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 NO. 23899 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 E415.9.T5 B92 
 
 Samuel J. Tilden unmasked! 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 032 770 640 
 
a Cornell University 
 9 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032770640 
 
rr:v\Tiiiiiif,'^*™i 
 
 Lccocq, Photographer. 
 
 SERGT BUCKMAN, M.P.. 1869. 
 
SAMUEL J. TILDEN 
 
 XJNl^dl^SKED! 
 
 BY 
 
 LATE SERGEANT IN THE 
 
 METROPOLITAN POLICE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOE, 
 
 1876. 
 
Entered according to an Act of CoHeresB, in the year 1876, by 
 
 BENJAMIN E. mJCKMAN, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. O. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PACES 
 
 INTRODUCTION, .. .. .. .. .. .. i to v 
 
 CH AFTER I. 
 Earliest Kecoeds or S. J. Tildex, .. .. .. .. 1"2 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Dishonorable Road to Wealth and Power, .. .. .. ..3 " 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Associated IN THE " Oakes Ames," " Tom Scott," AND OTHER Rings, .. 17 "23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 A North-western Pioneer. — North-western Pioneering, .. .. 24 " 33 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Tilden's Perfidious Attorneyship, .. .. .. .. .. .. 34 " 36 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Pursuing his Victim, .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 39 " 41 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Ring Speculations, 42 " 44 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A Dangerous Demagogue, .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 45 " 48 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Railroad Combikatioss, -. •• •• •• -• •• ■• -tO " 52 
 
 CHAPTER X . 
 
 Inveigling a President, . . . . . . • • • • • • • • • • 53 
 
IV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGES 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 TiLDEN IX Partnership with Tweed, . . . . . . . . - • .. 54 to 58 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Prince of Dissemblers, .. .. ■• .. .. •• .. 59 " flO 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 BissoLUTiox OF Firm of Tilden, Tweed & Co., 61 " 63 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 TiLDEN Wiser than Solomon, .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 64 " 65 
 
 ' CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Opinion of the New York Legislature, .. .. .. .. .. 66 " 67 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 A Bogus Reform Member op Same, .. .. .. .. .. .. 68 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Opposing Constitutional Reform, .. .. .. .. .. .. gg " 7q 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 TiLDEN AS A Self-Electioneering Manager,.. .. .. .. .. 71 " 74 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Unprincipled Governor, with Seven Examples, .. .. ' .. 75 " 97 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 TiLDEN versus Court of Appeals, .. .. .. .. .. .. 98"104 
 
 SUMMARY 105 "109 
 
 APPENDIX lU"12n 
 
 ADDENDA 121 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 TO THE EEADEE. 
 
 The facts set forth in these pages were as great a surprise 
 to the writer as they can be to the reader ! The circum- 
 stances which have led me to publish them will be briefly 
 stated as my justification before the public for endeavoring 
 to unmask a " reform Governor " ! 
 
 I am a native of Greene County, in this State, where I 
 was born in 1816. In 1849 I came to this city to prosecute 
 my trade as a house-builder. 
 
 "When the Metropolitan Police was organized I was one 
 of the first to join it. 
 
 I rose to the rank of Sergeant, and was on active duty 
 until 1870, when I was honorably retired. 
 
 During those years 1 reared a family in the city of I^ew 
 York, and accumulated, by slow degrees, a few hundred 
 dollars against a rainy day. 
 
 After a time, or about the year 1867, 1 saw an enterprise 
 started, which was of great prospective utility, and which, 
 I became satisfied, would, if honestly managed, pay ex- 
 tremely well as an investment, and so put my savings into it. 
 
 During the first three years I could have sold out at a 
 premium; I not only declined, but induced my most inti- 
 
vi INTBODTJCTIOK. 
 
 mate friends to join me in it, until we jointly had paid for 
 one-twentieth of the whole original investment, or some 
 $10,000 in all. 
 
 Three years afterwards some "Wall-street operators came 
 into the enterprise under the most specious promises, and we 
 accorded to them the management of its corporate affairs, 
 as a majority of its Board of Directors. 
 
 They abused their trust most shamefully, so that, in one 
 short year, they had bankrupted the concern in its credit, 
 but for a purpose, as afterward appeared. 
 
 In process of time they procured the property to be sold 
 under certain legal processes, whc#n, behold ! it was bought 
 in by a new corporation, formed hy themselves, and of which 
 they were also not only a majority of the directors, but a 
 majority of the stockholders as well ! 
 
 My friends and myself now found that our stock, being 
 controlled by the conspirators, could not be defended at law, 
 while they ttu-ned over the property we had paid for, to 
 themselves, in the guise of a new corporation 1 
 
 "We found that our stock then had no value, but that our 
 directors had issued to themselves new stock to represent 
 the old stock we had paid for, and announced that the new 
 was very valuable, as is evidently the fact. 
 
 About this time I was discharged from a position I had 
 held in the concern, because I was not willing to evade or 
 violate an oath administered to me in Court, under which I 
 was compelled by truth and conscience to testify in a man- 
 ner which did not please the " depredators," but who, about 
 the same time, largely rewarded another employe to commit 
 
INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 plain and wilful perjury, in a manner which they esteemed 
 would pecuniarily benefit them. 
 
 I have thus been subjected to a double calamity, hav- 
 ing been without ordinary employment for nearly a year, 
 besides being defrauded out of my hard-earned savings. 
 
 It occurred to me subsequently that I would occupy a 
 part of my idle time in preparing some account of rapid 
 transit schemes in 'New York city, in general, and of the 
 frauds I had witnessed in that line, in particular. 
 
 While preparing my notes on that subject, which may 
 be published hereafter, I made the astounding discov- 
 ery that the present Governor of the State of New 
 York was a confederate and adviser of the thieves who 
 stole my property ! Not only so, but I found apparent 
 proof that he had officially perjured himself in order to 
 forward their nefarious scheme. [See Chapter 19, Ex- 
 ample YH.] Upon unearthing this unlooked-for fact, 
 with my instincts as a police-officer, I began to investi- 
 gate farther into the history and antecedents of Samuel 
 J. Tilden. 
 
 To my sui^prise, I found that I was in almost daily 
 intercourse with other persons who had known him 
 intimately for a score of years, or more, and who did 
 not hesitate to pronounce him a most unscrupulous knave, 
 despite his reputation and riches. Through them I ob- 
 tained access to newspaper slips, and to other documents 
 relating to him, which I examined until convinced that 
 they were right in their estimate of Tilden's true char- 
 acter. 
 
viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 My intercourse with many other citizens who fully 
 believed him to be a "reformer," led me to see how 
 badly the good people of the State of I^ew York are 
 being "sold" in his case. 
 
 The question arose, whether I could do a more praise- 
 worthy act than to give the facts regarding this "reform 
 Governor," trading Politician, and Eailroad Lawyer. I 
 concluded that I could not. The same conscience which 
 would not permit me to take a false oath to save a 
 situation on which I was dependent for my daily bread, 
 will not permit me to stand by and see others unwit- 
 tingly bestow honor and high official trusts upon a per- 
 son lacking in common honesty ! 
 
 Some of my friends, in view of his position, wealth 
 and power, think that I expose myself to great danger 
 of further " persecution, for conscience' sake," in making 
 an exposure of this " Oovernor's " bad record. 
 
 Others encourage me to go on, with the argument that 
 the American people are sound to the core, in respect 
 to official corruption, and only want reliable facts to 
 make an end of it wherever found; and that, with them 
 to sustain me, " I need not fear what " one bad " man 
 can do unto me." 
 
 After due consideration, I concluded that "truth is 
 mighty and must prevail " ; and the fact of my having 
 the materials for this exposure unexpectedly brought to 
 my hand, in the shape of " Parton's Eing Manual," " Wads- 
 worth's Affidavits," and other data not easily found else- 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 where, decided the question in favor of using them for 
 the public good. To this end I secured editorial aid to 
 arrange the facts in presentable form in the following 
 chapters. 
 
 As a police-officer is taught to arrest and bring to 
 justice those who are plundering, deceiving, or endan- 
 gering the welfare, of law-abiding citizens, so, when I 
 came to understand the extent of the fraiid now being 
 practised upon the citizens of this State hy the present 
 occupant of the Executive Chair, I deemed it my duty, 
 as a New Torlcer hy hirthright, to give the facts without 
 fear or favor, and without delay. 
 
 Be the result what it may, I have done my duty, my 
 whole duty, and nothing but my duty, in the premises. 
 
 BEKJ. E. BUCKMAK. 
 
 No. 277 Madison Stkeet, 
 New York, Jammry, 1876, 
 
SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED! 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARUEST BEC0KD9 OF S. J. TILDEK. 
 
 AxEXANDBR HAMILTON, One of the great founders of this republic, in a 
 public communication, -written near the beginning of this century, on the 
 plan to be adopted for the election of President, gave it as his opinion 
 that " The office of Pkesident -wili, seldom fall to the lot of ant 
 
 MAN WHO IS NOT IN AN EMINENT DEGREE ENDOWED WITH THE REQUISITE 
 QUALIFICATIONS. TaLENTS FOB LOW INTRIGUE AND THE LITTLE ARTS OF 
 POPULARITY MAT ALONE SUFFICE TO ELEVATE A MAN TO THE FIRST HONORS 
 OP A SINGLE STATE, BUT IT WILL REQUIRE OTHER TALENTS AND A DIFFERENT 
 KIND OF MERIT TO ESTABLISH HTM IN THE ESTEEM AND CONFIDENCE OP THE 
 WHOLE UNION." 
 
 The truth of the great statesman's surmise as to the possibility of 
 being elected Governor "by talents for low intrigue and little arts of 
 popularity" is already verified by the success of the present incumbent 
 of the Governorship of the State of New York. To these, and these 
 alone, does Samuel J. Tilden owe his present prominence in the State, and 
 his hopes of becoming President of the Nation before his true character is 
 known by the people at large. 
 
 His belief is that the one thing needful for success in politics is — 
 MONET : that the man who carries the party bag is entitled to the highest 
 honors I His wealth, according to the newspapers, amounts to six 
 millions of dollars, which places him at the head of rich politicians in 
 this country, where the great bulk of that craft are decidedly " impecu- 
 nious ! " He is also without family incumbrances, being the first bachelor 
 Governor in the annals of the State, The questions naturally arise : 
 1st, How did he get his wealth? and, 2d, How does he use it? These 
 questions we propose to answer in order, and to this end some peculiar 
 but reliable information on the subject has fortunately come to hand. Mr. 
 Tilden, it is well known, did not inherit a fortune. 
 
2 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKEd! 
 
 He claims to have been bom in 1814, bnt is suspected of having his 
 dates somewhat "mixed"! In his political speeches and documents he 
 has pointed to his having been a valiant supporter of General Jackson m 
 1833 — that is to say, several j^ears before he was a voter! This would 
 be rather " vealy support!" It might be made an algebraic problem 
 how much such "support" it would take to elect the hero of New 
 Orleans to the Presidential chair! Ungrateful General Jackson, in all 
 his published letters, never, so much as once, alluded to said " support" ! 
 
 Young Tildeh entered Yale College, but did not graduate there. 
 He claims, however, to have subsequently completed his collegiate course 
 at the "University of New York." This sounds well. S. J. T. was 
 always a believer in sound instead of in substance ! In the course of events 
 he settled in the metropolis, and hung out his sign as "attorney and 
 counsellor at law." Up to 1846 his business was evidently light, as he 
 evinced a willingness to spend his valuable time in representing a, 
 lower ward constituency of New York City, in the Assembly, at $3 
 per day and mileage, and in the Constitutional Convention at the same 
 rate. In 1855 he was willing to serve the State as Attorney-General, 
 at. a yearly salary of $2,000, but, surprising to relate, the doughty 
 "supporter" of General Jackson only received 101,369 out of 430,758 
 votes cast by the^men of that day and generation. " Counting in" 
 circulars and picture-paper political tactics were not then perfected as in 
 after years! Thus it is clear that, twenty years ago, S. J. Tilden could 
 boast of neither fortune nor fame, while his political career had proved 
 but a conspicuous failure. 
 
DISHONORABLE EGAD TO WEALTH AND POWER. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DISHOKOEABLE EGAD TO WEAITH AKD POWER. 
 
 In 1857 the general crash in railroad enterprises occurred, when good, 
 bad and indifferent concerns in that line fared alike. The same shares that 
 in Consolidated New York Central and Hudson Eiver Railroad Co. will 
 now sell for 8300 could then have been bought for $20. Others were in like 
 proportion. M. S. & N. I. R. R., from $140, went down to $6, but has 
 nearly returned to the former figure, if " "Waterings " be added. In the gen- 
 eral clearing away of railroad debris, and in reconstruction, there was a 
 great opportunity for sharp, shrewd and unscrupulous lawyers. Tilden, 
 then in mature j-ears, saw his chance, and improved it, pre-eminently, so 
 that he came to be known as the railroad lawyer of Wall street. 
 
 Tilden's first marked success was by his acting as attorney for, and 
 subsequently as partner with, a Chicago speculator named Wm. B. Ogden, 
 the first maj-or of that expansive city. 
 
 As long ago as in 1852, or thereabouts, a railroad called "The Rock- 
 River- Valley Union Railroad " was started, to lead from Chicago into Wis- 
 consin. Its first financiers were said to have obtained a charter, issued 
 bonds, and then exchanged the bonds in England for railroad iron, which 
 they shipped to Chicago, and sold the rails to raise money to reimburse 
 themselves for the expenses of the charter, and to provide means for 
 grading the track ! This style of financiering was completed when the 
 property was sold under foreclosure, and a "reorganized" set of "pro- 
 moters " went in to travel the same path with their disguise of different 
 names. Under the new regime, with the corporate title of " The Chicago, 
 Fond-du-Lac and St. Paul Railroad," Mr. Ogden became president, and its 
 cars were run over some sixty miles or more of its track, when a second 
 collapse followed. Funds were mostly raised in those daj's by loans from 
 Eastern State banks on the railroad company's notes, endorsed by the 
 directors individually. When the company failed, in 1857, the President 
 (Ogden) was endorser of its notes for nearlj' two millions of dollars, and, 
 if pressed for payment, was, in fact, utterly insolvent, although the holder 
 of large amounts of Chicago real estate. In this emergenc}' he put himself 
 into the hands of Tilden, as his attorney, and in the course of thi-ee or four 
 
4 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKEd! 
 
 years came out of his embarrassments richer than he was before. The 
 modus operandi was about as follows : To secure himself as endorser, he 
 took the raihoad companj^'s bonds as collateral, at, say, fifty per cent, of 
 their par value. The corporation failing, he became possessed of them by 
 assuming the secured debt. Then Tilden adroitly raised questions of usury 
 in the previous payments of interest to the owners of the notes, and 
 suggested as a compromise exchanging for Ogden's real estate, in Chicago, at 
 a high rate of valuation, or bonds and stock of the road at par, and which 
 were afterwards assessed to furnish more capital for the railroad itself 
 Meantime, all other unsecured ci-editors {and the credit of the company had 
 been designedly run to the last extreme before the failure, in order to get 
 creditor^ property into its assets as far as possible) were offered " common" 
 stock for sixty per cent, of their claims, said stock then being worth a 
 market price of about fifteen per cent, of its par value. The "reorgan- 
 ization" was effected under the new name of the " Chicago & North- 
 western Eailway Co.," Mr. Ogden continuing as President, and Tildeb 
 being made Trustee for the bondholders. The new additional millions in 
 stock and bonds were apparently not much noticed by the outside public, 
 so that Tilden and Ogden made what would be termed a " very neat 
 operation " out of it. Some of the directors who endorsed the corporation 
 notes with the President, and did not have his lawyer for counsel, were per- 
 manently ruined, one at least of whom died of anxiety, caused by those 
 complicated embarrassments. 
 
 The most serious drawback afterward realized, was that the newly-named 
 railroad did not actually earn the interest of its new issue of bonds, to say 
 nothing of dividends on its stock. 
 
 The original Chicago and North Western Line was, in 1864, 249 
 miles long, with stock and bonds afloat for nearly eleven millions, or 
 $42,000 per mile. By funding coupons, etc., it managed to do business; 
 I but in 1862 failed to earn the. interest on its debt by a deficit of over 
 $150,000. 1863 was not much better, and fresh bankruptcy nearly inevi- 
 table. Here again the crafty genius of Tilden was equal to the emergency, 
 as in this crisis he secretly set about adroitly stealing the " Galena" Rail- 
 road. The ' ' Galena & Chicago " Railroad was then running from Chicago 
 to the Mississippi river. It was the first railroad in the West (having 
 been chartered in 1836). That company had never watered its stock, 
 and seldom, if ever, had it failed to declare an annual dividend of from 
 six to ten per cent. In 1864 it had some 300 miles of road in perfect 
 order, on which was based a mortgage-debt of but $10,000 per mile, and a 
 stock issue of but $20,000 per mile. Its net earnings for 1863 were over 
 $1,000,000, and it had about that sum in cash in its treasury as working 
 
DISHONOEABLE ROAD TO WEALTH AND POWER. 5 
 
 capital. Its stock, largely owned by those living along its line, was held 
 as a favorite investment for trust funds involving the estates of widows and 
 orphans, being considered as safe as the Bank of England. Tilden, covet- 
 ing the property, seta "consolidation" trap for it. He borrowed money 
 to buy the stock; he borrowed the stock itself; he bought proxies and 
 borrowed proxies. Stealthily and steadily he pursued his course until a 
 majority of the stock or stock proxies was obtained, and his game thereby 
 made sure. He then looked about for more raw material to work into the 
 grand fabric of " consolidation," which his covetous and unscrupulous 
 mind had conceived. He bought up one bankrupt line of railroad known 
 as the "Kenosha & Rockford," 73 miles in length, which never had, and 
 never has, earned its running expenses. The cost to Tilden was about 
 $300,000. It was "consolidated" at $1,400,000! The Peninsula Rail- 
 road in Michigan was also controlled by Tilden ; he had its stocJc issued to 
 himself and partners as a bonus of $100 for every $100 in bonds taken at 
 par, and on which Tilden & Company cleared over one million and a quarter 
 of dollars ! 
 
 With all these things ready, Tilden, by his set of " dummies " elected as 
 directors of the Galena Railroad, voted in legal phrase and form to " con- 
 solidate" it with the other corporations above mentioned. The million 
 dollars of cash in its treasury they turned over to Tilden's control, and with 
 concurrent proceedings consummated the greatest and most unblushing fraud 
 in railroad property and interests, ever known up to that date, in this or 
 any other country. Be it kemembered, that, by this gigantic fraud, 
 Samuel J. Tilden made a large part of his ill-gotten fortune of 
 "six millions," and organized the first conspiracy known as a rail- 
 road ring in the united states ! 
 
 As to the animus of Tilden's strategy in "grabbing" the Galena Rail- 
 road, we are enlightened by the sworn testimony of Julius Wadsworth* (a 
 
 • "To the BonoraUe, the Judges of the Cir- of New York City, precured the proxies 
 
 cuit Court of the United States within of a large number of the shareholders for 
 
 and for the Northern District of HU- the election of directors of said Galena 
 
 nois, in Equity sitting : — & Chicago Union Railroad Company 
 
 "Julius Wadswobth, of the city of tl^^' 't was on the day of 
 
 New York, and a citizen of the State of ^^^ stockholders' meeting suddenly pre- 
 
 New York, brings this bill of complaint in sented by WilUam B. Ogden and those 
 
 his own behalf. persons above mentioned, acting with him 
 
 and voted upon in a viva voce manner hy 
 
 "Your orator further represents, that proxy, and, without any notice to your 
 
 prior to said time, the said orator, and a great number of the share- 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN, of New York, and holders representing nearly two millions 
 
 others to your orator unknown, concerted ■ of dollars, declared passed. 
 
 together, operating through the brokers ... .... 
 
6 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 reputable citizen of New Yorlt city), alleging that the same was "fraudu- 
 lent," " secret," and in the nature of a " conspiracy." From his original 
 affidavit occupying twenty-one pripted pages, we clip the annexed germain 
 paragraphs : — • 
 
 " Your orator represents that said Gale- 
 na & Chicago Union Eailroad -was the first 
 railroad which was constructed leading to 
 and from Chicago, and the first of any 
 importance whatever that was constructed 
 in the State of Illinois ; and that said Kail- 
 road Corporation had been 'for many years 
 so managed and controlled that it had 
 acquired a great reputation for trust- 
 worthiness throughout the United States 
 and Europe, and its stock and bonds were 
 purchased and held as a most reliable, 
 safe, and permanent investment by various 
 parties throughout the United States and 
 Europe. 
 
 "Its gross earnings per mile for the fiscal 
 year 1863, ending December 31, 1863, were 
 eight thousand eight hundred and eight 
 dollars and forty-two cents per mile, and 
 net earnings three thousand and six hun- 
 dred and seventy-five dollars and ninety- 
 eight cents per mile ; and under the judi- 
 cious, careful, and economical management 
 which characterized said railroad up to 
 June 2, 1864, would soon have surpassed 
 that of any other railroad in the North-west. 
 
 "Your orator further represents, upon 
 information and belief, and so charges the 
 fact, that prior to the 2d of June, 1864, 
 the stock of the Chicago & North- Western 
 Eailway Company was almost worthless, 
 and possessed no real and intrinsic value 
 whatever. 
 
 "Your orator would further represent 
 that, at the time of taking possession of 
 the Galena and Chicago Union Eailroad, 
 there was a large amount of money in the 
 treasury, and some forty or fifty bonds of 
 the Beloit and Madison Eailroad Company 
 among its assets, which had not been used 
 in the construction of the road ; that these 
 hands were immediately sold, and the 
 proceeds applied by the said Chicago 
 and North- Western Eailway, and all the 
 money of the Chicago and Galena Union 
 
 Eailroad Corporation was also appro- 
 priated to the use of the said Chicago 
 and North- Western Eailway Company." 
 
 "Your orator would further represent 
 unto your Honors, that the Galena & 
 Chicago Union Eailroad Company had 
 always, prior to the 2d day of June, 1864, 
 paid out of its earnings, all expenses for 
 running and operating the said railroad of 
 every name and nature, and the interest 
 upon its bonded indebtedness, and each 
 year provided a sinking fund of many thou- 
 sand dollars, which would liquidate all its 
 bonded indebtedness long prior to its 
 maturity, and has, for a number of years 
 last past, paid a dividend of not less than 
 six per cent, to each and every one of its 
 stockholders, upon the amount of stock 
 held by them, and that its stock was on 
 the 2d day of June, 1864, worth from one 
 hundred and forty to one hundred and 
 forty-seven dollars per share. 
 
 "And SAMUEL J. TILDEN, are the 
 same persons who are hereinbefore re- 
 ferred to as being specially inimical to the 
 said Galena & Chicago Union Eailroad 
 Company, and the rights and interests of 
 
 your orator, all of whom 
 
 your orator charges, were hostile to the 
 best interests of the said Galena & Chi- 
 cago Union Eailroad Company, and were 
 secretly and fraudulently conspiring with 
 the Chicago & North- Western Eailway 
 
 Company, did, by and with 
 
 their connivance, and in fraud of the 
 rights of your orator, and the stockholders 
 of the said corporation, fraudulently take 
 possession of all o^ the property, rights, 
 privileges and franchises of said Galena & 
 Chicago Union Eailroad Company. . . 
 And the said TILDEN, as attorney and di- 
 rector of said road, have recently caused 
 said stock of the Peninsula Eailroad Com- 
 pany to be exchanged for stock of the 
 
DISHONORABLE ROAD TO WEALTH AND POWER. 
 
 The confiscation of the " Galena" propertj' was complete! It was for- 
 ever sunk under the load of the fraudulent and watered issue of stock and 
 bonds procured by Tilden and Company. The next year (1865), having 
 leased some 250 miles of road in Iowa, they claimed to have a line of 930 
 miles, with a capital of $40,000,000 ! Deducting the 257 miles of leased 
 roads and the 137 miles put in by Tilden, which did not then, and never 
 have paid their total running expenses, it left 542 miles to ' ' float " a valua- 
 tion of $82,500 per mile, of which the old "Galena" road was the main 
 paying portion ! When the properties were consolidated, the Galena stock 
 was worth in the Stock Market about $140 per share. 
 
 Since then — that is to say, in eleven years — two dividerfds, one of 3 
 per cent, and one of 5 per cent, respectively, have been paid, but in both 
 cases from money borrowed for the purpose. The stock is now (1876) 
 quoted in the market at 38 for common stock, and 50 for preferred do. 
 The capital is already above $50,000,000 ! Had Tilden and Company failed 
 in their fraudulent acquisition and " consolidation" of the original Galena 
 Kailroad, its stockholders would have received since that time about $110 
 per share in annual dividends, which added to the value of the stock in 
 1864, as fixed by Mr. "Wadsworth, would have a^regated fully $250 per 
 share ! 
 
 Chicago & North-Western Railway Com- 
 pany, on the following terms to wit : for 
 every share of one hundred dollars of the 
 stock of said Peninsula Kailroad, the 
 Chicago & North- Western Eailway Com- 
 pany exchanges or gives fifty dollars 
 of preferred stock, and fifty dollars of 
 common stock, which they specially issue 
 for said purpose, thereby watering and 
 diluting the stock of the Chicago & 
 North- Western Kailway Company to an 
 extent wholly without precedent . . . 
 . . in fraud of all the rights of your 
 orator and all stockholders similar to 
 
 himself, including 14,000 
 
 shares of stock which they had issued on 
 the pretence of paying for the Kenosha & 
 Eockford Eailroad, which coSt them about 
 $300,000, and various other matters and 
 things of like character, .... and 
 your orator is informed and believes that 
 there has been an over-issue of stock on 
 various pretexts and pretences by said 
 Chicago & North- Western Eailway Com- 
 pany, which have not yet been reported to 
 
 the stockholders, of some two or three 
 
 millions of dollars 
 
 " And your orator shall ever pray. 
 
 "JULIUS WADSWOETH. 
 " Hekvet, Anthont & Galt, 
 
 " Solicitors for Complainant, 
 " A. W. Aekington, of Counsel. 
 
 " State op New York, "I 
 
 " City and County of New York, i 
 
 " On this seventh day of January, 1865, 
 personally appeared before me, the above- 
 named Julius Wadswokth, and made 
 oath that he has read the above Bill of 
 Complaint signed by him, and knows the 
 contents thereof, and that the same is true 
 of his own knowledge, except as to those 
 matters which are therein stated to be .on 
 information and belief; and as to those 
 matters he believes them to be true. 
 
 [SEAl.] 
 
 "JAMES A. WELCH, 
 
 " Notary Public. 
 " Eesiding in the City and County of New 
 York." 
 
8 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED.' 
 
 In lieu of this, said stockliolders have received $8 in cash dividends, 
 and $47 in average value of stock at present prices, or $55 in all. Some 
 allowance should be made for realizations from fictitious watering of the 
 stock, otherwise the Galena stockholders alone, lost a sum identical with the 
 present estimate of Tilden's accumulated stealings, or private fortune, viz., 
 "Six Millions"! 
 
 Mr. "Wadsworth, the maker of the foregoing affidavit, was a trustee for 
 the original Galena Eailroad bondholders, and the owner of three shares of 
 its stock. He brought a suit in the United States Court to test the legality 
 of the Tilden Consolidation. The result of the first trial was announced 
 in the papers as follows : — 
 
 "THE GREAT RAILROAD CASE. 
 "{From the Chicago BepubUcan, July 9, 1S6S.] 
 
 "The United States Circuit Court, 
 Judges Davis and Treat, yesterday, refused 
 the injunction prayed for by a portion of 
 the stockholders in the Galena & Chicago 
 Railway Company, to restrain the consol- 
 idation of that road with the North-Western 
 Railway Company, and for the appoint- 
 ment of a receiver, etc. The Court, in 
 refusing the injunction, declined to decide 
 upon the merits of the case. They virtu- 
 ally, if not in fact, decided that the consol- 
 idation was to stand, but that non-con- 
 senting stockholders should be made whole 
 as to the value of the property on the day 
 the consolidation took plaxie." 
 
 " Editors Chicago Tribune : — Will you 
 be so good as to publish the following, for 
 the benefit of all whom it may concern : — 
 
 " The case of Julius Wadsworth, which 
 was commenced by him at the request of a 
 number of the minority stock and bond- 
 holders of the Galena & Chicago Unioa 
 Railroad Company, and although an in- 
 junction was not granted, yet an order was 
 
 entered by the Court, equivalent thereto; 
 viz. : — 
 
 " ' Finally, those stockliolders of Galena 
 & C. U. R. R. Co. who have exchanged 
 their stock in ignorance of their rights 
 can now be restored, and the bondholders 
 saved from impending ruin by joining in 
 the efforts which are now being made to 
 set aside the pretended consolidation 
 which was consum,mated by trickery and 
 fraud, while the public can be rescued 
 from the despotism of the most gigantic 
 and heartless monopoly ever attempted to 
 be fastened upon a free people, by making 
 proper efforts to sustain those who are 
 now engaged in contending against this 
 self-constituted monopoly. All of the 
 certiflcates are now in the hands of Wil- 
 lianr B. Ogden and Samuel J. Tilden, 
 ready to be given up in case the consol- 
 idalion should be declared invalid. Ad- 
 dress all communications upon this matter 
 to the undersigned, at Chicago, 111., 
 endorsed on outside, " Consolidation Busi- 
 ness." ' 
 
 " NATHANIEL NORTON, 
 "^Chairman of Committee." 
 
 Mr. Wadsworth then could appeal, but it was understood that rather than 
 have this champion fraud further ventilated and legally investigated, Tilden 
 caused Wadsworth's stock to be bought, and farther proceedings by him 
 stayed, for a bonus of $30,000 in cash. The money, no doubt, was paid 
 from " Galena " funds, but Tilden reaped the benefit ! 
 
DISHONORABLE BOAD TO WEALTH AND POWER. 
 
 9 
 
 In 1866, or one year subsequent to Mr. "Wadsworth's suit, a pamphlet 
 appeared with the following title : — 
 
 MA]SJ"UAL 
 
 )i 
 
 |nsiriti:ti0n 0)! ^^i^kg^t 
 
 EAILEOAD AND POLITICAL; 
 
 WITH A HIBTOBT OF THB QEAin> 
 
 |tpm, ana forftf^r, "!■,«," 
 
 AMD THE SECRET OF ITS SUC0HS8 IN PliACING AN 
 OVEKr-ISSDE OF 
 
 TWENTT MII.LIONS, 
 
 -WITH A MASOrN 07 
 
 THREE MILLIONS 
 
 EDITED Bl 
 
 JAMES fARTOJSr, 
 
 ATITHOB OF THX ** LIFE OF AASON BUSB," ETC., Era 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 Foe Sai^e bt American News Co. and Agencies. 
 1866. 
 
 Its author, as appears on its title-page, is a well-known literary authority, 
 and a voluminous writer of biographies and essays. 
 
 Tilden's "airs," since he had acquired "millions" from railroad steal- 
 ing, and had proceeded to make himself conspicuous in the arena of 
 politics, attracted Parton's attention. The result was the publication of 
 this pamphlet of less than 100 pages, which, for stubborn facts, quiet irony, 
 and effective grouping of railroad and political jobbery into a personal 
 indictment against a dissembling demagogue like Tilden, has never been 
 surpassed. 
 
10 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 Parton commences thus : — 
 
 " INTKODUOTORT. 
 
 " The recent sad spectacle of the public 
 humiliation of the most noted railway pro- 
 moter of England (Sir Morton Peto) (see 
 Note 1), in having to acknowledge that he 
 had been a party to an unauthorized issue 
 of the securities of the 'London, Chatham 
 and Dover Railway,' for a comparatively 
 small amount (£128,000), when hard 
 pressed for funds, and the recollection 
 of a still more mournful case, where the 
 leading railway promoter of the United 
 States (Robert Schuyler) fled the country 
 and died of a broken heart, for a similar 
 cause (see Note 2), has led the author to 
 a, hasty publication of this Manual, as a 
 warning and guide to others. 
 
 ' ' There is no necessity of such un- 
 pleasant occurrences and sudden reverses. 
 The science of railway management has 
 become so much improved and so well 
 defined that no prominent projector need 
 risk and lose his reputation as Peto and 
 Schuyler and scores of lesser lights have 
 done, but can assure himself by a ' Ring ' 
 policy as readily as by a fire insurance 
 upon his house. 
 
 "The mistake of Peto and Schuyler 
 was in not dividing their risk and legal- 
 izing their proceedings by a combination 
 with other parties in a manner now tech- 
 nically known as a, ' Ring.' This plan 
 was first adopted, so far as known, in 
 the United States, by an eminent lawyer 
 of Wall Street, S. J. Tilden, and a prom- 
 inent Chicago land operator, William B. 
 Ogden, and has answered an admirable 
 purpose, not only relieving them of a 
 position far worse than either ' Peto ' or 
 ' Schuyler' before denouement, but also 
 enabling them to extend their operations, 
 until they now control the longest and 
 largest railway interest in North America. 
 " Such success as this is certainly 
 worthy of study, and should not longer 
 be suffered to remain in obscurity, when 
 at least a score of energetic, well-meaning 
 railway projectors fail in the United States 
 every year for want of a knowledge of the 
 improved system. In view of this fact. 
 
 the importance of this Manual at this 
 
 time can hardly be over-estimated 
 
 " By success is not merely meant finan- 
 cial prosperity, but also political influ- 
 ence, which in this country is a sure 
 attachment to railway control. . . . The 
 one thing most needful is the command of 
 money. He usually wins who has most 
 and judiciously uses it; and but few can 
 afford to take the chances of political pre- 
 ferment who have not a sure independent 
 income or responsible ' backers.' 
 
 " On the rule that length of railway 
 determines length of political purse and 
 democratic influence, we have indicated 
 Mr. Tilden's superiority. The result soon 
 culminated in the unanimous appointment 
 of S. J. Tilden to fill the office of chair- 
 man of the Democratic Central Committee 
 of the State of New York, and he is con- 
 sequently ex-officio the head of that party 
 in the whole United States ! 
 
 " What a pre-eminence thus to lead, as 
 he himself declares, 4,000,000 of intelli- 
 gent freemen I 
 
 "That his ideas are equal to his posi- 
 tion, the following extract from a speech 
 at the Tammany Society Dinner, demon- 
 strates : — 
 
 " ' SPEECH OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 
 
 " ' Mr. Samuel J. Tilden responded to 
 the eighth toast. He said : "In choosing 
 between responding for the American 
 continent and the State of New York, 
 nothing less than the whole continent 
 would content me. My last professional 
 engagement was in connection with a 
 meeting for the support of the great Mon- 
 roe doctrine. I consider myself now as re- 
 sponding to and representing the interests 
 of that great doctrine of Republicanism 
 upon the whole American continent, north 
 and south ; the right to extend our free insti- 
 tutions over the entire American continent. 
 I hope and believe that no Maximilian 
 shall ever establish his diabolic govern- 
 ment in this hemisphere. I see around 
 me to-night the representatives of the 
 
DISHONORABLE ROAD TO WEALTH AND POWER. 
 
 11 
 
 army and navy — Parragut and Heintzel- Monroe doctrine, and in asserting that 
 man — and I call upon them to unite with Americans alone shall govern on this 
 me in declaring the supremacy of the continent ! " ' 
 
 Parton remarks : — 
 
 " Such then is the tremendously influen- 
 tial position occupied by a single individ- 
 ual, attained, as will be seen in the sequel, 
 by the power of a ' Ring ' arrangement 
 in railway management, enabling him to 
 
 carry out measures ruinous to Peto and to 
 Schuyler, but to him a source of incalcu- 
 lable wealth and power at the present 
 moment." 
 
 Parton reviews Tilden's "grab" of the "Galena" Eailroad, and his 
 " consolidation " swindles at great length, from which we subjoin the fol- 
 lowing extracts : — ' • - 
 
 "Having thus stated the main points of 
 the railway built to run to the "Tilden 
 Mine,' and to carry ore for Mr. Tilden 
 individually, the student will be prepared 
 to judge of the eflScacy of a 'Ring' to 
 cover up mistakes. Such a road as this 
 would have failed up the 'Ring' had 
 they not been able to 'consolidate' it. 
 This they did in the following manner: 
 they mortgaged the road for f 15,000 per 
 mile, and issued stock also, at the rate of 
 $15,000 per mile. The bonds were sub- 
 scribed for at the rate of seventy-five 
 cents on the dollar, and the stock at the 
 rate of twenty-five cents on a dollar, and 
 under Mr. Tilden's drafted law of Michi- 
 gan, was declared full paid. Thus a sub- 
 scriber for $1,000 in cash received a 
 $1,000 7 per cent, semi-annual bond and 
 $1,000 of full-paid stock, or ten shares. 
 The Peninsula road is seventy miles 
 long, including the six miles of useless 
 'branches;' therefore, the total author- 
 ized capital, $1,050,000 of bonds and 
 $1,050,000 of stock, representing $1,050,- 
 000, or $15,000 per mile cash. This 
 railway, including the docks at Escanaba, 
 etc., did not cost less probably than 
 $30,000 per mUe, or $2,100,000 (just 
 about double the estimate). 
 
 "When the funds began to run low, 
 $1,393,000 more stock, apparently from 
 report, was issued, for which about $350,- 
 000 more in cash was probably realized, 
 if issued at the original rate. This would 
 leave about $650,000 more, which, it was 
 rumored, was borrowed out of the cash 
 
 found in the Galena Company's treasury, 
 at the time of consolidation. 
 
 " Mr. Ogden was President of both com- 
 panies, and Tilden was trustee for both 
 sets of bondholders, and held control of 
 most of the Peninsula stock, of which he 
 is believed to have been by far the great- 
 est owner. Consolidation was proposed, 
 the two roads having only a gap of 120 
 miles between them (or the length of 
 Green Bay), and the 'Ring,' on the rules 
 laid down in this Manual, got a vote of 
 the stockholders (see Note 5) authorizing 
 it, and then the directors passed a resolu- 
 tion to have the President treat with the 
 trustee for securing the control of the 
 invaluable line. Immediately the stock 
 commenced going up, until sales of Penin- 
 sula stock, on which" $25 was actually 
 paid, were quoted at the Board at about 
 $90 ! The President of the C. & N. W. 
 felt constrained to hurry, for fear it might 
 go higher, and the Grand Legalizer inti- 
 mated that some of the owners were op- 
 posed to taking any such doubtful stock 
 as C. & N. W. for their Peninsula! At 
 last the bargain was struck; like coy 
 lovers, the ' high contracting parties ' at 
 last came together. The terms were, that 
 the C. & N. W. should guarantee the 
 Peninsula bonds, at par, and should issue 
 a share of C. & N. W. preferred, and a, 
 share of C. & N. W. common for every 
 two shares of Peninsula, both being reck- 
 oned at par. Thus we find in the report 
 of the Chicago and North Western Com- 
 pany for 1865 that $1,029,000 of boud» 
 
12 
 
 SAMUEL J. TIIiDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 were so assumed, and $2,000,000 of stock 
 so exchanged, and that $393,000 were 
 still to be so changed, at the option of 
 the Peninsula owners, which delay might 
 have been caused by a dearth of certifi- 
 cate books. 
 
 " (There is reason to suppose that the 
 Galena original stockholders were not 
 made aware that the Peninsula stock was 
 not, at the time, lona fide full paid, the 
 same as their own.) 
 
 " The President of the C. & N. W. thus 
 tells the tale in his official report for 1865, 
 with an elegance of language and in finely 
 rounded sentences, which cannot but ex- 
 cite the admiration of any appreciative 
 student of this Manual : — 
 
 " ' The securities of the Peninsula road 
 rose rapidly, with the increase in value of 
 the equipment materials and work Which 
 bad already been provided and were in 
 brisk demand for near a year before its 
 completion, the stock reaching ^ghty and 
 ninety cents for the dollar, and the bonds 
 were sought for and sold at par. There 
 was danger that they might pass into the 
 hands of holders having interests adverse 
 to the North-Western, and again expose 
 that company to the hazard of losing the 
 benefits of a close connection with it, as 
 the key to the Lake Superior business, so 
 important to the long line of road already 
 extended in that direction. 
 
 " ' Efforts were made from time to time 
 by the North-Western, previous to its 
 consolidation with the Galena, to secure 
 a permanent connection or consolidation 
 with this road, but were unsuccessful, the 
 owners of it then being indisposed except 
 at too high rates. 
 
 " ' Meanwliile, at the annual meeting, at 
 the time of consolidation between the 
 Galena and North-Western Railroads, in 
 June, 1864, authority was conferred upon 
 the Board of Directors by the stock- 
 holders to consolidate with the Peninsula, 
 if terms acceptable could be obtained. 
 
 "Subsequently better terms were ob- 
 tained {these dissembling lies were writ- 
 ten or dictated by Tilden beyond doubf], 
 and in October, 1864, after the consoli- 
 dation between the Galena and North- 
 
 western, a consolidation was effected 
 with the Peninsula Railroad Company, 
 by an exchange of one-half share of the 
 common stock and one-half share of the 
 preferred stock of the company, for one 
 full share of the stock of the Peninsula 
 Railroad Company.' 
 
