Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-26

were foiled in their eudeavor:
THE shares in the New York Times al
| tached to the Raymond estate. representing
about one-third of the property. were yes
terday purchased by Mr.. T.. 3. Morgan oil
| Aurora, Cayuga county. Mr. Morgan was
an original stakeholder. and has been for
some time past one of the managing part
! ners OF the paper in conjunction with Mr..
George Jones, another OF the original pro
/ prietors. These two gentlemen now hold
. eIghty-two out of the 100 shares Of stock il
F. their own funds. L has been repeatedly
asserted that the Raymond shares were
! likely to fail into the hands OF the New
| York rig and 1t is in Order 10 assure our
| friends OF the groundleSSueSs Of all such
| statements that we make known the actual
| facts. The price paid in ready money for
| the shares in question was $4,000. Down
to the time of Mr.. Raymond's death the
| SHARES had never sold for less than 5000
each. Mr.. Morgan has now paid upward
| OF 200 each for thirty-fOur of them, and
| this transaction is the most conclusive
| answer which could be given to the absurd
| rumorS sometimes circulated to the effect
| that the course taken by the New York
| Times toward the Tammany leaders had
| deprecated the value OF the property. The
| public may well feel assured that the Times
| will not swerve from the policy which it
| has long pursued. but it will hereafter be
more persistent than ever in its efforts 70
| bring about those political reforms which
| the people require and expect"
The deadly and decisive assault of the
| Times upon the intTenchmeutS OF the ring
was made on July -, ISL. when it pub
| lished the first installment OF the accounts
| copied from the books OF the comptroller,
| Richard b. Connolly. These figures came
| into the possession of the Times through eE-
| Sheriff james O'Bricn. Through Mir.
| O'Brien's influence friend Of his named
| i'll the Office of the comptroller. The mag
| nitude of the city expenditures recorded in
| the books, and the fact that these enor-
! nous payments were made to 4 few per
| sons aroused his suspicious. He tran
| scribed the figures and showed the tran
| script TO O 'Brien. They We're taken by the
| latter TO the Office of daily newspaper in
| the city and offered for publication. The
contribution was declined with thanks"
| 1hereupOn Mr.. O'Briel called upon Mr..
| George Jones and handed him the tran
| scripts from the cOmptrOller'S accounts.
| Mr.. Jones consulted his editorial staff, and
1t was decided that the figures should be
published This decision was made known
TO Mr. u Brl61, who took the discriminating
accounts, retained them for a short time,
and then returned them TO Mr. Jones with
unconditional permission 10 publish. II
was natural for the Tines 10 indulge III
some preliminary "thundering in the in
deX''-fully justified il this case by the
subsequent storm of exposure From
these limitations, or from some unrevealcd
source, Tweed discovered that his guilty
secrets We're about 10 be published, and
his desperate efforts to forestall the pub
LEGATION We're as characteristic Of him as its
complete defeat was characteristic of Mr..
Jones. Tweed first sent TN GmisSary to
Mr.. Jones with an Offer TO buy the Times
at any price lie might ask. The eMissary
lNr tho -nt.l fgjl1ra #
his mission. TWeed's next move was 50
extraordinary that Mr.. Jones own ac-
count of what had happened. taken from a
report of conversations with him, and care
fully revised by himself for publication in
Harper's Weekly of Feb. -, 1890, may be
properly reproduced here:
This conversation between Tweed's
emissary and Mr.. jones' occurred in Mr.
Jones' Office in the Times building. Short
~ after lawyer, who was a tenant in the
sane building, sent for Mr.. Jones to come
TO his Office, rs he wished to see him on an
important matter. Thinking that the bust
ness pertaned 10 the building, Nr Jones
went to the lawyers Office, and, being ush-
cred into private room, was confronted by
Rich rd b. Connolly, the comptroller and
Tweed'S partner in crime.
Il don want to see this man" said Mr.
Jones, and he turned to go out of the place
For Gods sake exclaimed Connolly.
lcu Illc Say OHc worn 10 YOU. AZ TINS
appeal Mr.. Jones stopped. Connolly then
made him a proposition to forego the pub
location of the document he had in his pos
session, and offered him an enormous sum
of money 10 do this. The amount eff this
offer was S5,0J0O0O As Connolly waited
for an answer, Mr.. Jones said:
II GOn't think the devil will ever make Z
higher bid for me than that
Connolly then began to plead, and drew q
graphic picture Of what one could do with
s.. 600. He concluded by saying:
WHY. with that sum you can 90 to
Europe and live like a prince"
Yes" said Mr. Jones. but should
know that l was q rascal l cannot con-
slider your offer or any offer no. to publish
the facts in my possession"
The first instalImeut of the secret ac-
counts, printed in the most conspicuous
type on the first page OF the Times of Sat
urtay morning, July -, 1911, created the
greatest excitement IN the city and, is may
well be imagined, struck terror TO the
hearts of Tweed. Connolly, and their fel-
low-thieyeS. The accounts showed the pay
ment of the vast sum of s., 663, 645 during
the years 1869 and 1870 for repairs and fur
nituren for the new courthouse Each
warrant was signed by Comptroller Richard
B. Connolly and Mayor a. Oakley Hall. and
all were Endorsed to "IngeTsou Il Co, that
is, j II. mgersoll, the agent of the ring
dicial inquiry into the ring frauds, it was
afterward learned how the ring got the
money OF which the payment was recorded
in these accounts. The persons to whom
the accounts were uOminalY payable for
supplies and labor had been induced to add
a large percentage TO their charges, 80 or 30
per cent in many cases. This excess The
ring divided among its members according
to ratio agreed upon, Tweed getting Is
per cent. The Times followed the first in
stallment of the secret accounts with
other installments more fully reveal
ing the extent of the plundering.
1t had uumaSked the ring, and it
pursued its terrible advantage with extra
ordinary energy. In truth, its columns
furnished an abundance of exciting reading
to the people of New York in those days.
An immense number of copies of each issue
of the paper containing the figures, running
into the hundreds of thousands. was pub
lished. These proofs awakened the slumber-
ing city. The committee of seventy was
formed, the ring was attacked on all sides
the corrupt judges were thrown from the
bench, and the Times victory was magniti-
cent and complete-as complete, at least. as
is ever possible in the case of thieves who
are also millionaireS, for the loopholes of
the law were large enough to allow all the
big offenders to escape. while the city re-
covered only beggarly half million or so
of the many millions stolen. But the CITY
OF New York was purifed-temporarily.
Refused to Reduce the Bond
Special to the Gazette.
SHERMAN, TEX, Aug 25-The Hutch