to the last agaihS' 'no
repeal.
Not satisfied with that work, he turned
his attention to defending the ring
iudees from impeachment Cardozo
wrote n letter to Hill in which he stated that he
had res,pued from the bench. Hill wanted TO nave
this letter placed record before the resolution vi
Impeachment passed and ne rose TO question: u
privilege for that purpose, but ne was ru'eu ou.
of order He clung to Cardozo, however, anu
broupht in from the impeachment committee
minority report, which he alone signed, dissenting
from the charges against Cardozo, VINO is now
member of Tammany Hall and one OF Hllfs sup
porters The current was too strong LOT niln' now
ever ard he signed tie report in favor g, the i'm
,eachment of Barnard and McCunn, but made
feeble apology for them on the floor of the Assembly
The same course was pursued by Hill in relation
IN the Canal ring He voted in the Assembly for
the act authorizing, and IN facI uHect-
ing the Auditor to pay All clanns
which had been previously MED Dy any
of the repair contractors of the State Win the ce
tifcate of an engineer attached and appropratihg
81 700 GOO for the purpose. Governor llldens
Canal Commission denounced that as one OF the
most notable specimens of predatory legislation on
the statute books. but Mr.. Hill had personal
and pecuniary interest in these canal matters
which ante-dated his partnership with Tweed IL
the publication of newspaper by means of which
he laid the foundation of his fortune. While the
Canal ring was drawing millions from the
State ON fraudulent. unbalanced bid contracts,
other large sums were taken from the treasury on
bOgus claims for damages. In three years, looo-
7O-7l claims 10 the amount of nearly S6,UoOuoo
were filed with the canal appraisers, over three
times as much as had been filed III any
SIMILAR period before though the canals
had long been completed. The Leg
,slature of 1875 appointed JOINT
committee which investigated some of the pay
ments on these claims, and it reported that four
ffths of the money paid out would have been
saved in conrt of law. 1t surprised no one
familiar with the record Of Mr. Hill in the Legis-
latu1e that one of the first struck lard by the
investigation into the payments on those outrageous
claims was David b. Hill. 1t was shown that he
had secured n large sum on payments on Claims
for damages which the Legislative Committee de-
nounced in severe terms and held up as an iustTa-
ton of the blind hasty and corrupt legislation IN
making appropriations for repairs, claims ana
awards. The testimony taken by the Legislative
Committee OIL this Hill matter occupies some hun
dreds of pages and is conclusive The claims pre-
scented by Mr. Hill weTefr Cheiaung County, and,
peculiarly enough, they were alleged to have been
sustained lust twelve years before they were
brought TO the attention of the Legislature This
was done in 1869 when bin was pushed through
without attracting any attention authorizing and
directing the canal appraisers 10 hear and deter
mine the claims for damages OF Ovid Plumb and
Others These claims came from farmers and Others
living in and about Milport which is IN small
valley or gorge in Chemung County The
Chemung Canal runs through this valley, parallel
to Catbarine Creek and other streams. In
June, 1857, after long spell of rainy weather,
there was freshet in that valley (no
unusual thing) and Catharne and Trout
Greeks overtowed their banks running into
the canal and doing considerable damage Appar-
emily at that time the injured persons never
thought of blaming the State for this visitation OF
Providence The canal there had been built for
twentythree years and both before and after 1t was
built the creek was subject to overflow. But
il seems from the testimony of large number Of
reputable citizens who lived IN and about the
valley, that there were a number OF poorly con-
structed mldams on Catharlne Creek, ana these
gave way under the pressure OF the accum-
alated water ihS ISm fresS"t that resulted
which caused the damage. Many years afterward,
when il only seemed necessary to have peculiar
kind of influence 10 get any sort of a claim paid
by the State 1t apparently occurred to the fertile
brain of David b. Hill and his law partner, that
the Mllport freshet of june 1857; was due to the
action OF the Commonwealth in building canal.
They set about getting up these claims for cOllec-
ton on speculation. Perhaps the political partner
ship then existing between, Edward L. Patrick,
who bought the shares in Mr.. Hills newspaper
for Tweed had something to do with
the matter At any rate without special act of
The Legislature to legalze these new and at the
same time ancient claims nothing could be done.
Hill and bis partner went among the farmers
suggesting TO them that the State owed them some
thing, aud Offering 10 collect 1t without ex-
pense TO them. This was revelation 10 men
who secured every dollar they had by
hnra toil Naturally they were ready To aYnil