THE FRAUDS 
 
 OF TIIE 
 
 New York City Government 
 
 EXPOSED. 
 
 SheMjcs of tlje Pcmbers of % ^Ritig anir tljcir Confederates : 
 
 WITH 
 
 A LIST OF CHECKS, 
 
 COPIED FROM THE BOOKS IN THE 
 
 OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER, 
 
 REPRESENTING 
 
 MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, 
 
 ^ AID ON J^RAUDU LENT pLAIMS. 
 
 gen- Uorfe : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR; 
 
 No. 66 BROADWAY. 
 1871. 
 
 ~~ j j ... — — 
 
NEW PAMPHLETS, 
 
 By the Same Author. 
 
 Two now Pamphlets, by the Author of the " Frauds of the 
 New York City Government Exposed/' are now in course of 
 preparation and will be published in a few weeks. One will be 
 entitled : 
 
 " Irishmen at Home and Abroad," 
 
 and will contain an impartial review of the condition — social, 
 moral, and intellectual — of the Irish, in Europe and America ; 
 with a critical inquiry into the agencies that are employed to 
 bring the great mass of Irishmen in America under the control 
 of a few unprincipled men, who trade on their patriotism and 
 their impulsive, generous nature, and rob them ot their money 
 and their manhood. 
 
 The second will be entitled : 
 
 " THE MEN WHO RULE US," 
 
 and will contain a series of Biographical Sketches of the prom- 
 inent Politicians of the City and State — including Governor 
 "Hoffman and the warriors of his StalF. the members of the King, 
 the Bench, the Bar, the several Commissions of the City Gov- 
 ernment, the Tammany Republicans who hold positions under 
 the Ring, and a number of sleek and successful jobbers not 
 hitherto known to fame. 
 
 Spicy Revelations may be Looked for. 
 
THE FEAUDS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 New York City Government 
 
 EXPOSED. 
 
 t 
 
 Sketches of fbe Ittembcrs of tbe |ling anb their Confcbevatcs : 
 
 WITH 
 
 A LIST OF OHEOkS, 
 
 COPIED FROM THE BOOKS IN THE 
 
 OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER, 
 
 REPRESENTING 
 
 MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, 
 
 -pAiD Put on Fraudulent Plaims. 
 
 geu* llorh : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR; 
 No. 60 BROADWAY. 
 1871. 
 
 fio>L 6"7 
 
Entered- according to Act of Congress, in the year 1371 by 
 A BR AH P. GENUNG, 
 In the Office of Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 When you leave, please leave this book 
 
 Because it has been said 
 "Ever thing comes t' him who waits 
 
 Except a loaned book. 
 
WHITHER ARE WE DRIFTING ? 
 
 Shall honest men or thieves rule America ? 
 
 This is the question that is now presented to the American 
 people — this is the alternative. 
 
 The question of secession was most momentous to the people 
 of the South. It involved all the horrors of a terrible war ; the 
 severing of the most tender ties, and the sacrifice of the most val- 
 ued lives, superadded to the inevitable destruction of property. 
 But, terrible as these misfortunes may seem, there are other calam- 
 ities that may befall a people that are even more terrible than these. 
 When public men have lost every public and private virtue; when 
 they have ceased to regard the duties and obligations of the govern- 
 ment and the governed as reciprocal; when they deny the right of 
 the people to hold them to a strict accountability for their official 
 acts, and band themselves together for purposes of wholesale rob- 
 bery; when they ignore and defy the law-abiding masses, the indus- 
 trious, the intelligent, the cultured, and the wealthy — all who have 
 the peace, honor, and prosperity of the country at heart — and pan- 
 der to the ignorant and brutal, subsidizing the most depraved, and 
 invoking the worst passions of the lawless and vicious, in order 
 to perpetuate their own power ; when robbers and murderers revel 
 in undisturbed license, and the ministers of justice become their 
 allies and friends, instead of the avenging Nemesis of an outraged 
 law: :vhen the control of the Public Schools is in the hands of the 
 most rapacious and unscrupulous demagogues, and the moral senti- 
 ment of the rising generation is rapidly becoming blunted and de- 
 bauched, — then has a calamity mare terrible than the most 
 dfstructive Avar befallen the people. This is the condition ot 
 tilings that iioav obtains in New York : this is the condition oi 
 
tilings that the thieves of New York have threatened to extend to 
 the general Government. 
 
 It is well known that William M. Tweed is the leading spirit 
 of the infamous cabal that now controls this City. On the 4th of 
 July last, at Tammany Hall, surrounded by his co-conspirators and 
 a host of ruffians who are engaged in the congenial pastime of 
 robbing the people of this City, Tweed made a speech, from which 
 we make the following extract: 
 
 In these great and perilous times, stand-points must be taken. The Tam- 
 many Society propose to be governed by those rules which have made all coun- 
 tries powerful which have followed them. We propose that the interests of one 
 shall he the interests of all. We propose to carry on a strict government. We 
 propose to recognize the rights of those who elect persons to high official stations, 
 and to call them to personal account for the mauner in which they have conducted 
 themselves and performed their duties. We propose to wrest, if possible, the 
 Government from the hands of those who now. in our opinion, are betraying it ; 
 from those who are trying to crush out all principles of equality, liberty, and tol- 
 eration." [Applause.] 
 
 The import of this language cannot he mistaken : its signifi- 
 cance cannot be ignored. It merely gives a more tangible form to 
 the thoughts that are uppermost in the minds of the men who 
 have succeeded, through the most disgraceful agencies, in foisting 
 themselves into power in this City, and who now hope, through the 
 same agencies — bribery, fraud, and turbulence — to obtain control of 
 the general Government and overwhelm the country in disgrace 
 and ruin. "We propose," says this exponent of the policy of 
 the Ring, "to wrest, if possible, the Government from the hands 
 of those who now. in our opinion, are betraying it." This, then, is 
 the purpose of the men who now rule this City: To wrest the 
 Government from the hands of those whose best efforts have 
 been exerted to restore tranquility to the country, and to promote 
 the hest interests of its people, and to place it in the hands of an 
 organized band of thieves who will apply the same principles to 
 the government of the entire country that they are now applying 
 to the government of this City. Shall these men succeed ? Shall 
 honest men or thieves rule America ? These are the questions 
 
 that are now presented to the people, and the answer must come 
 distinct and clear — it must ring out in thunder- tones from Maine 
 to California) it must increase in volume and emphasis in this 
 City, until it has shaken those palatial mansions on Murray Hill to 
 
their foundation, and reverberated through the innermost recesses 
 of those dark abodes of vice and crime — the rum shops of the 
 Five Points ; it must swesp, like a destroying angel, over those 
 waited sepulchres that have been erected with moneys stolen from 
 the people by the shameless ruffians who now rule us, and into 
 the less pretentious dwellings of the miserable scoundrels who 
 have been their too willing tools — blotting out for all time the ac- 
 cursed corruption that now festers there. 
 
 Who and what are the men who now rule this City ? Do they 
 represent the intelligence, the industry, or the integrity of out- 
 people ? Do they derive their right to govern this City from the 
 consent of the people ? and if not, what becomes of the declaration 
 for which the founders of the Government risked life, liberty, and 
 fortune ? These are the questions which honest men of all 
 parties and of all classes must now ask, but which they may ask 
 in vain, so far as any satisfactory answer is concerned. No one 
 will pretend that Connolly, Hall, Tweed, and Sweeny represent 
 either the honesty, the industry, or the integrity of the great mass 
 of our bankers, merchants, mechanics, or professional men ; and no 
 one will pretend that they hold their present positions with the 
 consent or approval of the classes just referred to. 
 
 There is nothing in the antecedents of the four men who are 
 now at the head of our municipal government, which entitles them 
 to either the respect or confidence of the public. 
 
 A. Oakey Hall. 
 
 Hall's career as a public man has been conspicuous only for 
 tergiversation, trickery, and fraud; while his private life has been 
 stained by the grossest excesses, the most heartless betrayal of con- 
 fidence,* and an utter disregard for the principles that are held 
 sacred by right-minded men everywhere. As a politician, he has 
 " swung round the circle," having been by turns a Whig, a Know- 
 Nothing, a Kepublican, and a Democrat — at one time, the most re- 
 lentless enemy of our adopted citizens, and anon filling the role of a 
 fawning sycophant, and endeavoring by the most transparent tricks 
 
 * There are certain well-authenticated facts within the knowledge of the 
 writer, which neither the limits of this pamphlet nor the nature of the subject 
 will admit of being introduced here, but they conclusively prove that Hall is one 
 of the most unprincipled and heartless villains in the community. 
 
G 
 
 to win the support of the very men who, only a short time before, 
 he had affected to despise; as a journalist, he is an egregious fail- 
 ure; as a lawyer, he never reached mediocrity; and as a man. he 
 is simply beneath contempt. But as a member of an organized 
 band of thieves, and as the confederate, friend, and champion of a 
 gang of desperate criminals, he has been an immense success. 
 
 Hall held the position of District Attorney sufficiently long to 
 become familiar with the thieves, murderers, gamblers, and prosti- 
 tutes that infest the City, and to learn who were their friends and 
 protectors when they got into trouble. He found the latter among 
 the most prominent members of the Legislature and the City Gov- 
 ernment ; while many of the criminals themselves, against whom 
 indictments had been found, were not without political aspirations, 
 and hoped, without much delay, to take their place beside their 
 patrons and protectors. Nor were they disappointed. Some of the 
 men who have been elected to positions of honor and emolument — 
 many of them hold high official positions to-day — have indictments 
 hanging over their heads, which have been pigeon-holed and care- 
 fully preserved by Hall, the better to enalile him to carry out his 
 schemes of personal aggrandizement. 
 
