New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-19

tensity with which he worked under favorable
conditions are illustrated by reference to several
instances In these volumes. 4 study Of these
examples shows that every contest which he won
In law or In politics was virtually won In his
study He certainly had a knowledge Of men,
but It was not by manipulating human feelings
or passions that he attained his victories One OF
his most famous cases ut law was won without
calling witness. This was the desputed election
OF Azariah c. Flagg, Democratic candidate for
Controller of the City Of NewYork In 1855
Tden was associated In the defence OF Flagg
with Charles OConor and William NJ. Evarts
All the witnesses were the other side. The
allegation was that an error gave Fagg votes
that were cast for his opponent, and to the latter
votes which SHOULD have been counted for the
former That Is to say, there was supposed To
have betn complete ranspostion OF votes In
certain precinct. The tally Of regular votes
was not e. he found, but the original "spliI
tallies," and the original record NJ The aggregate
vote were produced, They agreed with the les
limnny, which was all against Flag Tllhen
analysed the transfers ana summaries from the
lost laiies, and thus was enabled " reconstruct
the regular lallies which had disappeared, IN Inc
rflnoipe lhal ~ iheIe wefn twelve candidates
vets 0n n regular Ticket fof any 0ne ~ hrii
implied vote fof each ~ The others "Helslha
this Idea, he went through nli The combinations,
the results ~ which appeared partially on The
split tairs ana the transfers, ana by means ~
these combinations. elrhiy-four IN number, he
aucceodcd IN n complete reproduction ~ the
missing tncp These results conradIcted ana
completely dsprovcd the pretended trnnspoaliion
Of votes. ana gave n mathematical demonstration
that the REALTORS case was constructed upon
NIT M fhe Ilalt
Hudson Canal Company against the rennsylva-
MIA Canal Company. Tildcn. M counsel for the
Inter. illustrated stiil more clearly than In the
Flagg cnse the mInu,cncss Of the study by which
he endcavored to simplify problem by cancel
ling MI unnecessary factors. fiis guiding
principle ms a lawyer was tina, any fact
cnn be- made 20 agree with ali other facts
In the world. while every falsehood can be
made to agree only with a limited number OF
facts. The coal company was supposed to owe
the canal company percentage OF the increase
In earnings due to an enlargement Of the canal.
1t maintained that there had been no Increase.
Tilden cast all speculation and deductive argu-
ment aside. and caused to be made computaticn
Of every trip actually made for four years on
the enlarged canal. and for four years upon the
smaller canal. His process was a model Of In
duction In which every known fact Of any per-
thence was considered. The case Is Of historic
value. since 1t contributed to make Tilden an
unrivalled expert in canal fnanciering. Nor was
his method dissimilar when 1t came to the
Broadway Bank Investigations which furnished
the first judicial proof Of the frauds Of the
Tweed Ring. They occupied me-" he said, "and
some four or five clerks and assistants about
ten days. The analysis Of the results and their
application as proof were made by myself, as
well as the original discovery Of the relation Of
the numbers which the clew to all the
revelation. The information thus obtained estab-
lished the fact that but one-thrd Of the nominal
amount of the bills sanctioned by the Board OF
Audit had reached the persons who pre-
tended to be entitled to the payments. and that
two-thrds had been divided among public Of
icers and their accomplices. into whose hands
some of the dividends were actually traced. 1t
converted strong suspicion into a mathematical
certainty; and 1t furnished judicial proof against
the guilty parties The kind Of pre-
paratory work was done before the attack on the
Canal Ring. Can any cherish doubt. after
considering these examples of the way Tilden's
mind worked as to the identity Of the inventor
of the peculiar cipher which figured disas-
trousy to his reputation in the sequel to the con-
test Of 1876? He must. in his heart. have felt
rivalling his own traced that cipher to its most
hidden meanings.
illusions to Tilden's ill-heath recur endlessly
in these volumes The biographer supposes that.
II Tden had been endowed with a strong body.
he might have achieved far greater things. This
is possible but not probable. Without going back
to the exploded dictum which IL now sought to
be put in a scientific aspect that Great wits
to madness nearly are allied" the most trifling
acquaintance with history shows that phenom-
email mental powers are often associated with
strange physical idiosyncrasies. DR.. Bigelow
mentions Pope and Sir Isaac Newton. But he
could have gone on indefinitely He might have
named Gibbon. Swift. Cowper. Cavendsh. Creech
the translator OF Lucretius, Lucretius himself.
Virgil. Horace. and others OF every age and
cline In one way or another all exemplify the
fact that the adage mems sana In corpore sano Is
only true In general not In particular cases. The
craziest body may serve to carry about the
sanest intellect In the world. Since the time OF
Richard of England. and that worthy King Of
Spain, one Of the few that were worthy. who was
ncknamed THE Trembler." no man more trem-
uous than Tilden probably ever asp.red to the
rulershp of n great nation. Even his enemies
doubtless would agree that II he had had the OPP
portunity he would have proved as wise. at
least as those royalties. Possibly he would have
been less selfish than either Of them. His vale
tudinarianism affected his pleasures. but not his
intellect. He became not a bookish man. but
discerning buyer Of books. He loved horses both
for riding and driving. But the illusions to his
heedessness the road which his biographer
makes amount TO anything rather than proof
OF horsemanship. He was eager In the pursuit
OF wealth. yet he took a pessmstic view of the
vh " man 10
loved the city Of New-York. and he labored for II
in his own way. These some of his pleas
ures, and they certainly not gnoble ones.
His biographer. toward the close of these vol
umes touches the subject of woman His re-
marks are almost brief and altogether
negative as a certain famous chapter snakes
in Ireland Woman. at least as wife lover.
had no share in Tiden's life.