Year: 1875

u must nave been very touching scene in
the Tweed mansion the other day, when the
news was communicated to the family in such
an abrupt and unseemly manner that the en-
inent statesman had oozed away. "Whatl
doneY' they all said, with uplifted hands and
staring eyes, hands that went up and eyes
that bulged with such perfect simultaneous
ness and uniformity that it seemed as though
the movement could only have been perfected
by practice. Then one of the sons, with a sud-
den realization of the terrible blow to the repu-
tation OF the family, uttered the exclamation,
I'VE are ruined" Another member of the
family in dramatic attitude before mirror
belonging to the city of New York-gasped,
"RuinedP' A son-ln-law of the statesman
who had oozed caught the refrain, and ago.
nizing away into the embrace of a luxurious
arm chalr-belonging TO the city of New York
--moaned, 'Ruined." All over the mansion
the princely MISUNDERSTANDING to the city of
New fork-there were noises of sobbing and
wailings of distress, and everybody said, with
a unanimity that could not have been sur
passed even if the old man himself had made
out the returns, 'RuinedP' Then the Sheriffs
officers began to take on in the same way and
say they were ruined; and the hack-driver
round the corner doubtless Joined in the gen.
eral chorus with the remark that he was
iuiuouJ anu OneTlH conner, Wnen ne noar0 tn6
news, Immediately dropped his face into his
hands and said audibly that he was ruined.
For little thing like that, we have never
known such large and pervading consequences
in the way of ruin. Well might the sheriff and
his deputies meet each other with the melan-
choly remark, What RUNS we are and what
ruins we pursue


And it is all very sad. The saddest little
drama that has been enacted this many day.
What careful rehearsal it must have had. How
sincere and profound must have been the grief
Of the Tweed family when they learned that
"the old man" was "not UP stairs" but had
gone off somewhere. No wonder they all ex-
claimed, "Ruinedp' when the painful intelli-
gence dawned upon them that the old man
was notsgoing back to Jail with his keepers.
Nor is it any wonder that the son-in-law, SYM
pathizing keenly with the sorrows of the fami-
ly to which he was allied by marriage, clasped
has hands also in anguish, and turning the
whites of bis eyes TO the frescoed
ceiling~belonging to the City of New
York-eXclaimed in the chorus, "Ruinedp'
Since William Nye made his great discovery
Of the ruin effected by "Chinese cheap labor"
there has been no such devastation of hearts
and hopes, no such unanimous despair. But
isn't it queer after all that the whole family
should break out so suddenly and upon such
an occasion and feel so dreadfully ruined"
because "the old man" had escaped from jail?
We do not mean to be inquisitive in the matter,
and yet this remarkable demonstration of
grief does make us curious to know something
little more definite about the precise nature
of the ruin which the Boss has so suddenly
brought upon his friends. That they should
all discover it so suddenly and tear their hair
over it with such a harmonious movement
seems, to say the least, coincidence. Was
this ruin of character, or OF reputation, or of
financial prospects, or what?