 Having obtained all the necessary information in reference to 
 t he dangerous classes, he formed an alliance with them, and, by hold- 
 ing the indictments against them in terror em over their heads, and 
 by a tree use of the money stolen from the people, he has Succeeded 
 in grasping the Chief Magistracy of the City, and in establishing a 
 reigD of terror and a despotism over its people that is more oppressive 
 and degrading than anything that has ever existed under the most 
 absolute monarchy of the Old World. There is no protection for 
 life or property ; the laws are openly violated with the utmost im- 
 punity; and a band of the most desperate ruffians in the City are the 
 hired tools of our City officials, and are paid out of the City Treas- 
 ury. Men whose want- of character and ability are notorious are 
 elected to (ill high judicial positions, and the decisions of these 
 men, in cases when? members of the King or their protryrs were 
 interested, have been so palpably in violation of every principle of 
 law and justice thai they have made the bench of New York a 
 by-word and a reproach throughout the whole country. When- 
 i ver practicable, the Police Justices have been selected on the same 
 principle. Men without character, ability, or pocial position — 
 many of tin in tic fiiei ds and abettors of gamblers and thieves, if 
 
7 
 
 not actually in that category themselves — >are selected, not to ad- 
 minister justice to the lawless and turbulent, but to protect the 
 ruffians who are in the pay of the Ring, and to intimidate, as far 
 as they have the power, all who oppose that infamous oligarchy. 
 The notorious Jack Rogers was arrested for beings drunk and en- 
 gaged in a fight on the night preceding the commission of the 
 murder for which he has since expiated his crimes on the scaffold, 
 and, on being brought before a Police Justice at the Tombs, next 
 morning, he was immediately turned loose on the public, and wound 
 up on the same evening by committing one of the most cold-blooded 
 and unprovoked murders on record. Nor is this an exceptional 
 case. A premium is held out to desperate criminals ; and hundreds 
 of the most notorious desperadoes in the community — men who 
 have been charged with every species of crime— are supported out 
 of the City Treasury, and fostered and protected by the City author- 
 ities. These are the men who have placed Hall, Connolly, Tweed, 
 and Sweeny in their present positions; and it is to the support of 
 these men that they look to enable them to brave out the storm 
 of indignation which recent revelations have raised against them. 
 
 Hall has been charged by responsible parties with being a thief, 
 and the charge has been reiterated until it has become familiar to 
 every man, woman, and child throughout the length and breadth of 
 the land. Specific charges are brought against him, backed up' by 
 the most conclusive and incontrovertible evidence, but instead of 
 promptly meeting and disproving these charges, he affects an air of 
 virtuous indignation, like the harlot who was accused of a want of 
 chastity, and finding that dodge unavailing, he secured the services 
 of the most disreputable Bohemians in the City, and endeavored, by 
 the publication of a series of lying attacks upon a Clerk who had 
 recently resigned his position in the Comptroller's office, and who 
 was supposed to have some connection with the, revelations in the 
 Times, to divert public attention from the question that is upper- 
 most in the mind of every person in the community. Conspicuous 
 amongst the unscrupulous liars who lent themselves to this dirty 
 work was a miserable scoundrel, named Joseph Howard, whose only 
 noteworthy achievement in connection with the press consisted in 
 forging a proclamation, purporting to have been issued by the late 
 President Lincoln, for which he was arrested and incarcerated in 
 Fort Lafayette. This jail-bird conducts a dirty little sheet, called 
 the Star, which gained an unenviable notoriety during the excite- 
 
8 
 
 meni incident to the July riots by applauding and defending the 
 lawless rabble who had attempted to plunge the City into scenes of 
 blood and carnage, and to enact over again the terrible tragedies 
 of 1863; while it indulged in the most bitter and unwarrantable 
 denunciations of our National Guardsmen, who bravely discharged 
 their duty, and freely risked their own lives, while protecting the 
 lives and property of their fellow-citizens. Having exhausted his 
 Billingsgate on our citizen soldiers and on others who did not 
 sympathize with his friends of the mob, Howard turned his atten- 
 tion to the Times (doubtless in the hope of receiving a notice from 
 that paper), and to the man who was supposed to have furnished 
 ■the figures that were copied from the Comptroller's books ; and, 
 while he attempted to impugn the motives of the former, and to 
 throw discredit on the latter, he never pretended to meet any 
 charge that had been made, nor to deny any specific fact stated. 
 In disseminating the most transparent falsehoods, and in the display 
 of the most bitter (but impotent) malignity, Howard found 
 worthy allies amongst kindred spirits, who, like himself, are the 
 paid tools of the King. Foremost amongst these was a disreputable 
 ruffian, named John Warren, who keeps a low rum shop on 
 Chambers street. The records of the War Department show that 
 this fellow received a commission as captain in the 63d New York 
 Volunteers on December 26th, 1861, and that he was cashiered 
 (literally drummed out of the service) February 28th. 1862, just two 
 months from the date of his commission ; and as this sentence is 
 equivalent to a term in the State Prison, and disqualifies him from 
 ever holding any position of trustor emolument under the (Govern- 
 ment of the United States, it is meet that he should take 
 his position under the banner of Tammany, and add one more to 
 the army of outlaws and thieves who there find congenial compan- 
 ions and an agreeable occupation. 
 
 Howard found another zealous ally in the person of a blatant 
 
 demagogue, named Stephen J. Meany, who divides his time between 
 inciting the most ignorant and depraved of his countrymen to acts 
 of violence, writing silly and contemptible puffs of the Tammany 
 
 thieve* for the Sl<n\ and in conducting a mendacious sheet, called the 
 Irish Democrat^ thai is not seen by oik; person out of every twenty 
 thousand in the community, and that owes its precarious existence 
 to the patronage of the corrupt King. This Meany is a worthy 
 representative of the men with whom lie is associated, and whom 
 
9 
 
 lie has undertaken to defend. He has been denounced by the 
 entire respectable press of New York as a noisy, unprincipled dem- 
 agogue; while the Herald, Sun, Telegram, and Irish American 
 have branded him as a convicted felon, and have published minute 
 details connected with his arrest, trial, and conviction for feloni- 
 ously appropriating the property of others. This man holds a 
 sinecure under the Ring, and in return for the money that he re- 
 ceives, and which he is incapable of earning in any legitimate way, 
 lie grovels in the dirt at the feet of his employers, and shouts him- 
 self hoarse proclaiming their virtues. In the abjectness of his sub- 
 serviency and the fulsomeness of his flattery to the members of the 
 Ring, Meany is not a whit ahead of his intimate friend and com- 
 panion, D. P. Conyngham, a flunkey in the employment of William 
 M. Tweed, Jr., and the nominal editor of the Sunday Democrat. 
 
 These were the men that Hall rallied for his defense. They 
 singled out the Clerk, to whom we have already referred, for their 
 attacks, and concocted the most absurd statements about him and 
 the circumstances connected with his leaving the Comptroller's 
 office. But they were so eager to do the bidding of their masters, 
 and there was so little method in their onslaught, that they were 
 constantly contradicting each other in the most ridiculous manner, 
 while they merely excited the contempt of all who read their effu- 
 sions. Hall came out in his own paper, the Leader, and stated 
 that the Clerk from whom the figures had been obtained was dis- 
 charged from the Comptroller's office for dishonesty, taking the 
 precaution, however, not to mention any name. Finally he induced 
 the Globe to publish an editorial in which the Clerk in question 
 was mentioned by name, and characterized as a "dirty traitor and 
 a fraud." As this was the first paper with any pretentions to 
 respectability that had published any of Hall's mendacious state- 
 ments, the following reply was immediately sent to the editor, and 
 was published in full in the Globe of August 3. 
 
 " To the Editor of the Globe : 
 
 " Sir — The Globe, of Saturday, contains an editorial in which 
 you say: 'Whatever may be thought of the exposures of the 
 Times, the man O'Rourke, who furnished them, is a dirty traitor 
 and a fraud/ 
 
 " This is the style of argument that is now being resorted to by 
 Messrs. Hall and Connolly, and the parasites that fatten on their 
 
10 
 
 corruption; but it would be an insult to the understanding of the 
 community to suppose that bo flimsy a device could divert their 
 attention from the real question that is now agitating the public 
 mind. The assumption that I had any connection with the expo- 
 sures of the Times is entirely gratuitous; but even if that fact had 
 been fully established, it is difficult to conceive upon what princi- 
 ple you could justify the language of the article from which I have 
 quoted. If, instead of being engaged by the Comptroller, I had 
 been offered a position in a banking-house, and had ascertained 
 after entering on my duties that instead of doing a legitimate busi- 
 ness, my employers were engaged in the manufacture and sale of 
 counterfeit money, and if instead of becoming a party to their vil- 
 lanies, I had thrown up my position and denounced them as forgers 
 and thieves, would I, in the estimation of the editor of the Globe, 
 be a -'dirty traitor and a fraud ?' 
 