 " We will now review the consolidation 
 brought about by the 'Ring' of the 
 Peninsula Railway. 
 
 " They obtained a guarantee 
 of $1,029,000 of bonds, issued 
 at seventy-five cents on the dol- 
 lar, which Mr. Ogden reports 
 were worth par. There is a 
 profit of $257,350 
 
 " They received, or had the 
 option of taking $1,196,500 in 
 preferred stock, which Mr. 
 Ogden in his printed circular 
 of the same year says averaged 
 a value of $90 a share. It cost 
 them $25. 777,725 
 
 " They also had in the same 
 way $1,166,500 netting in com- 
 mon stock, which Mr. Ogden in 
 same circular quoted at $54, 
 costing them $25, leaving them 
 $29 profit per share, or 336,685 
 
 $1,371,660 
 
 " Here, then, is a profit of almost $1,500,- 
 000 on one investment of about the same 
 sum for an average of less than one year's 
 time, and which, but for the scientific 
 organization of a ' Ring,' on the principles 
 of this Manual, would have resulted in a 
 loss at least equal to that sum, making a 
 difference of three millions in results. 
 
 " The result to the original Galena 
 stock-holder is as follows ; — 
 
 " Cash borrowed from Galena 
 surplus and sunk in Peninsula, 
 extra cost, $650,000 
 
 " Interest on $1,029,000 Pen- 
 insula bonds, two years' com- 
 pounded over 150,000 
 
 " Dividend on $1,000,000 
 preferred stock, exchanged 
 Dec. 1st, 1864, 35^000 
 
DISHONORABLE BOAD TO WEALTH AND POWEB. 
 
 13 
 
 " Diridend on $1,000,000 
 preferred stock, exchanged 
 June, 1865,* 35,000 
 
 " Loss on operating road, in 
 1865, $200,000; 1866, say 
 $100,000, 300,000 
 
 $1,170,000 
 " Discount of 28 per cent, on 
 bonds sold to make up de- 
 ficiency, $135,800 
 
 " Total loss, 
 
 $1,805,800 
 
 "As the ' Galena Division ' was the only 
 portion that could have earned a dividend 
 
 in that time, this in reality comes out of 
 what that division would have earned for 
 itself if not consolidated, and is equal to 
 twenty per cent, on the whole stock of the 
 original Galena road. It follows, there- 
 fore, that since Dec. 1st, 1864, those 
 stockholders have lost their dividends, 
 otherwise certain (and probably of ten per 
 cent.) and have incurred, by consolidation 
 with the Peninsula, a loss equal to twenty 
 per cent, on the par of their stock." 
 
 [This was written nearly ten years ago. 
 The loss is now. over one hundred per 
 cent, instead of twenty.] — [Ed.] 
 
 TILDEN LEVYING SPECIAL TAXES ON FARMERS AND 
 
 MERCHANTS. 
 
 In order to make a show of earnings on his " consolidated " and '.' wa- 
 tered" stocks, the rates of freight were, by Tilden's advice, raised on the 
 farmers along the old Galena road; for wheat to Chicago, 72 per cent., 
 and on the merchants from Chicago west, for merchandise, 88 per cent. ! 
 Have not the plundered Galena stockholders and the outraged Illinois and 
 Wisconsin farmers good reason to execrate Samuel J. Tilden as the 
 
 CHAMPION EAILEOAD ANTI-GEANGEE OF AMEEICA? 
 
 THE PROOF IS INCONTESTABLE THAT THESE CONSOLI- 
 DATION SWINDLES OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN, FOLLOWED BY 
 THE ADVANCE IN THE RATES OF FREIGHT TRANSPORTA- 
 TION ON THE RAILROAD LINES WHICH HE CONTROLLED, 
 LED TO THE ORGANIZED RESISTANCE OF THE FARMERS 
 IN THE WEST, KNOWN AS THE "GRANGER MOVEMENT"; 
 RESULTING IN THE ENACTMENT OF THE "POTTER LAW" 
 IN WISCONSIN AND RESTRICTIVE RAILROAD LEGISLATION 
 IN VARIOUS OTHER STATES. 
 
 The annexed extracts from Parton's pamphlet leave no room for doubt 
 as to the correctness of the foregoing statement : — 
 
 "THE ''SING' versus THE PEOPLE. 
 
 " We have shown how raUway corpora- 
 tions and individuals are powerless in the 
 hands of a ' Eing.' It now remains to 
 show how the PEOPLE come to grief and 
 are helpless. Their hopes are evidently 
 
 'Eing' wOl doubtless be represented at 
 the State Capitol, as heretofore, and beat 
 them in the end. 
 
 " We shall use newspaper articles mainly. 
 
 "Here is an extract from a Boston paper 
 
 towards restraining legislation, but the of January, 1866 : — 
 
14 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 " ' TKAlfSPOETATION EXCITEMENT AT 
 
 THE West. — The enormous railroad, canal 
 and lake charges on gram, from the banks 
 of the Mississippi to the Atlantic coast, 
 have fully aroused the people of the North- 
 west, including Illinois, Missouri, lovra, 
 Minnesota and Wisconsin, and they are 
 now giving very emphatic expression to 
 their determination to suhmit no longer to 
 the exactions of transportation companies. 
 It is asserted as a matter of fact, that it 
 costs three bushels of corn to send one to 
 market a distance of one hundred miles ; 
 one hundred bushels to get a pair of boots ; 
 one thousand bushels to get a suit of 
 clothes ; and two tons of corn for a ton of 
 coal. A farmer at Waterloo, Iowa, was 
 actually brought five dollars in deht by a 
 shipment of barley to Chicago. , . . 
 
 " ' The Chicago people are looking sharp- 
 ly after the railroad companies. One hun- 
 dred and twenty-three of the leading firms 
 have addressed a series of searching que- 
 ries to the various railroad companies cen- 
 tring there, touching the comparative 
 rates of freight upon produce and mer- 
 chandise, the warehouse difficulties, and 
 the charge that railroad officials are inter- 
 ested in elevator and express companies.' 
 
 " The feeling became so general at the 
 West, mass meetings of farmers having 
 been held at St. Paul's, Minnesota, and in 
 many counties in Wisconsin and Illinois, 
 that open acts of hostility were feared by 
 railway managers. The expedient of se- 
 curing a soothing report from the Chicago 
 Board of Trade was deemed advisable, in 
 January, 186G, and published, thus : — 
 
 " ' To THE Public : — 
 
 " ' The Directors of the Hoard of Trade, 
 having under consideration the numerous 
 complaints which have found expression 
 in public meetings and conventions in va- 
 rious parts of the Northwest, at their 
 meeting on the 2ith of January ult., 
 adopted the following preamble and reso- 
 lutions: — 
 
 " ' Whereas, There appears to be a 
 wide-spread dissatisfaction existing among 
 the producing and mercantile communities 
 of the North-west, growing out of the al- 
 leged oppression and abuses on the part of 
 
 the railroad companies whose eastern ter- 
 mini are in this city ; and 
 
 " ' WnEKEASjWe beUeve the proper way 
 of adjusting differences of this character is 
 by free discussion of the matters in dis- 
 pute ; and 
 
 " ' Wheeeas, This Board of Trade is, in 
 an eminent degree, a representative of the 
 producing interests of the North-west, and 
 may properly be expected to sj-mpathize' 
 with those interests in any question per- 
 taining to their welfare ; therefore, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That we cordially invite the 
 official representatives of all the railroads 
 herein referred to, to meet the Board of Di- 
 rectors of this Board, and a committee to 
 be invited from the Mercantile Association, 
 for the purpose of discussing the alleged 
 grievances, and to the end that by such 
 discussion a better understanding may be 
 arrived at touching the poiats in issue. 
 Such meeting of conference to be held in 
 the directors' room of the Board of Trade, 
 on Saturday, the 17th inst., at 2 p. m. 
 
 " ' Assuming that the grounds of com- 
 plaint are set forth and declared by the re- 
 marks and resolutions of the various public 
 meetings that, have recently been held 
 throughout the country, and giving their 
 attention to those points, the committee 
 find that they may be classified as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " ' The consolidations of certain railroad 
 lines, which, it is claimed, work injuri- 
 ously and oppressively upon the interest 
 of the community. 
 
 ' ' ' Combinations between railway compel/- 
 nies and steamboat lines, which are 
 claimed to create monopolies, and, by high 
 rates of transportation, inflict unnecessary 
 burdens upon those who are obliged to pat- 
 ronize those lines. 
 
 " 'Excessively high rates for travel and 
 transportation by the various railway 
 lines leading westward from Chicago. 
 
 " 'Arbitrary rules of railway companies 
 in compelling the delivery of bulk grain to 
 certain elevators, and the lack of notice to 
 consignees of the arrival of shipments.' 
 
 " Omitting the long statements of details, 
 the conclusions of the Board of Trade were 
 stated thus, on the main points : 
 
DISHONORABLE ROAD TO WEALTH AND POWER. 
 
 15 
 
 "We believe consignees are notified 
 with reasonable promptness of the arrival 
 of bulk grain upon all the roads, except the 
 C. & N. W. E. K. , and we are assured that 
 arrangements will be made that this line 
 should not be an exception. 
 
 " 'An alleged complicity on the part of 
 railroad officials with the management of 
 grain elevators.' On this point we can 
 produce no proof aside from the statement 
 of the parties themselves. It is proper to 
 say that the charge is most emphatically 
 denied by those gentlemen. 
 
 " ' The consolidation of certain railroad 
 lines, which, it is claimed, works injuri- 
 ously and oppressively upon the interest 
 of the community.' That such consolida- 
 tion exists is a matter of record, and can- 
 not be denied; and further, that such 
 consolidation has, to some extent, de- 
 stroyed competition is equally patent, but 
 whether it has resulted in unjustly oppress- 
 ing the community, may admit of some 
 argument. If it shall be found that such 
 consolidation results in placing a, higher 
 tariff of travel and transportation upon 
 such line than is justified to secure a fair 
 return for capital invested, or higher than 
 is charged by other lines not similarly sit- 
 uated, then it is clear that such consol- 
 
 idation is oppressive and an odious mo- 
 nopoly. Comparison of rates with other 
 lines wUl, to some extent, show whether 
 this be true or otherwise. We therefore 
 make a comparison between the rates of 
 freight charged upon leading classes and 
 articles in 1861, before the period of high 
 prices, and the present rates. 
 
 " The Chicago & North-western Railroad 
 Company have advanced their rates during 
 the period : — 
 
 " Upon wheat, seventy-two per cent. 
 
 " Upon coarse grains, twenty-one per ct. 
 
 " Upon flour, seventy-one per cent. 
 
 " Upon lumber, thirty-five per cent. 
 
 "Upon live stock, seventy-three per ct. 
 
 " Upon merchandise, eighty-eight per ct. 
 
 " Upon passengers' fares, twenty-eight 
 and one-half per cent. 
 
 " From present indications, there seems 
 to he a determination to test the relative 
 rights of all by an appeal to legislation. 
 We hope that this may not become 
 necessary, but that a policy may prevail, 
 that, while it secures to the people an 
 entirely just consideration, will not lead 
 to embarrassment of our railway lines. 
 
 " Signed by the Committee of the Chi- 
 cago Board of Trade." 
 
 Parton then quotes tlie following resolutions, passed in 1866, by a Con- 
 vention of Farmers along the line of the original Galena Railroad, thus : — 
 
 " Whereas, Under the present system of 
 railroad combinations and other freight 
 monopolies, the farmer and producer has 
 no redress, and is by the inadequate means 
 of transportation compelled to give two- 
 thirds of his crop to get the other one- 
 third to market ; and 
 
 " Whereas, We regard the present sys- 
 tem of transportation as little less than a 
 semi-legalized system of plunder, by which 
 a combination of capitalists are rearing 
 immense fortunes upon the ruins of the 
 producing interests of the North-west; 
 therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That as we know of no 
 adequate remedy for the present wrongs, 
 or security against future oppression, but 
 legislation, we must turn our attention to 
 the law-making power, and demand such 
 
 appropriate and efficient legislation as will 
 remedy these evils, and thus teach cor- 
 porations and unholy combinations that 
 the sovereign people have rights which 
 they are bound to respect. 
 
 " Resolved, That in order to carry these 
 principles into practical effect, we hereby 
 pledge ourselves to co-operate with the 
 people throughout the State in electing a 
 legislature pledged to the same." 
 
 Parton adds (in 1866) : — 
 " It will be interesting to see how far 
 the people will realize their strength to 
 help themselves. 
 
 " The ' Eing ' of the C. & N. W., who 
 it is well known are, more or less, con- 
 trolling connecting lines of steamers on the 
 Mississippi, and making great profits there- 
 from, are pushing the thing too far." 
 
16 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED.' 
 
 It will be seen that Mr. Parton quoted from evidence which could not be 
 called in question, and the points which he made were fortified by ample 
 facts as well as by the " logic of events." 
 
 The effect of this document was disastrous to Tilden. In the first year 
 of his " Chairmanship," and before his partnership with Tweed had taken 
 effect on the city ballot-boxes, he had the mortification of seeing the State 
 elections in the fall of 1866 go against his political combination. 
 
 Horace Greeley then edited the "New York Tribune" (which did not 
 then get loans of $100,000 at a time from Tilden, or any one else), and in 
 double-leaded editorials called attention to Parton's statements. Other 
 newspapers took up the subject. Tilden was in a quandary ! To dispute 
 the facts he dare not. To ignore them was nearly as bad. To silence 
 them was his policy. An active agent canvassed the city of New York, 
 and bought up every copy offered for sale I 
 
 We could name a person who handled the money at the time 1 
 
ASSOCIATED WITH "BINGS." 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ASSOCIATED WITH THE "OAKES AMES," " TOM SCOTT," AND OTHEK " EINGS." 
 
 In the previous chapter the reader will have noted the laying of the 
 foundation of Tilden's wealth in certain raUroad frauds. This chapter will 
 be devoted to the subsequent development of his career in the same line of 
 gain, but in wider fields of operation, and with the eclat of previous 
 success. 
 
 TUden's residence in Wall street led him to see the great advantages of 
 having a railroad stock established among the list of "fancies "in that 
 arena of stock gambling, as the directors and officers of such a stock 
 company could make fortunes semi-annually, by raising or depressing its 
 market price at their pleasure. At the same time he knew the danger 
 of some "large operator" taking a fancy to use large blocks of stock 
 to control the management, which might inconvenience the ring quietly 
 working inside that corporation. 
 
 To obviate this risk, TUden invented, or at least introduced, the plan of 
 bondholders having a vote on their secured debt, to the same extent as the 
 stockholders on their unsecured credit. The absurdity of this system will 
 be manifest when applied to private business. What sane man would wish 
 to mortgage his house, with a proviso that the mortgagee should direct ais 
 to the care and maintenance of the encumbered premises? Under these 
 circumstances, the secured creditor would look to improving his security at 
 the expense of the debtor. The effect of course is the same in railroad 
 property. Yet Tilden has contrived to get nearly all the raUroad lines 
 which he has " reorganized" to adopt this anomaly. He also had, in some 
 cases, a provision inserted in the railroad mortgage, which, beside pro- 
 viding for bondholders voting, authorizes the Trustee to vote on all bonds 
 not represented by the individul owner. Of course, he took good care to be 
 the Trustee himself, and the concentration of power thus held by him is far 
 more than is generally known. 
 
 It is this power which gives him almost autocratic rule in certain rail- 
 roads where his name never appears among the elected officials. 
 
 The latter may detest, but dare not dispute him. This secret power 
 will explain certain strange proceedings in the Chicago & North- Western 
 
IB 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 Railroad, long after Ogden had been turned out of office, by which Tilden 
 could carry on private speculations and gratify personal malice at a 
 manifest expense and heavy loss to the railroad corporation itself, as 
 set forth in another chapter. 
 
 Tilden was cunningly weaving for himself' this net- work of personal 
 sway around the corporate organization of the last-named road, when 
 Parton's "Manual" appeared in 1866, with the following remarks on that 
 feature of Tilden's tactics : — 
 
 Rule 2d. — That "Ring" is the most 
 sure of control which keeps its con- 
 struction ACCOUNT OPEN, ITS STOCK BOOK 
 OR SHAKES UNLIMITED ET LEGISLATION; 
 
 and permits the bondholders to vote. 
 
 Remarks : The first two points of this 
 rule are not novel, but well-known facts, 
 and need no elucidation to make them ap- 
 parent. The third is a recent invention 
 (first broached, so far as known) by the 
 Grand Legalizer of the C. and N. W. 
 Ring (S. J. Tilden). It is adopted by 
 that company, to the fullest possible ex- 
 tent, even, it is believed, beyond the 
 authority of the Law (note 7). It is the 
 great bulwark of the "Ring," and hence 
 its expansion. The only trouble about it 
 is, that it is an absurdity on its face, and it 
 will be difficult usually to find stockhold- 
 ers to stand its injustice, or not to notice its 
 fallacy. The stock of the Central and 
 North- Western Company being held, it is 
 estimated, to the extent of 90 per cent, by 
 brokers, who are buying and selling daily, 
 
 they never stop to look into the effect, and 
 hence its use in that " Ring " management 
 is established. 
 
 It is simply arranging for the creditor to 
 manage the debtor's property while hold- 
 ing a lien upon it, with power of fore- 
 closure and forfeiture at the same time. 
 A principle which presupposes self-interest 
 extinct ! It is like a man mortgaging his 
 farm to his neighbor for half its value, and 
 then renting him the same to pay the in- 
 terest, with agreement that in case the 
 lessee did not make enough profit to pay 
 himself the interest semi-annually he was ' 
 to have the right to foreclose, and take it 
 for his debt, while in actual possession. 
 The supposition is, that in most cases the 
 farm would fail to pay the interest on trial 
 of the plan. With due care of the State 
 Legislature, the " Ring" in such Corporar 
 tion may easily defy the stockholders or the 
 public to interfere with their perpetuity 
 and power, owing to this feature of the 
 bondholder's vote. 
 
 Henry Keep, then in the zenith of his power, undertook to gam the 
 control of the " North-West Stock," Ogden and Tilden being at the time 
 its sole managers. 
 
 Keep was able, with his great wealth and prestige, to secure a majority 
 of the votes in 1867, and at the next election turned Ogden and all his 
 retainers out of office ; but the sharp Lawyer had a safe retreat in his Trus- 
 teeship for the bondholders from which Mr. Keep could not expel him, be- 
 cause the bondholders were, as a matter of course, Tilden's friends. 
 
 Since Mr. Keep's death various Wall-street operators have held control 
 of the stock, Mr. J. Gould being now understood as holding that posi- 
 ^='- Tilden was retained as "Counsel" during Gould's brilliant 
 
 tion 
 
 administration of the Erie Railroad, and is doubtless 
 
 "North-Western." 
 
 'retained" in 
 
ASSOCIATED WITH "RINGS." 19 
 
 TILDEN COUNSEL FOR THE "ERIE RING." 
 
 On page 336 of Assembly Document, No. 98, for 1873, will be found 
 the foUowmg item, copied from the Erie Kailroad books : — 
 
 " Samuel J. Tilden, Jan'y to Feb'y, 1869, Legal Services, $20,000." 
 
 Tilden subsequently appeared before a committee, to say that he actu- 
 ally received but $10,000 for one month's services, viz., February, 1869. 
 The question of amount is, however, not very material ; the fact of his 
 " having a finger in that pie " being thus clearly established. 
 
 TILDEN COUNSEL FOE A " FORT "WATNE " OPERATOR. 
 
 Tilden was at another time " Counsel " for a whilom large operator in 
 " Fort Wayne" stock. His profits as such " counsel" will never probably 
 appear in print, but he is known as yet being largely interested in that line, 
 and the trustee of its bonds. 
 
 His "buU" "client's" history is thus noticed in a Boston paper in 
 1873 : — 
 
 " The career of Anthony W. Morse, as less than a year was turned into almost as 
 
 dazzlingly dishonest and brilliant as that of many millions. His every act was watched 
 
 Fisk itself, has passed from the memory of by speculators, who bought when he 
 
 the many, although his dealings covered bought, and sold when he sold. He was 
 
 one of the most important periods in our the barometer as well as the king of the 
 
 history — during 1863 and 1864 — and at street. But his time came at last, and, 
 
 times affected even the policy of the Na- after a reign of less than a year he was 
 
 tional Government. Morse was hardly hurled from his position by a panic of his 
 
 more than twenty years of age when he own creating. A year later he died in a 
 
 •first entered Wall street, in the former second-class New York boarding-house, 
 
 year. He was married to a shrewd, cool- and his dead body was held for debt, which 
 
 headed woman, with a few spare thousand was paid by a former business friend." 
 dollars. This was the nest egg which in 
 
 Since the " Fort Wayne " line has passed into the mammoth combina- 
 tions of the Pennsylvania Railroad, it is understood that Tilden " sleeps" 
 with the notable " Tom Scott, President" of Pensylvania Railroad, and 
 that the latter may take an active part in assisting Tilden to write his name 
 as " President U. S. A." • 
 
 TILDEN IN THE "CONTINENTAL IMPROVEMENT COMPANY." 
 
 The above two names suggest a brief notice of their copartnership in 
 the "Continental Improvement Company," chartered by the Legislature 
 of Pensylvania in 1868. 
 
20 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 It was a full-fledged " Credit Mobilier " concern, of the most grasping 
 and dangerous kind. 
 
 By a reference to the Certificate of Assent to Incorporation filed by that 
 company on the 21st of May, 1869, it will be seen that Thos. A. Scott 
 held 2,000 shares, or #100,000, and Samuel J. Tildek held 1,000 shares, I 
 or $50,000. 
 
 This Improvement ( / ) Company then started for plunder, and found it 
 in this wise : — 
 
 Congress had (in the Pioneer's Bill) granted 1,160,000 acres of public 
 land in Michigan to build a railroad from the south line of that State to 
 Grand Traverse Bay. A corporation was formed for the purpose, and 
 known as the Grand Rapids and Indiana Kailroad Company. With this 
 railroad company the Continental Improvement Company made a contract 
 to build the line of railroad, of 320 miles, for $25,000 per mile, in 7 per 
 cent, gold bonds, $5,000 per mile in capital stock, together with all its cortr 
 struction assets of a partially graded road, etc., and all its land grant. 
 
 This series of bonds, amounting to $8,000,000, were all issued forthwith, 
 and the "Fort Wayne Railroad" at once guaranteed one half of them, 
 which also bound the Pennsylvania Railroad ; these were sold in London, 
 in 1870, at 87J gold, or over par in currency. The balance were sold in 
 1872, in New York, at 96, currency. The Continental Improvement Com- 
 pany, therefore, had about $25,000 per mile in cash to build the railroad 
 with. The engineer's estimate was that $4,000 per mile would prepare the 
 track ready for the rails ! This " Construction Companj' " realized there- 
 fore a large percentage of profit from the securities paid over to them, 
 besides having the Land Grant as an extka bonus. 
 
 The equipment of the railroad was provided for by another issue of 8 
 per cent, bonds, of $1,250,000 in amount. 
 
 The Directors of the railroad company became the same, practicallj', as 
 composed the Board of the Continental Improvement Companj', and settled 
 Corporation accounts with each other without any quaiTels ! 
 
 To the Railroad Commissioner of Michigan the railroad company re- 
 ported, in 1874, its business for the preceding j'car, on about 300 miles of 
 finished road, as follows : — 
 
 Earnings, 1873 .... $1,119,700 86 
 
 Operating expenses . . . $857,295 71 
 Interest on bonds . . , 560,000 00 
 
 $1,417,295 71 
 Deficit $297,594 85 
 
ASSOCIATED WITH "KINGS." 21 
 
 In 1874 it was announced that the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad 
 was buying 20,000 tons raiboad iron for " renewals" ! 
 
 The Report of the Land Department of the Continental Improvement 
 Company, dated July 1, 1873, shows that 90,443 acres of the Grand Rap- 
 ids and Indiana Raih-oad National land grant were sold for au average of 
 'i-^Ms per acre, "exclusive of village lots." The exhibit was as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Sales, 90,443 acres, at $14.36 . . . $1,405,041 21 
 Expenses 115,676 12 
 
 Net pkofit $1,289,365 09 
 
 The whole story is not yet told. Tilden & Co. resisted the payment of 
 any taxes on these lands, because granted for railroad purposes 1 and an 
 appeal taken from the State Courts to the United States Supreme Court, 
 which decided that the same were subject to taxation. The lands escaped 
 taxation, however, for nearly twenty years, while the pioneer settlers had 
 to pay double taxes on their adjacent lands ! 
 
 Tilden contends that the farmers of Michigan ought to support him, for the 
 Presidency! Has he not ^'■farmed" more land than any of them?!* 
 
 Comment is unnecessary on the above contrast in the finances of the 
 railroad company which Congress intended to aid by its land grant, and 
 the " Continental Improvement Company," concocted by Tilden and others 
 to steal the National grant for mere private gain. 
 
 Among the directors of the above-named railroad company (and who, 
 of course, permitted its life-blood to be sucked out by the vampire " Im- 
 provement" Company) appears the name of H. J. Jewett, now President 
 and Receiver of the Erie Railway Company. 
 
 This may serve to explain the recent telegrams published, t6 the effect 
 that Tilden was to be selected as umpire in all matters connected wilh Erie 
 Railway ' ' reorganization " ! 
 
 Milk is found in all these railroad cocoa-nuts, but how it gets there 
 involves too much explanation for the space afforded by these pages ! 
 
 TILDEN THE COUNSELLOR OF THE ' ' CREDIT MOBILIER " FRAUD I 
 
 It would readUy be suspected by the reader that, when such scandal as 
 that connected with the "Credit Mobilier" Ring in the Pacific Railroad 
 
 * Tilden is said io control another large from, the Straits of Mackinaw to Marquette, 
 landgrant offered by the Staieof Michigan on Lake Superior, 
 io aid the construction of a line of railroad 
 
22 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 affairs was investigated, such vultures as Samuel J. Tilden and partners 
 would not be far away. 
 
 Such proved to be the case. Tilden was employed as the leading 
 counsel of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. His speeches as such in 
 the celebrated " Barnard order" cases were published in the " New York 
 Times" in full, at advertising rates, and the bill no doubt charged to the 
 company's "legal expenses." But this was not all. The alleged fradulent 
 " Oakes Ames contract" itself was drawn or counselled by Tilden! 
 
 In an article on this matter, in the "New York Times," reference is made 
 to the official record of the Congressional Investigation, thus : — 
 
 " Mr. Hoar then asked Ames, who pro- " ' Answer by Oakes Ames. We were 
 
 posed this cunning scheme, — by which informed by counsel whom we consulted 
 
 everything was placed in the hands of the that tliis issuing of stock as a payment 
 
 ' Credit Mobilier,' and the following was upon the contract for building the road 
 
 the testimony as it appears in the official was in entire compliance with law. 
 record: — "^Question hy Mr. Soar. Who were 
 
 " ' Question hy Mr. Hoar. Were you not the counsel that gave that advice? 
 informed by the counsel who drew this " ' Answer hy Oakes Ames. . . . Ma. 
 
 contract that this was a violation of law? Samuel J. Tilden. . . .' " 
 
 Verily, " Sly Sammy " was there ! The " Times " says in this con- 
 nection : — 
 
 "H appears, therefore, that Mr. Til- direct violation of law which was the vital, 
 den was the individual who advised this point in the whole Credit Mobilier plot." 
 
 TILDEN " KEORGANIZIKG " THE ST. LOUIS, ALTON AND TEEKE HAUTE RAILROAD. 
 
 In 1862 Tilden was employed to "reorganize" the above-named rail- 
 road company. He was paid $21,000 for services as counsel, and was 
 made one of the committee of five to purchase the railroad at a judicial sale. 
 The terms of sale required that the parties interested should go through 
 certain formalities within a certain timie. Some of the owners did not 
 comply within the time, and some $284,000 of bonds were left over in 
 consequence. By Tilden's advice, the committee divided these bonds 
 among themselves, after having reported the same as assets of the new 
 company. This is a case of " addition, division, and silence " ! 
 
 Again, what is known as the "Belleville Branch" was found to have 
 been built on the credit of the above company, but to be owned bj^ a few 
 of the New York directors, who had leased it to the parent corporation at 
 an excessive rental. One of the parties to this breach of trust was Samvd 
 J. Tilden. 
 
 A full account of the details can be found in the " Tribune " of May 29 
 1875, and in the " Times" of June 11, 1875. 
 
ASSOCIATED WITH "EIKQS." 23 
 
 A committee of stockholders was appointed to demand of Tilden an 
 investigation or explanation. 
 
 Ttie following resolution was also adopted at an informal stockholders' 
 meeting in 1875 : — 
 
 " 'iJesoZ«e(£, That the committee demand of the corporation; that ihey closed 
 
 from the officers of the company an inspec- against inspection the list of voting hond- 
 
 tion of the list of Voting Bondholders.' holders — A large majority of the 
 
 " Mr. W. C. Whitney, in addressing the whole toting power op the compant — 
 
 dissatisfied stockholders, stated that since so as to render it next to impossible for the 
 
 the reorganization, in 1862, Tilden's com- holders of the securities to confer with 
 
 mittee had heen practically in control each other and carry an election." 
 
 The result of this agitation was, that Tilden did not deign to make any 
 explanation, but when the time for the farce of an annual election for 1875 
 came round, the bondholders re-elected himself and his friends as the 
 directors, and " order reigned in "Warsaw," for the minority stockholders 
 were powerless and must meekly " submit to the inevitable." 
 
 Thus far as to TUden's conspiracies in corporation " rings " : For instances 
 of his treachery to individuals, see next chapter. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Since the first edition of this book was printed, a four-column article appeared 
 in the two following-mentioned papers; evidently written by Tilden as a defence 
 in regard to the "Terre Haute R. R." case. Subsequently an answer appeared, 
 "inspired" by the former President of the road, who has been "interviewed," as is 
 thus reported in the "N. Y. Commercial Advertiser," of April 8, 1876: — 
 
 " On the publication of the defence of the Purchasing Committee, which appeared in 
 the ' Cincinnati Commercial ' and the ' New York World,' a. reporter of the ' St. 
 Louis Globe-Democrat ' called again on Mr. Griswold, who was President of the Terre 
 Haute, Alton, and St. Louis Road at the time of Tilden's connection with it, who said : — 
 
 " The paper in question U tlie work of Gmemor "In 1859 Ipickedupthisroad— theTerreHaute, 
 
 Tilden, either written for him or photographed Alton and St. LouiB Railroad — a waif. Its men 
 from his words, and is a tissue of fallacious mis- had not been paid for five months. For protection 
 represfntaiions and pettifogging. It is no vin- against executions, its fuel was paid for as it was 
 dication. It admits the appropriation of the so- delivered upon the engines. I carried it alone for 
 cnriljes; says the Purchasing Committee owned six months, and indorsed for it personally in all, 
 them, and if they did not own them, argues that including renewals, to the amount of more than 
 they (especially himself) had earned them. He $500,000. I gave it all my time and all my abilities, 
 disdains to name the amount the committee real- and after four years I delivered it up worth 
 ized, hut from the records and reports before us, $6,000,000. Five thousand dollars a year, without 
 we may estimate not far from $400,000, inciting any commissions for indorsing, was all I was paid 
 the value, at the time, of the stocks, preferred and — all I demanded ; but, if there is any such merit 
 common, forming part of the surplus. in service as is asserted, and if Mr. Tilden or the 
 
 Purchasing Committee were entitled to steal 
 $200,000 or $"{00,000 of bonds, then I claim it was 
 my honest right to have stolen the railroad itself." 
 
 The reader will notice that Mr. Griswold charges Tilden with "perfidious attorney- 
 ship " as strongly as does the ' ' Pioneer." 
 
24 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A NORTH-WESTERN PIONEER. 
 
 In all the history of engineering skill and of successful daring, few, if 
 any instances, excel the feats of a young man but twenty-three j^ears of 
 age, who, on the 4th day of June, 1853, as agent for the contractors, 
 formally "broke ground" with the first shovelful of earth from the 
 greatest of Canals with locks (the Suez has no locks), at the outlet of the 
 greatest of Lakes ; and, on the 19th day of April, 1855, being in sole 
 charge of the work, with his own hands opened the sluice which first let 
 the waters flow into the finished prism and locks, as it remains to this 
 day. In another publication farther details may be found, but for the 
 present we propose to merge the name of this remarkable builder into that 
 indicating his general career in the then new North-west. We shall 
 designate him for the present simply as the "Pioneer," for in that 
 character he best appeals to our warmest regards and noblest sympathies. 
 
 After the completion of the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal, under his super- 
 vision, and its being thrown open to commerce in 1855, his decision was to 
 become a citizen of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, not doubting that 
 there, honest and well-directed enterprise would insure a rich reward. He 
 had chosen Marquette (see map) as his home, but had undertaken a public 
 work at Ontonogon (see map) , requiring his presence. In November of that 
 j'ear he was waiting there to take passage on the last steamer passing 
 eastward that season, but a storm interfered with its landing, and so he 
 found this means of egress cut off. There were then no wagon-roads 
 except to the adjacent mines, twenty miles or so distant. Only a winter 
 trail led to the Indian village of L'Ance, at the head of Kewenaw bay, and 
 one other directly south to the head-waters of the Menominee river, and 
 thence through Central "Wisconsin. He must, in any event, wait for snow 
 enough to enable him to use snow-shoes* While waiting thus, the idea 
 struck him that, as he had pioneered the great canal, he would also pioneer 
 the raiboad to those isolated shores. A noble ambition, but how difficult 
 of accomplishment ! The railway then nearest Lake Superior had only' 
 reached the lower end of Lake Winnebago, in Wisconsin (see map) , nearly 
 five hundred miles distant, with a trackless forest intervening. Neverthe- 
 less, the bold "Pioneer" determined to find out what pluck and per- 
 
Note. — The lines in sqtjakes on above map indicate the akea of public lands 
 
 GRANTED BY CONGKBSS, IN 1856, TO AID IN THE CONSTRUCTION OP RaILKOADS IN THE 
 
 States bokdeeing on Lake Superior, aggregating 6,901,577 acres, as the re- 
 sult OP THE efports op the "Pioneer Commissioner" (C. T. Harvey). Grants 
 to Iowa, and to Minnesota, in 1857, resulting prom same cause, comprising oveb 
 7,000,000 ACRES, are not shown. 
 
A NORTH-WESTERN PIONEER. 25 
 
 severance would accomplish. Accordingly, while thus detained at 
 Ontonogon, he drew up a series of Eesolutions on this subject, which 
 were adopted by a dozen or more of the residents of the town, at a 
 meeting held in a barber's shop ! Its projector was constituted their 
 delegate to Congress, but to go at his own risk and expense. 
 
 Winter, with its wished-for snow having come, with one young man as 
 companion* and two Canadian helpers, he set out (Dec. 3d, 1855) , upon 
 snow-shoes, for Kewenaw Bay, which divides the Copper from the Iron dis- 
 tricts. (See map.) 
 
 Three days of weary travel, "camping" each night in the woods, 
 brought them to the waters of the bay. There a small canoe-shaped boat 
 was purchased, and the party started in it down the coast. 
 
 While crossing the entrance of Huron bay a fearful storm arose. They 
 barely escaped destruction by the waves, to land on an uninhabited shore, 
 there to lie for three days exposed to a driving snow-storm that piled in 
 drifts about them and lined the shore with icebergs. (See first landing-place 
 on map.) 
 
 Theii- provisions giving out, they again, on the partial subsidence of the 
 storm, launched their little craft, and, committing themselves to the angry 
 surf, rowed along the shore where perpendicular cliffs repelled the surg- 
 ing surf with a roar which guided the boatmen on their course, in the dark- 
 ness of the ensuing night ! 
 
 As the long, gloomy night passed on, having miraculously escaped foun- 
 dering on a sunken reef, and benumbed by the fast-increasing cold, the 
 only alternative was, either to be submerged by the ice, fast accumulating on 
 the boat, or again seek the shore through the breakers — and in the dark! 
 
 The latter course was chosen, with full knowledge of the fearful hazard. 
 
 Rocky heights mainly lined the adjacent coast, and any attempt to land 
 seemed certain death, but Providence kindly guided the boat to a low 
 beach, the approach to which, in the utter darkness, they knew simply from 
 the softer surging of the surf, and, following this voice of Providence, they 
 were saved. t The Canadian " Voyageurs " were so nearly frozen that they 
 had to be carried to a fire, which it took the " Pioneer" and his companion 
 hours to kindle among the ice-laden flr trees, and on the ground covered 
 with several feet of snow. (See second landing-place, as indicated on 
 
 * The companion above referred to was route " from Marquette eastward, in a 
 
 E. C. Hungerford, Esq. , now residing at boat, in a previous December, wore frozen 
 
 Chester, Conn., and recently a member of to death by the lake-spray congealing 
 
 the Legislature of that State. on them. A report of a similar fate be- 
 
 t Dr. Houghton, the celebrated geologist, falling the " Pioneer " and his party was 
 
 was lost by the capsizing of his row-boat current for weeks at "L'Ance," where 
 
 in the same lake-surf on the coast of the he purchased his boat, and sailed thence 
 
 county named for him. Four men, " en before the storm came on. 
 
26 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 map.) On the following day the starving party reached Marquette, and 
 the supplies, shelter and rest they so much needed. 
 
 At Marquette, then a hamlet but now a city, a second meeting was 
 convened, and the "Pioneer's" commission to Congress was endorsed by 
 representatives of the iron interests, assembled in a log school-house, 
 dimly lighted with two or three tallow " dips." 
 
 After a brief rest, the " Pioneer" resumed his journey southward, in com- 
 pany with two citizens and two teams. 
 
 The people of the "settlement" (Marquette) turned out and broke a 
 snow-path to the lumber camps of the upper Escanaba river, and in two 
 days the mouth of the river was reached. Here the only path was on the 
 ice, and the only inns were lumber mills along the shore. While 
 pushing forward, opposite Oconto, the ice gave way, and the party 
 narrowly escaped destruction. The fifth day Green Bay city was 
 reached. Here a new meeting was called, and the " Pioneer's " commission 
 further endorsed. 
 
 Among the speakers on that occasion was a rising country lawyer, who 
 now holds a seat in the Senate of the United States, viz. : Hon. 
 T. O. Howe. Two days more brought the " Pioneer " to Fond-du-Lac, Wis., 
 and to raih-oad connections, late in the month of January, 1856. It wiU be 
 seen that it took nearly twenty days of actual travel to get that distance 
 from Ontonogon ! 
 
 The "Pioneer" halted at Milwaukee, to lay his business before the 
 manager of the only railway then leading North-west from that city, but 
 his ideas were simply treated with derision. 
 
 Chicago was the next point made, and there Mr. Ogden was " inter- 
 viewed," who expressed sympathy with the project, but offered no pecu- 
 niary assistance. From Chicago the indomitable "Pioneer" commissioner 
 wended his way to Washington, and as he entered the hotel there, his 
 fur coverings and snow-shoes strung to his baggage attracted a crowd of 
 curious observers. His first move was to call upon General Cass, then 
 Senator from Michigan, and who was his kinsman. His errand explained, 
 the senator advised him to waste no time upon the preposterous idea that 
 Congi-ess would grant any lands to aid a railroad into those hyperborean 
 regions. " Furthermore," said the veteran legislator, " the Southern mem- 
 bers have recently, in caucus, resolved to oppose any and all raih-oad 
 grants, and that ends the matter, at all events for this session." So" said 
 Senator Stewart from the same State, and so said all the Congressmen from 
 the North-west. The " Pioneer " commissioner resolved not to give up his 
 mission as hopeless without making a personal appeal to the Southern 
 members. Upon enquiry, he found that their recognized leader in the 
 
A NORTH-WESTERN PIONEER. 27 
 
 House was the Hon. Clement C. Clay, of Mobile, Alabama. Before calling 
 on him, however, the " Pioneer'' made a journey to New York, and pro- 
 cured a map to be lithographed, showing a railroad line between Mobile 
 and New Orleans (the two places of greatest importance on the Gulf of 
 Mexico), and Ontonogon and Marquette, the principal points on Lake 
 Superior, and of which the only part then authorized by Congress or 
 endowed by a Land Grant was the portion comprising the then-adopted line 
 of the " Illinois Central R. R.," in that State, and from Cairo to Mobile, 
 under the laws of " 1850," being the first " United States Railroad Land 
 Grant" ever made by act of Congress. 
 
 Armed with this map, the plucky " Pioneer " returned to Washington, 
 and called on Mr. Clay.* 
 
 The interview between the two strangers lasted for several hours, at the 
 close of which Mr. Clay promised to reassemble the caucus of Southern 
 members, and have an exception made in favor of endowing the new 
 routes, shown on the map before him ! 
 
 To realize what a great thing was accomplished by the "Pioneer," in 
 thus securing the co-operation of Mr. Clay and of the Southern members at 
 that time, the fact should be stated that up to that date no railroad in the 
 Northern States had received a grant from Congress since the Illinois Cen- 
 tral Railroad grant in 1860, which was coupled with a grant for a con- 
 necting line through three Southern States to Mobile, as mentioned. 
 
