Rural Retreat times. [volume] (Rural Retreat, Va.) 1892-1918, 1903-06-12
TO REBUILD PORTSMOUTH SHOPS

TWENTY-FIVE years ago there died II
Ludlow street Jail, in the city of New
| York, the most famous bosses" in the
-Ewhole history of American municipal
politics. His name was William Marcy
| Tweed. but he was more famll1arly
and widely known as Bill Tweed.
The rise and fall of Bill Tweed Is
lone of the most dramatic chapters IN
fine history of American mlnlclpal
Ino1itics. The son of a CLEARWATER III
| New York city, he fell naturally INTO
nolitics A stepping-stone to polltlcal
mower at that time was the Volunteer
Fire Association. and, Tweed was one
| of those who ran with the machlne.
He was the organizer and the foreman
of the Big Six or Americas fire engine
company. and was the most popular
man in his neighborhood. =,
He had real capacity, unfailing good
humor, generosity, and a seeming SIN
certify that attracted to him great
many people From the management
of the fire engine company, he became
the leader of a ward, and at twenty
nine years of age was an alderman.
After the expiration of his term he was
elected to congress. He now became
was chairman of the board
in 1885, and from thatsyear, although
his influence was often temporarily
overthrown, he was the only real
boss in sight until his downfall.
Until the year 1870, when Tweed was
forty-seven years old, he had been
school commissioner deputy street COM
and state senator, but it was
in that year. with his appointment to
the Office of deputy commissioner of
public works, that his brief career of
unprecedented public plumber really
began and ended. He~ formed while
deputy commissioner of public works
in 1870 the celebrated ring" of which
he was chief, although there were a
of organizers associated with
him.
The appropriation of vast sums of
was exposed toward the close
of the following year, and when Chas.
O'Conor brought civil suit in behalf
of the city Tweed was arrested. He
bail in $1,000,000, and the
echoes of the great sensation were still
when in less than a month
he was elected tovthe state senate. He
did not take his seat, and in the fol-
lowing December was arrested on a
criminal charge, but released on bail.
EARLY in 1873 the jury disagreed in
the first of the civil suits, but the fol-
lowing November he was found guilty
of fraud, and sentenced on twelve
counts to twelve years Imprisonment,
and to pay fine of $12,550. But in
June, 1875, the court of appeals de
clared his Imprisonment illegal on a
cumulative sentence, and he was re-
leased Mean while he had been sued
for the recovery of $4,000, 900, and in
default of $3,C G 900 bail, was sent to
LUDLOW street ja.,l.
The fight between this powerful man
aud the great municipality of New York
had thus been fought almost to a fin
ish, with the advantage resting with
the city. But suddenly Tweed escaped
from Jail, and reaching Cuba sailed to
Spain. But the power that had pur-
sued him thus far, the power of the
public press, was not to be vanquished,
and it is said that one Thomas Nast's
caricatures of Tweed was seen by a
Spanish official. Tweed was arrested
and brought back to New York, and
died in Ludlow-street jail.
At the height of his power Tweed
had the Endorsement of many of the
prominent merchants and bankers OF
| the city, of whose somnolent public
interest he was easily able to take ad-
vantage. Globe.