 "A responsible journal has publicly denounced A. Oakey Hall 
 and Richard B. Connolly as c two thieves,' and has accused them 
 of paying out millions of dollars on fraudulent claims, and of re- 
 ceiving the largest proportion of the amounts thus taken from the 
 Treasury. It has shown that their peculations in connection with 
 the repairs and furniture in County olfices and armories have 
 amounted to more than six millions of dollars during the nine 
 months ending March 31st, 1871. It has reiterated its statements 
 over and over again, and has brought specific charges against them 
 which still remain uncontradicted. Instead of applying themselves 
 to the task of disproving the statements of the Times, they resort 
 to the pitiful subterfuge of throwing discredit upon these state- 
 ments, by publishing, and causing to be published, mendacious and 
 irrelevant newspaper bulletins about parties who are supposed to 
 
 have had sonic connection with the ventilation of their schemes of 
 plunder. Mayor Hall has put 'forth several statements that 
 
 abound in flippant rhetoric and 'glittering generalities;' but they 
 have been so obviously false and futile that they cannot deceive 
 
 any one, anil could only have been resorted to in the desperation 
 
 of despair. If he and Connolly are the honest officials that they 
 
 WOUld have the public believe, why do they not express their wil- 
 
 lingnesa to submit the books of the Comptroller's office to a com- 
 mittee of gentlemen representing the Chamber of Commerce or the 
 Merchants 1 Exchange ? Without any reference to what has been 
 st;iir<l in the Times, I say here, and on my own responsibility, that 
 
ti 
 
 there is evidence enough contained in those books to consign Hall 
 and Connolly to eternal infamy, if not to the inside of the State 
 Prison. Impudent bravado and silly chatter cannot deceive the 
 public. The source from which the Times obtained its information 
 has nothing to do with the truth or falsity of its charges. It is 
 Hall and Connolly, and not M. J. O'Rourke, who are arraigned 
 before the bar of public justice, and the ' you're another' style of 
 argument which they and their advocates seek to interpose will not 
 avail them. If Hall and Connolly were justified in paying out 
 several millions of dollars to four men for repairs and furniture in 
 County offices and armories, they have nothing to fear from a 
 searching investigation of their acts. If, as has been charged, they 
 have paid out vast sums of money on fraudulent claims, or have 
 misapplied any part of the moneys under their control as public 
 officers, then the sooner the public are made aware of the fact the 
 better; and if I should be even remotely instrumental in bringing 
 them to justice, I should consider that I had simply discharged a 
 duty that I owe alike to myself and to the public. It will not do 
 for Messrs. Hall and Connolly to introduce extraneous subjects, 
 nor to seek to obscure the only vital question involved in the con- 
 troversy by slang-whanging and innuendo. 
 
 " What I have done or left undone are not the questions upon 
 which the public desire information, and for that reason it is of 
 little consequence to the public whether I resigned or was removed 
 from my position. As the subject has been referred to in several 
 papers, however, and as several false statements have been made, 
 c on the highest authority/ I may be pardoned for reverting to it 
 here. My connection with the Comptroller's office can be described 
 in a few words : Early in April, 1870, I visited Albany, in the 
 hope of securing a settlement of a claim of mine against the State, 
 which has remained unsettled for more than four years. While 
 there I met Mr. Richard B. Connolly, who, on learning that I was 
 connected with the press, and also engaged in collecting materials 
 for a work entitled i The Representative Men of the Empire State/ 
 offered me a position in his department. On the death of Mr. 
 Watson, late County Auditor. Mr. S. C. Lynes, Jr., County Book- 
 keeper, was directed to discharge the duties of Auditor, and a con- 
 siderable portion of the County Book-keeper's duties devolved upon 
 me, and it was while discharging these duties that my eyes were 
 first opened to the real nature of the business that was being daily 
 
L2 
 
 transacted in the office. Early in May I discovered that the bill 
 of an acquaintance of mine which had been standing for two years, 
 had been purposely put out of the way or destroyed. I knew it 
 was their intention to pay out a large amount on fictitious claims 
 some time during that month, and I waited upon the Comptroller 
 personally and remonstrated with him. On May 19th (the same 
 day of my interview with the Comptroller) I wrote my resignation, 
 to take effect May 31st, placed it in the hands of the County 
 Auditor, and peremptorily refused to withdraw it, although urged 
 to do so by the County Auditor and another confidential friend of 
 the Comptroller's. On reading some allusions to the circumstances 
 connected with my leaving the office, I addressed a note to the 
 County Auditor, of which the following is a copy : 
 
 Mr. Stephen C. Lynes, Jr., County Audita)-, Comptroller 's Office: 
 
 Sir — On the 19th of May last I voluntarily placed my resignation, as a Clerk 
 in the Bureau of which you are the head, in your hands, and steadily refused to 
 reconsider ray action, although you were good enough to point out the advantages 
 that would accrue to me if 1 remained in the position, and, to say that my decision 
 was hasty and inconsiderate. As the controversy that is now going on in the 
 public press, relative to the affairs of the Comptroller's office, is calculated to en- 
 gender erroneous impressions about myself, and as it has been charged in the 
 New York Leader that the figures which have recently been published by the 
 Times were obtained from a Clerk who had been discharged from the Comp- 
 troller's office for dishonesty, I shall feel obliged to you if you will state whether 
 the circumstances connected with the tender of my resignation, as described 
 above, agree with your recollection of what occurred at the time; and, also, if at 
 any time during my stay in the department there has ever been a charge of any 
 kind brought against me. An immediate reply will oblige. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 M. .1. O'ROUBKE. 
 
 " To-day I called at the law office of Col. Benjamin A. Willis, 
 51 Chambers street, and he soul one of his assistants to the Comp- 
 troller's office with my note, but Mr. Lynes declined to make any 
 statement in writing. Subsequently, and, while I was writing a 
 second note, makings peremptory demand on him for a reply, he 
 came into Col. Willis' office, and then and there, in the presence 
 ef Col. Willis, Col. M. J. Farrell, and Mr. P. T. Southern, he 
 answered each of the questions propounded in my note, saying that 
 
 he had received my resignation in the manner described, had 
 
 handed it to the Comptroller, and that there had never been any 
 
 charge brought against me. He said, further, that he would be 
 ready to repeat his statement verbally whenever called upon, but 
 
13 
 
 that he did not feel at liberty to say any tiling in writing. And 
 this is the man who is required, in his official capacity, to pass 
 upon claims amounting to millions of dollars annually, and who is 
 such a craven-hearted lick-spittle that he dare not open his mouth 
 to perform a simple act of justice, lest it might displease his mas- 
 ter. 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " MATTHEW J. O'ROURKE. 
 " New York, August 1st, 1871?" 
 This letter added fresh interest to the controversy. The more 
 respectable journals that had copied the article from the Leader 
 saw that they had inadvertently done an injustice to Mr. O'Rourke, 
 and, with a promptness which did them great credit, they volunta- 
 rily published his communication to the Globe, or such portion of it 
 as was deemed necessary to vindicate him from the lying attacks of 
 Hall and his satellites. In his card " to the people," Hall was not 
 more successful. Here he virtually admitted the correctness of the 
 figures published by the Times, but says: 
 
 " The claims alluded to by the Times are large, and they may have been 
 exorbitant, but no responsibility really rests with either the Comptroller or 
 myself. They were all audited by the late (and what is known as the old) Board 
 of Supervisors, abolished when the new City Government was inaugurated, and 
 most of the auditing occurred nearly two years ago. Many of the claims were for 
 work and materials in 1868." 
 
 To this statement the Times replied by publishing a list of 
 checks amounting to $6,237,518.63 that had been paid out for re- 
 pairs and furniture in armories and County offices alone, during the 
 first nine months that the new City Government had been in oper- 
 ation. Foiled in this attempt to deceive the public, Hall made a 
 supplemental statement, in which he promised to publish a full re- 
 port of the moneys paid out by the Comptroller during the years 
 1869-'70-' 71, but this statement, like every other statement that 
 he has made in connection with these frauds, was a deliberate false- 
 hood, and was resorted to for the purpose of gaining time, as was 
 his subsequent letter to the President of the Chamber of Com- 
 merce. 
 
 When it became evident that Hall did not intend to publish a 
 statement of the Comptroller's accounts, the President of the Citi- 
 zens' Association of the Twelfth and Nineteenth Wards called a 
 meeting of the citizens of these Wards to be held August 7th. On 
 
14 
 
 the evening of the meeting a gang of roughs, in the pay of the Ring, 
 attempted to interrupt the speakers, and to break up the meeting. 
 They were not successful, however, and a series of resolutions were 
 passed, and on the following day were transmitted to Hall, accom- 
 panied by a communication signed by a number of prominent citi- 
 zens representing millions of dollars of taxable property in the City. 
 The letter and resolutions were as follows: 
 
 < : New York, Tuesday, Aug. 8th, 1871. 
 " His Honor A. Oakey Hall, Mayor of New York City: 
 
 "Sir — Inclosed you will please receive a copy of the resolutions 
 adopted at a meeting .of the Twelfth and Nineteen tli Awards Citi- 
 zens' Association on the evening of the 7th inst. 
 