 Missouri obtained a raiboad grant in 1852, and again with Arkansas in 
 1853, both then being considered Southern States. ^ 
 
 In 1854 a railroad land grant was made to the Territory of Minnesota 
 on the 29th of June, only to be repealed on the 4th day of the following 
 August, during the same session of Congress. 
 
 * TMs session of Congress was the one the greatest of Lakes and the greatest of 
 
 made memorable by the contest in the Gulfs ; when it is completed, you rivet 
 
 election of Speaker, which, after more your end of the rail to the hills on the 
 
 than two months' delay, resulted in the shores of Mobile bay, and I will rivet the 
 
 choice of General Banks, the "Free-soil" northern end to the cliffs of Lake Supe- 
 
 candidate. Hot blood of both North and rior. Thus bound together, the Union 
 
 South was aroused. The " Pioneer " com- cannot be broken." Mr. Clay responded 
 
 missioner found it no easy matter to meet pleasantly to this diplomatic idea, and from 
 
 Mr. Clay, and avoid the exciting topic of that moment entered into the proposed 
 
 the hour. But the result proved him scheme with entire cordialty. The "Pio- 
 
 equal to the emergency. "Mr. Clay," neer " retired with a favorable opinion of 
 
 said he, " I hear secession proposed, and Mr. Clay as a high-toned Southern gentle- 
 
 a division of the Union spoken of, about man, not seeking merely private ends, but 
 
 town. I have a plan to prevent any such acting for the public interests solely in the 
 
 catastrophe. Encourage the building of subject before him. 
 this grand raUroad between the shores of 
 
28 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 No more such grants were considered possible to be sanctioned, until 
 tbe " Pioneer" obtained Mr. Clay's cordial support, as stated. 
 
 The Mobile route being endowed, the New Orleans or Jackson route was 
 adopted by Mr. Clay, and other routes in the South added to offset addi- 
 tional lines at the North which he intimated a willingness to support. 
 
 When this fact was reported to Senator Cass and others, they were 
 incredulous, but inquiry soon satisfied them of its truth. Immediatelj- the 
 North-western members held a conference and agreed that, as the ice was 
 now broken, they would add on more lines in the States of Iowa, Minnesota,* 
 Wisconsin and Michigan. They did so by coujiling Iowa and Alabama in 
 a grant, in May, 1856, and the others (except Minnesota) in June of that 
 year. Although vast grants were involved, still Mr. Clay made good his word 
 to the "Pioneer," by securing a solid vote of Southern members therefor. 
 
 Mr. Ogden had sent an agent in haste to represent his corporate inter- 
 ests ; others did the same, and the result was, that within six months after 
 that skeleton meeting at Ontonogon, and that " Pioneer's" commencement 
 of his perilous journey. Congress had endowed 1,800 miles of railroad 
 in those four North-western States, with 9,574,498 acres of land, beside 
 equally important gifts to various Southern States. The share of these 
 land grants accruing to the Chicago and North-western Eailroad Company 
 alone amounted to over 1,600,000 acres ! f 
 
 The original cause of this astonishing result was the perilous journey 
 and persistent energy of that young "Pioneer." I have the original 
 map which secured Mr. Clay's sympathy and support to that "pio- 
 neering" idea, which map, on a reduced scale, taken by the photo-litho- 
 graphic process, will be found opposite. 
 
 The young " Pioneer," then in his twenty-seventh year, did not pro- 
 claim, nor probably realize, the fact, that he had done more to promote the 
 growth of the great North-west than any other man of his time. His only 
 ambition was to be identified with that part of the endowed roads which 
 was to lead to Lake Superior, his adopted home. The reader will natu- 
 rally suppose that the author of this mighty impulse was the recipient 
 of princely reward. Mark the sequel ! 
 
 Ho found in Mr. Ogden a magnetic gentleman of plausible address, and 
 was only too happy to confide in, and defer to him, as the proper leader of 
 the new enterprise, with its munificent endowment. He had not met with 
 Tilden up to that time. That misfortune came at a lat^r date ! 
 
 It was agreed by Mr. Ogden and the " Pioneer" that the latter should 
 devote his time and energies mainly in supervising the local surveys, to 
 open a route to the great lake, under the corporate organization known as 
 
 -„t'^'lt''"''^'*^'''''"'"°J"'""'^°"'^™°'""™="3e (owing to local onuses) until the short SF<i5ioN op 
 t H,fhr„Pr,?''™^ "^51" ''^^^ four millions of kcres fvei-e donated, «»nnc ided ia above S-eaate 
 t Subsequently reduced by change of route to 064,330 acres, actually conveyed by It to thf ij! S. 
 
A NORTH-WESTERN PIONEER. 29 
 
 the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond Du Lac Railroad Company, of which Og- 
 den was President. 
 
 The "Pioneer" organized surveying parties in 1856-7, and was ap- 
 pointed Managing Director of the Lake Superior branches. He attended 
 the Legislature the following session, and obtained all desired legislation, 
 involving a prodigious amount of labor, management, and perseverance. In 
 the spring of 1857, when all this was done, and actual construction of the 
 road was expected to begin, behold, the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond Du 
 Lac Railroad Company, Wm. B. Ogden, President, had failed I The " Pio- 
 neer's " salary and expenses were unpaid ; also the drafts for expenses of 
 the surveys, ordered from New York, through him, came back protested, 
 and he had to borrow money on his own account to pay off employes, which 
 he had been officially instructed, by President Ogden, to engage ! 
 
 These outlays have never been returned to him! Not suspecting that 
 there was any dishonorable speculation concealed under the apparent catas- 
 trophe, he sympathized with Ogden as the greater loser, and said nothing 
 about his own losses, expecting that, when brighter days returned, they 
 should, as promised, be made up to him ! 
 
 After the failui-e of the Chicago, St, Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad 
 Company, in 1857, a couple of years intervened before Tilden and Ogden 
 had incubated their plans for "reorganization" under the name of the 
 " Chicago and North-Western Railroad Company," so as to retain its 
 control for themselves, while providing for its farther extension. 
 
 A full statement of the same is to be found in Stow's Railway Annual 
 for 1859, page 414. It is there announced that " Samuel J. Tilden " was 
 constituted " one of the two agents to attend to the sale of the road under 
 the two mortgages, and to bid in the same in behalf of the ' Subscribing 
 Bondholders.' " WUliam B. Ogden was the President, and Charles Butler, 
 Treasurer. Gross earnings for 1858, $414,143. In the Board of Directors, 
 in 1859, appears the name of the "Pioneer." The lands granted by 
 Congress for the first twenty miles along the route north from Fond du Lac, 
 Wis., were, in the company's report, estimated at a value of $1,800,000, 
 and certificates were to be issued therefor as a part payment of indebted- 
 ness for which Ogden had been an endorser ! 
 
 The reader will thus see, by remarkable and most conclusive proofs, 
 that the "Pioneer" was a recognized railroad associate of Tilden as far 
 back as 1858 and 1859, and that the results of his volunteer pioneering 
 efforts and uncompensated labor were even then of immense value, accord- 
 ing to Tilden's own official estimates, as published at that time. These 
 facts and the antecedent circumstances, as narrated thus far, will prepare 
 the reader to appreciate the nefarious meanness, covetousness, and perfidy, 
 
so SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 developed by the Wall-street legal spider, Samuel J. Tilden, in the events of 
 succeeding years. 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN PIONEERING. 
 
 After the failure of Tilden and Ogden's old railroad organization, in 
 1857, nothing was done about opening communication with Lake Superior 
 for five long years, during which time they disclaimed any intention of 
 farther eflforts to that end. 
 
 In 1861 the Legislature of Michigan passed an act declaring all the 
 land grants in that State, controlled by Tilden and Ogden, forfeited to the 
 State, and open for acquisition by any other corporations who could 
 construct the desired railroads. But no hona-fide applicants appeared. 
 Meantime Ogden proposed to the "Pioneer" to acquire control of the for- 
 feited land grants, and open up a passenger route to Lake Superior in any 
 way the "Pioneer" might deem practicable, pledging the Chicago and 
 North-Western Railway Company to aid and assist him so to do,* and also 
 to make a contract with him for steamboat connections for so long a term 
 of years that the profits of the latter portion of the term would make up 
 for the losses certain to accrue in the first years of the undertalring. 
 
 Ogden had his Board of Directors pass a resolution to that efiect, which 
 will be found in the companj^'s records under date of April 19th, 1861. 
 
 In consequence of this proposal, reduced to specific contract form, as 
 shown in the portion appended in the marginal foot-note, f the " Pioneer," 
 without sufficient capital, by sheer personal exertion, undertook to accom- 
 plish the object proposed. 
 
 His success was certainly astonishing. Notably, at the beginning of the 
 year 1861 there was no wagon road from the waters of Green Bay to those 
 of Lake Superior, and it required from the 13th to the 23d of March to 
 
 * This was made good only to the extent of about f 5,000. 
 
 t " This Memobanddm of Agreement, made Forwarding Company, and to have a contract in 
 
 thia 23a day of May, of 1862, by and between The due form issued to it in his stead, the Chicago and 
 
 Chicago and North- Western Railway Company, North - Western Railway Company consents 
 
 party of the hrst part, and the Lake Superior thereto, and the parties of the first and second 
 
 Forwarding Company, of Wisconsin, as the part above named hereby aeree to the following 
 
 Assignee of Charles T. Harvey, party of the basis of business connection:— . . . . 
 
 second part, IFiinessea.- (Here foUow the terms, covering several pages.) 
 
 "WaE^T:xs,Tlus party of the first part did, in i. -m,;. „ . ... .■ ■ , , ... 
 
 tmiformiUi with a resolutiinof tlie Board of DU , ' JJil ™"'™''' > to continue in force for the 
 
 rectors,under dateofthe Xm ofAprU, im/make Jf" SfJ? ''^T ^'"'"" ^w °^^^T P|;f'™'».™'* 
 
 on the mh 0/ May, mi, a ^pr<^pontion to ^^'^JJ'^^"^^ °^ renewal for another like term of 
 
 Charles T. Uaney to induce him to undertake '^ . . r ' /r,.«„„ "., .„,; i .v 'r,- "-j ." Vo ." 
 
 the establishment of a passenger and mail r»t™ ,S^f&w^„'''^*"°AJ''^J^4?'''f "' ",?'^.,^ .! 
 
 route to Lake Superior ma Green Bay, Wisconsin, "f'^i^ S'J?" 9^"?^? »"* North-Western Railway 
 
 by tchich the said party of the first part would be °r ,,?° t =?„?:' ■ 4 ° President and Secretary 
 
 benefited ; and offering in consideration therefor »: *^^*''''.'^",?T°,'^ Forwarding Companv of the 
 
 to him or to the Lake Superior Forwarding Com- lt° X. ^ j ' "'!. ™'y authorized thereto, have eel 
 
 pany, as his Assignee, certain exclusive privileges L,^'"^ . v ."v " '?"'!j */ '^'' °^ *^ ""* °°°'" 
 
 «nd benefUs contingent upon his prosecution of the P""'^' ™ "e thereto affixed, etc. 
 
 enterprise ; and whereas said Hakvey has " Chicago Ss North- Westeun Railway Co., 
 
 PROSECUTED HIS UNDERTAKING, AS coNTEM- " By P. H. Bmith, Acting Pret'l. 
 
 PLATED, and now desires to assign his interest "Lake Superior FnHw a nr.™/- r^ 
 
 and privileges in said route to the Lake Superior IVo^i^iSZY^la^gMi.' 
 
A NORTH-WESTERN PIONEER. 
 
 31 
 
 make the trip from Chicago to Marquette, and from April 23d to the 29th 
 to make the return trip. (See Note 1.) 
 
 It came to pass that dui^ing that season (1861) he constructed a good 
 road across the peninsula, introduced a line of four-horse stages, and had 
 a steamboat line running in connection on Green Bay, so that the time 
 from Chicago to Marquette, for passengers, by comfortable conveyance, and 
 also for the mails, was reduced to thirty-six hours. (See Note 2.) 
 
 The physical energy and endurance which he displayed at this time may 
 challenge comparison with that of any other early ' ' Pioneer " in the 
 North-west. (See Note 3.) 
 
 In 1862 the "Pioneer" made still greater progress towards his all-ab- 
 sorbing aim of the railroad to Lake Superior. 
 
 On the 21st of February, 1862, he personally filed the articles of a 
 new railroad corporation formed by him and styled the Peninsula Eailroad 
 Company of Michigan. Of the stock of the corporation enough was sub- 
 scribed for in the name of other persons to comply with the General 
 Incorporating Act of Michigan, and to constitute Directors ; but every 
 dollar of cask paid on the stocic, to cover the expenses of convening the State 
 officers^ and for surveys^ and other ovtlays, was paid solely by the ^^ Pioneer J^ 
 
 Note 1. The following is a diary of the trip of 
 Dr. J. J. St. Clan-, delegate from Lake Superior 
 JDistrict to the Chicago Rebublican Convention 
 (which nominated Lincoln /or hia first term), and 
 of the " Pioneer," who accompanied him. 
 
 *^ April 2i. 1660. — Left Marquette 6 A. M. ; 
 reached * East Branch ' of Escanaba river, to find 
 it swollen with spring freshet; crossed on an im- 
 provised raft, at great rislc of life ; went to lumber 
 camp of * West Branch ' to find it abandoned and 
 roof gone ; slept there over night. 
 
 *' Api'il 24. — "Walked twenty-five miles to 
 * Parm ' station ; slept on floor. 
 
 ^^ April 25. — Rose at 4 A. M. ; hired boat to 
 take us to mouth of river, letting it down over 
 falls with a rope; arrived at 10 A. M. 
 
 "ApHl 26.— Kougkt Mackinaw boat,and sailed for 
 Menominee river; reached Quimby's hotel 10 P. M. 
 
 " April 27. — I'ook steamer for CJ-reen Bay city. 
 
 •' April 28. — Hired team to take ns to Oshkoah. 
 
 " April 29. — Arrived at Chicago ! " 
 
 NOTF, 2. The new mail route was strenuously 
 opposed by E. B. Ward, the great proprietor of 
 steamboats on the Western lakes in those days. He 
 caused the postmaster at Detroit to write to the 
 Postmaster- General "that Harvey might as well 
 try to carry the Lake Superior mails to the moon, as 
 through the swamps of the Upper Peninsula, when 
 not frozen."' Learning when the contract mail was 
 to start from Green Bay north, he induced the De- 
 troit post-office (then the distributingposi-office for 
 the North-wedt) to withhold mails due in Minnesota 
 and Dacota, as well as on Lake Buporior, by other 
 routes for weeks previous, and send it all to Green 
 Bay, marked for Marquette, by the first trip ! 
 
 When the ''Pioneer' arrived at Green Bay, to 
 see tho mail start for the first time, he foiAd 
 some thirty large sacks, or a hundred bushels of 
 mail, wailing transportation! He sent it back by 
 teams to Oskosh, thence by rail to Chicago, assort- 
 
 ing it himself on the way, and thus fully dis- 
 closing the fraud, of 95 per cent being missent. 
 
 Meantime, clamorous telegrams and letters 
 poured in from the "Western points on the routes 
 lacking the misdirected mails. 
 
 Ward laid the blame on the new line; and at 
 one point on Lake Superior the "Pioneer" was 
 hung in effigy by the misinformed citizens ! 
 
 Going to Washington, he found two U. S. Sen- 
 ators at the P. O. Department in the interest of 
 Ward, urging a discontinuance of the mail route ! 
 
 The ''Pioneer" heard the statements, and then 
 related his experience with the hundred bushels 
 of mail matter for the new route 1 The senators 
 were indignant when they saw the plot thus ex- 
 posed, to which they were unwitting abettors. 
 They shook hands with the "Pioneer" and de- 
 parted, and the new mail service has remained 
 undisturbed to tiiis day 1 
 
 Note 3. During tliatyear the "Pioneer" left 
 the northern end of Green Bay, on horaebacky and 
 alone, at 6 /^ M.^ and arrived at Lake Superior 
 before 2 A. M. of a dark^ rainy nigTU, mitlwut 
 leaving his saddle^ or without having light enough 
 to distinguish the form of hia horse ! JJistancet 43 
 mileal 
 Another incident is worth preserving : — 
 The '• Pioneer " appeared, " solitary and alone," 
 at Quimby's hotel, at the mouth of the Menominee 
 river, late on Saturday night, April 20, 1861, 
 
 covered with mud from head to foot. He i informed 
 the landlord that he had swam his horse across a 
 creek, a mile or two distant, in the dark, and 
 found on the opposite side a morass, in which his 
 horse had stuck fasti He had, therefore, left the 
 animal there, but had waded through to dry land 
 himself, and made his way to shelter. Mr. 
 Quimby went out the next day and found the 
 horse in the midst of the quagmire, in the spot 
 where left by the rider I 
 
 This was the '• Pioneer's " last trip overland from 
 Lake Superior. 
 
32 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 Neither Tilden nor any of the Chicago and North- Western B. B. Company 
 contributed one cent! The stock was held by the " Pioneer," although, as 
 an act of policy and courtesy, he constituted the President, Vice-President 
 and Secretary of the Chicago and North- Western Railroad Company, Di- 
 rectors and Officers of the new organization. 
 
 On the 16th of April, 1862, he applied in person to the State authori- 
 ties to obtain the lapsed railroad land grant, as appears from the annexed 
 transcript from the State records. 
 
 lExtract from State Records.'] 
 "Detkoit, Michigan, April 16, 1862. 
 " A meeting of the Board of Control of 
 Eailroad Grants for the State of Michigan, 
 convened this day at 2 o'clock, P. M., at 
 the Michigan Exchange, upon the call of 
 Governor Blair. Present, — 
 " Hon. Omar D. Conger, Eon. Bovey K. 
 Clarke, Hon. Perley Bills, Hon. Charles 
 Tripp, Hon. Wilder D. Foster. 
 " The Governor being absent, Hon. 
 Omar D. Conger -was called to the chair. 
 The object of the meeting was stated to be 
 to hear the application of the Peninsula 
 
 Kailroad Company for the grant of lands 
 which this Board is authorized to confer 
 by Act No. 90, approved March 4th, 1861, 
 of the Session Laws of that year. 
 
 " Charles T. Hakvet, Esq., one of the 
 Directors of the Company, was present, 
 and after conference with the Board, the 
 meeting was, at his request, adjourned to 
 meet at the same place on 24th of April, 
 at 2 o'clock, P. M. 
 "Adjourned. 
 "Attest: 
 
 "WTLDEK D. FOSTER, 
 
 " Secretary." 
 
 At the adjourned meeting on the 24th of April, 1862, his request was 
 granted. 
 
 He proceeded thence to Washington, and secured the passage of a 
 joint resolution by Congress, extending the time of the grant, and 
 authorizing a change in its location. The first section of the resolution as 
 drafted b}' him is annexed.* The reader is asked to compare the route 
 prescribed by Congress with that adopted by Tilden, as shown on map 
 opposite page 25. 
 
 ♦UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 PUELTC RESOLUTION KO. 35. 
 
 JOINT RESOLUTIOIT relative to a certain grant 
 of lands for railroad purposes, made to the State 
 of Michigan, in eighteen hundred and tifiy-six. 
 
 Resolved, by the Senate and House of Represent- 
 atives of the United States of America, in Con- 
 gress assembled. That the words " WisconBin 
 State line " in the first section of an Act entitled 
 " An Act making n grant of lanife to the State of 
 Michigan, in alternate sections, to aid in the con- 
 struction of railroads in said State," approved 
 Jnne third, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, shall, 
 without forfeiture to said State, or its assigns, of 
 any rights or benefits under said act, or exemption 
 from any of the conditions or ohligations imposed 
 therchy, be construed to authorize the location of 
 the line of railroad provided for in said act,//'o?ft 
 Marquette on Lake Superior, to the Wisconsin 
 State line, upon any eligible route from the town- 
 ship of Marquette aforesaid, to a point on the 
 Wisconsin State line, near the mouth of the Me- 
 nomonee river, and touching at favorable points 
 
 on Green Bay, with a view of securing a railroad 
 available for military purposes from Green Bay 
 to the waters of Lake Superior. And the line of 
 railroad, as now located in pursuance of said act, 
 from Marquette to the Wisconsin 'State line, ac- 
 cording to the records of the General Land Office, 
 is hereby authorized to be changed, so as to con- 
 form to the route above indicated; wbich line, 
 when surveyed, and the maps and plans thereof 
 filed in the proper office, as required under said 
 act of June third, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, 
 shall confer the same rights upon and benefits to 
 the State of Michigan, and its assigns, in said new 
 line, as though the same had been originally located 
 under said act. 
 
 Approved July 5, 1862. 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washinoton, July 25, 1862. 
 The foregoing is a true copy of the original 
 resolution, No 35, on file in this Department. 
 (Signed) 
 
 "W. C. HUNTER, 
 Chiiif Clerk, 
 
A NORTH-WESTERN PIONEER. 33 
 
 The " Pioneer" next instituted a regular system of surveys under an engi- 
 ne.«^r of experience recommended by Amasa Stone, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 The result was the demonstration that the shortest possible line between 
 the waters of Green Bay and Lake Superior was the best route for a rail- 
 road, and that the ease of its grades, the long stretches of air-line, and the 
 small amount of grading and bridging were quite wonderful.* Besides this, 
 the route lay through the finest tract of timber lands, the best water pow- 
 ers, and agricultural territory, to be found in the Upper Peninsula. 
 
 When the celebrated firm of railroad builders. Stone & Witt, of Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, saw the final notes of the surveyed route as established by the 
 "Pioneer," they at once ofi'ered to undertake the building of the line in part- 
 nership with the " Pioneer," provided the good-will of the C. & N, W. Eail- 
 road Company was assured. The ' ' Pioneer " applied to Mr. Ogden, as Presi- 
 dent, for such assurance, according to previous pledges. 
 
 But Ogden was also suprised at the favorable nature of the survey, and, 
 while discouraging Stone & Witt, induced the "Pioneer" to go to New York 
 and confer with Samuel J. Tilden as a most able, experienced, and honora- 
 ble financier in railroad enterprises. 
 
 Thus, in the spring of 1863, the " Pioneer" met this subtle lawyer for 
 almost the first time on personal business. Tilden had then a great reputa- 
 tion as a successful railroad lawyer, and when he made proposals to act as 
 the "Pioneer's" attorney in the disposal and management of the enterprise, 
 it was quite natural that his specious offer should be accepted. 
 
 It came to pass, therefore, that, without a dollar of investment or of 
 risk, Samuel J. Tilden had this vast landed property and most promising 
 enterprise freely and promptly entrusted to him as a Trustee for the owner. 
 
 * EXTEACTS FKOM RePOKT OF SuKVET. CORVES. 
 
 13^ a TT a^TT.T.»r n v Twenty-six continuons miles in the Boutbem 
 
 xsr o. n.. DELDEN, I/. Ji. Section are upon an air-line. Tbe remainder of 
 
 OP DIBECT EODTE FROM LAKE SUPERIOR, AT SEC. *^^ "'"' '« ""^''y °° Straight UneS, with few and 
 
 6, T. 47, R. 24, TO STEAMBOAT DOCK AT GENA, ^asy connecting curvatures the hne being remark. 
 OS UTILE BAT DE HOC. "^''y favorable in these particulars. 
 
 NOTE. -For sake of calculation in reference to constrdctios work. 
 
 " cut off," the surveyed line will he divided into • _ _ 2^orth Section. 
 
 two sections. Ist. From Lalze Superior to Summit Q}"*"*!!'®^- , . , , . ^. Estimatea. 
 
 or point of divergence, and 2d, from Summit to 247,528 cubic yards earth excavation, @ 25c., $61,882 
 
 BavDeNoc 10,000 " " rocli " @$1 .. 10,000 
 
 „, ,. ^ ', . ,. . ,, ., 305 lineal feet trestle work, @ $8 2,920 
 
 The distance by air- line IS 45 miles. 330 t. .1 u n @ «6 1980 
 
 " " surveyed line .46.78 " Box culverts '.'.'.'.'.'.'. l,Zii 
 
 J^orth Section. — Distance 17.61 " 17 miles clearing and grubbing, @ $435, 7,395 
 
 ffrades. — Of level 1.72 
 
 10 to 20 feet to mile- . . 2.37 Average cost per mile, $4,855.8i. §35,512 
 
 20 to 40 " " . . 2.70 _ ,. „ ,. 
 
 40 to 62.81 " ...20.82 - ,... Smth Secium. 
 
 Qaantities. Estimatea. 
 
 'Note. — This Is the result of first surveyed 200.180 cubic yards earth, @ 25c $50,045 
 
 line. The engineer In charge reports that some ^'2?^,. " ,,".,™!'' ®?^"1V J'222 
 
 slight variations of the line will reduce all the 210 Imeal feet trestle work, @ $8, 1,680 
 
 grades to a maximum of forty feet per mile. « ' .' . " ®$o, 150 
 
 ■^ Box culverts 810 
 
 StnUh Section. — Distance 29.17 miles. 29 miles clearing and grubbing, 
 
 ffrodes. — Of level 7.81 miles. ig $435 12,615 
 
 Between level and 20 $66,300 
 
 feet 7.63 " Average cost per mile, $2,273. 
 
 Between 20 and 40 ft.. 9.89 " Average per mile on whole line, $3,245. 
 
 " 40 and 42 ft.. 8.34 " Total cost $151,812 
 
84 
 
 SAMUEL -J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 tilden's perfidious attoenetship. 
 
 The " Pioneer's " arrangements with Tilden were substantially as follow?: 
 that the land grant (nearly 750,000 acres) and organization of the Pen- 
 insula Railroad Company should be vested in Tilden as attorney, in trust, 
 by a transfer to him of its entire stock then held by the " Pioneer." 
 
 The expenses of the latter for surveys, etc., were to be refunded to him, 
 and an allowance made to him, for his promoting services, of such sum as 
 three referees should say was just and proper ; that this allowance he could, 
 at his option, apply in pajinent for a tenth interest in the stock, at the same 
 rate per share as Tilden or other cash subscribers took the same. 
 
 Tilden assured him that the railroad would be pushed to Lake Superior 
 with all possible speed. On this point self-interest seemed to preclude all 
 doubt. Naturally such assurances were deemed satisfactory. A bond was 
 taken of the Company to assure the payment of the award when made, 
 and a letter from Tilden to show the nature and condition of the trust, 
 substantially in form and tenor as follows : — 
 
 "Law Office S. J. Tildeit, 
 "No. 12 Wall street, May 12, 1863. 
 
 " Charles T. Hakvet, Esq. : — 
 
 "Dear Sir, — I propose to act as your 
 attorney in the matter of the Peninsula 
 Kallroad Company of Michigan, in receiv- 
 ing its stock from you and delivering the 
 same to capitalists ■whose subscriptions I 
 am to procure, upon the understanding and 
 agreement between us that I will see that 
 the foUovring stipulations for your benefit 
 are faithfully performed. 
 
 "First. That your disbursements for 
 expenses of surveys, Congressional and 
 Legislative attendance, etc., shall be re- 
 paid to you in cash forthwith (estimated at 
 about $8,000). 
 
 ' ' Second. That when your prior claims 
 for services and expenses, during the seven 
 years since you first promoted this land 
 grant, are adjusted by the referees named 
 in the bond, agreed to be delivered to you, 
 
 by the Company, to secure a maximum 
 sum of $50,000, the amount of their award, 
 shall be paid to you in money whenever 
 the lands can be sold, or, at your option, 
 may be applied in payment of a one-tenth 
 interest in the stock (which will be carried 
 for you until said award is settled), which 
 stock shall be furnished to you at the same 
 rate per share as allotted to myself and the 
 other original subscribers. 
 
 " Third. In matters connected with the 
 location and construction of the Lake 
 Superior section of said railroad your 
 interests are to be consulted and wishes 
 complied with as far as practicable. 
 
 " To obviate any hesitation on your part 
 because this memorandum may not be in 
 such form as to be legally binding on the 
 company, I will undertake to retain suf- 
 ficient control to guarantee its observance, 
 and hereby pledge to you my SACRED 
 HONOR for its faithful performance." 
 " (Signed) Samuel J. Tildek." 
 
-ATTORNEYSHIP. 35 
 
 Upon his faith in the signer's personal and professional integrity, the 
 "Pioneer," witli this written pledge, proceeded to legally transfer to him 
 the whole property, comprising an area of land nearly equal to the State of 
 Rhode Island ! /{ was the great business mistake of the " Pioneer's " life ! 
 
 Some lawyers thus honored with the confidence of their client, would 
 have been doubly scrupulous, to see every obligation fuUy carried out. 
 
 Not so with Tilden ! The moment he held the legal title, the confiding 
 owner was treated with indifference, and soon with open hostility ! The 
 referees named in the bond were Hon. E. Fairbanks, Governor of Vermont, 
 and Hon. William Kellj', of Rhinebeck, N. Y. (the latter subscribing for 
 a large interest in the Peninsula stock and bonds) . They chose as third 
 referee Hon. Erastus Corning, of Albany. These three eminent men met 
 at the St. Nicholas Hotel, on the 14th day of May, 1864, and heard a 
 statement of the " Pioneer's " services. They unanimously awarded him the 
 maximum sum named ($50,000), although Mr. Kelly was, as stated, an 
 adverse owner ! The fac-simile of the original award, with the signatures 
 of these gentlemen, is appended, in a photo-lithographic copy thereof: — 
 
 ^ ife/^.^-^^ ^^^^ ^^c^ ^ ^'^-^^-^ 
 
 h^y 04G), Ci-Oi/^ 
 
36 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 Before paying any of the award, and but a few months after its amount 
 was fixed, Tilden sold the Peninsula Railroad to the Chicago and North- 
 Western Railway Company, for a net cash profit of over $1,371,660, as 
 demonstrated by Mr. Parton.* 
 
 But when the "Pioneer" called for his quota he could get no satisfaction ! 
 At last he despatched a Chicago lawyer to New York, with the original agree- 
 ment as signed by Tilden, to obtain a settlement. Tilden, by bribing the 
 "Pioneer's" lawyer, gained possession of the "sacred honor " document, and 
 either kept, or destroyed it ! The aforesaid lawyer returned to Chicago with- 
 out it, stating that he had left it, atTilden's request, to "refresh his memory," 
 and that he would attend to it shortly ! That lawyer was soon found to 
 be retained as counsel for the Chicago and North-Western Raiboad ! 
 
 Tlie " Pioneer" never received one dollar on account of Tilden' s " smreA 
 honor" pledge; but the latter, according to well-known instincts of human 
 depravity, cordially hated the client he had thus defrauded out of 
 8187,166,* as the valuation of the reserved tenth interest. 
 
 In this transaction the "Pioneer" lost a fortune and gained only an 
 implacable and persistent enemy, as the sequel will demonstrate ! 
 
 In proof of the accuracy of this narrative we have most of the original 
 documents herein referred to, save only the original guarantee of Tilden's 
 " sacred honor" ; but the draft of the points of that, as made at the time, 
 is used to supply its absence. The Chicago lawyer has departed this life, 
 or his name would be given. 
 
 * Mr. Parton, in his Manual, page 48, preferred stock, which Mr. Og- 
 
 Bays : — den in his printed circular of the 
 
 " We will now review the consolidation same year say§ averaged a value 
 
 brought about by the 'King' of the of §90 a share. It cost them 
 
 Peninsula Railway. $25, 777,726 
 
 " They obtained a guarantee " '^^^^ ''^^° "^^^ » *e ^^'^<' 
 
 of $1,029,000 of bonds, issued at "^^^ $1,166,500 netting in eom- 
 
 seventy-five cents on the dollar, "'"^ =*°'^'^' ^^"^ ^^- Ogde" i^ 
 
 which Mr. Ogden reports were '^""^ '=^'='^1^'" l"""^^^ ^* «54, 
 
 worth par. There is a profit of |257,250 ?„f "5]^®™ *!^' ^'^'■'''"S *^^" 
 
 "They received, or had the 
 
 $29 profit per share, or 336,685 
 
 option of taking, $1,196,600 in $1,871,660 
 
-~— pa^^^y^ 
 
 |ai& gsii 
 
 
 gl!li lull 
 
 - og=2 " 
 Si|=S 5lS§9 3 
 
 
 
 S!*S 
 
 ic».'. 
 
 = 57 --fs" gsa'-ss 
 
 2S|i5i|:ii:* 
 Si|sss||s|| 
 
 , -S* =.« « S c Lj ■= s 2 
 
PURSUING HIS VICTIM. 39 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PURSUING HIS VICTIM. 
 
 Tilden's control of the Peninsula Railroad gave him almost unlimited 
 power in the repression or development of the various manufacturing and 
 mining points in the iron district. 
 
 The " Pioneer " was the largest owner in two L. S. Iron Furnaces, which 
 business he was the first to introduce in that section of the North-west. 
 
 One was located at the mines, and known as the Pioneer furnace. The 
 other, at the mouth of the Chocolet river, a few miles south-east from 
 Marquette, was known as the "Northern" Furnace, where also he had 
 projected the village of " Harvey." Tilden set at work all the agencies 
 he could devise to embarrass and ruin the " Pioneer" in these local busi- 
 ness enterprises ! 
 
 Notably was this the case respecting the " Pioneer Works," which the 
 " Pioneer," by individual loans and endorsements, had saved from collapse 
 during the trying years immediately succeeding 1857. 
 
 Tilden conceived the idea of buying up the control of the stock of that 
 company, and of absorbing the property without paying its debts. 
 
 The "Pioneer" discovered the plot through the annexed telegraphic 
 despatch, kindly placed in Ms hands bj' a friend : — 
 
 {For facsimile see opposite page.) 
 
 The signatures of a majority of the stockholders were at once secured 
 to an agreement, not to sell individually, unless all should sell together. 
 Tilden, by an agent, found that one firm of brokers in New York would 
 break their written contract, for a bribe of 500 per cent, over the market 
 value of the stock.* He paid the bribe at once, and by that means obtained 
 the control of the property ! Then, by tricky leases and " consolidations," 
 he placed the property in such position that judgments against the com- 
 pany could not be collected, and caused the "Pioneer" to lose his outstand- 
 ing loans to it ! Besides this there was an unsettled running account, with 
 a balance in the ' ' Pioneer's " favor. The latter was told to produce his 
 vouchers and leave them with the new managers for examination, and, if 
 correct, the same would be settled. He did so, by leaving the original 
 papers with C. J. Cauda, Treasurer, on a personal guaranty of their safe- 
 
 * The firm, well known In New York city, with no dishonorable intention on their part, he 
 claim that Tilden secured the sale by a trick, forcing it oyer their protest. 
 
40 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 keeping and return to him. But after waiting years for an adjustment, 
 he again wrote to Canda for a final answer and return of the papers. He 
 received the following letter in reply : — 
 
 CH<Rin<.e«ND«, 
 
 IRON CUFFS COMPANY. 
 
 
 
 Those papers have never been returned ! 
 
 Tilden never had leisure to attend to the matter ! He retains control of 
 the "Pioneer" Furnace property in 1876! Canda has been kept busy 
 by his master in sharp practices in other directions, as will shortly appear ! 
 
 The other, or " Northern" furnace interest, was, as before stated, at the 
 nearest feasible point on Lake Superior to be reached by a railroad across 
 
PURSUIlirG HIS VICTIM. 41 
 
 the peninsula from Green bay. The railroad was a necessity for the 
 success of the business there, and for the location as a business point. 
 
 Tilden, knowing this, enjoined the railroad from being built there, and 
 consequently from going to Lake Superior at all ! 
 
 Tilden's agent at Marquette caused a survey to be made, to find, if pos- 
 sible, a route for a branch railroad to Marquette without going through the 
 "Pioneer's" property. An entire season was occupied in survej-s, but 
 no practicable route could be found elsewhere than as laid out by the 
 " Pioneer" to, and through his vOlage. Consequently, in 1876, the great 
 Chicago & North Western Railway goes within eight miles of the greatest 
 lake in the world, but not to it, lest a man whom Tilden had marked for 
 ruin should be benefited thereby ! (See map opposite page 25.) 
 
 Experts have estimated that this malice of Tilden's cost the Chicago & 
 North-Western Railroad a million of dollars by the mislocation of its 
 route, and a million dollars more in the loss of profits in the first ten years 
 of its business in that district ! This is a low estimate. Pi-obably three 
 millions of dollars would be nearer the truth ! * 
 
 The "Pioneer" purchased wood, to feed the furnace last mentioned, 
 on some of the same lands he had entrusted to Tilden, expecting to pay 
 therefor from proceeds of his just claims before mentioned. The latter, evad- 
 ing the payment, forced a forfeiture of the timber privilege, and thereby had 
 the supreme satisfaction of causing over 10,000 cords of wood cut for such 
 use, to rot in worthless heaps, or be burnt by forest fires, rather than 
 the same should benefit his victim ! 
 
 Again, TUden led the " Pioneer" into a deceptive contract for building 
 a Branch road to Lake Superior, by which the latter lost over $60,000, 
 and the Branch remains unfinished to this daj' ! The " Pioneer," conclud- 
 ing in 1864-5 that he was being involved in too unequal a contest, 
 migrated from the home of his adoption. Tilden's subtlety seems to be 
 successful ; but is such result final ? Let us wait and see ! 
 
 It only remains to be stated that Tilden contrived or aided another plot, 
 by which the " Pioneer " was robbed of his contract privileges for starting 
 the steamboat line on Green Bay, without any allowance, or adjustment, of 
 his vested rights, as pledged by the contract shown on page 30. 
 
 Tilden afterwai-ds had the Chicago & North- Western Company pay 
 $50,000 in one sum to certain of his confederates for the very advantages thus 
 confiscated, showing Ms and their utter contempt for contract obligations. 
 
 It is presumed that without farther examples the reader is satisfied that 
 to Tilden belongs the title bestowed upon him by a business associate, 
 " Prince of Thieves ! " 
 
 ♦During the earlier years the connecting rail- hove been built up, had the short line been adopted 
 road to Lake Superior was of a different gauge. and facilities afforded. Tilden's mines and malice 
 An immense freight and passenger business could overshadowed such results. 
 
42 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKBd! 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " KING SPECtTLATIONS." 
 
 As soon as he had completed his Peninsula Railroad swindles, Tilden 
 turned his attention to Mining Ventures and Town Site arrangements. 
 Parton alludes to the subject as follows (page 41) : — 
 
 "The ' Ring ' finally, in May, '63, took the 
 control of the company and proceeded to 
 build the route across the peninsula. The 
 south end they located on land, to which 
 they obtained a third interest from the 
 original owners, aa a consideration for 
 such location. Out of this they will 
 make one or two hundred thousand dol- 
 lars ; but to build up that location every 
 ton of freight has to be conveyed about 
 ten miles farther alongside navigable waters 
 than was necessary, for which no more 
 compensation can accrue to the company 
 than on the shorter line. This ten miles 
 of road cost the company $400,000 extra. 
 
 "The next move of the 'Ring' was to 
 buy up or lease a large tract of land near 
 the celebrated iron mines of Marquette 
 County. They purchased about 38,000 
 acres of land for $500,000, which were 
 originally selected by Mr. Harvey for the 
 St. Mary's Canal Company. On this they 
 started a Corporation called the ' Iron 
 Cliffs Company,' with u, capital of a mil- 
 lion of dollars. Finding various second- 
 rate ledges of ore in it, they started into 
 mining, and named one incipient mine the 
 ' Tilden,' another the ' Ogden,' a third 
 the 'Dunlap,' etc., and giving out that 
 each of them was probably equal to the 
 Jackson and other well-established mines, 
 yielding great profits. They sold off stock 
 as high as 100 per cent, premium, it is 
 said, and thus had a margin of several 
 hundred thousand dollars in that specula- 
 tion. The Peninsula Railway was at once 
 headed for that tract of land, and when it 
 
 came to a point of divergence from the 
 route towards the Jackson and other of 
 the great producing mines, a branch was 
 made through the tract of land purchased, 
 to the 'Tilden,' the 'Dunlap' and the 
 ' Ogden ' mines, a distance of some six 
 miles. In such haste were the 'Ring' to 
 get to their own mines, that they ordered 
 this branch built in the dead of winter, 
 with snow five feet deep. The cost was 
 fearful. Often 300 men were shovelling 
 snow exclusively for days and weeks to- 
 gether, at a pay of $3.00 each per diem. 
 The track was laid down and shipments 
 were ordered from the large piles of ore, 
 also taken out in winter and placed conven- 
 ient for shipping. When shipments were 
 made it was discovered that the ore was 
 not of a quality which would warrant its 
 use, all the mines were abandoned and the 
 ' branch ' has yet to earn its first dollar, 
 probably, to the railway company. Mr. 
 Tilden then leased another mine beyond 
 the Jackson mine, and the road was pushed 
 through to that. Tliis turned out better, 
 but the unfortunate 'Iron Cliffs Com- 
 pany,' whose stock was by that time be- 
 low par, does not, it is said, get the benefit 
 of that ; but it is an individual affair of 
 Mr. Tilden's, and what is made on that he 
 alone or the ' Ring ' has the right to. At 
 one time it was proposed as the basis of a 
 Stock Company on a valuation of the lease^ 
 of $100,000. Whether this has been done 
 or not, the author'does not know, but it is 
 known as the 'New York Company' 
 mine, and will probably pay 30 to §50,000 
 
"ring speculations." 
 
