Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-10
HOW TWEED WAS DowNED.
A Committee of Seventy Good Citizens
Smashed Tanamany I'm 1871.

ho" TWEED WAS DOWNED.
Committee Of Seventy Good Citizens
Smashed Tammany I'm 1871.
From the New York World.
When, a few nights ago, the citizens
OF New York who have entered politics
Tor the public good met in Madison
square Garden had resolved to appoint
a committee Of seventy to overthrow, IL
possible. the sway of Tammany, the minds
OF men familiar with affairs dwelt on the
creation OF a similar committee on Septem-
Der 4, 1871. that was appointed to fight the
same organization
The result Of the work of that commit
tee of 1871 was an uprising of the people
that buried Tammany Hall beneath such a
load of shame that Ii took years to re-
cover.
Boss William Marcy Tweed went down
branded as a public thief He fed and
was secreted for a time in the wretched
howell of a fisherman on Staten Island
Then Tweed escaped to Spain, but was
brought back, and died a prisoner
A. Oakley Hall,the mayor. scurried abroad
where he remained an exile for many
years.
Controller Connolly known as SLIPPERY
Dick. died Hiserably in Spain.
City Chamberlain Peter b. Sweeny also
L
for years came timidly back
The old committee of seventy purified the
atmosphere and set up i'm place of a thiev-
ish and corrupt ring pure and able ad-
ministration.
Among the business men who upset Tam
many in II were William F. Hayemeyer
jackson S. Schultz. ID. Willis James, Henry
Clews, James NJ, Halstead, ]. B. Varnum.
Robert Hoe, Bliss. Joseph Blumenthal,
Gen. John A. Dix. William NJ Evarts Rob
ert l.. Kennedy. Samuel ID. IIabcock. Ed
wards Pierrepont. Joseph II. Choate. John
Foley. Adrian 1selIn, Royal Phelps. William
II. Wickham, Francis c. Parlow, Thomas
w. Pearsal. William NJ. Fle:ss, Theodore
Steinway. Joseph Seligman and Robert b.
Roosevelt
The nest OF corruption .hese gentlemen
uncovered was of much greater magnitude
than they though: IL would be. Tweed
was the absolute ruler of the city. Every
public official was his abJect slave. and
what he ordered had t. be done or an Off
cial head would drop in the basket. Here
Is sample of how Tweed and his gang
plundered the people:
The Present county court house was
nearly complete In IL and in the summer
Of that year IL was decided to carpet the
floors. The carpets were laid. and a bill
for them, amour ting to 1854, u.s. &C. was pre-
scented and promptly paid. After the ex-
posure an expert examined the carpets and
declared that their full market value was
S13. 100. 1t was easy enough to get a bill
through of S.;.0,0O0 for Si3.iO0 worth of
property or million-dollar bill through for
nothing at all if Tweed desired. He would
get some minicn to injorse the bill, direct
the controller and the mayor to 20. X" It,.
and order the chamberlain to pay IL. IL
one of these suboriinates refused to obey
him his official life would soon cease.
surprising that the small fry began TO
follow his example. and pretty soon a
wholesale system OF plundering was in
augurated
SO reckless did Tweed and his fellow
plunderers become after they had sue
cessfully stolen millions from the city dur
ing the erection of what is to this day
known as the Tweed court house" that
they began to openly revel in luxuries pur-
chased at the expense Of the taxpayers.
Ring Contractors ln.yersoll a Co. received
In two years S.644.iiG for furniture" for
the new court house. {. ID. Dollar & Co.
also got for furniture S91G.124.S.
Andrew j. Garvey, factotum of Tweed,
received for ''plastering" the court house
and for repairing it before II was fin
ished s.. 500.
For additional plumbing" and for 're-
pairing" the court house before 1T was
finished Keyser & Co. got LIB. SIT.
On similar pretexts George 5. Miller got
Sl,3S1. 441-96 and a. G. Miller got $574.c41 2l
]. Mcbride davidson was paid s4Oi 24s q
for furnishing safes" to the court house.
A bill containing the bogus name of j. A
Smith for SI46942.51 for carpets curtains
and shades for the court house and public
J. OBrIen got $500 for supplying the
court house with Thermometers"
For articles" for the court house c.
Lockwood got $12 S7230
The water meters for the building cost
the city $3.000.O0, and Stationery" for
two years cost 81. S61, J0654
Tweed spent about l per cent of his enor-
nous stealings in buying coal for the poor
when the weather was cold. This act of
designing charity won for him friends that
are loyal to his memory to this day.
When the citizens committee was born
Tweed scoffed and kept asking his famous
question: What arc You going to do about
it?"
The sccffers have been rampant in this
city lately. When the crash comes the
sources of a good many big fortunes may
be traced, and then IL may be found that
Ii Is of a far dirticr character than the
source of the wealth of Tweed