 " The great importance to every honest, upright citizen of the 
 matters referred to in these resolutions, demands, at your hands, a 
 prompt and explicit response. These are not matters either to 
 be trifled with or evaded by you. The public care not for the 
 reports or certificates of any committee you may appoint, or whose 
 appointment you may procure. What they want, what they de- 
 mand, what they must have, is a faithful copy of the pay-rolls of the 
 City and County, showing the salaries paid since December 31st, 
 18G8, specifying the correct name of the person to whom paid, his 
 or her residence, and nature of services rendered for which the pay- 
 ments were made ; also every bill rendered against the City and 
 County, showing the work alleged to have been done, and furnish- 
 ings supplied — in detail — with the proceedings of all meetings of 
 the Board of Supervisors, or otherwise, from which the particulars 
 may be obtained as to when and by whom these bills were passed 
 upon and ordered for payment, together with a correct transcript of 
 the Comptroller's books as to all payments and of the warrants issued 
 from the period specified. Jt is only necessary to add that every 
 citizen is deeply interested in the good name of our Chief Magis- 
 trate, and a lull opportunity will cheerfully be granted to you 
 to justify yourself as to the particular matter charged against yon. 
 
 if il is in your power to do so ; but failing in accomplishing this by 
 the publication of the Oity and County accounts as requested, you 
 maj rely upon it thai every tax-payer, for hi> own Bake, and for the 
 sake and honor of this City, and of our Democratic institutions, 
 will unhesitatingly demand that you at once withdraw from th" 
 
lb 
 
 honorable position you will — in that event — have so dishonorably 
 tilled. 
 
 " We shall anxiously wait your further action in the matter. 
 
 "Respectfully, your obedient servants, 
 
 "JOHN FOLEY, 
 " President Twelfth and Nineteenth Wards Citizens' Association/' 
 
 Henry Clews, banker ; F. D. Meigs, banker ; G. G. Williams, 
 Cashier Chemical Bank ; James Buell, President Importers' and 
 Traders' National Bank ; Wm. Hegeman, Hegeman & Co. ; R. H. 
 Lowry, President Bank of the Republic ; J. L. Worth, Cashier 
 Park National Bank ; Nathaniel Hayden, President Chatham Na- 
 tional Bank ; Robert Lenox Kennedy, President National Bank 
 of Commerce ; Emil Sauer, President German- American Bank ; 
 Francis Tomes, merchant ; Charles Crary, President East-Side 
 Association ; H. W. Ford, Cashier National Bank of the Re- 
 public ; John J. Cisco & Son, bankers; Isaac H. Walker, Vice- 
 President Sun Mutual Insurance Company ; Benj. Cartwright, 
 Cashier City National Bank ; Thos. E. Garson, merchant; John 
 Straiton, merchant ; Geo. Storm, merchant ; Cyrus H. Loutrel, 
 merchant ; Chas. J. Harris, merchant ; Marshall Long, merchant; 
 Rnssel C. Root, merchant ; E. Wilson, Cashier American Ex- 
 change National Bank; E. N. Taylor, Jr., merchant; Thomas 
 McLelland, President ; C. F. Timpson, Cashier Continental 
 National Bank ; Wm. H. Cox, Cashier Mechanics' National Bank ; 
 Wm. C. Barrett, Counselor-at-Law ; Henry Nicoil, Counselor- 
 at-Law ; Alfred W. Craven, Civil Engineer ; Thos. S. Cunningham, 
 Secretary. 
 
 Whereas, The continued existence of republican government can only be se- 
 cured by a loyal obedience to, and faithful performance of the laws ; and, 
 
 WnEEEAS, It is the imperative duty of all good citizens to use their best efforts 
 to secnre obedience to, and enforcement of the laws ; and, 
 
 Whereas, His Honor, A.Oakey Hall, Mayor of this City, is vested by law with 
 the sole power of appointing all executive officers of the City and County, and it 
 is a duty he owes to every citizen that the trust reposed in him be exercised so as 
 to secure an honest adminstration ; and, 
 
 Wiiereas, It has been asserted by the New York Daily Times, and not yet 
 contradicted, that gross frauds have been committed through the connivance of 
 his Honor the Mayor, Comptroller, and other City officials, whereby many millions 
 of dollars have been feloniously abstracted from the City Treasury ; and, 
 
 Whereas, A corrupt administration of the City Covernment tolerated by the 
 citizens is injurious to the best interests of the community, politically, socially, 
 morally, and religiously ; therefore. 
 
16 
 
 Resolved, That in view of the serious charges of fraud as clearly defined, his 
 Honor the Mayor, A. Oakey Hall, has no other alternative but either at once fairly 
 and fully to meet and, if in his power, to refute the charges, by the publication in 
 detail, of all the City and County accounts since January 1st, 1869, or forthwith 
 to resign his office. 
 
 Resolved, That in the event of his Honor, the Mayor, or Comptroller, delaying 
 fairly to meet or being unable to refute the crimes of which they are accused, it 
 is the opinion of this meeting that the charges against them can only be properly 
 investigated by judicial proceedings, by means of which all funds stolen from the 
 ( it y may be recovered and restored, and the officials — who may be proven unfaith- 
 ful — be punished as the law directs. 
 
 Resolved, That as long as the present unfortunate condition of the City funds 
 and accounts is continued, we earnestly advise all tax-payers to refrain from pay- 
 ing either taxes or assessments, retaining the same until they are assured of their 
 honest application ; and further, we respectfully caution all parties not to purchase 
 or receive any bond or other evidence of debt binding our property issued after 
 this date, August 7th, 1871, with the signature of his Honor, A. Oakey Hall, 
 Mayor; for we consider, and shall contend, that the same are null and void, as 
 fraud vitiates all contracts. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed, who shall be intrusted, in the name 
 and on behalf of the tax-payers represented by this Association, and other citizens 
 who unite with them, to take all lawful means to liave the foregoing resolutions 
 carried at once into effect, and are also authorized, as long as the administration 
 of the City Government remains in the hands of persons suspected and accused of 
 dishonest acts, to watch over all the proceedings of such officials, and to resort to 
 all lawful means to force a faithful administration of the municipal affairs of this 
 great City. 
 
 Hall had resorted to lies, chicanery, and Bubterfuge, in order 
 to escape the consequences of Ins dishonesty, and finding all these 
 unavailing, find being driven into a corner by the successive steps 
 that were being taken to bring him to justice, he throws off the 
 mask, and sends a copy of the following hitter to each of the 
 gentlemen who had signed the communication just quoted : — 
 
 "Mayors Office, August 12th, 1881. 
 
 - To , One of the Signers of the Communication ad<1rvssv<1 to 
 
 the t '//</< rsiijn, ,1 : 
 Kft IK — I l„.n to acknowledge the receipt of said communication. 
 I have returned it to the Chairman, — 1st. Because it is not a com- 
 munication which any gentleman should, with knowledge of its 
 
 contents, have signed, and certainly not one a' gentleman can receive. 
 k Jd. Because it tfl On its fact 1 incorrect, inasmuch as most of the 
 signers are not residents either of the Twelfth or Nineteenth 
 Wards, and herein it evidences how mistakenly individuals niav 
 
 sign papers. 3d. 1 am reliably informed t hat not one-tenth of the 
 
17 
 
 signers were at the meeting. 4th. I am reliably informed that the 
 resolutions were not passed, because the Chairman failed to put the 
 negative. 5th. Because the fourth ' whereas ' preceding the reso- 
 lutions, is surely known to most of you to be untrue, as the under- 
 signed, immediately on the publication of the slanders, broadly de- 
 nied them under his own signature. Gth. Because of the general 
 insulting tone, and especially in the resolution attacking bonds and 
 recommending the non-payment of taxes. I beg to add that it is not 
 for any of you to ask me to resign under any circumstances. Every 
 one of you opposed my re election last Autumn ; and, at a time when 
 these charges, in a general way, had been long made and fully met, I 
 received a handsome popular indorsement against the slanders. My 
 then supporters are satisfied with me now. They remember that 
 for twelve years I was District Attorney, and in an office where in- 
 vitations to corruption were more frequent than in any other, and 
 that my character remained throughout as unblemished as I know 
 it to be now. I shall do in my high office whatever my official oath 
 and official judgment requires; and while I am always grateful for 
 advice temperately given and courteously advanced, I indignantly 
 reject coercive rhetoric, threatening language, and insulting com- 
 munications. " Very truly, 
 
 "A. OAKEY HALL.'' . 
 
 But even here the same reckless disregard for truth that has 
 been the marked characteristic of all of Hall's statements is again 
 manifest. 1st. He says that, immediately after the publication of 
 the charges contained in the Times, he broadly denied them under 
 his own signature. This is absolutely untrue, as he has never 
 replied to a single specification of any one of these charges, either 
 under his own signature or over it, or in his own paper, or in any 
 of the other papers that are always so obsequiously subservient 
 to his will. 2d. He says that last Autumn the "charges, in a gen- 
 eral way, had been long made and fully met." Here is another 
 impudent falsehood. The charges that have recently been made 
 by the Times, and to which Hall refers, had not been made in "a 
 general way," or any other way, previous to last Autumn, and for 
 the very good reason that the excerpts upon which they are based 
 never had any existence previous to (nor for a considerable time 
 after) last Autumn. But as the glaring inaccuracies in Hall's 
 flippant letter, and in other statements previously made, are fully 
 
 % 
 
18 
 
 exposed in the following letter from the President of the Twelfth 
 and Nineteenth Wards Citizens' Association, it is given in fill] : 
 
 " Hon. A. Oakey Hall, Mayor of the City of Nau York : 
 
 " Sir — Your printed circular, dated 12th inst., was only delivered 
 to me, through the Post-Office, on the afternoon of the 17th instant. 
 The matters referred to in the communication, to which this circu- 
 lar is your reply, are of too serious a character to be slightingly 
 dealt with. Had you, on the invitation which you received, attended 
 the meeting of the Twelfth and Nineteenth Wards Citizens' Asso- 
 ciation, to which you refer, you would have found yourself in the 
 company of more than one-tenth of the signers of the communica- 
 tion addressed to you, and you would have heard me put, as I did, 
 the negative upon the adoption of the resolutions. No ! Doubtless an 
 effort was made to prevent this by your representatives at the meet- 
 ing, about forty in number, who behaved in a very unseemly man- 
 ner. But this was not much to be wondered at, considering the 
 fact that their names stand upon the City pay-rolls, and that they 
 acted under the special direction of one of the Comptroller's mes- 
 sengers. 
 