 43 
 
 a, year or more to Tilden or to his 
 order. 
 
 " Here is a specimen of some of the laud- 
 atory articles which appeared in the news- 
 papers about the time the ' Ring ' was 
 selling out their stock. Correspondents 
 from New York and Chicago were sent on 
 for the express purpose of ' blowing the 
 bubbles.' 
 
 " Tins item is taken from a New York 
 paper as copied from a Western ditto — 
 September, 1864. 
 
 " ' HEW COMPANIES IN THE MABQTJETTE 
 IKON OKE EEGION. 
 
 " ' Iron Cliffs Mining Company. — We 
 have recently visited several sections of 
 the property of this company, and have 
 been much interested in viewing the dif- 
 ferent deposits of iron ore. They far sur- 
 pass our previous ideas of them. On the 
 S. W. quarter of Section 13, T. 47, E. 
 27, is a cliff where the ore was discovered 
 only ten days ago, which, from calcula- 
 tions made on it after sinking test pits in 
 different parts, cannot contain, above the 
 surface, less than two and a quarter mil- 
 lions of tons of ore, and pronounced by a 
 gentleman present, for many years a prac- 
 tical miner, of the best quality. It could 
 not be more favorably situated for mining, 
 as at the foot of the cliff is a, lake into 
 which can be thrown all the waste of the 
 mine. It has been determined to call this 
 the Ogden Mine, and the lake, Ogden 
 Lake — a deserved compliment to the Hon. 
 Wm. B. Ogden, who has been so instru- 
 mental in securing for us the Peninsula 
 Eailroad, which will be of such immense 
 service in developing the resources of our 
 Country. As he is one of the principal 
 parties in the Iron Cliffs Company, he 
 
 may yet be designated as the Iron King, 
 as well as the " Eailroad King." Work 
 will be commenced immediately on this 
 mine, and there is no reason why, with 
 proper effort, 100,000 tons of ore cannot 
 be taken from it next year. 
 
 " ' Crossing to Section 26, we came to 
 another immense bed of ore. 
 
 " ' We next visited the Tilden mine, on 
 the S. E. quarter of Section 23 . This is an- 
 other large bed of ore, of excellent quality, 
 and was the mine which, to a great extent, 
 induced the purchase of the property. 
 The more it has been developed the richer 
 it has proved in extent and character of 
 the ore. It has taken its name from Hon. 
 Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, who was 
 the original purchaser of the property and 
 formerly of the company. From such a 
 fraternity nothing but success could be 
 expected for the Iron Cliffs Company. 
 We rejoice in its flattering prospects, be- 
 cause the prosperity of the company will 
 add so materially to that of the country.' " 
 
 Parton coBtinues his remarks as 
 follows : — 
 
 ' ' Meantime the Peninsula Eailroad Com- 
 pany was building ore docks, on the ' Eing's ' 
 location, at a cost of some $250,000, to 
 ship ore from Mr. Tilden's mine. The 
 railway was built through, enabling it to 
 run cars from Escanaba (the name of the 
 lower terminus, the title to a third of which 
 is in the name of Perry H. Smith) to the 
 Tilden mine on the 'branch,' and to the 
 mine leased by Tilden on the other fork, 
 during the winter and spring of 1864-5. 
 During that year business was done by the 
 railway company between three termini, 
 all of which the ' Eing ' had a side inter- 
 est in." 
 
 Ten years have elapsed since Parton wrote these quotations. The 
 situation is still essentially the same. 
 
 Tilden is yet Trustee. The Chicago and North-Western Railroad yet 
 avoids Lake Superior hy the distance of eight miles ! The Peninsula division 
 now terminates in three forks on Tilden's '■'■Ring " lands. (See map.) 
 
 •The connection has been made between Green bay and Escanaba by 
 rail, as shown on map. 
 
44 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 If it be asked, Why the bend in the new link between Menominee and 
 Eseanoba? (see map) the answer is, "Thereby hangs a narrative" too 
 long to relate here. 
 
 COMMUNICATION FROM THE " NORTH-WESTERN PIONEEE. 
 
 The manuscript of the foregoing chapters has been submitted to the 
 inspection of the " North- Western Pioneer" himself, and, in returning the 
 same, he wrote a letter, extracts from which, by permission, are appended 
 as follows : — 
 
 "I hare looked over the notes made 
 from the documents I lent you, and do not 
 see much to alter in your editor's arrange- 
 ment of the same. 
 
 " Of course, in referring to transactions 
 extending over so long a space of time, 
 many details must be left out. I will add, 
 however, one or two incidents. 
 
 " While holding Mr. Tilden's ' sacred 
 honor ' document and the bond mentioned, 
 I devoted one winter mainly in endeavor- 
 ing to obtain a settlement. 
 
 " When I called at his office at first, he 
 would tell me to call again the following 
 week, when he 'would have time to see 
 me.' After a while his clerk would inform 
 me that he was ' not in ' (when, in fact, I 
 could hear his voice in the next room), or 
 that he was ' engaged,' until I was too 
 vexed and indignant to call any more. I 
 then arranged with my friend, S. C, Esq., 
 of Seventeenth street, N. Y., to interview 
 him for me. By actual count, he called at 
 Tilden's office over tliirty times, with no 
 better success than myself and gave up in 
 disgust ! 
 
 Among those who perpetrate frauds from natural affinity (sometimes 
 termed " kleptomania" when on a smaller scale) when and where honesty 
 would serve a better purpose, Samuel J. Tilden's name should be enrolled 
 as affording a fully developed or generic example ! 
 
 " Subsequently I employed the Chicago 
 lawyer, with the result as you have 
 stated. 
 
 ' ' In the art of torturing any one un- 
 fortunately in his power, Samuel J. Tilden 
 is without an equal ! He adroitly led me 
 into obligations to third parties on the 
 assumption that he would fulfil his ovm or 
 his associates' assurances, and then he 
 would sneak off, apparently to enjoy my 
 inability to fulfil, my undertakings with 
 others, which inability was caused by his 
 own delinquencies ; but he always con- 
 trived to divest himself of legal liability ! 
 
 "After I had received the outrageous 
 treatment at his oflSce alluded to, I, of 
 course, stayed away altogether. Judge of 
 my surprise when, years after, he crossed 
 Broadway, proffered me his hand, and 
 greeted me as an old friend ! I had, how- 
 ever, sufiScient self-respect to decline the 
 renewal of his acquaintance, but the incon- 
 gruity of his acts struck me with amaze- 
 ment. He was and is an enigma to 
 me." 
 
A DANGEROUS DEMQAOaXJE! 45 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A DANGEEODS DEMAGOGUE ! 
 
 ScRiPTUEE asserts that a stream cannot be more pure than its fountain ; 
 nor good fruit be found on a bad tree. 
 
 Having demonstrated Tilden's private life and hidden sources of power 
 to be corrupt to the last degree, it cannot be expected that he will be found 
 otherwise in his political influence and associations. Not only does the 
 rule hold good in his case, but his example and history lend it startling 
 effect. The man who can plan robberies in corporations, placing men in 
 the office of trustees simply to betray their trust, and who can himself 
 prostitute the confidential position of attorney to compass the ruin of his 
 client, might be expected to have no scruples as to the use of means to 
 gratify his political ambition and personal ends. 
 
 Tilden, in pursuance of this, his settled rule of action, turns out to be a 
 most dangerous enemy to popular liberty and rights, and will do more per- 
 manent injury in lowering the standard of action for public men in the 
 " Empire State," than a hundred patriotic leaders could overcome with 
 good examples. 
 
 The danger in all republics lies mainly in the acquisition of power by 
 demagogues and "hypocritical reformers," and their concentration of the 
 degrading and dangerous elements of society to accomplish their unscrupu- 
 lous ends. 
 
 Tilden combines these qualities of dangerous leadership in an unusual 
 degree, and his success thus far should make every patriot shudder, not so 
 much with fear for the present as for the future. 
 
 Tilden's political career may be considered as commencing in 1855, when 
 he came before the electors of the State as a candidate for its Attorneyship. 
 
 He was then affiliated with a faction of the Democratic party known as 
 the Soft or Van Buren wing. The most prominent thing which he did was 
 to publish a letter addressed to a firm of brewers in Alban}', taking the 
 most ultra ground against any " sumptuary laws," as he termed all legisla- 
 tion to restrict the sale of intoxicating liquors. A plank in the platform 
 of his fragmentary party also affirmed this same doctrine. By this stroke 
 of cunning policy, Tilden could ever after count on the political and pecu- 
 
46 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 niary aid of tlie liquor-dealers ; and when he came up for the governor- 
 ship, he had this powerful interest fully o,rganized and pledged to his sup- 
 port ! He could afford at least one defeat to accomplish this object ! 
 
 The bolt from the old Democratic party, of which he was one of the 
 leaders, resulted in the defeat of both wings, as was doubtless expected by 
 him ; and the " Know-nothing," or " Native American," party won the vic- 
 tory as the consequence of the division engineered by him. 
 
 His next appearance in the political arena was as the Chairman of the 
 Committee on Eesolutions in the Chicago National Democratic Convention 
 in 1864, when and where he drafted and secured the adoption of the follow- 
 ing resolution : — 
 
 " Resolved, That this Convention does 
 explicitly declare, as the sense of the 
 American people, that, after four years of 
 failure to restore the Union by experiment 
 of war, during which, under the pretence 
 of a military necessity, or war power 
 higher than the Constitution, the Consti- 
 tution itself has been disregarded in every 
 part, and public liberty and private right 
 alike trodden down, and the material pros- 
 
 perity of the country essentially impaired, 
 — justice, humanity, liberty, and the pub- 
 lic welfare demand that IMMEDIATE 
 EFFORTS BE MADE FOE A CESSA- 
 TION OF HOSTILITIES, with a view 
 to an ultimate convention of the States, or 
 other peaceable means, to the end that at 
 the earliest practicable moment, peace may 
 be restored on the basis of the Federal 
 States." 
 
 Notably in this connection a very curious coincidence occurred. In 
 March of that year the Confederate Government had voted a Secret Service 
 Fund of $3,000,000 in gold, to be used in creating a "peace sentiment" at 
 the North. The money was placed at the disposal of " President" Davis, 
 who sent agents via Nassau and Halifax to Canada, to disburse the money 
 among politicians in the Northern States, " where it would do the most 
 good," to use the expression of one of Tilden's clients. 
 
 Who received the money? Mr. Stewart, of Virginia, who relates the 
 circumstances to the extent quoted, does not say.* One thing is certain, 
 
 * " From the Baltimore • Sun-* 
 "■ Southern Wak Seckets Revealed. 
 H. H. Stuart and J. N. Opie, of Augusta 
 County, Virginia, are rival candidates for 
 the Legislature of that State, and made 
 speeches at a political meeting held in 
 Staunton. Among some personal remi- 
 niscences related by Mr. Stuart in his 
 speech was one connected with the peace 
 negotiations of the late Confederacy. He 
 read a note from the Hon. Judah P. Ben- 
 jamin, dated March 25, 1864, asking him 
 to come to Richmond for an interview 
 with President Davis. He went, and was 
 
 informed by President Davis that the Con- 
 federate Congress had voted a secret ser- 
 vice fund of $3,000,000 in gold, to be used 
 in creating a peace sentiment at the North. 
 After looking over the whole country, the 
 Presidenthad selected Mr. Stuart as the 
 man for the mission. He was to sail for 
 Nassau, and thence for Halifax, and there, 
 from the border of Canada, operate on 
 prominent men. The fund of $3,000,000 
 was to be at his absolute disposal, and he 
 was not to be required to furnish vouchers 
 for its disbursement." 
 
A DANGEEOUS DEMAGOGUE! 47 
 
 Tilden, with his known hostility to loyal demonstrations at the North,* and 
 ■with his loose personal integrity, would be one of the first men to he 
 approached by the emissaries of Davis. Just when, and where, and how, 
 they did so, may never be known, nor the sum paid, if any. But at any 
 rate, Tilden was active and effective enough to have earned a large fee. 
 
 Could any of the paid emissaries of Jeff. Davis have been more faithful 
 to their master? 
 
 Certain circumstances indicate that this resolution was, in substance 
 at least, " approved by Davis before it was introduced by Tilden." 
 
 Parton, in his " Manual," takes the ground that the introduction of this 
 resolution was a master stroke of policy on Tilden's part to obtain further 
 influence for the future. He says, page 11 : — 
 
 " The name of Tilden will ever live as chairman of that committee will live to 
 
 the author of this and kindred yearnings see the day when his leadership will be 
 
 for peat:e. Whenever the Southern States ackowledged from Eichmond to New Or- 
 
 are restored into full political power, this leans as it is now supreme upon Manhattan 
 
 resolution will alone be a sufficient passport Island." 
 to their afFections, and we predict that the 
 
 If Tilden was as astute as Parton represented him to be ten years ago, 
 we can readily see peculiar grounds for his hopes for a nomination and 
 election to the Residency in 1876, from the alliance then made with the 
 Southern secession leaders. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that the person who was at that time private 
 secretary of Jefferson Davis, at Richmond, is now the private secretary of 
 Tilden's Mayor of New York. This subordinate's functions are practically 
 to carry out Tilden's plans in that city, and to canvass the South in 
 Tilden's presidential interests. The following is interesting in this con- 
 , nection : — 
 
 "A debate in Congress on January 14, the condition of this Andersonville stock- 
 
 1S7C, developed the fact that all the inhu- ade, the dead line, etc. He then referred 
 
 man orders respecting Union prisoners in to the report made by Colonel Chandler, 
 
 Southern prisons originated with or passed who had been detailed to inspect the An- 
 
 through the hands of Colonel Harrison, dersonville prison, and which was by 
 
 formerly Jefferson Davis's private secre- Adjutant-General Cooper submitted to the 
 
 tary, but now in the same position for Secretary of War, with the remark that 
 
 Mayor Wickham of New York ! the condition of that prison was a reproach 
 
 to the Confederacy, so that the knowledge 
 
 "exteacts from speech of me. gaefield. of its horrors had thus been brought home 
 
 "Mr. Garfield then quoted some of the to the political family of Jefferson Davis. 
 
 testimony given on the Wirz trial, as to When the Commanding General of the 
 
 * He refused in 1861 to join in the call ment. To his friend, Mr. Sloan, who 
 for the famous "Union Square meeting," called to urge him, he stated that he felt 
 called to express the sentiments of his city no sympathy with its objeot. (See Cam- 
 in favor of sustaining the Federal Govern- paign Document of 1874.) 
 
48 SAMUEL J. TILDKN UNMASKED ! 
 
 army subsequently removed Winder, Davis Major-General Winder, within his awful 
 
 revoked the order of removal. The pit of death, from April, 1864, to April, 
 
 British army had lost in ten of the great 1865, pitched into the awful trench the 
 
 battles of the Napoleonic war, including dead bodies of his prisoners to the number 
 
 Waterloo, not quite 13,000 men ; but this of 12,64:4 ! " 
 
 The following additional light on the subject is found in extracts from 
 a speech of ex-speaker Blaine, in the same Congressional debate. 
 
 "Mr. Blaine said: If Jefierson Davis, that with the Davis Executive Government 
 
 the moment that the crimes of Anderson- there was no honor whatever. Our men 
 
 ville were brought to his attention, had ar- were taken in full health and strength. 
 
 raigned the perpetrators of them at once They came back wasted and worn skele- 
 
 and issued an order that no guilty man tons. 
 
 should escape, then there would be some " Mr. Blaine then referred to the mili- ■ 
 
 little consistency in the gentleman's posi- tary order issued by General Winder, 
 
 tjon. I may mention, on the authority to open a fire of grape upon the pris- 
 
 of General Grant, in connection with oners at Andersonville if the Union 
 
 the exchange of prisoners, that one troops came within seven miles. Mr. 
 
 trouble in relation to the exchange of Blaine then read a letter to Colonel 
 
 prisoners was that the Davis Govern- Myers, directing him, if the exigencies 
 
 ment observed no honor in the mat- required the use of trains for the trans- 
 
 ter. General Grant was careful to say portation of corn, to pay no attention to 
 
 that, for Lee and the two Johnstons and the Yankee prisoners, as it was better to 
 
 Pemberton and the great Confederate let them starve than for their soldiers to 
 
 Generals, they had been honor itself, but suffer." 
 
 The writer of that letter, either as original or under dictation, was 
 undoubtedly Colonel Burton N. Harrison, then of Richmond, but now of 
 New York ! He is said to have influence and power in the direction of this 
 Metropolitan Government second only to Tilden himself! — ^^ Birds of a 
 feather flock together!" 
 
 The sum of Tilden's political labors from 1855 to, and including, 1864, 
 was, therefore, to secure the liquor and secession elements of political power. 
 That the first involved the defeat of the Democratic party in his State, and 
 the latter the possible disruption of this Nation were secondary considera- 
 tions in the mind of this shipper of political dynamite explosives 1 
 
{The title to this engraving as published by an un-Tildenized '•'■ pictorial'* in 
 1875, should he ^' Birds of a feather flock together r^-~Ej>.) 
 
 THE LOST CAUSE RESTORED or Crumbs of Comfort for the Confederates. 
 
 Mavm Wicerau (io Jefleraon Davis)—/ an rf-.'/fA/fi/ w itryari in Nm Vert. Mr. Davit. You ui I funt taken mrr afymr fnmdi. fitie it Mr. Btrtqf ^ 
 ffarritsn^-vhti.vMJjQarPrwsUSecreiary — I halt affaiiiUd hia at mj Pi-i-.ale Stirttarj ' Stwrrel olSeM Kho handietl seme o/jiour S-SOSOOO^ 
 T^ceiFtindt -4UC ia.effm-hrre. -^ And rune, Mr. Dit is, eanlyau peintlv miiiKi .'itmrnti. C'neral Forrtsl, lie //ere of Forf PlHmc, hfr RahrriTTadntit. 
 cr amj etier of j»»r Siiinguiihrd tufferien, lo time lo Nenj York and ncref'l nffice / .im ii: foTcr p/ //ome Rule, of eiiirse, hut — €9tifidtiUiall\, Mr Dm:ii 
 iiruvea jcu aitJ /--ttv hate na gcntltmtn in ToMmanj //«/! tafabic offilliirthut fsi'M'itta'kr Ofmroral ef Qover/ior Tilden . 
 
 Mb. jEFTERSns Davis. — Mr. Wiekham, you BTirpmvtr mi. Vcu art very kind to at and my peapii. / ihail icKumnieale m/A Stinmtl, Tacmbi, /•*mSI 
 and tlif riit and let rou kiioui tht .rsult 
 
tildbn's kailboad combinations. 
 
 49 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TILDEN S EAILEOAD COMBIKATIONS. 
 
 Ttlden's ."toadyism" to persons in power is one of his well-known 
 characteristics.* He employed this faculty on Dean Richmond, President 
 of the New York Central Railroad, and Chairman of the Democratic State 
 Central Committee, as a prelude to obtaining for himself Dean's place in 
 that important organization. Richmond finally ended his days at Tilden's 
 house, and the latter, without delay, secured his political shoes, while 
 furnishing the plumes to wave over the hearse, by securing the adoption of 
 the following resolutions at the next meeting of the State Convention : — 
 
 " TOereas, Dean Richmond, an acknowl- 
 edged leader of his party, and an eminent 
 and patriotic citizen, has, hy the mysterious 
 providence of God, been suddenly removed 
 from among us, and it is fit that suitable 
 expression be made of our grief for his loss 
 and respect for his character ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That the members of this Con- 
 rention, and the great party which it rep- 
 resents, deeply and sincerely mourn the 
 death of Dean Richmond, who seemed 
 the personal friend of each of them, and 
 that they will cherish a grateful remem- 
 brance of his life, character and services." 
 
 Parton gives extracts of Tilden's speech on that occasion, and with 
 quiet irony appends some anecdotes of the man whom Tllden would have 
 supported for President in preference to Lincoln, as follows : — 
 
 ' ADDKKSS OF SAMUEL J. TILDKN. 
 
 " Mr. Samuel J. Tilden, having been re- 
 quested to address the convention, said : — 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Con- 
 vention, — I am entirely taken by surprise 
 at the invitation you have just given me, 
 but it is to speak on a topic that is so near 
 to your hearts, and to my heart, I know 
 that when I speak to you every word that 
 I utter will be responded to by an answer- 
 ing emotion in your bosoms. Connected, 
 
 more than any other individual in the 
 organization and administration of a 
 great party, composed of near 4,000,000 
 American citizens — it is rare, I say, that 
 the death of an individual so unobtrusive 
 in his life, so quiet in his demeanor, could 
 have sunk the people of an entire State 
 under a sense of grief and calamity almost 
 as great as if the first magistrate of the 
 nation had died. I remember very well 
 
 * A writer in tlie " New York Herald," in 
 1874, says, of Tilden : "He is vain and 
 ambitious. He hated Tammany because 
 it ignored his claims to political promotion, 
 but he courted afld flattered its chiefs. 
 In the winter before the Tammany explo- 
 
 sion Mr. Tilden used to call on Governor 
 Hofiman at Albany and after deferring to 
 the Tammany Governor in the most suave 
 manner, he would linger and shake bands 
 with him three or four times before leaving." 
 
50 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 in 1864, when the nation was looking for party. It is my firm conviction, except 
 «, candidate for the higliest office in its for that refusal, his nomination was en- 
 gift, public opinion tended very generally tirely possible and his election extremely 
 to this gentleman, with the concurrence probable." 
 of a large fragment of the Eepublican 
 
 Tilden, in intimating that the death of Richmond caused as deep and 
 general grief as would the death of President Grant, may have expressed 
 his private sentiments, but what says the reader as to the general 
 application?* 
 
 Parton also quotes from an editorial of J. Gordon Bennett, in the " New 
 
 York Herald," published at that time, thus : — 
 
 . . . . "The successors of Dean .... " With three times as many 
 
 Richmond must have an equal talent for great lines as Dean Richmond possessed 
 
 railroads and for politics, and equal the Commodore could be three times as 
 
 skill in engineering locofocos and locomo- great a man in politics." 
 tives. 
 
 On this Parton remarks : — 
 
 "Here we have the testimony of the 
 Veteran Editor of the United States, that 
 the postulate sought to be elucidated in 
 this Manual must be adopted as an axiom 
 in American politics thus : He who would 
 
 PKE-EMINENTLT POSSESS POLITICAL POWEK 
 MUST PKOPORTIONAELT OOHTEOL EaIL- 
 WAT8. 
 
 " The ' Herald,' reasoning on this rule, 
 names Vanderbilt ; but although undoubt- 
 
 edly rich he only positively controls the 
 Hudson and Harlem Bailroad lines at the 
 present time, which are but little over 
 300 miles in aggregate length. Even 
 should the New Tork Central be added, 
 which is less than 400 miles (parallel 
 branches not being counted), in which it is 
 claimed he has a strong influence, it 
 altogether would make only about 700 
 miles. S. J. Tilden, as will be herein- 
 
 * The following anecdotes are taken from 
 the " New York Herald's " obituary notice 
 of Dean Kichmond : — 
 
 'His (Dean Richmond's) bad habit of 
 swearing to excess was one of the most 
 notable of his characteristics, and much of 
 his offensiveness to others resulted from it. 
 A gentleman had expressed his surprise 
 that a railroad manager who travelled so 
 much by railroad had never been present 
 at any great railroad accident. 
 
 "'Never have,' said Eichmond, 'but 
 expect to be some time. My wife, Mrs. 
 Richmond, said to me only the other day, 
 says she, " Mr. Richmond, I expect some 
 
 time or another in your d d long trips 
 
 you'll get your 6— d d d brains knocked 
 
 out by one of these infernal locomotives." 
 
 " The gentleman's astonishment was only 
 dispelled by further experiences in hearing 
 Mr. Eichmond swear. 
 
 "A Eev. Mr. Benedict had been arrested 
 by Mr. Stanton and kept some months in 
 confinement for preaching a sermon on the 
 text, 'Blessed are the peacemakers;' a 
 committee conferring with Mr. Eichmond 
 alluded to this affair, and asked what effect 
 it would have in Benedict's part of the 
 State. 
 
 "'That will help, that will help,' he 
 answered. 'I met Mr. Benedict just 
 after his release, and he told me, said he, 
 " Mr. Eichmond, I'm going back to Erie, 
 by G — d, sir, and I intend to hire a horse 
 
 and wagon and go over every d d inch 
 
 of the soil till I rouse every G — d d d 
 
 scoundrel in the county to vote." 
 
 " ' You don't mean to say, Mr. Rich- 
 mond,' said a committee-man, ' that the 
 Eev. Mr. Benedict swore in that manner ? ' 
 
 " ' No, no,' said Eichmond, apologeti- 
 cally; ' but by G— d, he meant it.' " 
 
tildbn's eailroad combinations. 51 
 
 after shown, controls, through one ' Ring ' some 300 miles, in same way. By means 
 
 of whicli he is the ' Grand Legalizer,' of these avenues of income and the per- 
 
 over 1,100 miles of railway from Chicago fection of his ring organization, he could 
 
 branching in all directions West, while command a million where the lamented 
 
 he has a great influence in the line to Richmond could not divert one bundrfed 
 
 Pittsburg of 500 miles, of which he is a thousand for ' contingent expenses.' " 
 trustee, and also of the line to St. Louis, 
 
 Since that was written, ten years ago, Vanderbilt has expanded his rail- 
 road connections most notably, but Tilden has outrun him in this line ten 
 to one. Vanderbilt may now possibly control 2,500 miles of railroad. 
 Tilden has working affiliations with the owners or managers of over 25,000 
 miles of railroads in the United States, and representing over #400,000,000 
 of capital. This startling assertion was recently made by a member of Til- 
 den's State Government as the basis of predicting his nomination for the 
 Presidency of 1876. 
 
 The railroad agency was, next to the Tammany organization, the most 
 prominent at the convention which nominated Tilden for Governor in 1874. 
 
 The most active man therein was D. C. Littlejohn, first President of the 
 New York & Oswego Midland Railroad Company. 
 
 This concern managed to expend about $28,000,000 of money to build a 
 line that would not sell for $2,000,000, if the purchasers had to operate it, 
 and could not sell its iron and equipment. The saddest thing in the whole 
 affair was, that much of the funds thus sunk, was wrung from the tax- 
 paj'-ers in the interior of the State, by special laws, engineered by Littlejohn, 
 as a member of the Legislature, and by the chicanery of the " town- 
 bonding " system, now forbidden by an amendment to the Constitution ; not, 
 however, until Littlejohn and others of his kind had plunged various 
 counties and towns along the line of the "Midland Eailroad" into per- 
 manent debts, as follows : — 
 
 Oswego County, 
 
 16 pel 
 
 • cent. 
 
 of total valuation. 
 
 Chenango 
 
 (( 
 
 20| 
 
 (' . 
 
 K 
 
 (( 
 
 Sullivan 
 
 a 
 
 22t 
 
 <( 
 
 i( 
 
 (( 
 
 Ulster 
 
 a 
 
 24i«^ 
 
 (C 
 
 (( 
 
 (C 
 
 Some towns were bonded to about fifty per cent, of valuation, and in a 
 few cases were bonded before any track was graded within their limits, and 
 have never had even that questionable equivalent since. 
 
 When the predestined collapse in " Midland" took place, Littlejohn 
 hastened to Tilden for counsel. The latter drafted laws, which were enacted, 
 to cover up confiscation of the local interests. Especially did Tilden aid 
 him by causing a pliant "Tammany Sachem" to be made the assignee 
 
52 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 in bankruptcy of the Company, to let Littlejohn alone ! No exposures were 
 made, and the railroad ex-President was bound to Tilden by secret ties of the 
 most effectual kind. Littlejohn manoemTed the Liberal Republicans into line 
 for Tilden ; made the formal withdrawal of the latter's most formidable 
 rival, and then " went in " on the " eloquent " department of speech-making 
 in the Democratic Convention, thus : — 
 
 " I have known Samuel J. Tilden from and without reproach. His name comes 
 my youth up, and am prepared to say that to us like an oasis in the desert " 1 
 his character has always been without fear 
 
 Tilden could not expect his special " organ" to grind out sweeter music 
 than that! Littlejohn also ran the "Tilden machine" in the State Con- 
 vention of 1875 in securing the nomination of the names on the " Governor's 
 slate." 
 
 The assertion was made, in speeches, during the canvass, that Com- 
 modore Vanderbilt had enjoined all his employes to vote for the railroad 
 lawyer. President Jewett, of the Erie Railway, was known to be in close 
 business relations with him in Western concerns, as noted elsewhere. 
 In fact, these influences could be said to exist in every other important rail- 
 road line in the State. 
 
 The result was a political success ! And so the greatest and meanest 
 railroad ' ' grabber " in America was largely, by the influence of raiboad corpo- 
 rations, made Governor of the State of New York ! "Whether the same 
 kind of combination will work as well in a National canvass remains to be 
 seen. Why should it not? 
 
INVEIGLINa A PRESIDENT. 53 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 INVEIGLING A PEESIDENT. 
 
 To resume the historical narrative at the point of Tilden's taking Dean 
 Richmond's place as the permanent leader of the Democratic State organi- 
 zation in 1866 : we note that his next exploit was the attempt to seduce 
 Acting-President Andrew Johnson into a traitorous abandonment of the 
 Pai-ty which entrusted him with ofllce. President Johnson was too honest, 
 personally, to fall fully into the trap ; but the suspicion of his possible 
 intention nearly cost him his high office. 
 
 Parton says : — 
 
 " Soon his practised eye discerned the " ' And if Andrew Johnson, who is to- 
 
 possibUity of detaching Andrew Johnson day, in my judgment, the best depository 
 
 from the party which elected him. This of democratic ideas in the country — I use 
 
 dehcate task was promoted through one the term in the largest meaning — the 
 
 of the 'Eing' at the West, and a Western ideas that were entertained by Jefferson, 
 
 politician who was 'backed ' by it. Madison and Jackson, of whom he is now 
 
 the best representative in common life, — 
 
 '"swinging KOUND the CIBCLE.' .» t, I. ^A J - il, t ^ 
 
 if he should succeed in the contest on 
 
 " The Philadelphia Convention and the which he has so boldly embarked, great as 
 
 Presidential trip to Chicago owe their are the honors due to Grant and Sherman, 
 
 origin to much the same source. and all other gallant heroes, their glory 
 
 " Mr. Tilden played his part with admi- would, before civilization and posterity, 
 
 rable tact, and when the opportunity oc- pale in the light of him who would restore 
 
 curred at the meeting of the State Conven- the great and glorious system founded by 
 
 tion said : — our fathers.' (Cheers.)" 
 
 To show how Tilden expected to get his pay, Parton simply copies the 
 following suggestive telegram : — 
 
 " [Special Despatch to the Evening Poat.] politicians are still here looking after the 
 
 "Washington, September 26, 1867. Naval Office." 
 
 " Samuel J. Tilden and other New York 
 
 " Andy Johnson " had a rugged honesty which saved him from the full 
 effect of TUden's snares. The tempter finally withdrew, and such men as 
 Senators Fessenden of Maine, Trumbull of Illinois, and others, protected 
 the Tennessean in his " trjdng hour," because convinced — of his since 
 acknowledged — ingenuous motives. 
 
54 SAMUEL J, TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TILDEN IN PAKTNERSHIP WITH TWEED. 
 
 This political copartnership was formed in 1867, and not dissolved 
 until 1871, when the " Boss," from " unayoidable circumstances," retired 
 from the firm of Tilden & Tweed, the former continuing the business oii 
 his individual account. 
 
 Of the two, Tilden was by far the most unscrupulous, hypocritical and 
 dangerous conspirator. Tweed had a bluflF waj-- of showing that he had 
 humane, generous impulses. Tilden has none ! Tweed divided his plun- 
 der. Tilden hoards his I Tilden's advantage lay in his more acute mind, 
 his legal training, financial abilitj', social polish, and arts of dissimula- 
 tion, but which rendered him only the more mean and dangerous ! 
 
 Tilden kept up the connection until he could gain by a dissolution, and 
 then turned out his partner as the scapegoat for mutual sins ! 
 
 Those, well posted, predicted that Tilden would never see Tweed pushed 
 into such a corner as to make him desperate enough to divulge sundry 
 partnership transactions. Tweed's recent pretended " escape," without 
 even a reprimand from the Governor (who is vested with power of re- 
 moval in such cases) , to the Sheriff who let him go, is a significant 
 confirmation of these predictions. David Dudley Field (Tweed's counsel) 
 stated openly, that the much- vaunted prosecution of the "City Ring 
 Thieves," for which Tilden claims special credit, is in the main a " studied 
 farce." 
 
 Ingersoll, the only one convicted and sent to State's Prison, was par- 
 doned by Tilden on pretence of giving " State's evidence ; " but Mr. Field 
 said, as reported in the " New York Tribune" of Dec. 6, 1874 : 
 
 "The question, ' What do you think not including a small portion ofWatson's 
 
 ahout Mr. Tweed's escape ? ' was agreed property. 
 
 upon, and Mr. Field replied: 'I think " 'Ihave said that the two suits in which 
 
 his escape a great mistake. He had good he was held to bail would have been 
 
 defences to the suits in which he was held defeated if they had been resolutely de- 
 
 to bail, and would, I believe, have sue- fended. Why they were ever brought I 
 
 ceeded in defeating them if he had stood his do not well understand. The members of 
 
 ground. The prosecution seem to have the Ring, as it was called, are said to have 
 
 gone upon the theory to let all these, robbed the county of millions of dollars, 
 
 except Tweed, go with all their property. If so, the remedy was easy, in suits broughl 
 
TILDEN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TWEED. 
 
 55 
 
 by the county. Such suits were brought. 
 Their sufficiency was sanctioned by the 
 decisions of the General and Special 
 Terms of our Supreme Court, and by the 
 opinions of George Ticknor Curtis and 
 ex-Judge John Porter. If they had been 
 prosecuted there could have been no ques- 
 tion in the case except one, — Whether tlie 
 money had been taken? As it was, by 
 doggedly persisting in suits in the name 
 of the State, various other questions have 
 been introduced, which entangled and bid 
 fair to defeat the prosecution. Indeed, I 
 think the whole prosecution has been a 
 series of great mistakes. Of the civil 
 suits, they have let sleep the one in favor 
 of the county, which was the only one 
 which promised success, and it could have 
 been tried at any time within the last three 
 years. So you perceive that if the county 
 
 has lost several millions by the misconduct 
 of these wrong-doers, it has to thank those 
 who have charge of the prosecution for the 
 failure to recover a great part of it, inas- 
 much as they seem to have voluntarily let 
 all but Tweed escape, and mistook their 
 remedy against him until there appears 
 small chance of recovering in that quarter. 
 Tweed's counsel, of whom there have 
 been ten or twelve, have done their duty 
 in the defence of his legal rights. They 
 have insisted tliat he shall be tried and 
 judged according to the law of the land 
 and no other law. They have not, as has 
 been untruly stated, sought to interpose 
 unnecessary delays. If a computation was 
 made, I believe that nine-tenths of all the 
 delay in the cases would be found to have 
 been caused by the prosecution.'" 
 
 These utterances from the mouth of one of the ablest lawj'ers in the 
 litigation are most suggestive. It will be found in another place that 
 Tilden admits having made a tacit bargain to let Connolly go easy, in 
 exchange for the immediate possession of his all-important office of Comp- 
 troller of the Citj''. On the same principle, would not Tilden be ready to 
 connive at Tweed's escape, with a large share of his bootj', in excJiange for 
 the suppression of damaging facts ? It must be remembered that Tweed 
 was imprisoned under the administration of General Dix, and was released 
 on bail and " escaped" without difficulty, when Tilden, his former partner, 
 the great " Ring breaker," was Governor ! 
 
 These suggestions are made in advance, to call the reader's attention to 
 the partnership business of this famous firm, that the connection of the 
 past with the present may appear more clearly, as it does to an ex-Sergeant 
 of the Police! 
 
 One of the first operations of Tilden, Tweed & Co. was to carry the 
 elections in the State in 1868. The following was their official circular 
 sent out on the eve of the election : — 
 
 "Rooms of the Democuatio 
 State Committee, 
 Oct. 27, 1868. 
 " Mt deab Sie : Please at once to com- 
 municate with some reliable person in 
 three or four principal towns and in each 
 city of your county; and request him 
 (expenses duly arranged for at this end) 
 to telegraph to "William M. Tweed, Tam- 
 
 many Hall, at the minute of closing the 
 polls, not waiting for the count, such per- 
 son's estimate of the vote. Let the tele- 
 graph be as follows : ' This town will 
 show a Democratic gain (or loss) over last 
 
 year of (number).' Or this one, if 
 
 sufficiently certain ; ' This town will give 
 a Republican (or Democratic) majority of 
 .' There is, of course, an important 
 
56 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 object to be attained by a simultaneous absorb the telegraph with returns and in- 
 
 transmission at the hour of closing the terfere with individual messages, and give 
 
 polls, but not longer waiting. Oppor- orders to watch carefully the count. 
 
 tunity can be taken of the usual half-hour „ y^ ^^^j yours, 
 
 lull in telegraphic communication over 
 
 lines before actual results begin to be de- " SAMUEL J. TILDEN, 
 
 Glared, and before the Associated Press "Chairman." 
 
 The only " important object to be attained," the reader will perceive, 
 was to add enough votes in the city ballot boxes to counteract adverse 
 majorities in the country. That this was done, United States Senator 
 Conkling said was an " open secret." In a public speech the Senator 
 alleged that ' ' thirty thousand fraudulent votes were falsely added to the 
 count in New York and Brooklyn alone," and that the Tilden and Tweed 
 candidate for Governor held that office by being ' ' counted in " ! 
 
 As similar frauds might carry the vote of the State for their candidate 
 for the Presidency, Congress provided for a system of national inspection 
 at the polls, to prevent any further occurrences of the kind. 
 
 Tilden was examined by an Investigating Committee of the Assembly 
 in 1873 (Ass. Doc. 98, pp. 690), on the question of Tweed's paying him 
 money for election expenses. His memory was "painfully mixed "for a 
 man born as late as 1814 ! In answer to not very searching questions, he 
 gave answers (under oath) thus : — 
 
 8®*-^. . . . " Re {Tweed) made some £©=■ ^. . . . " He (Tweed) made a 
 
 contributions in 1868 ! " contribution of $5,000, in aid op Horj- 
 
 mann's candidacy as Goveknob ! ! " 
 
 Tilden could " not recollect" how much Tweed paid over to him either in 
 1868 or in any other year ! ! ! Tilden did not want to have the figures 
 known, and they probably never will be divulged! Tweed "escapes" 
 before that happens ! 
 
 The following year Horace Greeley accepted a nomination for a State 
 office in opposition to Tilden, Tweed & Co., election brokers, etc. He 
 took the precaution to publish a letter addressed to the senior member of 
 the firm, in which are the following sentences : — 
 
 LETTER TO A POLITICIAN. 
 
 "To Samuel J. Tilden, Chairman Demo- content itself with the polling of legal votes 
 cratic State Committee: — '^f ^"^ ""'2/ would. In our late Constitu- 
 
 tional Convention I tried to erect some 
 "Sir,— Tou held a most responsible and fresh barriers against election frauds; 
 influential position in the councils of a did you f The very little thai I was ena- 
 great party. You could make that party bled to effect in this direction I shall try io 
 
TILDBN IN PARTNERSHIP 'WITH TWEED. 
 
 57 
 
 have ratified hy the people at our ensuing 
 election. Will you t 
 
 " Mr. Tilden, you cannot escape respon- 
 sibility hy saying, with the guilty Mac- 
 beth, 
 
 " * Thou canst not Bay I did It; never Bhako 
 Those gory locks at me / * 
 
 for you were, at least, a passive accom- 
 plice in the giant frauds of last November. 
 Tour name was used, without public pro- 
 test on your part, in circulars sowed broad- 
 cast over the State, whereof the manifest 
 intent was to 'm,ake assurance doubly 
 sure ' that the frauds here perpetrated 
 should not he overborne hy the honest vote 
 of the rural districts. And you, not mere- 
 ly by silence, hut by positive assumption, 
 have covered those frauds with the mantle 
 of your respectability. On, the principle 
 that ' the receiiier is as had as the thief,' 
 you are as deeply implicated in them to- 
 day as though your name were Tweed, 
 
 O'Brien, or OaJcey Hall 
 
 And though our city has since largely 
 increased its population, the lower wards 
 were quite as populous then (1840) as they 
 are to-day, several of them more so. 
 
 " Now, look at the vote of four of these 
 wards in 1840 and 1868 respectively: — 
 
 ^our TVarda 
 
 President, 1840. 
 
 4,793 
 
 S,S21 
 
 Governor, 1868. 
 
 2,840 aO,383 
 
 Vnn Bnren's majority, 726; Hoffman's majority, 
 17,443. 
 
