Year: 1871

ys
before whom the complaint preferred againsA
Mayor Hall was recently investigated, have
published all the evidence taken In reference
to the charge. This unusual course was, No
doubt, decided upon in view Of the indis-
criminate assaults Of the partisan press upon
all who refused to lend themselves to . blind
political prosecution Of the reform movement
without regard to truth or Justice. The
Grand Jury foresaw that they would b
denounced as parcel Of packed periurers n
they dismissed the charge against Mayor
Hall, and so they determined to lay before
the people . full report Of the testim ony e6
the several Witnesses who appeared in the
jury room. in order that it might be seen
upon what firnsy pretext they were asked
to bring in bill against the Chief Magistrate
of the city.


While the jury believed that Mayor Hail
was to blame for carelessness and negligence
in aifixing his signature to warrants without
examining and criticising the vouchers upon
which they were based-a task which Mayor
Hall has shown would hsye occupied all his
time, and which ho deemed unnecessary, since
he did not then doubt the honesty of the Comp
troller-they found not particle Of evidence
to criminally implicate him in the city frauds
and the result they reached was s'nearly
unanimous. The testimony fully justiaes their
finding. Deputy Comptroller Green swors
that he did not know Of any act Of
Mayor Halls in support of the ACCUSE
tion. A. S. Cady, clerk in the Comp
troller's office for nineteen years, testified
that warrants are always signed first by the
Comptroller, after examination and approval
by tho Auditor, and afterwards by the Mayor.
and that vouchers have not always been sent
with warrants to the Mayors Office. Henry
F. Spaulding, the chairman Of one Of the
Seventy's sub-committees, swore that he made
the complaint against Mayor Hall on ''infor-
nation and belief" only, and that he had no
knowledge that the Mayor had been guilty Of
misdemeanor or had connived at fraud. Cop
land, dismissed clerk in the ComptroNers
Office, who made the affidavit upon which the
complaint was based, did all he could to sup.
port bis case, but could say nothing Of his
own knowledge, and only judged that Mayor
Hall must have known of the frauds by placing
himself In the Mayors position and imagining
that he should have been sharp enough to find
out that something was wrong, But as Cop
land also swore that he had been installed In
clerkship in the Comptroller's Office by James
O'Brien; that he had employed himself for
eighteen months In making copies of fraudulent
and exorbitant warrants; that he kept the
information he had acquired to himself unit!
he was dismissed from his position and
then communicated it to James OBrien.
the Grand Jury evidently thought that Cop
land was too sharp customer to accept ~
the criterion of Mayors shrewduess. Ex..
Mayor Havemeyer appeared as witness, but
he knew no facts that would throw light upon
the case, and could only testify as to the man.
ner in which he used to conduct the business
of the Mayors Office twenty-six years ago,
when the whole expenses Of the city govern.
ment were about two million dollars. Richard
A. Storrs, formerly Deputy Comptroller,
gave evidence similar to that given hy
Mr.. Cady. Commodore Stebbins, the chair
man of the Committee of Seventy, testified
that the complaint against Mayor Hall was
never submitted to that body for approval
and he knew nothing that could substantlats
the charges. Jackson S. Schultz gave similar
testimony. Samuel J. Tilden knew nothing
of the charges, and had no evidence that Mr..
Hall ever received any of the money received
on the fraudulent warrants. Judge Ledwith
could state no fact to substantiate tho
charge. Ditto with James O'Brien. George
Jones had called Mayor Hall . thief
in his paper, but that was On impersonallty,
and George Jones, as an individual knew NO
facts that would prove the charge. Augustus
L. Brown. Of the firm Of Brown, Vanderposl
& Hall, disposed of the false reports in regard
to Mayor Halls wealth by proving that he
was worth about sixty thousand dollars only.
and that his bank balance had never averaged
more than four or Eve thousand dollars. Will
liam A. Booth and others gave evidence SINH
lar to the above, and the jury naturally came
to . nearly unanimous conclusion to dismiss
the complaint.


We need add no comments to the above. n
tells the whole story, and shows the inde-
corous character Of the assaults that have
been made upon Mayor Hall. That the Mayor
has been careless In the discharge Of his
official duties no person viii deny. That hs
has been corrupt and sharer in plunder no
honest man can now pretend to believe.


JUDGE BEDFoRDs CHARGE to the Grand





The people are waiting to sec whether he viii
faithfully perform his duty and bring to pun
ishmcnt the plunderers of the people.


The Popularity Of Italian Opera.


The success Of the Nilsson season of opera
at the Academy of Music which reached Q