 " If you will again read the last resolution, you will see that, along 
 with the Committee appointed by the Association, other citizens 
 were invited to unite with them to have the resolutions carried 
 into effect. The communication to you did not, therefore, as you 
 assert, appear incorrect upon its face. It was signed by the Com- 
 mittee of the Association, and by the influential gentlemen whose 
 names were appended, all of whom most readily and cheerfully 
 united with the Committee for the purpose explained. It is no- 
 where stated in the communication, or pretended, that these gentle- 
 men are all residents of the Twelfth or Nineteenth Wards ; and if 
 you are consoling yourself with the delusion that the communica- 
 tion was mis takingly signed by them, I can only say that for your 
 own sake this is to be regretted. Further light upon the subject 
 will be afforded you ere long. 
 
 " These, however, are but trivial excuses, and are put forward by 
 you merely by way of evasion or diversion. But we are not thus 
 to be trifled with. Further concealment of the City and County 
 accounts will not be tolerated. The little we already know makes 
 it the imperative duty of every citizen to do what in him lies to 
 have the whole truth disclosed and, if further incentive to this 
 
19 
 
 were necessary, you have supplied it in this circular. The subter- 
 fuge is too transparent. 
 
 " You take exception to the following preamble to the resolu- 
 tions in question : 
 
 Whereas, It has been asserted by the New York Daily Times, and not yet 
 contradicted, that gross frauds have been committed through the connivance of 
 his Honor the Mayor, Comptroller, and other City officials, whereby many millions 
 of dollars have been feloniously abstracted from the City Treasury. 
 
 ''This, you say, 'is surely known to most of you (the gentle- 
 men who signed the communication) to be untrue, as the under- 
 signed, immediately on publication of the slanders, broadly denied 
 them under his (your) own signature/ One occupying your 
 present position ought to have a good memory. The Times' asser- 
 tion, as you know, was based upon certain of the County accounts 
 which were laid before the public. You have never, to this 
 day, contradicted the accuracy of these accounts. True, in your 
 card of the 22d of July last, you deny that they afford evidence of 
 fraud, and attempt to throw the entire responsibility upon others. 
 I quote your language : 
 
 The claims alluded to by the Time* are large, and they may have been exorbitant, 
 but no responsibility for them really rests icith either the Comptroller or myself. 
 They were audited by the late {and what is known as the old) Board of Supervisors, 
 abolished when the new City Government was inaugurated, and most of the 
 auditing occurred nearly two years ago. Many of the claims were for work and 
 materials in 1868. That Board, it will be remembered, was elected by the people, 
 and composed equally of Democrats and Republicans. The same majority that 
 audited the claims had the power to re-audit them over the Mayor's veto. But 
 the Mayor and the Counsel to the Corporation are both of opinion (as I think every 
 lawyer will be) that under the Revised Statutes the audit of the Board is final, and 
 is not one of those acts which a Mayor could veto. 
 
 "It is charitable to suppose that at the time you penned this 
 statement and published it over your signature, you forgot the fact 
 of the existence of an interim Board, which had a short run 
 of power between the old and the new Boards of Supervisors. Let 
 me, therefore, refresh your memory a little as to this rather import- 
 ant body. Chapter 382 (section 4) of the laws of 1870, provides 
 that, ' All liabilities against the County of New York, incurred 
 previous to the passage of this Act, shall be audited by the Mayor, 
 Comptroller, and present President of the Board of Supervisors, 
 (William M. Tweed), and the amounts which are found to be due 
 shali be provided for by the issue of revenue bonds of the County 
 
20 
 
 of New York, payable during the year 1871, and the Board of Su- 
 pervisors shall include, in the ordinance levying the taxes for the 
 year 1871, an amount sufficient to pay said funds and the interest 
 thereon. Such claims shall be paid by the Comptroller to the party 
 ur parties entitled to receive the same, upon the certificate of the 
 officers named herein.' 
 
 " What this interim Board accomplished under cover of the au- 
 thority thus conferred upon it, we have certified to under the sig- 
 natures of both yourself and the Comptroller in your message and 
 accompanying accounts, dated June 12th of the present year. You 
 there admit that you, the Comptroller, and Tweed went through 
 the form of auditing and allowing claims made against (he County 
 to the modest amount of $6, 312,541. 37. When you completed 
 this audit, which report says you did at one sitting, you raised 
 the full amount b}' revenue bonds payable in 1871, and thereupon 
 signed the warrants under which the entire sum was taken from the 
 Treasury. The Comptroller's accounts of June 12th make known 
 the further important fact, that it was out of this sum of $6,312,- 
 
 541.37 THAT HE PAID ALL THE CLAIMS MADE AGAINST THE COUNTY 
 DURING THE YEAR 1870, FOR WORK DONE OR FURNISHINGS SUP- 
 PLIED, except the sum of $370,650, on account of the Court-House 
 building. 
 
 " Here, therefore, is the evidence conclusive that the responsi- 
 bility does rest with you, and the Comptroller, and Mr. Tweed for 
 all the, payments made to Ingersoll, Garvey, Miller, Keyser, the 
 Smiths, and others, during the year 1870, and that these claims 
 amount, in the aggregate, to the enormous sum of $6,3 12.541.37. 
 
 " But this is not all. You admit, and the accounts pub- 
 lished in the Times show, that the claims thus audited by you, 
 the Comptroller and Twekd, were stated to have been incurred 
 (luting the years 1868 and 1869. Now turn, if you please, to the 
 Statutes, chapter 854 of the laws of 1868, and chapter 875 of 
 the laws of 1869. In these statutes you will rind fully set forth 
 the appropriations made by the Legislature for carrying on tin 
 government and providing for the ivorlc to be performed for tht 
 County for those years rcspectivehj, and in each statute a provision 
 is enacted as follows : i The said several sums shall he applied to 
 the objects and purposes for which the same are hereby appropriated, 
 
 except as herein otherwise provided: <md neither tin- Board <>f Su- 
 crrisors of said Couidy, n<>r any officer, agent, or member there- 
 
21 
 
 of. or head of department, shall incur any liability, or make any 
 contract or contracts, or permit, or vote for, or authorize, audit or 
 allow, directly or indirectly, any expenditure or expenditures, for 
 any of the objects and purposes specified, the aggregate of which 
 expenditures, and of the liabilities under such contracts, shall ex- 
 ceed the sum appropriated for said purpose, or for any other 
 
 PURPOSE OR OBJECT THAN THAT HEREIN SPECIFIED. ' 
 
 "All the special appropriations made by the statutes referred to 
 were paid by the Comptroller at the time. Beyond these appro- 
 priations, no Board, no official had any right, power, or authority 
 to enter into any contract, or incur any liability for work or fur- 
 nishings for which the County could be made legally responsible. 
 This the statutes specially declare. You knew that; so, also, did 
 the Comptroller and Tweed, when you entered upon your duties as 
 members of the interim Board. And with this knowledge, how 
 did you discharge the trust reposed in you ? Claims to the 
 amount of millions of dollars were presented for work stated to be 
 done and furnishings supplied to the County during the years 1868 
 and 1869. Not only were the work and the furnishings thus 
 claimed never performed or supplied on the order of any person 
 authorized to act in the matter for the County, but many of the 
 claims were, as the Times has already shown, fraudulent upon 
 their lace, some of them being made out in the names of parties 
 who did not exist, and under other forms of device. Notwithstand- 
 ing all this, however, you allowed the claims — you passed them 
 all — you paid them ; and, having clone so, now turn round, and at- 
 tempt to throw off the responsibility, and place it upon a Board 
 composed half of Republicans and half of Democrats. But, sir, 
 this will not do. It is not a matter of politics, but of honesty and 
 fair dealing ; and the sooner this is realized by you, the better. It 
 must be admitted — and I, a life-long Democrat, do admit it — that 
 not even a nominal Republican had anything to do with the pass- 
 ing and paying of the 86,312,541.37 of fraudulent claims paid 
 in 1870 ; and when you publish the accounts you have promised, I 
 undertake to show that, under the operation of the *' accumulated 
 debt bonds,' b3th you and the Comptroller are equally responsible 
 for all similar claims paid in 1869. 
 
 **I am quite aware of the measures that are being taken to add 
 the above 86.312,541.37 to the permanent debt of the County ; but 
 
22 
 
 as to thip, and several other matters, I intend you shall hear from 
 me in a different way 
 
 " Yours respectfully, 
 
 JOHN FOLEY. 
 