 " Mr. Tilden, youTcnowwhatthis contrast 
 attests. Might well do you comprehend 
 the means whereby the vote of 1868 was 
 thus swelled out of all proportions. There 
 are not 12,000 legal voters living in those 
 wards to-day, though they gave Jloffman 
 17,443 majority. Had the day been of 
 average length, it would doubtless have 
 been swelled to at least 20,000. There was 
 nothing but time needed to make it 100,000, 
 if so many had been wanted and paid for. 
 Now, Mr. Tilden, I call on you to put a 
 stop to this business. You have but to 
 walk inio the Sheriff's, the Mayor's and 
 the Supervisor's offices in the City Hall 
 Park, and say that there must be no more 
 of it; SAT IT SO THAT THERE 
 SHALL BE NO DOUBT THAT TOV 
 MEAN IT, and we shall have a tolerably 
 fair election once more. 
 
 " Will you do it? If we Republicans are 
 swindled again as we were swindled last 
 Fall, you and such as you will be responsi- 
 ble to Ood and man for the outrage. 
 
 " Tours, HORACE GREELEY. 
 
 "NewYohk, Oct. 20, 1869." 
 
 The reader would naturally suppose that Tilden would take notice in 
 public of such a letter as that. Anj' high-toned, honest man would have 
 done so. But, while Tilden gave no sign at the time, his crafty, subtle 
 mode of revenge upon its author is an illustrative example of his astute 
 management. 
 
 He contrived to have the writer of the above letter nominated for the 
 Presidency in 1872, and fearfully beaten, to a degree, that, without doubt, 
 hastened his death. This left the way open for Tilden to be nominated in 
 1876 by his dispirited party, who would, more than ever, need a candidate 
 commanding money, in which respect Tilden loould be without a rival. He 
 took the first opportunity to seduce Greeley's successor, to transform 
 the " Tribune " into a Tilden " organ " for a pecuniary consideration, as else- 
 where mentioned. Thus his revenge and his victory have been completed 
 in a manner never dreamed of in Horace Greeley's philosophy! To 
 enumerate the frauds and rascalities perpetrated during the Tilden and 
 
68 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 Tweed dynasty would far exceed the limits of this review. That Tilden 
 consented to, if not counselled, most of them there is no doubt. On the 
 acknowledged principle that " silence gives consent," he ought to be held 
 accountable for all of them. Take, for instance, the wholesale bribery of 
 the metropolitan press, under the thin guise of " municipal advertising." 
 For this item alone the enormous sum of $2,205,151yVT ''^^.s paid out 
 between Jan. 1st, 1869, and Sept. 15th, 1871. 
 
 Brick Pomeroy's vile, communistic sheet, the " Democrat," filled with 
 the most scurrilous attacks on the Federal Government, on religion, and 
 the better classes of society generallj^, during that period received tLe 
 incredible sum of $198,000 in cash. To say that Tilden did not know of, 
 and consent to, this infamous system of public corruption is simply absurd. 
 
 NEWS! 
 
THE PRINCE OF DISSEMBLERS. 59 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PKENCE OF DISSEMBLERS. 
 
 As the most enterprising possessor of what is known in slang phrase as 
 " cheek," Tilden stands without a rival. In his speeches and letters, and 
 in all his subsidized press articles for the last four years, the one great 
 theme on which all the changes have been rung, is that he was the destroj-er 
 of the " Tweed" or " Tammany" ring, which but for him might even j^et 
 hold undisputed sway ! No one knows so well as himself and Tweed, 
 what a shameless fraud such a claim covers ! 
 
 As the space which we can spare for illustrations of this subject is short, 
 we will mention only the following occurrence : — 
 
 In 1870 Tweed had concocted a new charter for the City of New York, 
 to facilitate by legal process the wholesale plundering then rampant. 
 
 Tilden, from his political affiliations, must necessarily have been aware 
 of the plot, and he was shrewd enough to forecast the dangers of the game, 
 coupled with such recklessness in the players ; but entirely loanting in honest 
 principles, he did not have moral courage to denounce the scheme before its 
 exposure by others, or when protest might have availed to prevent it. 
 
 So familiar was he with bribery, and corruption, that he even adopted the 
 ■ slang phrases current with Tweed and Barber at that time ; for instance, 
 the word "stuff" as the "short" for bribe money ! 
 
 The reader will perceive that, by his own confession, in his letter to the. 
 " New York Times," he knew of ' ' Tweed's " method of passing the charter, 
 and that the "stuff" had already "been sent up" from New York to 
 Albany, and who sent it, and what for, when he made that honeyed speech 
 to " Tweed," assuring him of " no unkind feelings," etc. ! 
 
 But in his speech at " Cooper Institute" to the '' excited citizens of the 
 metropolis," he represented himself as "protesting against the outrage," as 
 though his own life had been endangei-ed ! 
 
 After the fraud had been, by others, publicly denounced, Tilden 
 claimed : — 
 
 1st. To have j^rsJ known its character and denounced it. 
 
 2d. To hsive first tried to prevent it. 
 
 3d. To have first exposed and overthrown its authors. 
 
60 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKBD! 
 
 This three-faced dissembling will plainest 
 thus : — 
 
 Extracts from, verbatim 
 reports of S. J. Tilden's 
 remarks, before Tweed's 
 Committee on Cities in 
 Albany, April ith, 1870, 
 as published in newspa- 
 pers of next day. 
 " I come here, Sir (to 
 Tweed), to aid no party of 
 men nor to injure any party 
 of men ; I come here sim- 
 ply, to contribute what I 
 may, however little, to a 
 result in which you, I, and 
 all of us, have a great in- 
 terest and you a great duty. 
 And let me say here, that, 
 if I know my own heart, I 
 have no feelings of unkind- 
 ness to any human being. 
 TO YOURSELF, Me. 
 Chairman (Tweed), or to 
 
 ANTBODT ELSE, I AM HN- 
 CONSCIOUS OI" EVER HAVING 
 DONE AN UNKIND ACT OR 
 ENTERTAINED AN UNKIND 
 FEELING." 
 
 The speech closed as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 ' ' Dfr. Chairman ( Tweed) , 
 this Committee and this 
 Legislative body may render 
 a service to the people, such 
 as falls to the lot of few; 
 such as will be » service 
 to them and an honor to 
 you. 
 
 " I TRUST, Sir, that with 
 
 TOUK BEST facilities AP- 
 PLIED TO the subject, 
 
 you MAY ACHIEVE RESULTS 
 THAT WILL BE SATISFACTORY 
 TO ALL." 
 
 Extract from Sam. J. 
 Tilden's Speech at Cooper 
 Institute, Oct., 1871, after 
 securing the Comptroller 
 ojjice (as written out and 
 quoted by himself). 
 " Alone I went to the city 
 of Albany and recorded my 
 protest against the Outrage " 
 (passage of Tweed's Char- 
 ier). " How was it accom- 
 plished? By taking $1,- 
 
 000,000, STOLEN FROM THE 
 TAXPAYERS, AND BUYING IN 
 
 THE Shambles a majority 
 OF both Houses " 1 
 
 The following are extracts 
 from the circulars sent 
 out by S. J. T. (with his 
 likeness attached), in his 
 campaign for the Gov- 
 ernorship in 1875 : — 
 
 "Early in 1870 began the 
 celebrated contest concern- 
 ing the charter of New York 
 city. Mr. Tilden went to 
 Albany, and, April 5th, made 
 a speech in the presence of 
 Tweed and his legislative 
 committee, denouncing the 
 Charter which restored 
 THE ' Tweed dynasty ' to 
 POWER, ninking over to them 
 all the offices and official in- 
 fluence of the city govern- 
 ment ; not by the voice of 
 the people, but by the vote 
 of a corrupt legislature — 
 strongly Republican. Under 
 it occurred the notorious 
 ' six-million robber}'.' 
 
 " On the lotli of Septem- 
 ber Mr. Tilden dislodged the 
 ' Tweed Ring' from the pos- 
 session of the Comptroller's 
 office. That fall he led the 
 revolt of 40,000 Democrats 
 against the ' Ring ' in the 
 city of New York." 
 
 appear in juxtaposition, 
 
 Extract from a letter of 
 
 Sam. J. Tilden to '' N. T. 
 
 Times," dated Jan. 27, 
 
 1873. 
 
 " Suddenly, a charter was 
 sprung by Mr. Tweed. 
 
 "I was convinced that it 
 would pass. A clerk in one 
 of the public offices came 
 privately to me to tell me 
 that 'the stuff had been 
 SENT up ' ... Garvey ad- 
 vanced, March 30, $10,000 
 to go to Albany, and again 
 April 17th, $40,000 ; making 
 $50,000. Ingersoll (lately 
 pardoned by Governor 
 Tilden), $50,000; Keyser, 
 $25,000; Miller, $25,000; 
 Hall, $25,000; and others 
 their quotas ; offices were 
 given for five years to 
 Sweeney, Eields and Hilton. 
 These great trusts, in- 
 volving THE interests, 
 safety and honor of a 
 million of people, had 
 been divided up as 
 bribes." 
 
 ^Thus out of his own mouth is this " hj-pocrite" convicted, as diy 
 semblcrs usuall;^ arc ! 
 
 The annals of American politics will be searched in vain for another 
 spectacle so debasing and contemptible ! 
 
DISSOLUTION OF TILDEN, TWEED AND CO. 
 
 61 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DISSOLUTION OF THE FIRM OF TILDEN, TWEED AND CO. 
 
 Eighteen months had nearly elapsed since the occurrence at Albany 
 alluded to in the last chapter, and during which time Tilden " kept still as 
 a mouse " about municipal affairs, though all the while busy as attorney 
 or counsel for Oakes Ames, Jay Gould and others, who could pay heavy 
 fees. But public attention was being directed towards Tweed. An 
 accountant in the Comptroller's ofl5ce divulged damaging facts, which, 
 although suppressed by some of the leading papers, were finally published 
 by the " New York Times." As late as September 5, 1871, Tilden did not 
 commit himself.* 
 
 *The "New York Times," of Dec. 6, 
 1875, referring to this, says : — 
 
 "On the night of the 4lh September, 
 1871, a meeting was held at Cooper Insti- 
 tute to protest against the city robberies, 
 and Tilden declined even to go to it. 
 
 "No one need take our word on the sub- 
 ject; let them read an article published in 
 the ' World ' on that meeting." 
 
 (From the " World," Uh September, 1871.) 
 "The long-heralded meeting at the 
 Cooper Institute, which took place last 
 erening, was certainly respectable in point 
 of numbers. It filled the large hall in the 
 basement to its utmost capacity, but that 
 hall can hold but an insignificant fraction 
 of the citizens of New York. Numbers 
 
 proTe nothing, and if they did the argu- 
 ment could be easily refuted. 
 
 ' ' If the questions of guilt or innocence 
 were to be decided by a popular TOte, taken 
 to-day or to-morrow, the majority on the 
 side of the city officers would be over- 
 whelming. If the list of speakers had 
 comprised such names as ... . Mr, 
 TILDEN, . ... or representative 
 citizens like them, of the highest standing 
 and integrity, the meeting might have been 
 deemed to be an expression of the best 
 public opinion of the city. But the pact 
 
 THAT THESE EMIHENT CITIZENS STOOD 
 
 ALOOF shows that the excitement is facii 
 tious, and that the meeting was a partisan 
 affair, masquerading under false pre- 
 tences." 
 
 Then a Citizens' Investigating Committee was formed, and Tweed, 
 Connolly and others were closely crowded. Then took place the bm-ning 
 of the vouchers for the fraudulent payments. 
 
 Connolly, in this extremity, flew to Tilden for advice, as one thief 
 flies to another known to himself to be in the same category! What 
 Tilden advised ConnoUy to do he has stated in his letter to the " New 
 York Times," over his own signature, as follows : — 
 
62 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 <' I pressed Mr. Connolly (Sept. 15th, to fear from the public than fromUs con- 
 
 1871) to surrender the office" (of Comp- federates." . . • • '-^^ 
 
 troUer of the city) " ly deputizing' Mr. would pass over him, and beat upon 
 
 Green." . . . . " That he had less the otheks." 
 
 This offer of immunity by Tilden had the desired effect, as he says in the 
 same letter : — 
 
 " Mr. Connolly consented, the papers of the Comptroller and put Mr. Green in 
 were executed, ' Mr. Green ' sworn in, and possession." * 
 they left my house only to go to the office 
 
 Soon after this, Connolly fled to Europe, taking, as is estimated, three 
 and a half millions of dollars with him, and is now living in Paris like a 
 prince. Tilden, as noted by D. D. Field, evidently connived at his escape 
 with his booty, chuckling no doubt at having thenceforward complete control 
 of the finances of the city, and of the thirty-five millions of dollars annually 
 passing through that oflBce, into which his proteg6, Green, was thus placed 
 in possession. Some parties called Green in question in 1875.* 
 
 Tilden could n-ow read his own title clear to the Governorship in due 
 time. He no longer needed Tweed ; he could do better to set up as a 
 " reformer,'' and take all the credit and profits to himself! 
 
 Then " he led 40,000 Democrats to open revolt." 
 
 Then he could ^^ eloquently proclaim" his ^^ protest against the out- 
 rage" (in his speech at Cooper Hall), and he no longer publicly assured 
 " Tweed" of finding " no unkind feelings," after a survey " of his heart!" 
 
 Referring to this master-stroke of political tactics, the " New York 
 
 World" recently said: — 
 
 " When Samuel J. Tilden got possession " Comptroller Green hag issued his an- 
 
 of the City Comptroller's office, turning nual report for the past year. It is not by 
 
 Connolly out and putting Green in, the any means a very encouraging document. 
 
 Tweed ring was destroyed. All that fol- The debt of the city continues to increase, 
 
 lowed was the process of its dying- .... On the 31st of December, the total bonded 
 
 The Comptroller's office iield the keys of debt was $144,522,029.39, including the 
 
 the people's money-chest, and those keys sinljing fund account of $27,748,307.30, 
 
 are also the key to the position. against $141,803,758 on December, 1874." 
 
 *HoN. Daniel Pratt, Attorney- General full salary allowed hira by law) ; . . . paid 
 
 Albany, New York : — to himself the sum of $3,902, on the false 
 
 Sib, — .... The report shows pretext of expenses incurred in visiting 
 
 that Mr. Andrew H. Green, and with the the Park We request that you 
 
 connivance of the notsrious Thomas C. will compel Mr. Green to restore to our 
 
 Fields, paid to himself on June 19, 1869, almost bankrupt City Treasury tlie funds 
 
 out of the Park funds, and has since re- which lie has fraudulently taken there- 
 
 tained the sum of $1,G00, stated to "be his from. 
 
 expenses to Europe, . - . . a gratuity Signed — George Hoffman, and otlner*, 
 
 of $5,000, under the pretext of additional Committee of Citizens and Taxpayers, 
 
 salary; and on June 11, 1868, the further Ifew York, November 22j 187S. 
 sum of $7,500 (having already drawn the 
 
DISSOLUTION OF TILDEN, TWEED A.ND CO. 
 
 63 
 
 The following astonishing facts have recently been made public in the 
 sworn testimony of Andrew J. Garvey : — 
 
 " At one time he was told by Woodward that 
 Connolly wanted a house built, and that it would 
 he necessary to make out bills so as to cover the ex- 
 pense, which he did, and got $119,000 for worJe 
 that was not done at all for the city. Seven war- 
 rants were drawn, amounting to $368,378.24 to 
 pay for Connolly's house. The witness said ke 
 was to get $60,000 from the city for repairing 
 Tweed's house in Greenwich, and the houses of 
 
 other people of whom he did not care to speah. He 
 paid out $50,000 to be used for Albany purposes; 
 $40,000 he gave to Ingersoll. The witness stated 
 that he received instructions from Ingersoll early 
 in September, 1871, that it was necessary that 
 everything bearing on city matters should be de- 
 stroyed; he destroyed everything that afternoon 
 and evening, subsequent to the disclosuree of the 
 fraud." 
 
 Tilden, having allowed Connolly to escape, pardons Ingersoll, and then is 
 represented in the picture papers thus : — 
 
 ON THE SCENT; or, Our Modem Nimrod. 
 Peter B. Sweeny (to Connolly)—/ say, Dick, do you think that ive are in range of Sam. 
 
 Tilden^s breech-loader? 
 R. B. Connolly—/ donU know. Peter. That new dog of his may not be able to scent us 
 
 across the water, but how about our Heal Estate^ I must telegraph Bob Hutchings^ 
 
 to keep a sharp lookout. 
 
 What politician ever played the '' reform*' dodge like Samuel J. Tilden? 
 
64 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 TILDEN WISER THAU SOLOMON. 
 
 The Jewish king laid down the rule, " Let another man praise thee, and 
 not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips." — Prov. 
 xxvii. 3. 
 
 But that was said before the age of " modern improvements," and the 
 invention of " reform movements," in the " Tildenian" sense ! 
 
 Solomon did not write editorials about himself, or subsidize the picture 
 papers ! 
 
 Tilden, with his " combinations," could beat Solomon out of sight in a 
 canvass for the Governorship of the State of New York ! ! 
 
 In the most remarkable letter to the " New York Times," referred to in 
 a previous chapter, he, with childlike simplicity and candor, announces 
 himself as the only unquestionably honest man in the State of New York ; 
 and that, at the time, when he assured Tweed of the total absence of " un- 
 kind feelings," down in those recesses in his he^rt, where even woman, with 
 all her curiosity, had never been able to penetrate ! Thus said Tilden : — 
 
 " I was convinced corruption had be- which alone could save free govern- 
 
 come almost universal. I desired to save ment. 
 
 from degradation the great Democratic "Holding wearily the end of the rope 
 
 party, whose principles and traditions because I feared it might go if I dropped 
 
 wtre mine by inheritance and conviction, it, T kept the State organization in ab- 
 
 and make it an instrument of a reaction, solute independence." 
 
 On another occasion, he gently " lets his left.hand know what his right 
 hand doeth " publicly, in this wise : — 
 
 " On the eve of the election " (writes booths and ballots without ^10,000 beyond 
 Tilden), "Mr. Wickhara (now Mayor) what they were able to raise.' I agreed 
 came to me to say ' they could not supply to provide it, and did so." 
 
 He also furnishes striking incidents, in which himself is the central figure 
 portrayed in these bright colors, to the " Times " : -r- 
 
 "I went into the Comptroller's office. Jennings said, ' Do you see any day light?' 
 
 There sat Mr. Jones and Mr. Jennings " and went on to say, ' That the contest was 
 
 (Proprietor and Editor "New York too exhausting to be continued very long.' 
 
 Times"). " The former said, ' We want J stretched out my hand to him and said, 
 
 an interview with you.' Mr. Green kindly ' Jie of good cheer ! We shall win in this 
 
 gave us a room in the basement. Mr. fight.'" 
 
Q 
 
 ■*^ Nil 
 
 ! Kl 
 
TILDEN WISER THAN SOLOMON. 65 
 
 The " New York Times," of February 8, 1873, contains the foUowing 
 editorial reply : — 
 
 HISTOEY, ACCORDING TO MR. TILDEN. 
 
 " We have had the pleasure of receiving place, we are bound to believe that it is 
 
 from Mr. Samuel J. Tilden seventeen long only Mr. Tilden's memory that has played 
 
 slips of printed matter measuring twenty- him a trick. 
 
 six feet eight inches in length. It is like "In reality he seemed afraid of his own 
 
 a sea-serpent in its huge proportions. shadow. He appeared to think that 
 
 " Mr. Tilden is a great man, but we Tweed was waiting for him at the door. 
 
 (Jones ^ Jennings) never asked an in- His toice was never raised above a lover's 
 
 terview with him. Mr. Green requested whisper. When Tweed was dangerous 
 
 m to see him. No such words were Mr. Tilden did not dare stand in his path. 
 
 uttered; there are many statements in this When Tweed was down, Tilden hauled 
 
 colossal pamphlet which WERE NOT out his little sword and declared that he 
 
 TR UE. When he denies what did happen, had killed him. He was like Jack Fal- 
 
 and narrates things which did not, and etaflf after Shrewsbury, there was no end 
 
 repeats co}i/versa,tions which never took to the foes he had slaughtered." 
 
 Leaving the reader to decide whether Solomon or Tilden is the best 
 guide in New York politics, we leave this jemarkable instance of " self- 
 puffery," and the " neighbors'"* remarks thereon 
 
 Another rich specimen is the following : — 
 
 (from Gov. Tilden's speech at Buffalo, Aug. V!th, ate in this great work, here I to-day prom- 
 
 1875.) ise them and promise you that whereas WE 
 
 If the people of this State will send to reduced the taxes last year from 7i to 6 
 
 the next session of the Legislative bodies mills, next year WE will put them down 
 
 Representatives who will honestly co-oper- to 4 J and even 4 mills. 
 
 The " last year" was 1874, and befQre Tilden held the office then so ably 
 filled by Gov. Dix. The old fable of ' ' How we apples swim ! " is well 
 illustrated hereby ! 
 
 *"He that is first in his own cause and searcheth him." Solomon, Pr. xviii. 
 «emeth just; but his neighbor cometli 17. 
 
SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 OPINION OF THE NEW TOKK LEGISLATUEE. 
 
 Extracts from letters signed, and speeches delivered by S. J. Tilden. 
 
 " Senators and Assemblymen Iiad been 
 bought for this iniquity (the Tvreed char- 
 ter). It was stated, on the authority of 
 Judge Noah Davis, as derived from a well- 
 known member of the lobby (doubtless A. 
 D. Barber), tliat the price paid six leading 
 Republican Senators was, to each $10,000 
 for the charter, and $5,000 for kindred 
 bills of the session, and $5,000 for sim- 
 ilar services for the next year ($20,000 
 each !). Five of those Senators now (1873) 
 
 sit in the highest seats of the Orant Re- 
 publican Sanhedrim, in Albany. The 
 ' Times ' has for a long while been still as 
 a mouse about them. 
 
 " I have heard and believed that the 
 influence of the Republican organization 
 had been habitually sold to the lobbies. 
 Sometimes in the guise of counsel fees, 
 and sometimes without any affectation of 
 decency." {See Letter to N. T. Times, 
 January 27, 1873.) 
 
 Again, — 
 
 " How was it accomplished ! " tax-payers, and buying in the shambles a 
 
 " By taking $1,000,000 stolen from the majority of both Houses." 
 
 (^Speech at Cooper Institute, Nov. 1871.) 
 
 Governor Tilden's " organ," at Albany, published the following in it3 
 editorial columns in January, 1876 : — 
 
 " Those who imagined that this legisla- 
 ture was an exception to its predecessors 
 in the lack of material to organize a flrst- 
 class brigade of Black-Horse Cavalry and 
 a battalion of bone-hunters must at this 
 time be convinced of their error. The 
 rush of resolutions for all sorts of investi- 
 gations and bills of a questionable kind, 
 
 together with the signs about the Capitol, 
 make it evident that plenty of this work is 
 being mapped out. An influential member 
 of the Assembly assured me to-day that he 
 had received a letter from a member, tell- 
 ing him that an organization of strikers 
 had already been formed." 
 
 By this it would seem that His Excellency's opinion of the Legislative 
 Department of Government does not improve ! 
 
 We could undertake to prove that Tilden's money and influence were 
 exerted in 1875 to elect one of the Republican Senators whom he denounced 
 in 1873 as having been retained by Tweed ! 
 
 But if we entered on the subject of his political barters and trades with 
 
OPINION OP THE NEW YORK LEGISLATURE. 
 
 67 
 
 an attempt to expose all Ms qecret plots in that line, too much space would 
 be required, and we omit it altogether, or at least for the present. A slip 
 from the " New York Herald," of January, 1876, gives a hint of the topic, 
 which can be expanded when advisable : — 
 
 "th-dbn's latest move. 
 
 " Attorney-General Fairchild left here National Convention, 
 to-day with private instructions from Gov- 
 ernor Tilden, to find out all about Bixby's 
 charter, and the extent of the support it 
 receives in New York. 
 
 " He got alarmed for Tammany HaU, to 
 which he looks for his main support in the 
 
 Fairchild was in- 
 structed, as I am informed by one who, in 
 political parlance, 'comes from the in- 
 side,' to see John Kelly, and recommend 
 a stronger and more binding covenant with 
 the Custom-house Bepublicans." 
 
 "We take the following extracts from articles inserted during 1875 in 
 certain of the New York dailies, understood to be in the pay and interest 
 of Tilden. The following refers to the Legislative Democratic Caucus, 
 which nominated Mr. Kernan for Senator in 1875 : — 
 
 "It was Governor Tilden who saved 
 the Senatorial Caucus from the taint of 
 impurity, by sending word to the ' strikers ' 
 (». e. slang phrase for members of the 
 
 Again, — • 
 
 "Under the lead of Senator Woodin, 
 the last remaining representative of that 
 servile band of Republicans who wore the 
 collar of Tweed, and ate the crumbs that 
 
 Again, — 
 
 " There has been some question whether 
 this was a more or less dishonest Legis- 
 lature than its predecessor. It was praised 
 as being one of the most honest on record, 
 because only forty-five out of the one 
 hundred and twenty-eight members were 
 openly in market. The eulogist was a. 
 Democrat and a partisan. On the other 
 hand, an old member denounced it as one 
 
 Legislature who could be ' bought in the 
 Shambles') that if any of them took 
 money, it would be for the last time." 
 
 fell from his table" (t. e. $20,000 for his 
 votes in 1870, as stated in Tilden's letter to 
 " New York Times"). 
 
 of the most corrupt; and another said 
 there were eighty members who could be 
 ' reached ' (i. c. slang phrase for ' bought 
 in the shambles'). But there has been 
 comparatively little money used here this 
 winter, though the Rapid Transit dis- 
 cussion was said to be profitable while it 
 lasted." * 
 
 * Referring to the bribes paid to pass the Greenwich Street Elevated Railroad Bill, 
 noticed elsewhere. 
 
68 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A BOGUS KEFOEM MEMBER OP THE LEGISLATUBE. 
 
 Samuel J. Tilden was elected a member of the Legislature of 1872 
 from a Metropolitan constituency. In tliat capacity, or as a " Reformer," 
 he was a conspicuous failure. He seemed to be only ' ' wearily holding on 
 to that rope " which he must have been clutching, being ' ' then the 
 only honest man in the State of New York," as intimated in his letter of 
 the following year. 
 
 He was seldom present at sessions of the Assembly, having voted only 
 ninety-eight times out of one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three roll-calls. 
 He made no effort to arrest the passage of a single one of the fraudulent Canal- 
 claim Bills, which were passed by scores, as he has since explicitly declared. 
 
 "When Mr. Raines, the State Treasurer, during that session, called 
 attention to the Canal frauds, and the Canal Board asked the Legislature to 
 investigate the subject, Tilden, the " Reformer," did not raise his voice in 
 favor thereof, and the matter was dropped, without action, as the latter 
 doubtless desired to reserve that "thunder" for more personal and con- 
 spicuous use ! 
 
 He was not deemed of importance enough to be put on the Committee 
 of Impeachment of the corrupt judges, for which that session was noted. 
 In a word, he was anything but a " Reformer," or a conscientious 
 Legislator ! 
 
OPPOSING CONSTITUTIONAL EBFORM. 69 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OPPOSING CONSTITOTIONAL EEFOBSI. 
 
 Feom 1872 to 1875 efforts were put forth by the real reformers in the 
 State to provide additional safeguards against the nefarious methods 
 by which the taxpayers had been robbed of untold millions. A CouncU. 
 of Political Reform was organized, and to its efforts was mainly due the 
 fact of the adoption of various amendments to the State Constitution at 
 the election of 1874. 
 
 The effect of the same was to deprive the Legislature of the power to 
 pass certain laws by the votes of members, which, according to Tilden, had 
 " been sold openly in the shambles, sometimes without any affectation of 
 decency." In favor of these most important and salutary reforms Tilden had 
 not a word to say ! 
 
 When the ballots were sent out by his Electioneering Committee it was 
 found that all but two of the amendments were to be voted down! A 
 Mend in a rural district gave me the following ballot, as handed to him by 
 a Tilden canvasser, and which is here inserted in fac-simile form as a 
 " Reform" curiosity : — 
 
 .= r3 
 
 a 
 
 3 t3 ■- .i 
 
 1 P. IJ *- 
 
 The following is one of the amendments voted against : — 
 
 " Abticlb vni, § 11. No county, or credit, to or in aid of any individual, 
 city, town or yillage shall hereafter give association or corporation, or hecome, 
 any money or property, or loan its money directly or indirectly, the owner of stock 
 
70 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 in or bonds of any association or corpora- support of its poor as may be authorized 
 
 tion, nor shall any such county, city, town by law." 
 
 or village be allowed to incur any indebt- The People understood the matter how- 
 
 edness, except for county, city, town or ever, as appears by the following vote : — 
 
 village purposes. This section shall not "Nov. 3, 1874. For amendment of Art. 8, 
 
 prevent such county, city, town or village section 11 336,237 
 
 from making such provision for the aid or Against 195,047 
 
 Tilden, it will be perceived, was in favor of railroad robberies to the 
 last ! The services of such retainers as D. C. Littlejohn outweighed the 
 interests of whole counties in his mind ! 
 
 It also ought to be noted that in 1869 and 1870, when the firm of 
 Tilden, Tweed & Co. had full control of the State, all measures of this 
 kind, and also for safeguards to the canals, urged through the preparatory- 
 stages by Governor Hoffman, were promptly voted down at the general 
 election by the influence of the political firm of Tilden, Tweed & Co. 
 
 What Tilden's Canal reform really meant is shown in a long article in 
 the " New York Times" of November 24, 1875, of which the following is 
 an extract : — 
 
 ^ " GOVERNOE-ELECT TILDBN PEOPOIJNDS HIS SCHEME. 
 
 " Shortly after Mr. Tilden's election, last the large farming class of the community 
 
 November, he talked with several leading would be captured almost bodily by such 
 
 Democrats, who called on him in New a ' reform ' movement, and the promise 
 
 York about a grand political strike he of low taxation which should follow it; 
 
 intended to make in connection with the and repeatedly asserted that ' 60,000 Ke- 
 
 canals. publican votes ' would be gained." 
 
 " He was particularly set in the idea that 
 
 Commodore Vanderbilt, above all things, desires to do away with the 
 competition of the Erie Canal. He supported Tilden for G-overnor, and, 
 in return, Tilden is compassing the ruin of the Canal interests as fast as 
 ]oossible. For the first time in its history, the Erie Canal, under Tilden's 
 administration, did not pay expenses ! One of his pet newspapers 
 inserted the following paragraph in January, 1876 : — 
 
 "Pebpakb to Sell Them. — The New at the question solely from a pecuniary 
 
 York State canals do not pay their cur- standpoint, is it not a fair deduction, from 
 
 rent expenses ; but, on the contrary, are a the facts we have exhibited, that the New 
 
 steady drain upon the treasury. York canals ought to be sold, under propel 
 
 " Disregarding other most potent argu- safeguards, to private parties ?" 
 ments for getting rid of them, and looking 
 
 Vanderbilt would like to buy, no doubt, with Tilden as Auctioneer I 
 
A SELF-ELECTIONEERING MANAGER. 71 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A SELF-ELECTIONEERING MAIJAGEE. 
 
 In 1874 Tilden's long-souglit for opportunity to make a prominent 
 canvass for himself came to pass. 
 
 His combinations were all made, as follows : — 
 
 1st. The Liquor Dealers, who -were fully organized. 
 
 2d. The Railroad Influence, nearly all secured. 
 
 3d. The Municipal Powers of the City of New YorJc, available through 
 his confidential friends,. Mayor Havemeyer and Comptroller Green. 
 
 4th. The Catholic Church, placated by his donating a few thousands to 
 build their churches (but not publicly announced nntil after the election) , 
 and also by his intimacy with Messrs. O'Connor and Kernan, leading lay- 
 men in that church. 
 
 5th. The Metropolitan Press, liberally subsidized, as far as practicable, 
 by him (even the "Times" could not refuse to publish his legal argu- 
 ments in railroad cases when paid for the same at advertising rates) ; 
 including notably the picture papers. 
 
 These agencies were secured before his nomination, and made that part 
 of his undertaking easy. Not taking space to relate the incidents of his 
 bargains and combinations during his personal " log-rolling " at the actual 
 sessions of the Liberal Republican and Democratic Conventions, suffice 
 it to say that he was so repugnant to many of the old-line Democracy 
 that, if Chief Justice Church could have been induced to accept, the 
 nomination of Tilden even then might have failed. 
 
 That contingency being averted, but not forgiven, by him, he was duly 
 nominated, amid the plaudits of Littlejohn and others of his retainers. 
 
 Then was " Tilden, the wire-puller," brought in, and spoke his piece, in 
 part, as follows : — 
 
 "I stand scarred all over with blows vote in the ranks ; but, having been nomi- 
 received in past conflicts, when I have led nated, I expect to be carried on the brawny 
 the Democracy to mctory! I nbvee m- arms of the farmers and mechanics of the 
 
 TENDED TO STAND AS A CANDIDATE FOB ANT State tO R glovioUS victOry! " 
 
 OFFICE 1 I was content to serve as a pri- 
 
 Thus his first speech after his long-planned nomination contained a 
 deliberate falsehood, as all who heard it could testify ! That feature was, 
 
72 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED.' 
 
 however, quite in character, and need not be dwelt upon ; but his appeal to 
 the farmers and mechanics, to rob whom he had exercised his craft at the 
 West as well as in his native Commonwealth, was dissembling of the most 
 artistic kind ! 
 
 His nomination being accomplished, Tilden returned to New York city, 
 and until the election spent his time in supervising the routine business of 
 the Electioneering Committee of his partj^, whose head-quarters were in 
 that city. 
 
 Money was his reliance, and he knew how to use it " where it would do 
 the most good." 
 
 First he had a small likeness attached to a handbill, setting forth 
 the obligations that " Gen. Jackson" was under for being " sustained" by 
 him, when about 18 years old, according to his own dates ! Also how 
 Martin Van Buren was suspected as the author of some of Tilden's news- 
 paper articles at that tender age, when he should have " tanied at 
 Jericho;"* his overthrow of the "Ming," and various other equally 
 absurd claims were set forth in the "root and j'arb" quack-medicine 
 style (including the accompanying fac-simile likeness) , thus : — 
 
 SAMUEL J. Tm)M> 
 
 Democratio uncS Xah&foi CandideAB. For 
 
 * Holy Writ, 2d Sam. x. 5 : " Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown.' 
 
A SELF-ELECTIONEERING MANAGER. 
 
 73 
 
 EXTRACTS FKOM TILDEN's CIKCULAE, ATTACHED TO HIS LIKENESS. 
 
 " Samuel J. Tilden waa born in New 
 Lebanon, Columbia Co., N. Y., in 1814, and 
 is now sixty years of age. 
 
 " In 1832 Mr. Tilden, being only eighteen 
 years of age, prepared an elaborate paper, 
 showing the inconsistency of the coalition 
 by the Anti-Masons with the Whig party, 
 of such power and finish that it attracted 
 the attention of prominent men of all par- 
 ties, and its authorship was attributed to 
 Mr. Van Buren. 
 
 " In 1837 Mr. Tilden entered Tale Col- 
 lege. He completed his collegiate' course 
 at the TJniTersity at New York. 
 
 "In 1855 he was Democratic candidate 
 for Attorney-General of the State.* 
 
 " In 1860 he exerted himself to avert the 
 civil war, which he believed to be impend- 
 ing. When civil war came he declared he 
 
 would SUSTAIN THE ADMINISTRATION IN 
 ASSERTING THE JUST EIGHTS OF THE GOV- 
 ERNMENT AND MAINTAINING THE UnION 
 
 OP THE States as cordially as he did 
 Andrew Jackson in 1833. (!!!) 
 
 " Early in 1870 began the celebrated con- 
 test concerning the charter of New York 
 City — Mr. Tilden went to Albany, and 
 April 5th made a speech in the presence of 
 Tweed and his legislative committee, de- 
 nouncing the charter which restored the 
 'Tweed dynasty' to power, making over 
 to them all the offices and official influence 
 of the city government; not by the voice 
 of the people, but by the vote of a corrupt 
 Legislature — strongly Republican. Under 
 it occurred the notorious ' six million 
 robbery.' 
 
 " On the 15th of September Mr. Tilden 
 dislodged the 'Tweed King' from the 
 possession of the Comptroller's office. That 
 fall he led the revolt of 40,000 Democrats 
 against the 'Ring' in the city of New 
 York. 
 
 " Thus he staked his political existence 
 and all party relations, threw himself into 
 the breach in order to inspire courage in 
 the Democratic masses, to correct the 
 abuses in the party. 
 
 "That autumn he was elected to the 
 Assembly for the purpose of purifying the 
 judiciary. He was watchful and untiring 
 until he saw the Bench was purified by the 
 resignation of some and impeachment of 
 others — this was the reward of eighteen 
 months of immense labor, and entire sac- 
 rifice of time and business. 
 
 " Mr. Tilden, by his famous analysis of 
 the accounts of the Broadway Bank, fur- 
 nished the only judicial proofs by which 
 the suits against the ' Ring ' could be main- 
 tained, showing that two-thirds had been 
 divided among public officers and their 
 accomplices, resulting in the conviction of 
 some and the flight of others from the 
 country. 
 
 ' ' Mr.TUden's life has been mostly devoted 
 to his profession ; he is a man of extensive 
 reading and cultivated literary acquire- 
 ments. No purer man; no more sincere 
 friend of honesty and reform; no more 
 determined foe to corruption in every form ; 
 and none more deserving of the people, 
 was ever presented for their sufirage." 
 
 50,000 copies of a large lithographic likeness of himself were struck off 
 at his own expense, and sent to every bar-room in the State ! 
 
 It took 8,500 to supply those in the city of New York alone ! All 
 observers will remember how, just before election, his sinister face stared out 
 from all the "saloons," "restaurants," "hotels," and other places of 
 " refreshment" in the Stxtte. 
 
 What would Alexander Hamilton have said to that kind of statesmanship ? 
 
 Next, was a lithographed fac-simile letter addressed to rural voters, 
 many of whom were not " posted" as to this neat method of counterfeit- 
 
 * This most be branded as false ; the " Soft " faction, only, nominated him.— Ed. 
 
74 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 ing handwriting, and who verily thought that Mr. Tilden had personal 
 knowledge of each recipient ! Of course all such voted for him ! ! 
 
 FmALLT, he adopted the novel expedient of sending money through his 
 agents into counties where the temperance sentiment was strong, and 
 offering to pay all the expenses of running an independent temperance 
 ticket ! 
 
 I have this from Democratic sources, and could name persons to whom 
 such offers were made. 
 
 Says a correspondent of the " New York Times," Nov. 26, 1875, speak- 
 ing of Tilden's canvass : — 
 
 " That funds were liberally contributed " That the same thing was done last year 
 
 to assist the Prohibition agitation is also is equally capable of proof. My authority 
 beyond doubt. for this is unquestionable." 
 
 Temperance papers, also, were stirred up to unusual activity by similar 
 means, and over 10,000 votes were thus diverted from his opponent, and 
 twice as many more voters, by such dissimulation, kept from voting at all. 
 
 Mr. John McKeon, a leading Democrat, estimated that Tilden spent in this 
 and other electioneering ways, $250,000 of his own ill-gotten wealth ! 
 
 The " New York Times " stated that the sum was not a cent under 
 $300,000 ! 
 
 Election day came and went, and Tilden, the author of the Jeff Davis 
 Peace Resolutions of 1864, was elected by 50,000 majority over Gen. Dix, 
 author of the famous order of 1861, " If any man undertakes to haul doim 
 the American Flag, shoot Mm on the spot." 
 
 The opponents of universal suffrage never bad as damaging an argu- 
 ment as in this instance since the formation of the American Republic. 
 
 As Alexander, in apostolic times, had to listen for hours to the cry of 
 " Great is Diana of the Ephesians,"* so General Dixf might be supposed 
 to be serenaded by "Tammany shouts" of ^'^ Great is Tilden of the 
 money-bags ! !" 
 
 • See Holy Writ, Acts xix. 34. the "Boss" of the "Brooklyn Ring,' 
 
 t General Dix, soon after the result of says that Tilden's nomination for Governor 
 
 the canvass was known, called a friend's is claimed to te due to him. 
 
 attention to the fact, that outside of the Also that when a delegation from that 
 
 two cities of New York and Brooklyn city called on Governor Tilden to confer 
 
 where rings reign supreme, his majority with him about signing bills affecting their 
 
 over Tilden was 6,209. The General said city he dismissed them curtly, except Mc- 
 
 that he had never claimed popularity in Laughlin, whom he invited to a private 
 
 those two cities ! interview, and placing all the bills in his 
 
 But Tilden in those "two cities" alone hands said, "You select the bills I ought 
 
 obtained 55,526 more votes than Gen. Dix; to sign and leave them here." This he 
 
 making his plurality in the State 60,317. did, and Governor Tilden signed them 
 
 The " N. Y. Sun," of August 9th, 1875, in for his brother demagogue I 
 a biographical sketch of Hugh McLaughlin, 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED QOVERNOK. 75 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE UNPRINCIPLED GOTEENOE. 
 
