The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-11-19
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
From. our Regular Correspondents ]

New YORK, Nov. IA, 1885.
Judge Cardoza is dead; he is the last
of the Ring Judges whose memories are
execrated by most of the citizens of New
York. Twelve years have passed since
the close Of the ring rule; one by one
the members of the gang have passed
away, the death of Judge Cardoza closes
the account of the ring judges. tits not
often in the history of the world, that u
great and opulant city has been legally
captured by horde of bandits-I say
legally, for all of these men came into
there positions under the forms of law.
New York had justly felt proud of her
Supreme Court; on that bench had sat
Jay and Clinton and Livingston, and o
host of others. whose names were the
symbol of all that was pure, or holy in
justice. In her hours of stormiest trial,
her Supreme Court had been her ark of
the covenant, and on its ermine lay no
blot or. stain. Before its unquestioned
decisions, faction stood appalled, and dumb
-and to the honor of its upright judges,
be it recorded, their honesty was never
questioned either by friend or foe. This
was the condition of affairs when Will
liam NJ. Tweed got possession of she
political organization known as Tammany
Hall, It had been in existence since
1890, and had always exercised para.
mount power in the politics Of New
York. For years previous to the time 1
speak of, it had been sustained by the
volunteer fire department, which was
thoroughly organized in every portion Of
the city; and enrolled among its mem.
bers thousands of the most desperate and
unscrupulous men in New York. Prize
fighters, gamblers and thieves, held rich
and responsible Offices. The membership
to Tammany was jealously guarded, and
was only accorded after long and tried
service in the party. When William NJ.
Tweed got control of this tremendous
engine, whose edicts were law as irrevo.
cable as the laws of the Medes and the
Persians-the Supreme Court stood
between him aud his prey, and he imme-
diately set himself to work to re. organize
the Supreme Court, and thus by the
forms of law control the two thousand
millions of property, which represented
the city's wealth. Three men werc
quickly found among the lawyers Of New
York-these were George l.. Barnard,
Albert Cardoza and Judge McCunn. At
the behest of whoever desired them
writs of mandamus and injunction few
like hail, and those sacred writs which
were supposed to be the citizens protec-
ton and shield-were invoked to his
disaster and ruin. At the instance of
the notorious Jim Fisk, the safes of the
Union Pacific Railroad we're broken
open with sledge hammers by pack of
rufians and thieves, and rifed of their
contents in open day. The officers of
the company fed affrighted to New
Jersey to avoid the corrupt process of the
Court-aad q few days after removed the
Offices Of the company to Boston, where
they remain to this day. >
Ed. Stokes robbed Fisk of his mistress,
and Fisk invoked the aid of the Court to
ruin Stokes, and aided by the Court they
seized on Slokes' Oilworks at Grcenpoint
and ruined him. Stokes, knowing the
impossibility of getting justice in the
courts against Fisk, took the law in his
own hands and killed him. At last the
robberies and outrages became 80 alarm
ing and oppressive that no man outside
The ring felt his life and property were
safe. a citizens meeting was called at
the Cooper Institute, and selfpreserva.
ton brought together the wealthiest men
in the city. Millions of money had been
stolen, and the robbery was still going
on at the rate of millions week. In q
single morning Oakley Hall, the mayor,
signed bills to the amount of three
millions and FIVE hundred Thousand
dollars. At last, halt was callcd-and
the Supreme Judges were indicted just
before the indictment, Cardoza, who saw
the coming storm, resigned, and so
escaped impeachment, but Barnard and
McCunn we're hurled from their imperial
height, and fell like Luciler never to rise
again. Barnard, who was man of fine,
generous instincts, and who lad married
the daughter of the millionaire tobacco.
mist, John Anderson, died of q broken
heart. McCunn, as soon IS he realized
the terrible position in which he had
placed himself, sat deliberately down aud
drank himself to death. Cardoza was a
Jew, and was related to the rich Nathan,
WHO was murdered on 2Srd Street. Sus'
picion fell on Nathan's eldest son, but by
Cardoza's influence he escaped indict
.nanf Ernn, tho hnnr 1,E \ ~ fall Indnn