 ''President Twelfth a id Nineteenth Wards Citizens' Association.''* 
 
 New York, August 19th. 1871. 
 
 Here, it will be perceived, the pet theory of Hall — that the old 
 Board of Supervisors were alone responsible for the frauds that 
 have recently been exposed — is completely exploded, and another 
 charge, which had not been previously mentioned, is brought home 
 to him. Steeped in villany and crime, he determined to play a des- 
 perate game. Openly charged with dishonesty, he does not dare 
 meet his accusers, but attempts to brave public opinion, and to set 
 at defiance those who have sought to bring him to an account for 
 his official misconduct. In the quality of brazen impudence and 
 shamelessness, he is the peer of the most notorious criminal of mod- 
 ern times. To shield himself from the consequences of his crimes, 
 lie has resorted to lies, bribery, and intimidation, but all have been 
 equally futile: and now, with the alternative of flight or the State 
 Prison staring him in the face, we are willing to hand him over to 
 the judgment of the people he has so basely betrayed. 
 
 William M. Tweed. 
 William M. Tweed is a man of very humble origin, and is 
 naturally ignorant and brutal. In his youth he worked as a jour- 
 neyman at the trade of chair-making, but, either from a want of 
 industry or some other unexplained cause, he did not continue at 
 the business, but became what was known, in the old Volunteer 
 Fire Department, as a "bunker" round an engine-house, i. c, a 
 confirmed loafer, who "bunked" in the engine-house, and had 
 neither home nor occupation. At one time he engaged in business, 
 selling chairs, and after getting credit to a limited amount, he 
 " failed," and left his creditors to whistle for their money. Event- 
 ually he attracted the attention of some of the knaves <»f politicians 
 who have been the curse of the City for years, and, as he succeeded 
 in gaining the position of Foreman of %t Big Six " Engine Company, 
 he soon became an object of interest to Boole and the gang that were 
 then engaged, as he has been at a more nrcnt period, iu robbing the 
 City. By attending primary elections, with a gang of roughs at his 
 
back, and by doing the dirty work for some of the dirtiest poli- 
 ticians in the City. Tweed soon gained such a hold on the magnates 
 of Tammany that they finally gave him a foothold as one of their 
 band. Ten years ago he was a bankrupt — without money, without 
 credit, and without character ; to-day he is worth several millions 
 of dollars, and ostentatiously boasts that, after Astor and Stewart, 
 he owns more real estate than any other man in the City. The 
 question naturally suggests itself : How did he obtain his wealth ? 
 Whatever the legal aspect of the case may be — whether through the 
 agency of his friend, District Attorney Garvin, he may be able to 
 escape the penalty which his crimes merit — there can be no doubt 
 in the mind of any man who has given the subject any attention, 
 but that Tweed is the most rapacious and unscrupulous thief among 
 the infamous quartette who now rule the City. His first step 
 towards acquiring wealth and power was in securing his election to 
 the State Senate. Being of low, brutal instincts, and having asso- 
 ciated all his life with the lowest ruffians who lived in the district 
 where he intended to run. added to the fact that he was foreman 
 of the most disreputable engine company in the City, his election 
 became an easv matter. His first aim after entering the Legisla- 
 ture was to find some kindred spirits who would co-operate with 
 him in carrying out certain schemes of plunder, and from that time 
 forward every corporate company and every individual who required 
 legislation for any purpose, or whose interests could be effected by 
 the action of our law-makers, had to pay tribute to Tweed and his 
 friends. While holding the position of State Senator he also held 
 the position of Supervisor — was the leading spirit and President of 
 the old Board of Supervisors, that has been denounced as the most 
 scandalously corrupt body that ever disgraced a civilized commu- 
 nity — and also the position of Deputy Street Commissioner. The 
 first two he used to put money in his pocket, but the last was used 
 mainly to enable him to keep a regiment of ruffians about him who 
 were paid out of the City Treasury, and to afford lucrative positions 
 to men who might be of service in promoting his political and 
 pecuniary interests. By employing the same agencies that he had 
 used to secure his own election, he gradually worked his parti- 
 cular friends into positions where he could use them, and then 
 commenced a scheme for surrounding every department in the gov- 
 ernment of the City and County with a perfect network, which 
 would enable himself and his confederates to appropriate to their 
 
24 
 
 own use the greater part of the City and County revenues. The 
 new Court-House has been a mine of wealth to these thieves from 
 its very inception. The quarry from which the marble was sup- 
 plied was bought by the gang for a mere nominal price, and has 
 since netted them millions of dollars. The old fire engine-houses 
 were turned over to " Andy " Garvey and other cronies of Tweed's 
 at rents ranging from $50 to $150 a year, and some of them have 
 been let by these fellows as high as $5,000 a year. The public 
 schools, the different departments of the government, and the pub- 
 lic institutions under the control of the City authorities, all needed 
 furniture, and Tweed started a furniture manufactory in connec- 
 tion with James H. Ingersoll, who has since achieved a notoriety 
 as the, most shameless thief among the fraternity of scoundrels 
 whom we are now describing. Tweed's next step was to get con- 
 trol of a worthless little newspaper called The Transcript, and 
 then to introduce a bill into the Legislature making this miserable 
 little sheet the official organ of the City Government. This sheet 
 receives over a million dollars a year for printing the proceedings 
 of the Common Council, but the proceedings of the corrupt Board 
 of Supervisors are studiously concealed from the public. 
 
 Tweed's next step was to establish "The New York Printing 
 Company. " This gives Tweed a pretext for rendering enormous bills 
 for printing for the different departments of the City Government; 
 and although the amount of work actually performed is only 
 trifling, and consists mainly in printing blank forms and vouchers, 
 still the amount annually paid out of the Treasury to this Com- 
 pany is something enormous — amounting during the year 1870 to 
 over $2,800,000. Nor is this all. When this Company was first 
 started, a portion of a building on Centre street was found sufficient 
 for its accommodation. Since then it has absorbed three of the 
 largest printing establishments in the City, and also three or four 
 smaller ones, and a lithographing establishment. Why have 
 these extensive establishments been secured? Simply this : In- 
 surance Companies, Steamboat Companies, Ferry Companies, and 
 other corporations require an enormous amount of printing. Each 
 of these associations may be subjected to serious loss and incon- 
 venience, by the passage of legislative enactments abridging the 
 privileges they now enjoy, or requiring them to submit to some 
 vexatious and expensive regulation. Hence, when they receive 
 notice that " The New York Printing Company " is ready to do their 
 
25 
 
 printing, they know that they must consent, and pay the most 
 exorbitant rate for the work done, or submit to Tweed's exactions 
 during the next session of the Legislature. 
 
 In addition to the Printing Company, Tweed has a " Manufac- 
 turing Stationers' Company " which furnishes all the stationery used 
 in the Public Schools, the public institutions, and the several de- 
 partments of the City Government. This concern receives not less 
 than £3,000,000 a year oat of the City Treasury. As an illustra- 
 tion of the way they do tilings, we will cite one instance : During 
 the month of April of the present year, an order was sent to this 
 Company for stationery for the County Bureau. In due time it 
 was delivered, and consisted of about six reams of cap paper, and 
 an equal quantity of letter paper, with a couple of reams of uote 
 paper. There were, also, about two dozen penholders, four small 
 ink bottles, such as could be bought at retail for 35 or 40 cents, 
 a dozen small sponges for pen- wipers, half a dozen office rulers, 
 and three dozen boxes of rubber bands of various sizes — the entire 
 amount worth about fifty dollars at retail. For this stationery, a 
 bill of Ten Thousand Dollars was rendered soon after, and was 
 duly paid, and similar claims are presented for stationery for every 
 bureau and department of the government, almost every month 
 throughout the year — and are always promptly paid, although 
 persons having legitimate claims against the same appropriation 
 could not obtain a dollar. But not content with the enormous 
 amuunts that are thus obtained under false pretenses, Tweed even 
 charges the City with the wages of the different persons employed 
 in these several establishments, and makes a large percentage ou 
 the amounts thus drawn from the Treasury. For instance : 
 Charles E. Wilbour is President of the Printing Company and also 
 of the Stationers' Company, while Cornelius Corson is the Secre- 
 tary of both companies. Wilbour receives $3,000 a year as Steno- 
 grapher to the Bureau of Election*, $2,500 as Stenographer in the 
 Superior Court, and $3,500 a year for " examining accounts " that 
 lie has never seen. These several sums are drawn out of the 
 County Bureau alone, and he holds an equal number of sinecure 
 positions in the City Bureau. Corson is Chief of the Bureau of 
 Elections, for which he receives $6,000 a year ; and he also receives 
 $3,500 for " examining " the same accounts, for which Wilbour 
 receives a similar sum; and, like Wilbour, he has never seen the 
 accounts. 
 