 The demagogue had reached the coveted eminence ! We are tempted 
 to make a diagnosis of a certain long pause in his inaugural of 1875, but 
 forbear, although one word to the wise would be sufficient! The well- 
 known prolixity of Tilden was manifested in his first message. 
 
 He soon mounted the hobby of Canal Reform, for a special purpose, 
 which was set forth in an anecdote of the " hobby rider," appearing in the 
 "New York Times" of August 20, 1875, thus : — 
 
 " It seems that before the GoTernor sent with the remark: 'Jimmy, that message 
 his message to the Legislature on Canal will make me President of the United 
 Reforms he showed it to Ex-Senator O'Brien States ! ' " 
 
 He called on the Legislature for extraordinary powers to appoint Com- 
 missions, ostensibly to investigate frauds, which State Treasurer Raines had 
 exposed, two years before, to Tilden as a legislator, but without response ! 
 
 (Tilden took especial pains to arrange matters in the Convention of 1875, 
 so that Mr. Raines, who had thus anticipated him, should not be renominated. 
 Notwithstanding the latter's personal merit, and special claims on the 
 party support, the " reform" Governor was jealous of him !) 
 
 Tilden had for years used a set of stock phrases in his political speeches 
 of former years against centralization of power, and in favor of local govern- 
 ment. In the circular sent out by him in 1870, signed " S. J. Tilden, 
 Chairman State Committee," he said (the italics being his) : — 
 
 " The true mission of the Democratic the human race on this continent, and at 
 party is to rollback the tide of Centralism, last, by the force of our example, the human 
 . . from which our immortal ancestors race of every clime." 
 fondly believed that we should forever free 
 
 Again, in his speech at the State Convention, where Tweed was domi- 
 nant, he said : — 
 
 " Reverently, I thank God there is re- everywhere the domain of individual 
 vealed the dawn of a new and mightier judgment and action. 
 day. The Democracy, burnishing its armor "Second. To throw hack the govermental 
 
 and purifying its ranks, advances to fight powers necessary to be exercised as much 
 anew the battle against Centralism. Its as possible upon the States and localities, 
 creed is compressed in two ideas : — approaching in every case the individuals 
 
 "First. To limit as much as possible all to he affected. " 
 govermental power, enlarging always and 
 
76 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 Thus spake Tilden when out of office ! But seated in office be at once 
 called for more centralized power in himself than was ever dreamed of by 
 any or all of his predecessors ! 
 
 This opinion is forcibly endorsed by the Democratic Speaker of the 
 Assembly of 1875, Hon. Jeremiah McGuire,( well-known throughout the 
 State for his fearless honesty of both sentiment and action,) as follows : — 
 
 " To the Editor of the New York Times: — 
 
 " When the party met in convention in 
 September, 1874, and adopted a creed of 
 its faith and principles by which the party 
 was to be guided, if successful, the ' in- 
 stincts of my ancestry ' led me to believe 
 that the party believed what it professed — 
 at all events, I believed it. In my simplici- 
 ty it never occurred to me that it was a 
 mere net to catch flies. One of the articles 
 of the party creed enunciated at the time 
 named was the application to the city of 
 New York of the principle that every mu- 
 nicipality had the right to govern itself; 
 in other words, ' home rule and local self- 
 government.' A bill was introduced into 
 the Legislature giving that right to the 
 people of the legislative and executive 
 ridden city of New York. Judge of my 
 surprise, when this hill came up for 
 a third reading, to find an Executive 
 mandate sent into our body that a Demo- 
 cratic majority must not pass such a bill. 
 
 ' ' This action of the Executive first opened 
 my eyes to the fact that he would not 
 yield a particle of power he possessed, but 
 that he intended to reach out and grasp all 
 that he could by any means obtain, even 
 at the expense of his stereotyped annual 
 speech and what the party had for years 
 expressed. I could not and would not be 
 dragooned into the support of such a de- 
 ceptive and treacherous scheme, and I am 
 willing to submit my action to the people 
 of the city of New York and to those of 
 the State 
 
 "In the midst of a popular commotion 
 created by his artful and deceptive canal 
 message, the Executive sent to the Legis- 
 lature for adoption two of the most infoi- 
 mous bills that were ever sent to a legis- 
 lative body, and which make the arbitrary 
 recom/mendations of Gharles I., of Eng- 
 land, appear tame, being nothing more nor 
 less than to confer upon the Governor the 
 power to appoint a species of Star Cham- 
 ber court, and to enable him to remove, 
 without trial, cause, or pretence, the elec- 
 tive o£Scers of the State, and to appoint 
 his own dependents in their stead. The 
 ' instincts of my ancestry ' led me to 
 vehemently and vigorously expose and 
 denounce those grasping, infamous and 
 centralizing schemes for power, and 
 then the dogs of war were let loose. I 
 was an opponent of reform and defender 
 of bold, bad, and corrupt men. For 
 weeks, even months, newspapers teemed 
 with abuse of me and fulsome praises of 
 Tilden and his so-called reform ; but not 
 one of them, until recently, ever alluded 
 to his infamous schemes or referred to the 
 grounds of my opposition, — my opposi- 
 tion to the abhorrent, vindictive, and anti- 
 Democratic schemes of Tilden. 
 
 "I have alluded to one of the causes 
 which brought me into collision with Exec- 
 utive ambition to hold his grasp upon New 
 
 York city and its vast patronage, and to 
 make its Mayor a mere subordinate of the 
 
 Governor. Erom this time I was marked 
 as a victim of obloquy, denunciatiqn and 
 gross misrepresentation by the Executive's 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 
 
 77 
 
 subsidized press. I -vras written down as 
 a member of, or connected with, a corrupt 
 combination of men called a ' Canal Eing.' 
 No man knew the falsity of this charge 
 better than Tilden himself ; but his policy 
 was to crush every man that he could not 
 use, and hut little scruple was exercised as 
 to the means . . the schemes the Exec- 
 utive demised to betray and destroy the 
 Democratic party, and to advance his own 
 personal amhiiion came very near laying 
 the Democratic party upon its beam ends, 
 notwithstanding the frantic appeals of the 
 Executire to the agricultural interests, and 
 the apathy of the Republicans. Such 
 
 We annex a likeness of this sturdy 
 of his Partj' cAove the tricks of the 
 to control it ! 
 
 hu/mbuggery and demagogism ; such hy- 
 pocrisy and insincerity ; such treachery 
 to party, and vindictiveness to individ- 
 uals ; such a prostitution of the interest 
 of the people to individual ambition as 
 we have witnessed the past year, I hope 
 the ' instincts of my ancestry ' will always 
 induce me to denounce, and that it may be 
 said of me, as of another Irishman, that I 
 am ' too fond of the right to pursue the 
 expedient.' This is aU the ambition I 
 have. 
 
 "J. McGUIRE. 
 "Elmiea, Monday, Dec. 6, 1875." 
 
 Democrat, who esteemed the principles 
 Tilden Eing Demagogues, who seek 
 
 HON. JEREMIAH. HCGOIRB; 
 
 SaUKEK OF TOB NEW YOEK ASSEHBLT. 
 
78 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKBD! 
 
 The "Albany Journal" of May 21st, 1875, contains a list of seven differ- 
 ent Commissions which Tilden asJced the Legislature to let him appoint 
 and remove at pleasure, involving an expense of $1,610,000 per annum! 
 
 The " Journal" remarks that no Governor ever before sought such con- 
 centration of authority involving enormous power and patronage. Some of 
 his requests the Legislature refused, and granted others. Among Commis- 
 sions allowed was one on canal frauds, which produced twelve different 
 reports, nearly all of which were published to answer as campaign docu- 
 ments ! 
 
 The Commission was claimed to be " non-partisan" when confirmed by 
 the Senate, but it turned out to be mere political co-partners of Tilden, 
 attacking only his political opponents in the Star Chamber style of Charles 
 I. of England. 
 
 Co-ordinate State oflScers were interrogated by the Commission just so 
 far as suited its purpose. The latter would then make up the evidence to 
 suit its taste, and publish their insinuations free in every newspaper in the 
 State in the form of a report to the Governor ! No such privilege was ac- 
 corded to the accused, and hence the proceedings were wholly ex parte and 
 repugnant to a proper sense of official decorum and of justice. 
 
 Tilden caused the Comptroller, being a political opponent, to be thus 
 attacked on the eve of the election. When the latter did not reply, and 
 was asked the reason, he remarked that he did not propose to stand to a 
 formal trial in the newspapers ! 
 
 Another officer attacked was the Auditor of the Canal Department, who, 
 Tilden's organs claimed, held the financial key to that important interest 
 and source of political power. 
 
 The manner of his being throttled and removed is best related in his 
 own communication to the Governor : — 
 
 "Albant, Jan. 11, 1876. days to cross-examine me, not only in 
 
 " The following is a copy of the letter of regard to the matters communicated to the 
 
 resignation sent by the late Auditor of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund, but as 
 
 Canal Department to the Governor ; — t° ^^^ others, and as to none of which had 
 
 I had the least opportunity to give any 
 
 " To His Excellency Samuel J. Tildeh, direct testimony or statements whatever. 
 
 Governor of the State of New York : — On the fifth day I was accorded the privi- 
 
 lege of having my statement read in evi- 
 
 " On the 20th of December I appeared dence, occupying but a few minutes in 
 before such commission, and requested at time, and comprising four pages of the 124 
 the outset to be allowed to make a state- pages of testimony reported, and then I 
 ment, in the form of testimony, in regard was again subjected to a further cross- 
 to the several matters wTiich had been re- examination of great length and rudeness, 
 ferred to by the commissioners before the The Board of Commissioners of the Canal 
 Board of Commissioners of the Canal Fund. Fund had adjourned to and met on Tues- 
 This was refused, and the commissioners day, December 28, 1875. It was only at 
 proceeded in their own manner for four the hour of thit meeting that either my 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 
 
 79 
 
 counsel or myself were furnished with a 
 copy of the testimony taken. Neverthe- 
 less, the matter was taken up at once, and, 
 after hearingmy counsel, the Board adopted 
 the following resolution : — 
 
 " Resolved, That a requisition is made 
 upon His Excellency the Governor, to sus- 
 pend Francis S. Thayer, the Auditor of tlie 
 Canal Department, and to appoint a suitable 
 person to perform his duties, if it shall he 
 made to appear to him that the said auditor 
 has violated his duty in respect to the pub- 
 lic money in his charge and subject to his 
 draft, the particulars of which alleged 
 violation of duty appear in the report of 
 the commission to investigate the affairs of 
 the canals of the State, which has been 
 submitted to this Board, and which is here- 
 with transmitted. 
 
 "The Board, by the resolution, did not 
 assume to pass upon the question of whether 
 or not I had violated my duty, but, on the 
 contrary, expressly disclaimed any inten- 
 tion of even expressing an opinion on that 
 subject, and simply remitted the whole 
 matter, with the testimony, to your Ex- 
 cellency. This resolution was adopted 
 between the hours of one and two o'clock, 
 P.M., of December 28. At that time, and 
 for some days following, I am informed, 
 your Excellency was in New York city. 
 However, at about six o'clock of that same 
 afternoon, I was served with the copy of 
 the order of suspension heretofore referred 
 to. It thus appears that, although the 
 Board of Commissioners of the Canal Eund 
 had expressly disclaimed any intention to 
 pass upon the question of my having vio- 
 lated my duty in respect to the public 
 moneys under my charge and subject to 
 
 my draft, there never had been by any one, 
 in any form, specification of a single duty 
 which I had neglected, nor a pretence that 
 I had illegally withdrawn a dollar from the 
 treasury of the State. My suspension was 
 a foregone conclusion, not to be influenced 
 by proofs or argument ; that in fact the 
 order had been executed by your Excellency 
 prior to the action of the Board of Com- 
 missioners of the Canal Fund, upon 
 which it is purported to be founded, prob- 
 ably before the closing of the testimony. 
 
 "I thus find myself suspended without 
 any specification of duties alleged to have 
 been violated having been made in any 
 form, but by an arbitrary exercise of ex- 
 ecutive power, and without any means of 
 review or trial, and without any provision 
 for my restoration to office. 
 
 " It seems that the statute under which 
 I had been suspended makes no provision 
 for a trial or any review of the action of 
 the Executive under it. 
 
 "And with the understanding from an 
 interview with you, thai such transactions 
 would meet your approval, I am at a loss 
 to account for your precipitate action. In 
 consequence of this anomalous position in 
 which I thus find myself, and to avoid any 
 embarrassment to the public service, I 
 hereby resign the office of Auditor of the 
 Canal Department of the State of New 
 York, to take effect immediately. 
 
 " EespectfuUy yours, 
 
 "FRANCIS S. THAYEE. 
 "January 11, 1876." 
 
 It is evident that the action of the Governor was purely partisan in this 
 case, his action being decided on in advance of the evidence ! 
 
 Other persons were attacked by his Commission, and branded in the 
 newspapers as thieves and robbers, for making settlements with the State 
 for contract work on the Canal, which had been audited and paid for, under 
 special acts passed by the Legislature, when Tilden was a silent member 
 thereof! 
 
 The following items of expenses incurred by Tilden's Electioneering 
 " Canal Commission " for some sis months, show how he makes the people 
 pay his piper : — 
 
80 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 WHAT IT COSTS TO INVBSTIOATE. 
 raFOEMATION OP THE CANAL COMMISSION THAT WAS CALLED FOK BT THE LBGI8LAT0KE. 
 
 Albany, Feb. 7, 1876. Pay of Expert Engineers $3,571 26 
 
 The following are the items of expendi- 
 
 Pay of Clerks, etc 2,642 80 
 
 ture by the Canal Investigating Commis- ^'^y °f Accountant • • ^ 258 00 
 
 sioD, taken from the vouchers in the Pnntmg onoo „» 
 
 Comptroller's office : - Stenographing . . . .^. 3,032 38 
 
 Witness Fees and Mileage 1,021 98 
 
 Pay of the Commisaimera, at $20 per day. Miscellaneous 852 99 
 
 Bigelow $3,487 17 qaq"^ 
 
 Magone 2,916 98 Grand Total $26,363 38 
 
 Orr 3,002 26 There are a number of vouchers yet to 
 
 Van Buren 3,525 95 be paid by the Comptroller, but the Com- 
 
 mission claim to have caused the return of 
 
 Total $12,932 32 funds obtained by fraud from the State in 
 
 excess of their expenses. 
 
 Bigelow drew $3,487, and his printing-office over $2,000 more, during a 
 season when he was making campaign speeches to forward his own election 
 on the " Tilden Ticket." 
 
 The State of New York never before witnessed such electioneering as 
 that ! 
 
 TILDEN EXPOSING FRAUD IS LIKE SATAN REBUKING SIN ! 
 
 His administration of State affairs for little more than one year afford 
 startling warnings of the dangers to the people resulting from elevating a 
 dissembling demagogue to power. 
 
 The following are selected among many instances : — 
 
 Example I. 
 tilden's nepotism. 
 
 By this term we propose to include not only nephews as military secre- 
 taries, and other blood relations, but also his private retainers imposed on 
 the public as appointees to oflSce. 
 
 C. J. Cauda, long his confidential clerk and agent in his Lake Superior 
 interests, was, through Tilden's controlling voice, appointed one of the Com- 
 missioners of the Brooklyn Bridge, where six millions of dollars have been 
 expended of public moneys, of which over fifty per cent., or three millions, 
 have been estimated in the newspapers as wasted or stolen by or through 
 the Commission. 
 
 Under the Governor's rapid Transit Bill, this same Cauda was foisted in 
 as a Rapid Transit Commissioner for New York City, and he is Tilden's tool 
 in perpetrating the great frauds concealed in that iniquitous arrangement, 
 wherein it is estimated that citizens will be needlessly despoiled of over 
 fifty millions of dollars in value.* Cauda, having been educated as a 
 
 * J. E. Parsons, Esq., an eminent law- ages on the route alone (Third avenue) as 
 yer, recently made an estimate of the dam- being twenty millions of dollarg 1 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 
 
 81 
 
 dry-goods clerk, had no suitable qualifications for either position. He was 
 simply a ' ' Tilden dummy." 
 
 Through Tilden's influence, one J. P. Sinnott, long a clerk and copyist in 
 his law office, being about thirty-three years of age, was, in 1875, placed in 
 nomination by " Tammany" for one of the judgeships of New York, with a 
 salary of $10,000 per annum for fourteen j'ears ! Scores of most able and 
 experienced lawyers of the same party, and of mature years, were thrust 
 aside for Tilden's clerk ! Even New York city could not stand that, and 
 Clerk Sinnott lacked 17,000 votes of an election, where the State ticket 
 had about 40,000 majority ! 
 
 Example II. 
 
 TILDEK'S ' ' COLOR LIXE " IK EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY. 
 
 GovERNOE Tilden — Go away. No colored people admitted here. 
 
 The above cut, from the " Acadian," is too good to be overlooked. 
 
 On the 1st of December (1875), two white and three colored men were 
 under sentence of death in New York city. Only the ' ' darkies " were called 
 toface the Sheriff's halter! Whiteman "Dolan" hadhiscase ''reviewed. 
 Another, Stauderman, was sent to the Insane Asylum, by Tildens 
 order. The reception of fhe order by Stauderman is thus noticed in the 
 "New York Sun" of Dec. 27th, 1875 : — 
 
82 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 "He (Stauderman) maintained this de- Dolan and the reporter, about the shooting 
 ception until he received the news of the (the girl he murdered') with as much non- 
 commutation of sentence. Hethenunbos- chalance as if it was a trifling matter, 
 omed himself to John Dolan, acknowledg- When asked by them ' if he was crazy ' he 
 ing his fraud, and laughing heartily over repUed emphatically, ' No, I am not crazy.' 
 it. A 'Sun' reporter called on him and 'But the doctor thought you were,' said 
 paid ' You fooled them nicely, did you not, the reporter. ' Well, that's all right, ain't 
 Jake ? ' — ' Yes,' said he. He joked with it ? ' said he, laughing." ' 
 
 . " • 
 
 THE STOKES CASE. 
 
 Whatever may be the opinion of observers respecting the degree of 
 guilt attached to the slayer of the notorious Col. Fisk, the devotion of 
 Stokes' neai-est relatives has been of the most touching character. 
 
 His father, a venerable and worthy citizen, died during, or from, vain 
 attempts, extending over nearly a year's time, in endeavoring to get an 
 expression of opinion, or a decision from Governor Tilden, as to his exer- 
 cise of Executive clemency in the case. 
 
 The foreman of the trial jury called on Governor Dix to urge a pardon, 
 as stated in the " New York Herald," thus : — 
 
 " In addition to other facts, Mr. Barthol- when his request was made, he deemed it 
 
 omew stated that, on urging Governor Dix only courtesy to let the case lie over until 
 
 to pardon Stokes, the former gentleman Governor Tilden, having entered on his 
 
 seemed deeply moved, but stated that as he term, might adjudicate." 
 had only nine days of his time to serve 
 
 Again, from a correspondent who interviewed Stokes, and reported the 
 latter' s conversation, thus : — 
 
 " Well, the District Attorney who se- died of a broken heart. He went to see 
 cured my capital conviction has been to see the Governor ten times at Albany and saw 
 the Governor, and Lyman Tremain, John him six times, and Governor Tilden prom- 
 R. Dos Passos and the Eev. Dr. Armitage, ised last June to look into my case at once. 
 of the Fifth avenue Baptist church, to I suppose he is too busy to attend to such 
 which my family belong, have all been to matters. My mother also called on the 
 see the Governor, and he has promised Governor three times, and I asked my fa- 
 several times to look into the legal aspects ther to cease going to' Albany as a favor to 
 of my case, which if he would, lawyers of me, because I knew it was breaking him 
 good standing believe that I should have down slowly but surely." 
 been discharged ere this. My poor father 
 
 In the thirteenth month of consideration, Gov. Tilden decided January, 
 1876, against Stokes. "WTiereupon the latter made the following observation 
 to a reporter of the " New York Sun" : — 
 
 • Out of 281 cases of murder and homi- while others escaped ftom prison; being 
 
 cide committed in New York city from 1870 under sentence of death ! But under Til- 
 
 to 1875, inclusive, but seven of the perpe- den's " color line " three colored men died 
 
 trators were executed ! More than one- for one victim's death I 
 fourth, or about 100, escaped even a trial 
 
THE' UNPRINCIPLED GOVEKNOR. 
 
 83 
 
 " I am now starting in on the fifth year 
 of actual incarceration for manslaughter in 
 the third degree. But I can see what ia 
 the matter with the last phases of my case. 
 A police captain wrote me last week that 
 Brother Thomas G. Shearman, Fiske'e at- 
 
 torney, had said to a member of Plymouth 
 Church, in an office in Broad street, ' Jay 
 Gould has circumvented Stokes from his 
 pardon from Governor Tilden, and what's 
 more, he won't get anything.' " 
 
 Example III. 
 
 TTLDENS POLITICS IN THE MILITIA. 
 
 The following newspaper items are very snggestive, and need no com- 
 ment : — 
 
 " Tdegram. 
 "NbwToek.Thtjbsdat, Dec. 30, 1875. 
 
 "THE DISBANDED 84TH. 
 
 " Why was it Dissolved? — Political Tactics 
 
 of Governor Tilden. 
 
 " The disbandment of the 84th Eegiraent 
 N. 6. S. N. Y. is a subject of general 
 discussion in civil as well as in military 
 circles. The 84th, it will be remembered, 
 was the regiment that signalized itself in 
 the Orange riot of July 12, 1871, by first 
 firing upon the mob that filled Eighth 
 Avenue at the intersection of Twenty- 
 third Street, and disputed the right of the 
 Orangemen to walk in procession. 
 
 "It is held by a good many well-in- 
 formed people that the motive of Governor 
 Tilden in disbanding the 84th was to curry 
 favor with the great class of Irish voters, 
 to whom this regiment has rendered itself 
 especially obnoxious. It has always been 
 composed of ' Eardowns,' which means 
 that its ranks were filled with Protestant 
 or Orange Irishmen, a class excessively 
 obnoxious to the Irishmen of the Catholic 
 way of thinking. 
 
 "Then it cannot be forgotten what ex- 
 citement reigned everywhere throughout 
 the city, especially along the line of the 
 procession ; how Governor Hoffman stayed 
 all day long at police head-quarters to 
 give orders to the militia ; how the latter 
 were held partly in reserve; how the 
 whole police force was put on duty ; and it 
 was a question with the Governor of ap- 
 pealing to the United States government 
 in case the State power failed. 
 
 " Governor Tilden, who is undoubtedly 
 the most prominent candidate for the Pres- 
 idency next year on the Democratic side, 
 saw that he could perform a, stroke of 
 policy that would win him the heart and 
 hand of many an Irishman who is familiar 
 with the story of the 84th and their blood- 
 thirsty action on that memorable day in 
 July, and resolve to disband the organiza- 
 tion. Afraid, however, that it might 
 excite too much public attention and criti- 
 cism, he did the safe and politic thing of 
 ordering at the same time the mustering 
 out of three other regiments, that should 
 have been disbanded years ago. It is the 
 mustering out of the 84th (which has 
 greater strength and efficiency than the 
 69th) that excites comment and leads to 
 inquiry as to the Governor's motive. 
 Quite enough of people are prepared to 
 argue that the leading object the Governor 
 had was political, and was only one of 
 many by which he has already, and means 
 in the future to secure the suffrages of 
 various classes in his candidacy for the 
 Presidency. 
 
 " INQUIBrES OF A ' TELEGBAM ' BEPOETEE. 
 
 " A Telegram reporter, in his wanderings 
 around among the members of the National 
 Guard, found a preponderating degree of 
 sentiment against the action of the Gov- 
 ernor in disbanding the 79th and 84th 
 Regiments, particularly the latter. Col- 
 onel Conkling pointed to the fact that by 
 the last annual report of the Adjutant 
 General the 84th mustered a total of 409 
 officers and men, and he insists that is 
 
84 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 the proposition might have been made of 
 consolidating with some other regiment. 
 
 " WHAT WAS DONE WITH THB 69tH. 
 
 "It happened on that fatal 12th of July 
 that Brigadier General Shaler, under in- 
 structions from GoTemor Hofiman, took 
 precautions to select the militia regiments 
 that should form the escort to the Orange 
 procession. Of course it would never do 
 to order all the regiments out indiscrimi- 
 nately, so he adopted the plan of confining 
 such pronouncedly Catholic and Irish reg- 
 iments as the 69th to their armories, to be 
 called on only in an extreme emergeney. 
 The Ancient Order of Hibernians, a power- 
 ful organization, never forgot this fact, and 
 have kept it in mind ever since. As they 
 were opponents of the Orange parade, 
 they must feel they have been oflfered 
 some degree of satisfaction." 
 
 A paper of late date states that at the formal ceremony of disbanding 
 the above regiment, various officers and men who had borne arms mth it in 
 its campaigns for maintaining the national unity, as above mentioned, shed 
 tears of sorrow. Wbether Tilden's protege as Mayor's chief clerk, Col. 
 Harrison, Jeflf Davis' former private Secretary, who but twelve years before 
 was sending prisoners from the 84th to the horrors of the "Andersonville 
 pen," was present or not, was not stated ! ! 
 
 The following additional notice appears in the " New York World" of 
 January 14, 1876 : — 
 
 more than the average strength of the 
 militia regiments of the State. It will be 
 remembered that the gallant Conkling 
 raised this regiment in the spring of 1863. 
 It distinguished itself in several campaigns 
 and returned to New Tork to receive a 
 public ovation at the hands of the citizens. 
 The Colonel gives no weight to the excuse 
 advanced for the disbandment of his 
 regiment, that the armory rents are too 
 high. He is indignant with the action of 
 the Governor, and if he had time to spare 
 he should think it worth his while to make 
 a public protest. 
 
 "feeling op THB OrWCBRS. 
 
 " The officers partake of the same feel- 
 ing as their Colonel. Lieutenant Colonel 
 Beattie, Captains Cartwright, Douglas 
 McKinley, Kerr, TuUerton and Head insist 
 that before disbandment was decided upon 
 
 " The Disbanded Highlanders. — The 
 members of the lately disbanded 79th 
 have determined to keep up their military 
 practice by joining other regiments. Two 
 full companies will be attached to the 
 
 12thBegiment and one to the 71st. These 
 companies will be allowed to withdraw if 
 the Governor is induced, under any change 
 of circumstances, to allow them to be re- 
 enrolled as a separate regiment." 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 TILDEK DOUBLING THE SHEEIFF S FEES. 
 
 The following explains itself: — 
 
 "THE SHERIFFS OFFICE. 
 
 " PEACTICAL OPEKATION OF AN OBJECTIONABLE LAW. 
 
 " To the Editors of <he Evening Post: — 
 
 "Among thelawspassed by thelastLeg- 
 
 islature and approved by Governor Tilden, 
 
 was ' An act in relation to courts of 
 
 record in the city and county of New 
 York,' chapter 625 of Laws of 1875, 
 passed June 21, 1875, as follows : — 
 " ' Sect. 1. All orders of arrest, warrants 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 
 
 85 
 
 of attachment, execution and proceedings 
 to recover personal property in civil ac- 
 tions, except when the Sheriff is a neces- 
 sary party thereto, made in or issuing out 
 of any court of record in the city and 
 county of New York, whether by statute 
 or otherwise, shall be issued to the Sheriff 
 only.' .... 
 
 So the Sheriff and his friends, not satisfied 
 with his already large fees and emoluments, 
 set to work to grasp from the Marshals the 
 crumbs that feU from the only Court of 
 Eecord to which they had ingress. 
 
 " The bill was passed as demanded, but 
 
 It may never have occurred to " Attorney," that a possible equivalent 
 to Tilden for signing that bOl, so oppressive, " centralizing" and undemo- 
 cratic on its face, was, that after the faU election the Sheriff should arrange 
 for Tweed to " escape," and rid his former partner of his dangerous pres- 
 ence. Tilden knows how such things are done. 
 
 The following poem, published recently, seems appropriate in this con- 
 nection (the last two lines being " Buckman's " first effort in poetry) : — 
 
 Governor Tilden for some time refused to 
 approve it, and in New York city was 
 waited upon by influential citizens, who 
 pressed upon his consideration the great 
 inconvenience to the profession and the 
 public that must result firom the enact- 
 ment of this MONOPOLY law. But the bill 
 was signed. 
 
 "It is not to the marshals that this new 
 law is an injustice; it is to the lawyers, 
 generally, and to litigants in small cases.* 
 " Attoenet. 
 
 " New York, December 20, 1876." 
 
 "THE FUGITIVE. 
 
 " ' Boss Tweed got away ! ' Well, Johnny, For sneak-thieves the dungeon swings in- 
 
 you've read — ward its door, — 
 
 You see it is just as we workin' men said : The reins for the rich and the ^purs for the 
 There aint lock or bolt in New York can poor ! 
 
 ,, , ^ r 1,-1,-flt. Why, how could a dollar- thief hold up his 
 
 If a rascal has plenty of cash m his fist. ^ j 
 
 That prison aint built that'll hold in a man ., ^i, , , ^, .„. „•, 
 
 ,„ , , . . .„. , , , , „ Afore Tweed, who stole miUions on mil- 
 
 If he's in for a milbon and boss of a clan ; ,. , . . , . 
 
 You can't keep a nabob like him under ban, "'°^' '^ '^ ^ . 
 
 „, , , -f J „ „„ ;,„„„ You remember poor Dennis one morng 
 
 The handcuffs are made for a penmless „ , ,. 
 
 (the fool !) 
 
 Stole the shoes so his Jennie could go to 
 
 the school; 
 Cops jumped for him lively next day, and 
 
 — hurrah ! 
 Didn't Conner and Dunham get him in 
 
 their claw. 
 
 boor — 
 The road's for the rich and the cell for the 
 poor! 
 
 The old man is gone ! Let him go ! Let him 
 go! 
 Oh, give the magnificent robber a show! _i * ,», 
 
 The lessonis plain? thoughit sounds rather And^s^end him nght up to the extent of the 
 
 Yon mafs'tell without harm if you gobble He's al Blackwell's, I think, at this mo- 
 
 , , ment ; for sure 
 
 Of t^e baker's brown loaves borrow slyly The feast's for the rich and the fast for the 
 
 a few 
 
 poor! 
 
 For your children, - ah, then will the law ^^^^ ^^^^,^ ^^ ^^^ splendidest thief of the 
 
 put you through ; — . ^ 
 A year on the Island, y on reprobate, you ! time . ^ 
 
 • It nearly doubles the cost. 
 
86 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 To rob is an honor — to want is a crime ! 
 Let pickpocket-jailbirds go grovel again, 
 Who plunders the State is a king among 
 
 men! 
 Then, Johnny, take heed ! For the heavy 
 
 swag swing ; 
 Steal large! Bribe the judge! Be the 
 
 chief of a ring ! 
 
 And the people shall joyously hail you as 
 
 king! 
 For a diflference in ' cheek ' is enough to 
 
 insure 
 A crown for the rich and a lash for the 
 
 poor I " 
 
 And the 'lection of a Ring lawyer 
 In Tilden the " reform Givern'r! " 
 
 Example V. 
 
 TILDEN EUINING THE STATE KEFOKMATOEIES. 
 
 In the " New York Times " of Nov. 30tli and Dec. 30th, 1875, the fol- 
 lowing facts are stated, and the reader is referred to that source for their 
 
 verification : — 
 
 "A MISCHIEVOUS LAW. 
 
 "effect on the island NtTESERIES. THE CHILDREN TO BE DISTRIBUTED BY EELIGIOnS 
 
 TESTS. — COMMITMENTS HEREAFTER TO BE MADE ACCORDING TO SECTARIAN DEMANDS. 
 
 " There was a law enacted in April last, 
 at the solicitation of certain persons con- 
 nected with charitable and reformatory 
 matters, that, unless arrested by injunction 
 or flatly disobeyed, will break up the 
 foundling and nursery institutions under 
 charge of the Commissioners of Charities 
 and Correction, and send the children on 
 Randall's Island to other homes — much 
 the greater' portion going to the Catholic 
 Protectory in Westchester County and the 
 Eoman Catholic Orphan Asylum at Fifth 
 avenue and Fifty-seventh street. 
 
 "The admissions and discharges of chil- 
 dren at Eandall's Island averages over 3,000 
 a year, and there are from 300 to 500 con- 
 stantly on hand. They are well taken care 
 of, have six or eight houses, with ample 
 room for classification, and just such edu- 
 cation as is given in the City Public School 
 No. 6, with a full force of excellent 
 teachers operating exclusively onthe Island. 
 The cost of each child has been carefully 
 computed, and is shown to be just fourteen 
 and a half cents per day, or seven and 
 a half cents less than $53 a year. The 
 institution has been well managed, and has 
 rescued thousands of children from vag- 
 rancy and crime. Their condition will be in 
 no way improved in the new homes to which 
 they are to be sent, while the difference 
 to the public will be very considerable. 
 Over 160 will be sent to the Protectory, 
 and the Orphan Asylum, and for every one 
 
 the Protectory will collect from the City 
 Treasurer $110 a year, or more than twice 
 as much as is now paid. 
 
 " On Eandall's Island no sectarian doc- 
 trines are taught. At least three-quarters 
 of the vagrants sent there are the offspring 
 of Irish Catholics. It is to get spiritual 
 control of these children that the nurseries 
 are tj be broken up and the boys and girls 
 sent to the Protectory. That institution 
 comes this year to the City Treasurer for 
 $220,000, and every child added costs us 
 $110, and the Foundling Asylum of the 
 Sisters of Charity wants $208,000. The 
 aggregate of city appropriations for asy- 
 lums and reformatories is $883,14:0, of 
 which about four hundred and forty-three 
 thousand dollars, or more than one-half, 
 goes to the Catholic Protectory, their 
 Foundling Asylum, and their House of the 
 Good Shepherd. If the letter and spirit of 
 that part of the law above quoted is carried 
 out, it will not be many months before 
 thousands of boys and girls whose parents 
 find their support difficult or unpleasant, 
 may be snugly quartered in these institu- 
 tions for any time until they are sixteen 
 years old, and the tax-payers can find out 
 just how much they would have to pay 
 every year for support and good sectarian 
 education by multiplying by one hundred 
 and ten dollars any number of inmates that 
 the managers may think proper to count 
 upon. 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 87 
 
 In an editorial of tlie same date, the editor of the " Times" says : — 
 
 " We call attention to this law as one of as well as our schools, in the grasp of its un- 
 
 the objectionable acts of the last Legisla- restless and ambitious power. We demand 
 
 ture, and one of the links in the chain by its instant and unconditional repeal, and 
 
 which Eomanism is seeking to bind the we ask GoTernorTilden to give the matter 
 
 public institutions, penal and charitable, his earnest and thoughtful attention." 
 
 As Governor Tilden signed the law mentioned, the portion of his mes- 
 sage referring to the subject on Reformatories was awaited with interest, to 
 see if such astounding assertions could be controverted. On the contrary, 
 he admits them by his silence ! His remarks are devoted to the cost of 
 building and maintaining the State Asj'lums, of which the following is a 
 sample : — 
 
 .... "It is quite clear that an outlay travagant .... I deny that there is any 
 
 of §5,000 per inmate, for the purpose of sound public policy in erecting palaces for 
 
 providing shelter for the unfortunate objects criminals, for paupers, or for the insane." 
 of public charity, is unreasonable and ex- 
 
 This is as near as the ' ' Dissembler " comes to noticing the above edito- 
 rial of the " New York Times," about the following law : — 
 
 " Chapter 173. or other charitable or reformatory institu- 
 
 ., „ ^, , ,. , tions, as now provided by law. 
 
 "Anact to provide for the better care of ' „ ^ . , . 
 
 ■. , ^-x 1 i_-ij Ti J "Sect. 2 .... in placing any such 
 
 pauper and destitute children. Passed . , ■ ^.^ / -^ . ^, , ^i 
 
 . „ „. „ child in any such institution, it shall be the 
 
 April 24, 1875. , ^ „ ' „ . ^. 
 
 *^ duty of the officer, justice, or person 
 
 "The People of the State of New York, placing it there, to commit such child to 
 
 re'presenteA in the Senate and Assents an orphan asylum, charitable or other re- 
 
 bly, do enact as follows: — formatory institution, that is governed or 
 
 " Section 1 .... or other officer, shall controlled by officers or persons of the same 
 
 commit or send such child or children, not religious faith as the parents of such child, 
 
 above exempted, to some orphan asylum as far as practicable." 
 
 Example VL 
 
 THE " GRAY NUN ACT." 
 
 The State of New York was electrified, late in the fall of 1875, to learn, 
 when the Session Laws were published, that Governor Tilden had, as far 
 back as May 15th, 1875, approved of a new law which virtually destroyed 
 the settled status of the common schools of the State ! For a time the 
 report was discredited, but a reference to the Statute Book proved the 
 rumor to be true. The following is the text of the law itself (chapter 353 
 New York Laws of 1875) : — 
 
SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 "An ACT TO AMEND, ETC., AN ACT TO INCOKPOBATB THE SISTERHOOD OF GbAT NunS 
 
 IN THE State op New Tokk. 
 
 a duplicate thereof, in the Department of 
 Public Instruction, and the Superintendent 
 of Public Instruction may thereupon in 
 his discretion issue a certificate to the 
 effect, that, such graduate is a qualified 
 teacher of the Common Schools of this 
 State. 
 
 " Sect. 7. The said Corporation is 
 hereby authorized to grant diplomas and 
 honorary testimonials in such form and 
 under such regulations as its Board of 
 Trustees may determine, to any person 
 who shaU have or may hereafter be gradu- 
 ated at any Seminary of learning of said 
 Corporation, located within this State ; 
 and any such graduate to whom a diploma 
 may be awarded, may file such diploma, or 
 
 " Albany, May 15th, 1875. 
 ' Approved. 
 
 "S. J. TILDEN." 
 
 Upon this public opinion began to assert itself, reported in the news- 
 papers thus : — 
 
 (m T. Sun, Dec. 20lh, 1876.) 
 
 "HOW PROTESTANTS SEE IT. 
 
 " Peesbttebians and Methodists uniting in a Demand fob the Befeal of the 
 
 Geat Nun Act — no Sectaeianism in the Schools. 
 
 "At the Methodist ministers' meeting, 
 yesterday. Dr. Howard Crosby (Chancellor 
 of the University of New York) was intro- 
 duced in order that he might tell the Meth- 
 odists of the action taken by the Presbyte- 
 rian Church in regard to the ' Gray Nun ' 
 act. 
 
 " 'The devil— (Tilden?) — does good 
 sometimes,' said Dr. Crosby, ascending the 
 platform, ' in bringing together Christians 
 of different denominations to oppose him.' 
 
 " The doctor then read a paper showing 
 that the Synods of Albany, New York, Ge- 
 neva and Western New York, had appointed 
 committees to address the Legislature for 
 the purpose of getting the act repealed. 
 
 " ' Aside from the sectarian privileges 
 given by the act,' said Dr. Crosby, ' it is 
 particularly dangerous as affecting our 
 educational system ; and whether a man is 
 a Christian or a Turk, he can see the dan- 
 ger of putting into the hands of those out- 
 side of our educational matters the power 
 to appoint teachers in our public schools, 
 without being restricted in the least by the 
 requirements of the Departments of Pub- 
 lic Instruction. The Baptists are already 
 moving in the matter, and it is idle for me 
 to urge upon such a body as this, the ne- 
 cessity of prompt action.' 
 
 " There was vigorous applause when the 
 Doctor finished. 
 
 "Dr. Curry, of the 'Advocate,' thought 
 that, aside from all denominational views, 
 the act was an outrageous infringement 
 upon our school rights. 
 
 "He wondered what the men were 
 thinking of who passed the bill, as well as 
 the Governor wlw signed the hill. 
 
 " The ministers heartily approved every- 
 thing said, and a committee, composed of 
 the Rev. Drs. Kettell and Crawford, pre- 
 siding elders in the New York East and 
 the New York Districts, and of Dr. Curry, 
 was appointed to make an investigation, 
 and report at the next meeting of the min- 
 isters." 
 
 i_From the Evening Post.) 
 
 "the gray nuns act. 
 
 " There are so many objections to this act, 
 without considering its sectarian character, 
 that the next Legislature ought to repeal 
 it at once. Tlie feeling which has been 
 manifested in regard to this matter is only 
 another evidence of the determination of 
 the people that the public schools shall not 
 be interfered with in any way in the inter- 
 est of any religious sect." 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVEKNOK. 
 
 89 
 
 Even the " New York Tribune," Tilden's "organ," said, " This act is 
 inexcusable." 
 
 Great interest was felt as to what the Governor would have to say about 
 it in his next message. He referred to it, but in a way not calculated to 
 lessen his reputation as a dissembler ! 
 
 He took the position. First. That it did not give the power to appoint 
 teachers exclusively to the " Gray Nuns " ! Second. That for eleven years 
 previous to the passage of this bill, the State Superintendent might have 
 appointed any of the nuns or their pupils as teachers ! Third. That it 
 escaped the attention of the Legislature {as though he had no responsibility 
 about it) ! Fourth. That, three weeks later, he signed another law which 
 repealed it ! But he says not a word about repealing the act because of its 
 pernicious principle ! Why so oblivious to its tendencies ? 
 