26 
 
 In order to enable him to carry out his different .schemes of rob- 
 bery with entire success, it became necessary for Tweed to secure 
 the services of men who were as destitute of honesty as he is him- 
 self, and who had nothing to lose and everything to gain by entering 
 into such an alliance. " Send a thief to catch a thief," is an old 
 adage, and its wisdom was fully verified in Tweed's case; for he not 
 only caught one thief, but he captured a small battalion of them. 
 Wilbour had been one of the long-haired, free-love fraternity of the 
 Tribune, and, like the majority of his craft, was not overburdened 
 with either money or conscience. Tweed made him Editor of the 
 Transcript, and President of two of his companies, and he has 
 amassed a handsome fortune out of his percentage of the stealings. 
 Corson had been an errand boy in the office of the Evening Ex- 
 press ; had subsequently learned to work as a compositor, but 
 abandoned that business, and turned his attention to fleecing re- 
 cruits of their bounty under the auspices of the notorious Orison 
 Blunt, who practiced an organized system of robbery during the 
 war. Corson made some money in this laudable business, and then 
 entered into arrangements with Tweed, who made him Chief of the 
 Bureau of Elections, and Secretary of two of his Companies. Cor- 
 son has charge of all claims pertaining to advertising, printing, and 
 stationery, and manages to absorb nine-tenths of every appropria- 
 tion that is made for these purposes. James H. Ingersoll. another 
 of Tweed's fuglemen, is a son of Lorin Ingersoll (of 71 Bowery), 
 who is a chair manufacturer, and lor whom Tweed worked in his 
 younger days. When Tweed first ran for State Senator, the senior 
 Ingersoll helped him with some money, and in return tor this, Tweed 
 put some jobs through the Board of Supervisors for Ingersoll, and 
 eventually took the son under his protection. The latter evinced 
 such an extraordinary aptitude for rascality that Tweed soon weni 
 into partnership with him in the furniture business, and since then 
 Ingersoll litis taken care of the interests of the linn in all the fraud- 
 ulent jobs connected with the new Court-Hotise and the armories 
 of the National Guard. Those who have seen Ingersoll can scarcely 
 realize the fact that he is such a consummate scoundrel. He is a 
 young man, rather prepossessing in appearance, and of quiet, un- 
 obtrusive manners. But, whether it arises from a naturally 
 depraved nature, or from a defective mental organization, which 
 prevents him from opmprehending the magnitude of his crimes, it 
 is a fact that there is no species of villany that he is not capable 
 
27 
 
 of embarking in. Lies, fraud, and forgery are the never-varying 
 concomitants of his daily life — and this, too, without the poor ex- 
 cuse of being driven to it by necessity, which might be resorted to 
 with some plausibility by many of his confederates. 
 
 Andrew J. Garvey is another of Tweed's accomplices. Like his 
 patron and prototype, his early days were chiefly devoted to loafing 
 and running to fires — he, too, being a "bunker" of the old fire de- 
 partment. At times he is said to have had an industrious fit, and 
 then he would carry a hod, or do other labor for his brother, who 
 was a plasterer. " A fellow-feeling," we are told, " makes us 
 wondrous kind,'"' and Tweed, feeling that he had met a kindred 
 spirit in Garvey, kindly took him into his confidence, and from that 
 time to the present they have both worked with untiring industry 
 for the same common object, viz., the depletion of the public purse. 
 John H. Keyser is another of Tweed's jwoteges, and may be con- 
 sidered the " Oily Gammon " of the fraternity. He is a Republican 
 in politics, and is connected with several philanthrophic enterprises, 
 but he is steeped to the roots of his hair in rascality. He is en- 
 gaged in the plumbing business, and has done some work in the 
 New Court-House and the Armories. He renders his bill for the 
 work done, and pockets his share of the cash; but in a little while, 
 when called upon for more money, he goes to work in the most 
 bungling manner and makes out five or six fresh bills for the work 
 for which he has already been paid. He flounders about in a ter- 
 ribly awkward manner, however, and mixes up dates (even includ- 
 ing Sundays), in such an absurd way, that the merest school-boy 
 could not fail to detect the fraud. Still, his bills have never been 
 questioned by either Hall or Connolly, and during the last two 
 years he has drawn over $2,000,000 0ll t f the Treasury, for which 
 he has rendered no equivalent. George S. Miller is another of 
 Tweed's partners in crime: but he is a mere passive tool, and 
 derives less substantial benefit from the robberies to which he is a 
 party, than either of the others with whom he is associated. His 
 father, James L. Miller, formerly kept a small carpenter shop in 
 Fifth street, but now holds a position in the Board of Public 
 Works, under Tweed. Young Miller has been acquainted with 
 Ingersoll for a considerable time, and doubtless the latter thought 
 that he might as well use the name of Miller, when putting in fic- 
 titious claims, as to resort to his accustomed dodge of using the 
 names of men who have no existence. But while Miller may not 
 
28 
 
 derive any considerable pecuniary advantage from the transactions 
 with which his name is associated (checks drawn in favor of Miller 
 are invariably handed over to Ingersoll), still he is as clearly cul- 
 pable as he would be if he were to pass a check that had been 
 forged by Ingersoll, or to hold a man while Ingersoll picked his 
 pocket. Mr. Philip Lewis, a gentleman of the Israelitish persua- 
 sion, represents Mr. Tweed in the Board of Education, and holds 
 nearly the same relative position to Tweed in the Public Schools 
 that Ingersoll docs in the public offices and armories. Pie makes 
 extensive, purchases in connection with his department, and dis- 
 charges his duties with the zeal and fidelity which characterizes all 
 of our public servants; and it will doubtless be gratifying to his 
 friends to know that, while he has been saving money to the De- 
 partment of Education, he has, by economy and strict attention to 
 business, succeeded in amassing a handsome fortune. 
 
 In addition to these several sources of profit, Tweed started a 
 breech-loading arms company, with James H. Ingersoll for Presi- 
 dent, purchased a lot of condemned muskets of the "Allen" pat- 
 tern, and then smuggled a bill through the Legislature, making it 
 obligatory on the authorities of the State to arm the National 
 Guard with these worthless muskets. He also established a bank, 
 known as the " Tenth National Bank," the operations of which 
 have involved thousands of people in ruin. The terrible " Black 
 Friday" of September, 1869, when the gold panic reached its 
 climax, and threatened to overwhelm the entire monetary interests 
 of the country in ruin, must be fresh in the memory of every one. 
 The Ring controlled the finances of the City, and entered into an 
 arrangement with James Fisk, Jr., Jay Gould, and other equally 
 corrupt men, and agreed that the Tenth National Bank should 
 place all its available funds at their disposal, and certify checks to 
 an unlimited amount, if these men would buy up all the gold in 
 the market, and thus, at one fell swoop, crush our principal bank- 
 ing institutions, and the large importers who were obliged to buy 
 gold to meet the demands that were being daily made upon them. 
 Checks representing hundreds of millions of dollars were thus cer- 
 tified, and the agents of the Ring were pushing forward with resist- 
 less power, when, suddenly, it was discovered that an agent of the 
 United States Treasury was on his way to this City to examine 
 into the condition of the atfairs of the Tenth National Bank; the 
 issue of certified checks was stopped, and the unfortunate dupes 
 
29 
 
 who had been induced to act for Fisk, Gould, and other agents of 
 the Ring, were swept down to destruction by the losses resulting 
 from a reaction in the market, ond were left to their fate by the 
 unprincipled scoundrels who had lured them on to ruin. At the 
 time of these eventful occurrences, Peter B. Sweeny was City 
 Chamberlain, and the other members of the Ring held the posi- 
 tions which they now hold ; and it was by using the moneys under 
 their control, and by a gross abuse of the influence which their 
 official positions conferred on them, that they sought to ruin the 
 community that they have since been so assiduously robbing. 
 
 With these worthy allies, and with the City Directory before 
 them, from which to manufacture names when bills in their own 
 names were being sent in too rapidly, and with a Mayor and a Comp- 
 troller ready to pay every bill submitted to them (and to pocket 
 their share of the plunder), is it surprising that Mr. Tweed has 
 amassed millions of dollars in a few years, or that he should in- 
 dulge in the trifling extravagance of buying diamond buttons for 
 his chilclrens' shoes ? But it is not in the new Court-House, the 
 armories, and the public schools alone that Tweed has his friends. 
 " Hank-'' Smith was the colleague and confidential friend of Tweed 
 in the old Board of Supervisors ; he succeeded in making a fortune, 
 and became so fascinated with the business that he has continued in 
 it. Mr. Smith professes to be a Republican, but there is not a scheme 
 of rascality in which Tweed has been engaged for the last ten 
 years — from robbing the tax-payers to buying up the Legislature — 
 that he has not had the earnest support of Hank Smith. In re- 
 turn for this, Tweed made Smith President of the Board of Police 
 Commissioners; and between them they control the Police — and 
 hope to control the votes — of the City. Again, Tweed has his 
 bosom friend, "Billy" Hichman, President of the Board of Fire 
 Commissioners, and another bosom friend, " Aleck" Frear. hold- 
 ing the dual position of Commissioner of Charities and Correction 
 and Commissioner of Emigration. This Frear is one of the most 
 unprincipled scoundrels to be found amongst the whole disreputa- 
 ble gang that have brought disgrace upon our public men. Some 
 years ago he failed in business as a dealer in dry goods, and made 
 a fraudulent assignment by which his creditors were cheated out of 
 their money. He has never been engaged in any- legitimate busi- 
 since, and cannot own a dollar's worth of property in his own 
 name ; but he has accumulated a large fortune by the most uefari- 
 
30 
 
 ous practices, and is at present interested in almost every scheme 
 of fraud that has been inaugurated by the Ring. And another 
 intimate friend of Tweed's, Mr. James McGregor, a Tammany 
 Republican and a member of the Amerieus Club, is the head of the 
 Department of Inspection of Buildings; while still another, Mr. 
 Mullally, editor of The Metropolitan Record, has been willing to 
 abdicate his title as an honorable gentleman and a good citizen, 
 and to become a member of the Health Board, and — the tool and 
 apologist of Tweed and his confederates. Thomas C. Fields is 
 another friend of Tweed's, and is is one of the most efficient and 
 unscrupulous tools of the Ring. He is a member of the Legisla- 
 ture, and is also Corporation Attorney and a Commissioner of 
 Public Parks. Three years ago Fields was so poor that he could 
 not pay his legitimate debts, and had judgments standing against 
 him. To-day he is a wealthy man, having just completed a man- 
 sion valued at $600,000. His private, like his public life, has been 
 characterized by the grossest profligacy and the most utter shame- 
 lessness. 
 