 Said he to the Legislature : — 
 
 eleven years. The provision had no real 
 
 effect; it conferred no new power on the 
 Superintendent; it added nothing to his 
 existing power ; but it bore the appearance 
 of a special grant of a privilege to one corpo- 
 ration ; which mat be presumed to have 
 ESCAPED ATTENTION, foT the bill passed 
 the Assembly once, and the Senate twice, 
 by the afiBrmative vote of every member 
 present. ...... 
 
 " The law of the 9th of June was later 
 than the Gray Nuns act ; and repealed * the 
 clause of that act which authorized the 
 Superintendent, in his discretion, to grant 
 certificates to graduates of the seminaries 
 of the Gray Nuns corporation 
 
 " A clause authorizing the State Super- 
 intendent to issue ' in his discretion ' cer- 
 tificates of qualification to graduates of 
 any seminary of a private corporation, 
 known as the Sisterhood of Gray Nuns, 
 on their filing with him their diplomas, 
 appears in an amendment of the charter 
 by Chapter 353 of the laws of 1875, which 
 became a law on the 15th of May. This 
 provision did not purport to make a person 
 having such diploma a qualified teacher, 
 like a person having a diploma of a State 
 Normal School, but merely vested the 
 State Superintendent with a discretion to 
 grant to such person a certificate of quali- 
 fication. That power the Superintendent 
 had before, and had for the previous 
 
 " S. J. TiLDEN. 
 
 "Albany, Jan. 4." 
 The same newspaper issue contains the following : — 
 
 "Albant, Jan. i, 1876. 
 "The Grat Ntms Act Fated. — 
 Senator Woodin introduced a bill to-day 
 repealing it in fact. Mr. Gilmour, Super- 
 intendent of Public Instruction, will 
 recommend its speedy repeal in his report, 
 which will be ready for transmission to the 
 Legislature after the recess. Mr. Gil- 
 mour carefully abstains in his report from 
 any discussion of the act that could be 
 supposed to have a political bearing, but 
 directs attention to the invidious dis- 
 crimination made by the law in granting 
 a distinction to the graduates of a Gray 
 
 Nun School conceded to the graduates of 
 no other seminary or institution of learn- 
 ing in the State ; even the Regents of the 
 University of the State have not had this 
 right bestowed upon them. He clears the 
 record of his department with respect to 
 the law by showing that it was framed 
 without his sanction or his knowledge; 
 and while admitting' that by the General 
 Education act, passed a month after the 
 Gray Nuns act was rendered inoperative, 
 he recommended its repeal by a special 
 law." 
 
 • This is denied by able lawyers. 
 
90 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED.' 
 
 How do these extracts coincide with a laudatory article published, under 
 Tilden's " inspiration," in a New York paper, of May 14th, 1875 (the day 
 before he signed the "Gray Nun "Act), which blows his horn on the 
 following high key : — 
 
 " It fis strictly within the line of truth undoubtedly came from the Uxeeutive 
 
 to say that there has not been a time since Chamber, conference committees' reports 
 
 the opening of the session of the Legisla- have been shaped, and through and above 
 
 ture, that the course of legislation has it all has been felt a constant pressure, the 
 
 not been watched and guided as carefully source of which was unmistakable; Gov- 
 
 as the running of an engine by an engi- ernor Tilden, in short, always had his 
 
 neer. Bills have been introduced that hand on the bridle." 
 
 All this sounded fine at the time, but when an atrocious blunder — in 
 fact, crime — against, the educational interests of the State is discovered 
 bearing his official signature, he teUs the Legislature " that it is to be 
 presumed to have escaped its attention " ! Did it escape the attention of 
 Governor Tilden when he approved that bill ? What miserable dissimula- 
 tion, worthy of its despicable author ! 
 
 "/ hear u, lion in the lobby roar! 
 
 Say, Mr. Speaker, shall I shut the door. 
 And keep him out, or let him in, 
 Then try and get him out again f ! " 
 
 On the 5th of February, 1876, Governor Tilden sullenly signed an Act 
 repealing the Gray Nun Act above alluded to, thereby confessing himself 
 not as omniscient or omnipotent as his " Organs " h-ad claimed ! 
 
 Example VII. 
 
 VIOLATING HIS OATH OF OFFICE TO AID A EAILWAT EIKG. 
 
 Among the most notorious and most successful " railroad Rings" in the 
 United States is that known as the " Rock Island Railroad Ring," taking 
 its name from an important Western railroad having an Eastern terminus 
 in Chicago. Its principal manipulators are J. F. Tracy, of Chicago, the 
 President ; W. L. Scott, of Erie, Pa., his brother-in-law ; and David Dows, 
 a well-known merchant of New York, who is a shrewd and active member 
 thereof. 
 
 Some five to seven years ago the sharp tricks in stocks of this " Ring" 
 attracted the undivided attention of Wall Street to the number and 
 vast losses of their victims. Horace Greeley denounced them in the 
 "Tribune" of June 22, 1871, and the Press generally held them up to 
 reprobation. Mr. Greeley said, in reference to their sharp practice, in 
 1871: — 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 91 
 
 " The panic in Wall street, yesterday, by which the street was made bankrupt, 
 
 was the result of a conspiracy only less The ruin is already, wide-spread, and the 
 
 extensive than that of ' Black Friday,' and full effects of the operations are not yet 
 
 was precipitated by treason as base as that known." 
 of the clique which planned that disaster 
 
 A few days later he explains further : — 
 
 " The real secret of all these rumors stock, temporarUy below its real value, ly 
 
 prohdbly is that Mr. Tracy and his friends allowing rumors to go uncontradicted, 
 
 are covering the shorts they put out a day and ly countenancing a false view of the 
 
 or two hefore the Woodward failure, real value of the South- Western Railroad 
 
 knowing, as they did then, that they could as a branch of the Rock Island system." 
 cause an explosion and depressure of the 
 
 The tactics of the Eock Island Ring, in the case above alluded to, were 
 almost identical with that resulting in the " Black Friday " panic, which 
 is too well known to need explanation in these pages. 
 
 Among other operations of like character, they fastened on the Elevated 
 Kaihroad in New York City, where Benjamin E. Buckman had invested the 
 savings of years, as stated in my introduction. 
 
 To rob a Policeman in stock matters was but boys' play to them ; but, 
 when they undertook to seduce, or browbeat, or circumvent, the Projector, 
 whose history is given in the earlier chapters, they found a very hard road 
 to travel ! 
 
 It took them years to accomplish frauds that they fancied might be 
 finished in about as many months. 
 
 They had driven the inventor and projector out of his own enterprise 
 because he would not be a partj' to their dishonest scheme. 
 
 They had cut off my stock and interest, and that of scores of others,* 
 by going through with a collusive mortgage sale, involving extraordinary 
 breaches of trust and sacrifices of commercial honor. 
 
 They only needed, as they thought, the sanction of a Legislative Act to 
 condone their rascalities in the eye of the law, and to give them a per- 
 manent legal title to a stolen property. 
 
 Accordingly, in 1872, they appKed to the Legislature for such an act. 
 The projector appeared there in opposition, and they were defeated at an 
 early stage, in the Senate. In 1873 the attempt was renewed, which the 
 projector again opposed. This time the "Ring" commenced paying out 
 money. Certain lawyers, members of the Legislature, were paid " counsel 
 fees;" but an "investigation" was sprung upon the stock-jobbers, and 
 they only escaped a terrible revelation of their moral rottenness by having 
 their agent commit wilful perjury (for which he was said to have been 
 allowed $30,000 in stock!), and by "buying in the shambles" a certain 
 
 • Among them the daughter of Governor Dewitt Clinton. 
 
92 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 Assembly sub-committee, or rather a majority of it, at a heavy outlay in 
 cash. 
 
 But the "Ring" was again defeated. 
 
 Stung by previous mishaps, the " Ring" renewed the attempt in 1874. 
 By paj'ing out money for votes in the Legislature, in a manner, and to an 
 amount so well known as to be noted in the newspapers, they at last got 
 their bill before the Governor. Unfortunately for them, the Executive 
 chair was filled by Gen. Dix, who could neither be bribed nor bullied into 
 signing such a bill. 
 
 The pressure brought upon him to that end was said to have been engi- 
 neered to a considerable extent by Tilden himself, who was an associate 
 with members of the Rock Island Ring many years before, in certain West- 
 ern railroad operations ! 
 
 Gen. Dix's veto of the bill to legalize swindling in the Elevated Rail- 
 road affairs was a most serious blow to the expectations of David Dows 
 and his " Ring," from the fact that the time during which the extension of 
 the Elevated Railroad was authorized by law had already expired, as a 
 reference to Chapter 855 of Laws of 1868 will cause to appear. The 
 ' ' Ring " had been wasting four years in endeavoring to secure a prima 
 facie title to their stolen property, which was not a " legal delay" within 
 the meaning of the Act. 
 
 Meanwhile the scandal attached to their previous efforts to buy their 
 way through the Legislature, and to other like cases, and also the indigna- 
 tion felt towards D. C. Littlejohn (one of Tilden's clients) , by the farming 
 communities which he had " bonded" in the abortive "Midland Railroad" 
 affair, led the people of the State to adopt, by an overwhelming majority, 
 amendments to the Constitution, to take effect January 1st, 1875, which 
 positively forbade any further legislation of the kind sought by the "Dows 
 Ring " in previous years. 
 
 Had General Dix, or any other high-toned statesman, subsequently oc- 
 cupied the Executive chair, they would have undoubtedly given up their 
 long- attempted swindle as hopeless. But they knew that the most unscru- 
 pulous railroad ' ' grabber " in the United States was now Governor, in the per- 
 son of Samuel J. Tilden, and that they need not despair. They relied on their 
 belief that the projector and the other stock and bondholders, not already 
 cajoled into compliance with their " reorganization " programme, would 
 not dare to incur the almost ruinous expense of a litigation to be carried 
 through every Appellate Court to prove their color of legal rights to be 
 spurious. 
 
 Hence, in 1875, the "Dows Ring" renewed their application to the 
 Legislature, as in former years. 
 
 The defrauded projector and owners, relying on the Constitution as the 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 93 
 
 bulwark of their rights, made no opposition, and the bill was, for a consid- 
 eration, passed by both Houses, and sent to Governor Tilden, the immacu- 
 late " Reformer." At this stage in the proceedings, an agent of certain 
 owners of real estate adjoining the proposed extension of the Elevated Rail- 
 road, called on Tilden in the Executive Chamber aijd secured his attention ; 
 
 First. To the unconstitutionality of the law ; and, 
 
 Second. To the barefaced bribery used to pass it, which was the subject 
 of universal scandal about the Capitol. 
 
 To this agent of New York citizens it appears (by affidavit) Tilden 
 acknowledged that the bill was clearly unconstitutional on its face. 
 
 The only reason he assigned for not vetoing it, as required by his oath 
 of office, was his great friendship for David Dows ! 
 
 But he dissembled in fact about that motive, for with a keen eye to 
 personal advantage, the reader will perceive, that, by simply writing his 
 name, he could further injure the person whom he had defrauded and pur- 
 sued at the West, and whom his chum, David Dows, was now following up 
 in like manner at the East (for the projector of the only successful system 
 of rapid trg,nsit in the city of New York and the " North-Western Pioneer " 
 of the former chapters are one and the same person) ; and he could also stip- 
 ulate for Dows to do certain political work for him, as Littlejohn had 
 done in other cases for similar special favors. 
 
 TUden was not the man to fail to kill two such large birds with 
 one such small stone ! Accordingly he, as Governor, signed his name to the 
 bUl, which he himself had declared to be unconstitutional, and made it take 
 its place on the statute book as a law ! 
 
 No convulsions in air, earth or water followed ! Nature was as serene 
 as before, and but few, except Tilden, were aware that, beside being a 
 participant in the foul corruption and wrongs of the bill itself, he had 
 tainted his soul with perjury ! 
 
 Here is the oath he took, January 1 , 1875, as required by the Con- 
 stitution : — 
 
 ' "Akticle XII. 
 
 " Section 1. Members of the Legislature (and all officers, executive and judicial 
 except such inferior officers as shall be by law exempted) shall, before they enter on 
 the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation : 
 'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United 
 States, and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully dis- 
 charge the duties of the office of , according to the best of my abiUty.' " 
 
 Here is the infringed portion of the State Constitution which he wilfully 
 violated : — 
 
94 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 "Article III. 
 " Section 18. The Legislature shall not pass a private or local bill in any of the fol- 
 lowing cases : Granting to any corporation, association or individual, the right to lay 
 down railroad tracks. The Legislature shall pass general laws providing for the cases 
 enumerated in this section, and for all other cases which, in its judgment, may be pro- 
 yided for by general laws.'' 
 
 Here is the title of the bill which he himself judged to he clearly 
 in violation of the Article 3 of the Constitution : — 
 
 "An act to authorize and require the New 
 York Elevated Railroad Company to con- 
 tinue and complete its railroad in the city 
 
 " Chapter 505. — Laws op 1875. 
 
 of New York, and to regulate the construc- 
 tion, operation, and management thereof. 
 Passed June Uth, 1876." 
 
 Here is an affidavit, made by the agent of the owners of certain real 
 estate, to whom Tilden Stated his views and his motives : — 
 
 , being duly sworn, 
 deposeth and saith : — 
 
 " I reside in , County of 
 
 , and State of New York, and 
 have been a voter in said State for thirty 
 years or more. 
 
 "That 1 a,Tn -well acquainted with Sam- 
 uel J. Tilden, the present Governor of said 
 State, having met him at political conven- 
 tions as far back as 1864, and at various 
 times and places since then, when I had 
 conversations with him on political and 
 other topics. 
 
 "That, in the year 1875, by request of 
 certain owners of property in the city of 
 New York, I visited Albany during the 
 session of the Legislature, to try and pro- 
 tect their interest in relation to rapid 
 transit railroads in said city. 
 
 "That while there I became cognizant 
 of the corrupt means used to secure the 
 passage of Chapter 505 of Laws of 1875, 
 commonly known as the Greenwich Street 
 Elevated Railroad Bill. 
 
 " I met Governor Tilden during its 
 pendency several times, and had consid- 
 erable conversation with him about it. 
 
 " After its passage, I called again at the 
 Executive Chamber, and finding the Gov- 
 ernor idisengaged for the time being, I 
 produced a copy of the Bill, and sat down, 
 and examined it with him. / informed 
 him of the bribery used to pass it, about 
 which the Governor remarked that he re- 
 gretted to hear of the name of his friend, 
 Mr. David Dows, being mixed up with 
 such measures. As the title and sections 
 of the bill were being read through by us, 
 the Governor remarked that the title was 
 in direct conflict with the recently-adopted 
 
 amendments to the Constitution, and other 
 sections were also plainly unconstitutional, 
 and therefore it was not probable that he 
 would sign it, or any other bill with such 
 glaring defects. I left him, with the im- 
 pression that he would veto it, and so in- 
 formed property owners on my return to 
 New York city. 
 
 " After the adjournment of the Legislature 
 I had another interview with the Governor, 
 at his residence at Grammercy Park in 
 New York City. He then remarked to me 
 that he had not changed his mind in regard 
 to the unconstitutionality of the bill, but 
 that Mr. Dows was importuning him daily 
 almost to approve it, and was willing to take 
 the risk of sustaining it in the courts, and 
 that he, Governor Tilden, inclined to give 
 him the chance to do so, but had not filly 
 decided. 
 
 ' ' I called on him again at the same place, 
 when he seemed still more inclined 'to 
 do his friend Dows the favor.' The last 
 time I called was with a German property 
 owner, who wished to see the Governor 
 on the same subject, and to present a 
 written argument against the bill ; but the 
 Governor declined an interview, and within 
 two or three days afterwards I saw by the 
 papers that he had signed the bill above 
 referred to. 
 
 "Farther deponent saith not. 
 
 " (Signed) 
 
 " Sworn to before me 
 this 14th day of January, 1876. 
 
 " Notary Public, 
 
 "King's County, 
 "New York." 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 95 
 
 The name and residence of the affiant is omitted by agreement, but the 
 original, with signatures attached, is in my possession, and can be inspected 
 by an investigating Committee of Citizens, or of the Legislature, at any 
 time. The credibility of the witness will hardly be disputed by any one. 
 
 Here is the provision of the State Convention about bribery : — 
 
 " Aetiolb XV. 
 " Sectiok 1. Any person holding office under the laws of this State, who, except in 
 payment of his legal salary, fees or perquisites, shall receive or consent to receive 
 directly or indirectly, anything of value or of personal advantage, or the promise thereof, 
 for performing or omitting to perform any official act, or with the express or implied 
 understanding that his official action or omission to act is to be in any degree influenced 
 thereby, shall be deemed guilty of a felony." 
 
 Here are extracts from the newspapers, which corroborate the testimony 
 in the affidavit about the barefaced bribery, by which David Dows and 
 " Ring" passed their bill : — 
 
 [From the "Nem York World," July 10, 1875.] Street Elevated Railroad bill was passed 
 
 "It is an eternal disgrace to the State hy the promise of $100 each for 65 votes 
 
 of New York that such dishonest practices (a majority) in the Assembly, 
 
 are allowed to continue. ' ' A noted lobbyist, formerly a public 
 
 "Members are bought up on these printer (Van Benthuysen) held the stakes^ 
 'bilW as you would buy a pound of $10,000, to pay Barber (Tweed and Til- 
 beef! den's former lobbyist), when the bill be- 
 
 " They have become so bold thai they came a law. 
 
 make no secret of it! " This sam,e man last year held the 
 
 "The bill knovm as the Greenwich money for the same thing." 
 
 Another still more explicit charge of bribery in this case appeared in 
 the " New York Tribune " of a later date, worded as follows : — 
 
 "During the session of 1875, a bill " How much of this $10,000 fell to the 
 passed the Assembly, conferring certain share of the Chairman of the Senate 
 privileges on the Greenwich Elevated Railroad Committee ? 
 Railroad Go. of New York. After atime " Well-defined rumors of the kind gen- 
 it was considered and passed (in the erally believed, but which no man can sub- 
 Senate), stantiate, make Senator Selkreg''s share of 
 
 " There is reason for believing that the the booty $2,500, three other Senators be- 
 
 railway company paid $10,000 to bring ing said to share the above-named sum 
 
 about this result. fw^- $10,000; with him." 
 
 Both papers publishing the above were the special " organs" of Gov- 
 ernor Tilden, and certain circumstances point to himself as the writer or 
 "irispirer" of the last-recited article. 
 
 Now for the Governor's political compensation. Here is one phase : — 
 
SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 TELBGBAPHIC NEWS IN N. T. 
 
 " Albany, Oct. 13, 1875. 
 " There are rumors that Mr. Orr, the 
 only Republican member of Governor Til- 
 den's (canal fraud) Commission has threat- 
 ened to send in his resignation. He is dis- 
 gusted with tlie manner in which the com- 
 mission has been run by Governor Tilden's 
 friends. . . . the Governor, on reaching 
 New York, intends to send for David Dows, 
 
 COMMERCIAL OP OCT. 13, 1875. 
 
 Orr's partner, for the purpose of having 
 him dissuade Mr. Orr from withdrawing 
 from the Commission. Governor Tilden's 
 friends knew Mr. Dows' relation to the 
 Greenwich-street Elevated Railroad, and 
 they will make all sorts of promises to give 
 the road all the legislation required, if he 
 will prevent Mr. Orr from resigning until 
 after election." 
 
 Here is another instalment from Dows, published as an advertisement. 
 " Cabd. — (^Advertisement. ) 
 
 " The business men of New York demand 
 reform. ... As great practical 
 good has resulted from reforms now being 
 carried out by Goveekoe Tilden, and the 
 Canal Investigating Commission, therefore 
 we, the undersigned, merchants, bankers, 
 
 and citizens of New York, are of opinion 
 that the Canal Board should be in harmony 
 with the Governor. 
 
 " (Signed) 
 
 "DAVID DOWS & CO."!! 
 
 The foregoing was paraded in all the New York papers on the day before 
 
 the election in 1875 ! 
 
 Next from the National Capitol : — 
 
 " (Telegraphic.^ Special despatch to the World. 
 
 surprise among certain members of the 
 cabinet, who profess to be quite unable to 
 account for the signature of leading repub- 
 licans.* This evidence of the great sup- 
 port which Governor Tilden is receiving 
 has completely upset their calculations.^' 
 
 "Washington, Nov. 1, 1875. 
 
 " 'The public announcement, by leading 
 men of New York, of their support of the 
 State ticket, and the cause of adminis- 
 trative reform, has created a, feeling of 
 
 • David Dows claimed to be a " leading 
 Republican." 
 
 The scheme that Dows was so anxious 
 to perfect by doubtful legislation may be 
 briefly stated thus : — 
 
 Himself and associates were entrusted 
 with the Greenwich-street Elevated Rail- 
 way, by being constituted a majority of its 
 Directors in October, 1869. For a speci- 
 fied bonus, they were to pay in a fixed sum 
 of money to enable the concern to be 
 brought to the point of earning an income, 
 on which its credit could be established. 
 
 Before paying in the capital agreed, they 
 came to the conclusion that it would earn 
 largely eventually, and that they could 
 make more money to grab the property 
 out and out from its original owners ! 
 
 Accordingly they did not furnish the 
 capital as agreed, but caused the road to 
 
 lay idle, and systematically destroyed Us 
 credit, while employing an Agent to buy 
 up a majority interest at about ten per 
 cent, of its cost 1 When this was done they 
 formed a new Company, called the " New 
 York Elevated R. R. Co.," in which they 
 were the principal owners, and proceeded 
 to transfer the property to it while still 
 being the Trustees of the plundered Cor- 
 poration I 
 
 On page 25 of Assembly Doc. No. 33, 
 of 1873, is found the proof that they en- 
 deavored to seduce the projector into con- 
 nivance with their plot, and on his refusal 
 turned him out of ofllce in the original 
 Company, in 1870, and confiscated his 
 interest! His opposition defeated their 
 legislative plans, until Tilden helped them 
 through in 1875 ! 
 
THE UNPRINCIPLED GOVERNOR. 
 
 97 
 
 An editor brings up the rear, beating the Tilden gong thus : 
 
 " New Yoek "Would, Nov. 2, 1875. 
 (Election Moenikg.) (EDiTOKLiL.) 
 
 "The local organ of the virtuous and 
 estimable firm of Grant, Murphy, Leet, 
 Stocking, Casey & Co. abuses, eminent 
 merchants like .... David Dows 
 & Co., and others of like repute, because 
 
 these gentlemen recognizing the nature of 
 the conflict which is to-day to be decided 
 in this State, have manfully declared for 
 honesty and reform under Goveenok Til- 
 den against dishonesty and robbery under 
 Conkling and the Custom House." 
 
 Gentle reader, now that you perceive how Tilden obtained all the fore- 
 going puffery, by simply signing a single bill in violation of his oflScial 
 oath, did he make a good or a bad bargain? How say you? 
 
SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 TLLDEN rEItSUS THE COUET OF APPEALS. 
 
 In Tilden's remarkable letter to the " New York Times" in 1873 (here- 
 tofore quoted from) , the following significant sentences occur : — 
 
 "An attempt under color of judicial fast as they could be granted, it was well; 
 
 process to forcibly eject Mr. Green (from if not, I resolved the next day to open an 
 
 the Comptroller's Office of New York city) issue in advance of the election to a new 
 
 was anticipated ; a carriage was waiting to Legislature, — a convention to revise the 
 
 take me to Judge Brady. If a judge could Judiciary." 
 be found to vacate fraudulent orders as 
 
 The doubt herein expressed, whether there was a single judge in New 
 York city above connivance at fraud, is not more suggestive than the 
 assumption that the writer could set agencies at work " to revise them" 
 although that involved a Convention to change the Constitution itself ! 
 
 In November, 1875, a similar startling letter appeared in "Harper's 
 Weekly," under circumstances so peculiar as to challenge special scrutiny 
 into the following particulars : — 
 
 First. Its length, which was twenty-six columns of solid reading ! 
 
 Second. Its " pictoeial illusteations," also published in the same 
 and following papers, to match the subject, showing deliberation and abun- 
 dant means to caricature the Court of Appeals. 
 
 Third. Its animus, which was a most bitter and malicious attack on the 
 highest and most honorable judicatory of the State. Its odious comparisons 
 of some of the judges in the light of rivals of Tilden for Gubernatorial 
 and Presidential honors, and its adulations of the latter, all unmistakably 
 point to Tilden as the real author, although another name was placed at the 
 bottom of the disgraceful article. The expense of the publication was 
 evidently large, indicating a wealthy originator. Its prolixity was also 
 suggestive of a Tildenian pen ! 
 
 Its jealousy and malice called for a motive which only Tilden himself 
 could supply. Its suggestions about summarily abolishing the Court, when 
 only five years had elapsed since it was called into being by a large popular 
 
TILDEN VERSUS THE COURT OF APPEALS. 
 
 99 
 
 majority, together with the insinuations that it was responsible for the 
 escape of Tweed, Connolly and others from the grasp of the law, while 
 shifting said responsibility from Tilden, where it had already begun to be 
 fastened by public opinion, showed those tricks of the demagogue and 
 dissembler in which Tilden stands pre-eminent. 
 
 TBS ELEC7ITa.SKSCEtt| 01^ tfASISK JSD SLATE. 
 
 The above is inserted as a sample of the caricatures accomp anting 
 THIS attack on the Court of Appeals. 
 
 In the same spirit of abhorrence which led the Supreme Court of the 
 United States to cast its ostensible author's name * out of the list of candi- 
 dates for its Eeportership, the people of the State of New York should spew 
 
 I * This fact was aunoanced in the newspapers in Dec, 1875, as occurring to Albert Q-. Browne, Jr., the 
 naminal author. 
 
100 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDBN UNMASKED ! 
 
 from official trust the real prompter of this attack as a sapper of the bul- 
 warks of social order and official dignity and honor. The tenor of the 
 article whole is fairly indicated by the annexed caption and extracts : — 
 
 "THE COMBINED KINGS. 
 
 " COUETS OF LAST EESORT. — THE JUST LIBEKTT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM OF THEIE DE- 
 TERMINATIONS. —A SEAECHING CRITICISM OP THE DECISIONS OF THE NEW YORK COURT 
 
 ^ OF APPEALS IN THE CITY RING AND QANAL RING SUITS. —THE QUESTION OF MOTIVE, 
 AND THE QUESTION OF REMEDY. — THE SUSPENSION OP LEGAL PROCEEDINGS ABROAD 
 AGAINST SWEENY AND CONNOLLY. 
 
 " THE EMERGENCY FROM WHICH THE COURT 
 OF APPEALS DELIVERED THE CANAL 
 RING. 
 
 " Things had come '"to such " pass that 
 these fraudulent contractors were then 
 menaced with that ruin to which Governor 
 TiLDEN is now striving to bring them, 
 unless the court of last resort should in- 
 terfere and overturn the decision of the 
 courts below 
 
 " THE QUESTION FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 " . . . . Why the Canal thieves, 
 who combined with the City thieves to 
 rule and plunder New York, were able to 
 plunge their hands to the elbows into the 
 people's pockets, is not that in the last 
 resort they found favor with the high court 
 which was elected to office in the year 
 1870. 
 
 " . . . . And upon this statement 
 I submit to impartial consideration the ■ 
 question whether the controlling reason 
 why the thieves who held carnival in the 
 City Hall during the Rogues' Holiday of 
 1870, have escaped punishment ani avoided 
 restitution is not that, in the last resort, 
 they never have failed to find favor with 
 the high court which was elected in the 
 year of their domination. 
 
 " .... As the latest and crown- 
 ing demonstration of the dishonor which it 
 casts on the justice of the State, I learn 
 from trustworthy authority that by reason 
 of its decisions, and that of Judge Dono- 
 nuE (which I have recounted), in the City 
 King suits, it has been deemed necessary, 
 upon consultation of the counsel engaged 
 in prosecuting legal proceedings which had 
 been instituted against Sweeny and Con- 
 
 nolly in the foreign • countries to which 
 they fled, to suspend those proceedings 
 iintil either we get a new Court of Appeals 
 or the present court shall emancipate 
 itself from slavery to the evil influences 
 which control it. 
 
 "... whether the present court of last 
 resort is a safe or suitable repository of 
 the supreme power of arbitrament between 
 human society and its speculators . . . \ 
 
 " / have shown that its brief career ex- 
 hibits unseemly specimens of servility to 
 the corrupt men in whose favor its bench 
 uas generated. I believe, in a single 
 word, that the facts which I have mar- 
 shalled show that such a court is not a 
 safe depository of the supreme judicial 
 power ... it was the offspring of two 
 corrupt Rings which were dominant and 
 aggressive over the whole body politic." 
 
 [Tilden, like Satan, can quote Scripture 
 for a purpose.] 
 
 " There is an early and sacred lesson of 
 the rights of the people to criticise their 
 judges, written in 1 Samuel viii. 7, for 
 the instruction and guidance of all God's 
 people, simple or gentle. When Samuel 
 was old, he made his sons judges over 
 Israel, and they, under influences the 
 meanest and from motives the most cor- 
 rupt, ' turned aside and perverted judg- 
 ment,' and the people made a public 
 clamor. ' And the Lord said unto Sam- 
 uel, Hearlcen unto the voice of the people 
 in all that they say unto thee.' 
 
 " There is no other remedy for malprca- 
 tice on the part of this high tribunal than 
 impeachment or a change of the Constitn- 
 tion ; nor can either of these be obtained. 
 
TILDEN VERSUS THE COURT OF APPEALS. 
 
 101 
 
 If occasion arises, except hy arousing 
 popular indignation against the offend- 
 ing judges. 
 
 "... An affirmance of Judge Learned's 
 decision by the Court of Appeals would 
 speedily have overwhelmed tliese jobbers 
 witli ruin ; but the Court of Appeals came 
 to their rescue, and reversed the judg- 
 ment. Judge Andrews wrote the opinion 
 of the court. Although Judge Rapallo 
 appears in the printed report as concur- 
 ring with Judge Andrews, yet I am in- 
 formed that in a certificate of the opinion, 
 furnished by the official reporter immedi- 
 ately after the decision, he appears as 
 ' not voting.' 
 
 "... I take the responsibility of giv- 
 ing to tlie public as an exposure of the 
 fallacy and falsity of Judge Allen's reason- 
 ing such aa rarely has befallen a magis- 
 trate of his pretensions 
 
 "These provisions were not overlooked 
 by Judge Allen, and he tries his best to 
 argue all of them down, except the 41st 
 section, which allows the scrutiny as to 
 excess in civil cases. That was too hard 
 a nut even for him to crack, and he passes 
 it by without notice. 
 
 " But the controlling authority 
 
 ■against the judgment of the Court of Ap- 
 peals is the Habeas Corpus Act itself, 
 which, as Judge Allen himself says, 'needs 
 no interpretation.' In plain and unmis- 
 takable terms it forbade any such inter- 
 ference with the judgment of the Oyer and 
 Terminer as the Court of Appeals has per- 
 petrated One of these judges 
 
 owes his seat to this .vile falsification, while 
 there is little reason to doubt that the other 
 is in a like predicament. 
 
 " THE BONDS THAT BIND A JUDGE WHO 
 
 SITS nr snCH a tenure. 
 " Two of the seven members of the 
 bench, it thus appears, there was good 
 reason to believe were not only consti- 
 tuted by the Combined Rings, but consti- 
 tuted so as always to be absolutely under 
 their control.* 
 
 "two kepdblicans secured, and two 
 democrats needed besides. 
 
 " But two out of seven were not enough 
 
 for the Kings. Two, at least, of the Dem- 
 ocratic candidates besides were needful to 
 their domination of the Court. 
 
 "the NEED SUPPLIED. 
 
 "The Democratic Nominating Conven- 
 tion was mannged into putting on its ticket 
 two judicial candidates who resided upon 
 canal lines, and always were notorious 
 favorites of the Canal Ring. 
 
 "Thus, in 1874, when the City Ring 
 cases lay in the Court of Appeals, but as 
 yet were undecided, Tweed and his con- 
 federates literally owned two of the judges, 
 and two others were deeply interested by 
 personal ambition to conciliate the Rings.f 
 " It was just at this moment that Mind, as 
 represented by Mr. Tilden (in distinction 
 from " Brains," personified by Sweeny), 
 achieved its first victory in the struggle. 
 .... schedules prepared by Mr. Til- 
 den, with explanatory affidavits by himself 
 and others, which presented and substan- 
 tiated so plain a case of theft that Tweed 
 
 never afterward dared to deny it 
 
 From the irojiENT he perused Mr. Til- 
 
 DEN's statement HIS AMBITION WAS PAR- 
 ALYZED. He withdrew at once from open 
 political activity, and contented himself 
 with employing the instruments and ave- 
 nues of his established power to avoid in- 
 carceration and to retain his enormous 
 plunder ; and his success before the courts 
 in this design forms an extraordinary 
 chapter in our public history. 
 
 "... The necessity of self-defence 
 had made them intensely, though some- 
 times covertly, hostile to Mr. Tilden long 
 before 1870. Before that year the conflict 
 between him and the City Ring had already 
 begun with the Democratic councils, and 
 his prospective career and presumable 
 proclivities had plainly indicated the as- 
 pirant to executive honors in the State, 
 and perhaps the nation. Here was their 
 opportunity. The selection for conspicu- 
 ous judicial station of two of his rivals was 
 their game; and they played it. . . . 
 
 " In opening this branch of the subject I 
 
 have recourse again to quotations from 
 
 Mr. O'Coxor's letter to Judge Davis. . . 
 
 "This forensic impeachment of the court 
 
 (*KeferB to Judges Andrews audFolger. — En.) (t Refers to Judges Chnrcb and Allen. — Ed.) 
 
102 SAMUEL J. TILDEN UNMASKED ! 
 
 had two effects. First, it frightened Judge Democratic candidate for President. . . . 
 
 Allen from the canvass for the nomina- ..." The Convention met on September 
 
 tion for Governor, after a pitiful effort on 16, and Mr. Tilden was ' triumphantly' 
 
 his part to ged rid of Mr. Tildek in favor nominated the next day. ...... 
 
 of his (Allen's) cousin, the Chief Judge " The yeak 1875 opened with the ad- 
 
 ChUKCH VENT TO OFFICE OF AN ANTI-PECnLATION 
 
 " These two men stood in near relations goveknok in the person of mk. tilden. 
 
 of consanguinity, and one of them aspired As might have been expected, he kec- 
 
 to be Governor of New York, and the ommended immediate legislation to 
 
 other was deeply interested in the success kevekse the inconvenient doctrine 
 
 of that aspiration, to promote his own which had been discovered and an- 
 
 chances to control the voice of the State nounced bt the court of appeals." 
 in favor of his own nomination as the 
 
 One of the most audacious insinuations of this incendiary article is the 
 following : — 
 
 " THE MOTIVE OF LOCAL INFLUENCE. 
 
 " Pour of the judges who have been money and patronage long have influenced 
 
 elected to the court came from a quarter of newspapers, managed conventions, con- 
 
 the State where the leaders of the Canal trolled elections, conciliated the bar, 
 
 ring long have been prominent in political promoted business, and given color to the 
 
 and social relations, and where their personal intercourse of the community." 
 
 The residences of the four judges thus alluded to are Syracuse, Oswego, 
 Canandaigua and Attica. This indicates the " quarter " of the State which 
 Tilden deems tainted in comparison with the pure atmosphere of the city 
 of New York, where he himself resides ! 
 
 The ground work of this twenty-six columns of vituperation of the Court 
 of Appeals is comprised in two points : — 
 
 First. That it overruled the theory of " cumulative sentences," the critic 
 stating the case as follows : — 
 
 " William M. Tweed was accused of utmost punishment allowed by law is one 
 
 fifty-one misdemeanors in as many sepa- year's imprisonment and a fine of $250. 
 
 rate counts of one and the same indict- Tweed spent a year in prison, paid to the 
 
 ment. He was tried for them all at once, proper receiver S250, and then sued out a 
 
 and convicted of them all. Sentences writ of habeas corpus, claiming to be dis- 
 
 were pronounced against him for these charged. After decisions against him in 
 
 offences, amounting in the whole to twelve the subordinate tribunals, his case came 
 
 years' imprisonment in the New York Pen- before the Court of Appeals, and, as usual, 
 
 itentiary, with fines amounting t6 $1'2,750. peculation was triumphant. He was dis- 
 
 " For a single offence of this sort the charged. 
 
 The reader will notice the gratuitous slur in the concluding sentences, aa 
 of a piece with the other extracts quoted. 
 
 The ostensible writer quotes thj-ee solid columns of fine tj-pe from a vol- 
 unteer but nameless writer of a counter opinion (supposed to be Tilden's). 
 But it so happened that the unanimous opinion of the N. Y. Court of Appeals 
 in the Tweed case was, shortly after the publication of this outrageous article, 
 followed by an unanimous corresponding opinion of the Supreme Court of 
 Illinois on a similar case. Both courts holding that cumulative sentences 
 
TILDBN VERSUS THE COURT OF APPEALS. 103 
 
 placed too much arbitrary power in the hands of a single judge, and were 
 repugnant to proper safeguards for personal liberty. 
 
 The second point was, that the portion of the State Constitution com- 
 prised in Section 3 of Article 7 in these words, — 
 
 " All contracts for work or materials on. at the lowest price, with adequate security 
 any canal shall be made with the person for their performance," — 
 who shall offer to do or provide the same 
 
 should be construed to permit the Courts, instead of the Legislature, to 
 decide about contracts made in behalf of the State. 
 
 On the Tildenian plan, a dissatisfied bidder for State work could apply 
 to a Court to set aside Legislative Acts as " unconstitutional," void his 
 rival bidder's contracts on the same theory, then get the approval of his 
 own bid by a judge as " constitutional," and there would be no appeal 
 except to a higher court ! 
 
 The enormous powers this theory would place in the hands of judges can 
 hardly be conceived. 
 
 The lower Courts, the critic stated, favored this idea, and made decisions 
 accordingly ; so that, quoting the writer : — 
 
 " Things had come to such a pass that less the Court of last resort should inter- 
 
 these fraudulent contractors were then fere and overturn the decision of the 
 
 menaced with that ruin to which Governor Courts below." 
 Tilden is now striving to bring them, un- 
 
 But the Court of Appeals swept away the whole fabric of the Courts 
 annulling the Acts of the Legislature in purely business matters, by stating 
 
 "that the (legislative) power must be ex- contained in the instrument" (i.e., the 
 pressly inhibited, for there are but few pos- Constitution), 
 itive restraints upon the legislative power 
 
 For thus limiting the power of the Courts, and giving the widest scope to 
 
 the People's immediate representatives, the critic goes on to censure the 
 
 Court of Appeals, because, says the writer : — 
 
 " It has construed away the great safe- secure which the people went to the pains 
 guard against legislative favoritism, to of a constitutional amendment." 
 
 For these decisions, which commend themselves to every candid mind as 
 being against building up dangerous judicial powers — the writer expatiates 
 for eight columns on the motives of the Judges ! (of which extracts have 
 been given) . The inference drawn being that but for the Court of Appeals 
 Tilden would have had the " Tweedite" thieves all punished, the plunder 
 all paid back, and would have become the only candidate of his party or of 
 the people, for the national Presidency ! I 
 
 The reader should here ask the serious question, whether such gross 
 
104 CONCLUSION. 
 
 charges — that the Court of Appeals is a refuge for thieves, and the judges 
 hold their scats by tenure of fraud — coming even indirectly from the 
 Executive chair, are not portentous of impending political and social 
 disaster? /( was such demagogues as Tilden who first kindled the French 
 revolutionary fires, which were only quenched by the best blood of the nation. 
 Tilden, like the " Fiend of BremerhavSn," is proposing to place dynamite on 
 the Ship of State, with an insurance for his own benefit. Shall he succeed? 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Of Samuel J. Tilden's treachery and frauds in business, political, and 
 official life, we here close the record, not for want of materials, but of space I 
 
 There are many items which might be added, but surely the foregoing will 
 suffice ! Great care has been taken to eliminate many incidents of a sensa- 
 tional character, and to state only tvhat can be proved. On the other hand, the 
 facts stated are but samples of dark masses in lower depths, which time and 
 space will not allow us to bring to the light and spread before the people in 
 detail, as in the cases stated. 
 
 If citizens of the State of New York will not give attention to these sugges- 
 tive facts so much the worse for them ! 
 
 The palladium of their liberties does not rest on so firm a foundation thai 
 evil men, if entrusted with power, cannot overturn it! 
 
 It is not a pleasant outlook for the future, to consider that in this centennial 
 year the executive chair of the State of New Yoi-k is filled by the most dan- 
 gerous demagogue, as yet brought into prominence, in the Great Republic I 
 
 TJiat such is the fact, in the light of the examples given, who can doubt f 
 
 Citizens of the State of New York, the situation involving the gravest inter- 
 ests is before you I In the significant language of Tilden's former partner, 
 the ever-to-be-remembered Tweed, 
 
 ''WHAT ABE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?" I 
 
-:2. 
 
 ■^^sonnowFU wf we PART^^^^^^^^^: 
 
SUMMARY. 
 
 oi«f> 
 
 In" thus tracing Samuel J. Tilden's career through nearly 
 half a century of his public life, what a dreary waste of 
 dissembling and fraud has been revealed! His record when 
 itemized, and posted up, appears in the Ledger of History 
 as follows : — 
 
 A Shallow Pketeisdbe. 
 
 The Obiginal Raileoad 
 
 Erff G OKGAinZER AKD THE 
 
 Pakmee's Foe. 
 
 "Witness his self-advertised, 
 eighteen-year-old " sustain- 
 ing " of General Jackson. 
 
 See Chapter xvm., p. 73. 
 
 As conclusively proved by 
 "Wadsworth's affidavit and 
 Parton's Ring Manual. 
 
 See Chapter n., pp. 5-15. 
 
 Of Doubtful Loyalty to 
 his couktey. 
 
 A Pbkfedious Attorney. 
 
 Evidenced by his ill-timed 
 if not traitorous Peace Reso- 
 lutions, and his uncertain 
 position concerning Union- 
 saving effijrts. 
 
 See Chapter vni., p. 46. 
 
 Demonstrated by his in- 
 famous treachery to the 
 " North- Western Pioneer." 
 
 See Chapter v., p. 34. 
 
106 SUMMARY. 
 
 A Sycophant to Eailroad Illustrated by Parton, as 
 Magjstates. quoted in Chapter ix., p. 50. 
 
 A Political Paetner op Proved by his own publi- 
 "Boss Tweed." cation and by Horace Gree- 
 
 ley's testimony. 
 
 See Chapter xe., pp. 55-57. 
 
 The Proteg^ of Tam mats ty Shown by its influence in 
 Hall. nominating him. 
 
 A Corrupter of Eleo- By his sworn admission 
 Tiojs^s ! of personally receiving $5,000 
 
 at one time from Tweed to 
 aid the well-known election 
 frauds of 1868, and his evad- 
 ing a disclosure of how much 
 more he received from the 
 same source, and which he has 
 since denounced as utterly 
 corrupt ! 
 
 See Chapter xi., p. 56. 
 
 A Corrupter of the As Tweed's partner, and 
 Press I since. 
 
 See Chapter xi., p. 58. 
 
 An: Unblushing Dissem- Self-convicted by compar- 
 blerI ison of his various public 
 
 statements as to his appear- 
 ance before Tweed at Al- 
 bany, April 4th, 1870. 
 See Chapter xn., p. 60. 
 
SUMMARY. 
 
 107 
 
 A Public Hypocrite! 
 
 " I never intended to stand 
 as a candidate for any 
 office. I was content to serve 
 as a private in the ranhs." 
 (See Tilden's speech at Syra- 
 cuse !Nominating Conven- 
 tion.) 
 
 !N^ot one who heard him 
 utter those words but knew 
 that the speaker was uttering 
 a barefaced falsehood, as 
 proved by his aim and efforts 
 for years, to attain that day's 
 result. 
 
 A Dajstgekous Demagogue I 
 
 Shown by the covert attack 
 on the Coint of Appeals, by 
 certain military orders, and 
 other measures too numerous 
 to mention. 
 
 An Enemy 
 Schools! 
 
 TO State The Gray ^N'un Act ap- 
 proved by him. 
 
 An unprecedented Central- Denounced therefor by 
 izer of Governmental Speaker McGuire in 1875. 
 Power. See Chapter xix., p. 76. 
 
 A Traitor to the Democratic 
 Party. 
 
 A Covert JEnemy of the Erie 
 Canal I 
 
 In fomenting the schism 
 of 1855. 
 
 See Chapter vm., p. 45. 
 
 Proved by his railroad 
 combinations and by the net 
 revenues being less under 
 his admiaistration than ever 
 'before! 
 
 See Chapter xvii., p. 70. 
 
108 
 
 SUMMABY. 
 
 A Disgrace to the State of 
 JSew York! 
 
 That this organizer of the 
 12,000 rum-shops in the 
 cities of New York and 
 Brooklyn could by their 
 means obtain his majority in 
 those two cities, and defeat 
 General Dix, who had a ma- 
 jority in the remainder of 
 the State. 
 
 A Menace 
 States. 
 
 to the United 
 
 That this conspirator, who, 
 as a partner of Boss Tweed, 
 controlled millions to bribe 
 the metropolitan press, may 
 yet reap profits therefrom 
 in being put forward as a 
 candidate for the Presidency; 
 whose election would be a 
 greater calamity to the na- 
 tion than a foreign war! 
 
 Shall not Samuel J. Tilden, the standing menace and 
 disgrace to State and Nation, be wiped out? 
 
 1st. — By the ChildebnI 
 
 2d. — By the "Women I 
 
 3d. — By the FarmbesI 
 4th. — By the MeohaotcsI 
 
 For undermining the State 
 school system! 
 
 For pandering to the 
 liquor traffic, working ruin 
 to Fathers, Lovers, Hus- 
 bands and Sons! 
 
 For being the original 
 " Anti-Granger " I 
 
 For fostering Monopolies. 
 
SUMMARY. 
 
 109 
 
 5th. — By the Laborers ! 
 
 Gth. — By the Catholics! 
 
 For increasing prices of 
 food to pay dividends on 
 "watered" stock. 
 
 For opening the door to 
 sectarian strife and the 
 " Commune." The good 
 Archbishop of Paris was 
 murdered by such " patriots " 
 as " Pomeroy's Democrat " 
 was raising up. Price paid 
 it in two years by Tilden, 
 Tweed & Co., was |198,000! 
 
 See Speaker McGuire on 
 Irishmen's Instincts of An- 
 cestry. Chapter xlx., p. 76. 
 
 To show the coming gener- 
 ation that 8. J. Tilden is 
 no exception to the old rule 
 that ^^ Honesty is the best 
 policy." 
 
 So let the year 1876 marh the political overthrow of 
 
 Samuel J. Tilden 
 
 as the great 
 
 CENTENNIAL FKAUDl 
 
 7th. — By the Irishmen! 
 
 8th.— By 
 People ! 
 
 the Whole 
 
aufajAMs tS^ekc/oMtf 
 
 
 THE GREAT RING-BREAKER. 
 
 From The Daily Graphic^ May 13, 1875. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 TILDEN S PRESIDENTIAL SCHEMING. 
 
 In the preceding chapters the topics were too serious to present any 
 comical aspect. The subversion of morals, of honor and of equity, ac- 
 complished by Samuel J. Tilden in individual concerns, corporate tran- 
 sactions, political party management, and the aflairs of State Government, 
 will bear bitter fruit beyond his day and generation, and call for sackcloth 
 and ashes to those who have awarded him such power for mischief. But 
 when we turn from what he is, to what he hopes to be, we can safely enjoy 
 the comic side of his case ! 
 
 " Sammy" is none of your "poor but honest" statesmen! He never 
 carries sausages in his pocket, for a frugal noonday meal, as did the 
 famous Ohio Congressman ; nor would he itemize " 50 cents for mending 
 his breeches," as did Governor Marcy, when travelling on business for the 
 State of New York ! On the contrary, " Sammy " J. is ready and able to 
 pay something to be President ! How much? — that is the question ! If the 
 people of the United States would only fix the price to be paid for the 
 office, or would put it up at aoiction, and take railroad bonds in payment, 
 " Sammy" could win I ! 
 
 The way to ascertain what " Sammy " should pay might be figured out 
 by the " rule of three," thus : — 
 
 If "Sammy" can afford to pay $300,000 to be elected Governor of 
 New York, what should he pay to be President of 37 States, and of the 
 Territories, including Alaska ? 
 
 Ans. Millions 1 
 
 "Sammy," without doubt, would divide his " six" points, and pay over 
 half for an occupancy of the " White House." 
 
 Was not the Emperorship of Eome, on the murder of Pertinax, put up 
 at auction by the PrsBtorian Guard, A. D. 193, and struck off to Didius 
 Julianus for $1,100 in gold, paid to each of the Guard, and the delivery 
 made at once ? 
 
 While Tilden thus has undeniable precedents for such an auction, un- 
 
112 APPENDIX. 
 
 fortunately for Mm, neither the Constitution nor Laws of the United States 
 have been suitablj^ framed for that mode of procedure. 
 
 He will not, however, permit these circumstances to bar his way, but 
 will undertake, by other means, to seduce the people into supporting him ! 
 
 All the " combinations " which worked so smoothly in his gubernatorial 
 plans will be brought to bear. Delegates to the National Convention will 
 have an opportunity of " being sold in the shambles." 
 
 But his main reliance for popularity is th*e Metropolitan newspapers. 
 
 He wants to make a bargain with these wholesale dealers in "public 
 opinion" and "personal popularity." "No man can succeed without a 
 good understanding with them," was the remark, recently, of a prominent 
 politician. 
 
 " Sammy" knows that full well, and has, if the " New York Times" 
 is correctly informed, already organized a Newspaper Popularity Bureau, 
 with a full staflfof able " artists," " editors," " reporters," " interviewers," 
 " paragraphists," and " advertisement eoncocters." 
 
 In relation to this matter, the " Times," in 1875, said : — 
 
 " In the days when Mr. Tilden connived at alt newspapers by payments of money. TUden has 
 sorts of election frauds in behalf of the Tweed taken a leaf out of the book of his old friends of 
 * Ring,* it was a common thing to silence the the Tammany Ring.*' 
 
 The " New York Herald," mentioning the same subject, in 1875, 
 
 said : — 
 
 " It is all a pakt of that peodi- mr. tildev the nomination for thb 
 gious, dntibing, extensively- adver- pbesidenct." 
 used quaok-medicine intkigue to give 
 
 The chiefs of the above-named Bureau are said to be the firm of " Good- 
 sell Brothers." 
 
 The " New York Times," in referring to " Goodsell Brothers," as Til- 
 den's newspaper popularity agents and brokers, intimates that although 
 thej' are the proprietors of the " Pictorial" known as the " Graphic," and 
 have made considerable sums in " puffing" or " blackmailing" Insurance 
 Companies, their reputation is at least no worse than Tilden's. 
 
 It gives the following as a specimen of their bills to other clients, which 
 bills were actually paid in cash : — 
 
 " Knickeebockek Life Insueance Co. 
 " Of New York City, 
 
 "To Goodsell Bbotheks, Dk. 
 
 " To personal services, and to the articles ' The Thug Warfare in Life 
 
 Insurance,' ' Vindication of the Knickerbocker Life Insurance,' $5,000 00 
 *' Received Payment, 
 •'New Tork, May 19, 1871. J. H. & C. W. Goodskll." 
 
APPENDIX. 113 
 
 If Tilden pays at the same rate for the same kind of articles with which 
 the newspapers are teeming in his favor, his " six millions " will be reduced 
 several " points " by the end of the Presidential race ! 
 
 This business arrangement between Tilden and the newspapers is not a 
 new idea. Other politicians in other countries and centuries have plied the 
 same art with more or less success. 
 
 Thus the "London Morning Post," of Nov. 7th, 1796, mentions the 
 fact that a rather odd bill had been presented at the Treasury Department 
 the week previous, and ordered paid by the Prime Minister; the items 
 being as follows : — 
 
 " Bbitish Goveenmbnt's Tebasukt, 
 
 " To , Dk. 
 
 " News Writer and Newspaper Agent. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 " To Poisoning Bonaparte 3 times ...'.... 017 
 
 Assassinating ditto twice 10 
 
 Defeating ditto 7 times 6 9 
 
 Making Insurrection in Paris 3 6 
 
 Insinuating that P. of W. beat his wife . . . . 7 6 
 
 Making people dislike him 10 
 
 Other items 214 
 
 " Total £3 10s. 6d. 
 
 That was a " square bill " ; that " meant business." The Premier was 
 willing to pay for having the public opinion, at first unfavorable to Bona- 
 parte's military prospects, even if that opinion should afterward be changed. 
 
 So Tilden is willing to disburse his dishonest gains liberally to have the 
 people take him for an honest, ingenuous statesman, although they should 
 afterwards discover their mistake ! Should the straightforward style of the 
 English "news projector" be adopted by Tilden's newspaper broker, his 
 bills would read about as follows : — 
 
 New York, 1874-5-6. 
 S. J. Tilden, 
 
 To GooDSEU, Beos., Popularity Brokers, etc., De. 
 
 To personal services in visiting editors at back ofHces, 
 lunching reporters, and creating favorable sentiments 
 for you, sufHcient to ward off attacks (each qr.) . . $5,000 00 
 
 To spontaneously nominating you for the Presidency in 
 metropolitan journals, en masse, including notices of 
 campaign chibs, etc., as per following examples . . 25,000 00 
 
 (SCHEDDLE 4.) 
 
114 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (^Account continued.) 
 
 2f. T. Daily Tribune. — 1875. 
 Founded by Horace Gbeelet. 
 
 " The nomination of Gov. Tilden by the 
 Democratic Convention next year was 
 made possible by tiie election of Mr. Kerr 
 as Speaker. Gov. Tilden has more ele- 
 ments of strength than any other Democrat 
 in the country to-day. The feeling that 
 Gov. Tilden is being pushed forward by 
 circumstances as the almost inevitable can- 
 didate of the East for the Democratic 
 nomination seems to be constantly on the 
 increase." 
 
 JSr. Y. Times. — 1875. 
 
 " Gov. Tilden has gracefully begun the 
 social duties imposed upon him by his new- 
 position. When a Tilden succeeds a Dix 
 we may reasonably hope that the tendency 
 to bestow office upon the worst or the 
 weakest men in our public life lias received 
 a check. The 's winging-round-the-circle ' 
 speeches of Gov. Tilden's recent tour were 
 practically the opening of the Presidential 
 campaign of 1876." 
 
 TnE New York World. 
 
 " Governor Tilden is popular not only in 
 New York, but also throughout the whole 
 country. We may safely say that he is 
 more spoken of and more esteemed than 
 any other member of the great Democratic 
 household. There is no stain on his 
 name, no flaw in his record, no defect in 
 his very strong mental and stronger moral 
 machinery. Tlie more he is known the 
 better he is liked ; the more he is tried the 
 truer he is found. 
 
 " AVhere can the Democratic party find a 
 nobler or an abler exponent and standard- 
 bearer than Tilden, whose name would be 
 equivalent to a platform of all statesman- 
 like, sound and true theories and prin- 
 ciples? What Democrat would not be 
 proud of him as a candidate for the Pres- 
 idency ? " 
 
 WORLD. — 187 B. 
 
 "Mb. Tilden fikst nominated to the 
 
 Presidency. 
 
 "A large meeting ofpromiment Demo- 
 crats of the Eighteenth Assembly District 
 was held at 396 Third avenue last evening, 
 to organize a Samuel J. Tilden campaign 
 club under the auspices of Tammany Hall. 
 The following nominations, upon motion 
 of Mr. Sinclair, were unanimously agreed 
 upon : — 
 
 "President — Thomas L. Feitner. 
 
 " Vice-Presidents — Richard Croker,* Ed- 
 ward Kearney, William Sinclair, Edward 
 T. Flynn. 
 
 " Secretaries — Thomas Walsh, John A. 
 Boyle. 
 
 " Treasurer — Augustus T. Doherty. 
 
 " The following resolutions were sub- 
 mitted by Mr. Clyne : 
 
 " Whereas, Our Governor, Samuel J. 
 Tilden, by his honest and fearless Chief 
 Magistracy of the Empire State, and par- 
 ticularly his warfare in behalf of reform in 
 the administration of our great system of 
 canals, has shown the capacity and ability 
 of a great reformer, a statesman and an 
 eminent jurist; be it therefore 
 
 " Resolved, That in this hour of danger to 
 our republican institutions, his excellency, 
 Samuel J. Tilden, is the true leader and 
 champion of the people's cause in behalf of 
 economical government in city, State and 
 nation. 
 
 " Resolved, That we, citizens of the city 
 of New York, pledge our united efforts in 
 behalf of Samuel J. Tilden for next Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 " The reading of the resolutions was 
 received with tremendous applause, and 
 they were unanimously adopted and de- 
 clared to be the platform of the club." 
 
 * "Dick " Croker, 1st V.F., is notorious for being 
 accused of shooting a political opponent down like 
 a dog in the streets of New York, on Election Day, 
 1874 ; he was triedformurder, and o/cowrse acquitted 
 in that locality. Mayor Havemeyer, in public letter 
 of Sept. 14, 1874, names Croker as " one whoso 
 career has been notorions for violence and dis. 
 honesty." Just the sort of timber to use as a fla^ 
 staff for Tilden I 
 
eOYERNORTILDEH 
 
 THE 
 
 HffiD MOHK CHfiMPIQH 
 
 St£ Nti. YorK FojltMjOTjaVS. 
 
 I The Publisher oi? a " Tilden Cartoon," bearing a marked resemblance to 
 
 ABOVE, WAS appointed BY GoV. TiLDES ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO REPRESENT 
 
 THE State of New York at the Centennial Exhibition! I 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 115 
 
 {Account continued.) 
 
 y. r. GSAPBic. 
 
 " TlLDEN AND THE PrESIDENCT. 
 
 " His Candidacy warmly approved by 
 an Old State Democrat. 
 
 "Among the prominent Democrats of the 
 country who warmly second The Daily 
 Gbaphic's nomination of Governor Tilden 
 for the Presidency is Lucius Robinson, 
 formerly Comptroller of this State,* and a 
 man whose political influence has never 
 been measurable by the positions he has 
 held. He is stopping in town for a few 
 days on railroad business. 
 
 " ' As to The Daily Gkaphic's nomina- 
 tion of Governor Tilden,' said he, ' I am 
 
 free to say that the party will be extremely 
 lucky if they get so good a man. I have 
 known him for thirty years, and know him 
 to be a man of sterling honesty, and 
 possessed of remarkable and well-proved 
 sagacity.' 
 
 " ' The railroads, Mr. Robinson, have a 
 very extensive natural influence. How do 
 you suppose it will be exerted in the matter 
 of the Democratic nomination?' 
 
 " ' T/nquestionably the railroad managers 
 will be very favorable to Governor Tilden. 
 Hia long employment as counsel for 
 various roads has made his character well 
 known to all railroad men. What they 
 want is to be protected from plunder.' " 
 
 To "sMlful interviewing" and "political information' 
 respondence, like following samples 
 
 cor- 
 
 $5,000 
 
 X. T. WOULD. — 1875. 
 
 " Saeatoga, August 25. — Governor Til- 
 den has spent part of several weeks here, 
 and I have had two or three opportunities 
 to speak with him freely alone. The story 
 of his being paralyzed is worthy of its vaga- 
 bond source. He is very nearly a youth, 
 being a bachelor, and his complexion is 
 that of a country girl. He has not a serene 
 expression ; but who could have a serene 
 expression, being a candidate for the Presi- 
 dency, with $6,000,000? We chaps who 
 have nothing monopolize the serenity. I 
 spoke of John Morrissey. He said : " I 
 have always found Morrissey to be a man 
 of devotion to his standards of rightfulness. 
 It seems to me that his instincts are origi- 
 nal, any way.' He expressed satisfaction 
 with the Democratic newspapers of New 
 York State as, on the whole, the best ex- 
 ponents of the unjobbing Democracy in the 
 country." .... 
 
 N. T. TRIBUNE. — 1876. 
 
 " To test the tenacity of the opposition to 
 
 who have been expressing themselves 
 very strongly against him whether they 
 think they can elect a Democratic Presi- 
 dent without New York. If they know 
 much about national politics, they usually 
 concede that New York is the key to the 
 position. 
 
 " ' Do you think Hendricks or Bayard 
 could carry the State? ' The reply always 
 expresses doubt. 
 
 " 'Well, suppose you were convinced that 
 Tilden is the only candidate named who 
 would be certain to carry it — what 
 then?' 
 
 " ' We should have to support him,' is 
 the reluctant answer. 
 
 " This, then, is the attitude of the Penn- 
 sylvania Democrats. 
 
 " Satisfy them that without New York 
 they lose the battle, and that without 
 Tilden they lose New York, and they are 
 for Tilden. 
 
 " The Tilden slate figures out victory by 
 the union of the South, the East and the 
 Pacific coast." 
 
 Governor Tilden, I sometimes ask men 
 
 To unhorsing Bayard, Tlmrman & Hendricks, your rivals for 
 the nomination, by slurs, innuendoes, etc., " to make people 
 dislike them;" including scores of paragraphs scattered 
 among country papers and " clipped " for exchanges by 
 our bureau ......••• 
 
 $25,000 
 
 * since nominated and elected to eame office on Tilden ticket. 
 
116 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (Account continued.') 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SLUES ON SENATOR BAYARD. 
 
 N. Y. Times. — 1875. iV. Y. World. —1875. 
 
 " Mr. Tilden himself is openly making 
 his bid for the White House. With New- 
 York inflexibly for him in the Democratic 
 Presidential Conrention, he believes that 
 he can carry the day. No other Eastern 
 Democrat is likely to contest the prize 
 with him. Bayard has heen shelved, if 
 ever he was seriously thought of." 
 
 N. Y. Tribune, — Nor. 24,1875. 
 "Who took the rag-baby by the throat 
 and choked the breath out of it? The 
 'Cincinnati Enquirer' ought to be good 
 authority on the subject. It has insisted 
 from the first that Gov. Tilden was the 
 murderer. So far as we know, it has not 
 once hinted that the Delaware Senator 
 had any hand in the taking off. At most 
 he can only he held as accessory after the 
 fact." 
 
 " The illusion about Bayard is the same. 
 It is the best name to rise on in this coun- 
 try, not because any of the Delaware 
 Bayards gave it any great significance, 
 but because there was an old chevalier 
 who died saris ^eur et sans reproche. If 
 Mr. Bayard can run on this saying, he 
 will run well. 
 
 " But, except for the Presidency, he has 
 qualities worthy of all consideration. He 
 is pure, dignified and sweet of nature and 
 life. He has honor and the desire to keep 
 it. If I were a politician, likewise, and 
 wanted sleek virtue, I should be for this 
 political kitten of Bayard sans purr." 
 
 " PoLiTicAi, Notes. — Gov. Tilden and 
 Senator Bayard are the sole surviving 
 Democratic candidates/or the Presidency." 
 iV. Y. Tribune. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF CRUSHING SENATOR THURMAN. 
 
 jy. Y. World. 
 
 " ISSUES THAT CANNOT BE PUT DOWN. 
 
 "Nothing can put down or cover over 
 the real and dividing issues upon which we 
 believe the great contest of 1876 is to be 
 fought. 
 
 " For the dust and noise of the blatant 
 demagogues who would lead the Demo- 
 crats of Ohio and Pennsylvania to perdi- 
 tion is a passing and a local folly." 
 
 [Above written by Tilden himself, four- 
 column article.] 
 
 " World " again : — 
 
 " The Ohio Deniocrati ought now to see the 
 propriety of resigning their claims to leadership 
 and talcing u. position in the bacltground. In 
 politics, as in war, there is nothing respectable but 
 success, ajid they have on two critical occasions 
 proved their incapacity to succeed. They failed 
 in 1868 and they have failed now; they have 
 brought u shadow over the Democratic Presiden- 
 tial prospect, and, what is worse still, they have 
 created a distrust of Western capacity to lead in 
 national politics that may not be dissipated for 
 years. The Western Democrats may as well 
 i^in to look elsewhere than tu Ohio for their 
 
 future representatives and champions; the assuvud 
 champions of that State are little else than dis- 
 turbers of the peace and breeders of mischief." 
 
 N. Y. Tribune. — Oct. 23, 1875. 
 
 "Poor Senator Thurman! He used to 
 be spoken of as a Presidential candidate. 
 Now he is only thought of for the second 
 place. The 'Lexington Dispatch' asks 
 how this ticket would sound : ' For Presi- 
 dent, Samuel J. Tilden, of New York; 
 Vice-President, Allen G. Thurman, of 
 Ohio.'" 
 
 " The ' Cincinnati Commercial ' is trying 
 hard to make a formidable Presidential 
 candidate out of Senator Thurman. It 
 would find the task an easier one by taking 
 Andrew Jackson." 
 
 N. Y. Times. — Sept. 16, 1875. 
 
 " Whatever Mr. Tilden's faults may be, no- 
 body supposes him capable of repeating the r6le of 
 Mr, Thurman in Ohio, and sacrificing the convic- 
 tions of a lifetime on questions of finance and 
 national honesty at the call of a short-sighted 
 political expediency," 
 

 THE WASHINGTON FILL DE MADMEN ANGOT. 
 
 Halsttad, Bowles, and Watterson (sing)— 
 
 " When Bowles conspires, and Halstead's there, 
 And Watterson Ifas laid his snare. 
 Let Adams, Bayard, Tilden tremble, 
 While we conspirators dissemble." 
 
 All — " Let us dissemble." 
 
 HaUtead— 
 
 " Soon Bayard in his heart shall feel, he. 
 The knife that cooked the goose of Greeley." 
 
 Bowles — 
 
 " My rage 'gainst Adams shall^have yent- 
 I'll settle him for President." 
 
 Watterson — 
 
 " But Tilden, he shall feel my knife j — 
 No babes has he, no tender wife." 
 
 All— 
 
 ' Let Adams, Tilden, Bayard tremble, ^ 
 
 While with our knives we thus dissemble. 
 
 From Tie Daily Graphic, Dec. 20, 1875. 
 
MUi/^f'Smwattda,, 0£/i^eff^ ^eu/^t^ ^o/9^ 
 
 TH^ PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AT THE SPRINGS. 
 
 Governor Hendricks — "We Western people like this water for the gas it contains." 
 
 Governor T^'lden-^^'^e Eastern people place nnore value upon the minerals and metals in the water.' 
 
 From TAe Daily Graphic^ Aug. ao, 1875. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 117 
 
 {Account continued.) 
 EXAMPLES OF LEAVING GOVERNOR HENDRICKS "OUT IN THE COLD." 
 
 m Y. Would. — 1875. 
 
 " GOTEKNOK HE>T3KICk'S SPEECH IN OHIO. 
 
 " Of all the speeches delivered in Ohio on 
 the currency question, that of Mr. ITen- 
 dricks is the weakest in moral and intel- 
 lectual vigor. 
 
 "Mr. Hendricks is a peculiar man — in his 
 nature unquestionably good and patriotic, 
 but lacking political courage. His views 
 
 have not been pronounced 
 
 The friends, however, of two or three 
 Ohio candidates are determined he shall 
 never be nominated for the Presidency." 
 
 N. T. Tribune. — 1875. 
 
 " Gov. Hendricks' friends think an infla- 
 tion victory in Ohio and Pennsylvania 
 would make him almost certain of the 
 Democratic nomination for the Presidency. 
 That is putting a high premium on fence- 
 roosting." 
 
 "What has become of Gov. Hendricks? 
 Before the election of Speaker, the Indiana 
 press was full of information about him, 
 and Hendricks movements were springing 
 up in all tlie Western Stales. Now the 
 hitherto noisy Hendricks Club in Indianap- 
 olis is as silent as the tomb, and not a 
 ' movement ' has been reported any- 
 where." 
 
 SHAKING RIVAL CANDIDATES UP TOGETHER, AND HAV- 
 ING YOU (TILDEN) ELOAT OVER THEM LIKE OIL ON 
 WATER 
 
 N. Y. Tribune. — Sept 24, 1875. 
 
 "Tell me what you think of the other 
 men who are talked of as candidates." 
 
 "Well, there's Senator Bayard — a clear- 
 headed, upright Democratic statesman of 
 the best type, but not available. He comes 
 from south of Mason's and Dixon's line. 
 
 " A year ago. Senator Thurman was my 
 man, but now he is not to be thought of 
 as a candidate. No matter how Ohio goes 
 next month, it won't be safe to take a can- 
 
 didate from that State. West of Ohio, I 
 believe Gov. Hendricks is the only promi- 
 nent aspirant. He is eight years too late. 
 Ever since 1868, he has been a standing 
 candidate, and his popularity has been 
 oozing away little by little, until he has 
 none left outside of Indiana. The .whole 
 North-west is bare of available men, and 
 the South is forbidden ground. So you 
 see whichever way we look we come back to 
 Gov. Tilden. 
 
 To spurring up editorial enthusiasm on your eight-column annual 
 messages (delicate and difficult business, requiring best cor- 
 respondents in our bureau) ...-■• 
 
 $10,000 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 World. — 1876. 
 
 " It is in this part of the message, how- 
 ever, that Gov. Tilden's utterly unmatched 
 mastery in fiscal problems, facts and laws, 
 is shown at its best, although the earlier 
 half of the message is but its application 
 to the business of this State, and an exhi- 
 bition of his singular powers in active 
 exercise.'' 
 
 Utica Rural Sentiment. 
 
 " In dealing with the general question 
 of government the Executive displays a 
 knowledge so comprehensive, a judgment 
 so sound, and a power of analysis so rare, 
 that the reader who gives thoughtful atten- 
 tion to this portion of the message will be 
 surprised and delighted. We speak delib- 
 erately when we say that, with the excep- 
 
118 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 {Account 
 
 tion of the papers of Jefferson, the writings 
 of no public man in the United States ex- 
 hibit sucli depth of thought as is shown in 
 this part of Gov. Tilden's work." 
 
 TltIBUNE.—1876. 
 
 " The message of Governor Tilden is a 
 business-like document, wasting no words 
 on fictitious issues, and incumbering its 
 statements, arguments and suggestions 
 with no ill-timed rhetoric." 
 
 continued.^ 
 
 TltOT PltESS. 
 " Gov. Tilden's second annual message 
 to the Legislature is tlie ablest State paper 
 which is likely to be produced during the 
 centennial year. So sound and compre- 
 hensive a document need not be looked for 
 from Federal or from any other State 
 Executive. It treats of State affairs elab- 
 orately and clearly, and where it rises to 
 a broader scope it exhibits the weight, wis- 
 dom and force of a truly statesmanlike 
 mind." 
 
 TO ARRANGING TO HAVE A CHICAGO REPORTER SENT ON 
 TO "INTERVIEW" YOU AS PER YOUR DIRECTIONS (THE 
 "INTERVIEW" WRITTEN OUT BY YOURSELF AS HAND- 
 ED TO REPORTER) 
 
 " TILDEN INTERVIEWED." 
 
 " REVIEW OP STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS. 
 
 $500 
 
 [Correspondence of the *' Chicago Times "'\ 
 
 "Albany, N. Y., Nov. 27, 187S. — On 
 one of the bright, beautiful days this week 
 I had the pleasure of meeting, for the first 
 time, and of being most agreeably enter- 
 tained by, Samuel J. Tilden, who will 
 
 LONG BE KNOWN TO FAME AS THE ' EEPOBM 
 GOVERNOR OP NEW YORK.' 
 
 . " The object the ' Times ' correspondent 
 had in calling upon Governor Tilden was 
 to obtain from him a clear definition of the 
 somewhat singular results that attended 
 the late election in New York. 
 
 "The conversation was as follows : — 
 
 " CoKRESPONDENT. — Govcmor, we of 
 the West do not exactly understand the 
 nature and final results of the late can- 
 vass in New York. What are your ex- 
 planations? 
 
 "Governor Tilden. — I consider the 
 election of the Democratic State ticket the 
 most remarkable victory for reform which 
 has ever happened in our political history. 
 
 " The last canvass had many features 
 wholly unprecedented in our political ex- 
 perience. The leaders in the Republican 
 Convention declared adhesion to the policy 
 of a Democratic Governor. Their com- 
 plimentary allusions to him were received 
 with applause. They nominated u, ticket 
 of new men, and of fair popular repute. 
 Republican candidates for the Legislature, 
 like Mr. Rogers, of Buffalo, in his address 
 to the convention accepting its nomination, 
 insisted that ' they could support Governor 
 Tilden more effectively' than their Dem- 
 ocratic rivals, and that ' they would do so.' 
 Everywhere they claimed to be as good re- 
 formers as the Democratic candidates. 
 Even Senator Conkling opened his appeal to the 
 Republicans to stand bi/ their own ticket by saying 
 that ' Governor Tilden was not running.'* 
 
 " Unexpectedly to me, a desire man- 
 ifested itself among many persons, as a 
 means of putting the Democratic party on 
 a reformatory policy and position, to ron 
 
 ME POR governor. I HAD ALWAYS IN 
 
 * What Senator Conkling did say was : — 
 
 "To begin with. Governor Tilden is 
 
 not running in this canvass. ' Boss ' 
 
 Kelly in New York is quite as much in 
 
 question as Governor Tilden. The Dem- 
 
 ocratic party is running, and it is a good 
 deal more important to know how it stands 
 than to know how Gov. Tilden or any 
 other man stands." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 119 
 
 (^Account continued^) 
 
 PBIVATE LIFE TAKEN UOBE THAN MT SHAEE 
 IN THE DUTIES OF.A CITIZEN OF TUB Ee- 
 PCBLIC, BUT KEVER ENTEEINS UPON OB 
 AIMING AT AN OFFICIAL CAREEH ; AND IT 
 WAS KNOWN THAT, SO FAU AS I HAD ANT 
 TASTE FOU POLITICAL LIFE, IT WAS NOT 
 IN THAT DIKECTION, BUT QUITE THE CON- 
 TKAET. 
 
 '•But I should be sorry to be remembered 
 only as an example of discouragement to 
 my successors, and to the young men who 
 are growing up. 
 
 / should regret to stand in their eyes as a monu- 
 ment to remind th£m that in such undertakings the 
 right vnllfail, and that all services and sacrifices 
 far it vdll be wasted. In that sense, only, have I 
 the slightest concern about my political future. 
 
 " As to my financial views, you may say 
 that it is well-known that I approve of the 
 platform of the Democratic party of this 
 State, adopted in convention in 1874 and 
 1875. The subject is discussed in my 
 speech at Syracuse, in September, 1874, 
 and more fully in my annual message of 
 January, 1875. I know the difficulty of 
 organizing and representing these separat- 
 ed and isolated atoms of the community 
 against its corrupt interests. That is just 
 what for four years I have endeavored to 
 do in this State. For five years before the 
 open war began I weakilt held the 
 
 DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION IN THIS STATE 
 
 from being swept away by corrupt ten- 
 dencies ; I FOUGHT THE CONTEST IN THE 
 DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE AND STATE CON- 
 VENTION, AND LED 40,000 DEMOCRATS IN 
 THE REVOLT OF THE VOTERS OP THE CITT. 
 
 I say it does not consist with public moral- 
 ity or public safety (and here the gov- 
 ernor ELEVATED HIS VOICE AS THOUGH 
 ADDRESSING A MULTITUDE, AND EXCIT- 
 
 EDLY, ELOQUENTLY PROCLAIMED) that 
 
 tliieves and robbers should be allowed to 
 organize tliemselves into a balance of 
 power, and thereby award victory or defeat 
 between political parties, while honest men 
 remain inside of their party associations 
 and allow it tu be done ! In my special 
 message on canal reform, March 18, 1 used 
 these words : — 
 
 " Such is a key to the situation. The 
 interest which fattens on abuse of pub- 
 lic expenditure is intelligent, energetic 
 and persistent. It begins to operate 
 upon public officers as soon as they are 
 elected. 
 
 " The vast mass of tax-payers are occu- 
 pied in their daily industries, on their 
 farms and in their workshops. 
 
 'In a silent contest with the tax-con- 
 sumers they are often practically unrepre- 
 sented. It is only when they are aroused 
 and organized, and can find representatives 
 whom they trust, that they protect them- 
 selves and overwhelm all resistance." 
 
 " This declaration puzzled and confused 
 all the routine politicians. At first all 
 who were in sympathy with the Canal 
 Bing said I had committed suicide; had 
 broken up and destroyed the party which 
 
 had elected me Soon there came 
 
 an unexampled rising of the people of all 
 parties in support of reform. Then the 
 fashionable theory was that my action was 
 an audacious and dexterous stroke of 
 ambition for the Presidency. 
 
 "And HEBE His Excellency rose and 
 
 BEGAN PACING THE FLOOR, INDIGNATION 
 FLASHING FROM HIS ETES, AND WITH 
 MEASURED TREAD HE CONTINUED TO 
 WALK TO AND FRO TILL THE INTERVIEW 
 TERMINATED.' 
 
 TO PKOCURING INSERTION OF THE FOLLOWING EDITORIAL, 
 AS WRITTEN BY YOURSELF (FOUR COLUMNS) . 
 
 $500 
 
 EXTRACTS. 
 
 Dec. 3, 1875. 
 
 " The details of an interview with Gov- 
 ernor TiLDEN, which we may copy in this 
 morning's issue from the Chicago ' Times,' 
 
 should be carefully studied. The charac- 
 teristic feature of this interview is the 
 daring with which the Governor ^ives ex- 
 pressions to his opinions and Ins feelings. 
 There is no sneaking away from important 
 
120 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 topics, no dreary elevation of common 
 places, no utterance of Delphic platitudes. 
 Unlike many of our public men Mr. Til- 
 den is full to overflowing with ideas, sen- 
 timents and convictions, and perfectly 
 willing to give them frankly to the people. 
 He has the courage of a leader, and a 
 glance at his reported conversation will 
 show, even to those who have not learned 
 it from his acts, that he has the wisdom of 
 a leader also. This interview keveals 
 
 A BKEADTH OF COMPREHENSION AND A 
 
 FIRMNESS OF GRASP THAT NO OTHER 
 STATESMAN OF OUR DAT HAS DISPLAYED. 
 
 " His noble confidence in the ultimate 
 triumph of honesty deserves the victory 
 which it is suri' to win. 
 
 " Hiscritick n on the financial manage- 
 ment of the Adriinistration will be accepted 
 as the best political epigram of the day : 
 'There is no vant of resources in our 
 country, except i i the men who deal with 
 its finances.'" 
 
 The reader will note many phrases in the reported '■'■ interview," showing 
 Tilden to be its author, and as " wearily holding" on to the same subject as 
 in his letter to the " New York Times" ! His " eloquently proclaiming" 
 and "flashing ej"e" points, are quite romantic for a "sixty-year old 
 (past)" writer about himself! 
 
 That he did lurite it (" revise and extend it"), is settled by the reporter 
 himself in the following paragraph, appearing about December 10, 1875 : — 
 
 .... On Saturday morning the governor 
 admitted me in person .... After sat- 
 ing THAT OTHER NEWSPAPER MEN HAD 
 REPEATEDLT SOUGHT TO INTERVIEW HIM 
 SINCE THE ELECTION, AND THAT HE HAD 
 PERSISTENTLT DECLINED, HE CONSENTED 
 
 TO REVISE AND EXTEND THE 
 POINTS I HAD ALREADY SE- 
 CURED." 
 
 "It 'HAVING BEEN intimated that a re- 
 cent alleged interview with Governor Til- 
 den, reported in the ' Chicago Times,' 
 never transpired, the reporter who accom- 
 plished it writes to the Albany Argus an 
 indignant note. "I went to Albany," he 
 says, "'on Wednesday morning, November 
 24th, and at once called upon the governor. 
 .... He declined to be interviewed, but 
 treated me courteously and talked freely. 
 
 Taking the "interview," the " editorial comments " and the reporter's 
 " explanatory notes" together, it is safe to say that no other Presidential 
 candidate ever " blew his own horn" like Sammy Tilden, who may, for 
 aught we know, yet be " walking to and fro" with those "flashing eyes" 
 and that " measured tread," having as little power to stop as the Wander- 
 ing Jew ! 1 
 
f (T 
 
 SAMMY TILDEN, 
 
 THE LATER HERCULES CLEANSING THE MODERN AUGEAN STABLES. 
 From The Daily Graphic, Oct. 20, 1875. 
 
ADDENDA, 
 
 , PICTOKIAI, POLITICS. 
 
 As a manager of this new field of political enterprise, Tilden is acknowl- 
 edged to be without a rival ! 
 
 That he is a liberal patron of these '•'■fine arts," the following probable 
 account current will indicate : — 
 
 S. J. Tilden 
 
 To Goodsell Brothers, Popularity Brokers, etc. , Dr. 
 
 To series of cartoons engraved from ideal suggestions of j-our 
 own, and published during 1874, 1875 and 1876 each al- 
 ternate week, including the artist's charge for alterations 
 to suit your taste as attached to each picture . . . $25,000 
 
 Samples of the cartoons referred to will be found in these pages, from 
 photolithogi-aphs taken from various pictorials of recent date. 
 
 The editor of the " New York Times " remarks on Cartoon No. 20 
 thus : — 
 
 " W!mn Governor Tilden sends the next portrait of himself to his ' illustrated 
 paper ' we again advise him to put on a few more dothe'i. It is a new feature 
 in our political life to find candidates depicting themselves in the costume of 
 our first parents. We do not believe that Governor Tilden is so beautiful as 
 to justify this free revelation of his charms, and an accurate representation 
 of his legs would not be likely to attract many votes. Let him then draw his 
 next portrait in the garb luhich all decent men wear at the present day. We 
 believe that he boasts that he is lineally descended from an ancient Briton, but 
 that is no reason why he should revert to the too scanty attire of his ancestors. 
 Degraded as our politics may be, we expect our candidates for office to ajipear 
 in public ivith some better protection against the weather than a fig-leaf." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
Hill 
 
 iU 
 
 "1 
 
 
 \i' 
 
 
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 M