 By appointing his confidential friends to important positions in 
 these several Boards of Commissioners, Tweed is enabled, to a certain 
 extent, to control the different departments of the City Govern- 
 ment ; while at the same time, it enables him to keep a certain 
 number of men upon the rolls of these several departments, and 
 thus carry on the business of the various enterprises in which he is 
 engaged, at the expense of the public. 
 
 But there is another phase of Tweed's operations which illus- 
 trates the character of the man quite as well as anything that has 
 been stated. It is pretty generally known among business men 
 that the business of many of our Life Insurance Companies is not 
 conducted in strict consonance with the spirit of the laws that are 
 enacted for their government, nor in a manner that would be 
 entirely satisfactory to policyholders if the affairs of these 
 concerns were to undergo a thorough examination. Knowing this, 
 Tweed initiated a measure in the Legislature which had the 
 effect that Tweed intended it should have, viz., it thoroughly 
 alarmed the officers of the Companies referred to, as they knew that 
 an investigation into their affairs would result in winding them up. 
 Having succeeded in his first step, he immediately proceeded to 
 the full development of his scheme. He commenced purchasing 
 real estate in tins City and in Harlem, paying twenty-rive [or 
 
31 
 
 fifty per cent cash and allowing the balance to remain on bond and 
 mortgage ; while he would force one of the Insurance Companies to 
 loan him an amount, on a second mortgage, equal to the entire 
 amount which he had agreed to pay for the property. His mode 
 of operating was this : He would buy property for say $100,000 
 and pay $25,000 cash, allowing the balance to remain on bond and 
 mortgage. He would then fix the value of this property at, say 
 $250,000, subject to a mortgage for 75,000, and then demand a 
 loan of $100,000 or $150,000 on a second mortgage, thus getting 
 back the $25,000 that he had paid on the property, and from 
 $75,000 to $125,000 cash with which to carry on similar opera- 
 tions. 
 
 It was within Tweed's knowledge that the affairs of these 
 Companies were not in a satisfactory condition, and that their 
 liabilities were largely in excess of their assets ; but instead of 
 using this knowledge for the benefit of the public and of securing 
 some legislative action by which the interests of policy-holders 
 would be protected, he deliberately embarks in a scheme to extort 
 money from these Companies — knowing that the moneys thus 
 obtained must eventually come out of the pockets of the poor 
 people who had paid in their little savings in order to make some 
 provision for the future. These facts entitle Tweed to the distinc- 
 tion which we have accorded him at the opening of this sketch, 
 viz., that he is the most rapacious and unscrupulous thief among 
 the infamous quartette who now rule this City. 
 
 Richard B. Connolly. 
 Richard B. Connolly was born in the County Cork, Ireland, 
 and early acquired a knowledge of figures from his father, who was 
 a village school-master. An older brother of Connolly's came to 
 this country over forty years ago, and, having succeeded in saving a 
 little money, he sent for Richard B., but up to the present day the 
 debt has never been canceled Connolly early evinced a taste for 
 politics, and before he had been sufficiently long in the country to 
 entitle him to vote, he succeeded in securing the nomination for 
 County Clerk, and was duly elected. The facility with which he 
 made and broke promises was his most marked characteristic, and 
 so notorious did this practice become among his political associates 
 that he was unanimously accorded the marked distinction of being 
 
32 
 
 the most unmitigated liar in the community: and the patronymic 
 by which he had been previously known soon gave place to the 
 more expressive and appropriate cognomen of "Slippery Dick," 
 the name by which he has been known in political circles from that 
 time to the present. Nor was this the mere idle expression of some 
 graceless wag, taken up and perpetuated by the thoughtless and 
 vulgar, as are some of the slang phrases so much in vogue. The 
 man who first applied the term "Slippery Dick" to Connolly was 
 a consummate judge of human nature ; for Connolly has proved, 
 in every position in which he has been placed, to be both " slippery " 
 and unreliable ; and so thoroughly convinced of this did bis cronies 
 become, that they allowed a long series of years to elapse before he 
 was again put forward for any political position. Finally, when 
 the Democratic party was divided in the City, and there was little 
 chance of the nominees of either fiction being elected, Connolly 
 managed to get a nomination for the State Senate, and by appeal* 
 ing to the national and religious prejudices of his countrymen; and 
 by resorting to the "ballot-box stuffing," and "repeating'' for 
 which he and his confederates have become so notorious, he suc- 
 ceeded in having himself declared elected. During his term in the 
 State Senate many important measures involving large railroad 
 and otber interests came before that body for consideration ; and, 
 according to Mayor Hall, whose knowledge of such matters cannot 
 be questioned, he made money out of his official position. Be this 
 as it may, he was again set aside by his political friends, and 
 remained in the background until 1868, when he was nominated 
 for the position that he now holds. For some time previous to the 
 latter date, he had been employed as a Clerk in the Central National 
 Bank at a salary of about $2,500 a year. But as he had a couple 
 of grown-up daughters who desired to ape the manners and habits 
 of the empty-headed daughters of more prosperous fathers, Con- 
 nolly found it extremely difficult to keep up appearances and 
 "make both bads meet." TJlia was Connolly's position when he 
 was taken up by the Tammany leaders, and placed in a position 
 where his peculiar talents and bis utter lack of principle could be 
 
 turned to the best possible advantage in promoting the schemes of 
 
 bis patrons 
 
 At this period John T. Hoffman was Mayor, and desired to be- 
 come Governor* Peter B. Sweeny was City Chamberlain, and vir- 
 tually controlled the finances of the City, so thai Connolly was, in 
 
33 
 
 fact, only the nominal head of the Finance Department of the City 
 Government. He was too shrewd, however, to allow other people 
 to indulge in wholesale lobbery without having a fair share of the 
 spoils; and even if he had not been shrewd on entering the office, 
 he would have received too many useful hints from the late James 
 Watson, who was then Counly Auditor, not to fully realize the ad- 
 vantages to be derived from being placed in such a position. Wat- 
 son was a living illustration of what may be accomplished under 
 favorable circumstances by a man possessing an elastic conscience. 
 He had entered the Comptroller's office a poor man (absolutely 
 without a dollar, in fact), and had never received a larger salary 
 than $7,500 a year; but at the time of his death, only four years 
 after Connolly had entered the office, Watson was supposed to be 
 worth between two and three millions of dollars. 
 
 A famished tiger never rushed upon his intended victim with 
 more eager expectancy than Connolly rushed upon the people's 
 money, but his expectations were disappointed. He found that, 
 unless he could adopt some expedient, the greater part of the plun- 
 der would be absorbed by those who had placed him in his position, 
 while he would have to content himself with the percentage of a 
 junior partner who had been taken into the firm without capital. 
 " Slippery Dick, however, was equal to the emergency. A careful 
 examination of the books and pay-rolls of his department developed 
 the important fact that the titles of several accounts might be du- 
 plicated by using different phraseology to convey the same meaning; 
 and that by making up pay-rolls, by using factitious names of per- 
 sons alleged to be " temporarily" employed in his department, he 
 could even cheat the " heathen Chinee " who had invited him to 
 take a hand in this little game of robbery. Hence, Mr. Slippery 
 set about finding additional titles for several of the accounts, and 
 in this way "Adjusted Claims," and " County Liabilities," be- 
 came synonymous terms, and ail moneys drawn on either account, 
 instead of being charged to any appropriation, became a part of the 
 permanent debt of the City and County. Under the same skillful 
 manipulation " County Contingencies" and " Contingencies in the 
 Comptroller's Office " meant the same thing, as did also the amount 
 charged to " Contingencies in the Department of Finance," general- 
 ly charged in the City accounts to make it less conspicuous. Again, 
 there are three distinct pay-rolls for the County Bureau. One of 
 these contains the names of all the Clerks regularlv emploved in 
 3 
 
34 
 
 the Bureau, and about a dozen names of persons who hold sinecure 
 positions or — have no existence. The other two rolls contain 
 about forty names, the owners of which, if indeed they have any 
 owners, have never worked an hour in the department. The last 
 two rolls are called " Temporary Rolls," and the persons whose 
 names are on them are said to be " Temporary Clerks" in the 
 .Comptroller's Office; one of them is paid out of the regular appro- 
 priation of u Salaries Executive/' but the other is paid out of a 
 fund raised by the sale of " Riot Damages Indemnity Bonds," and 
 becomes a part of the permanent debt of the County. Again, 
 there are no less than five different accounts to which repairs and 
 furniture for any of the public offices, or the Armories of the Na- 
 tional Guard, can be charged; while more than half of the aggre- 
 gate thus paid out, is not taken out of any appropriation, but is 
 raised by the sale of Revenue Bonds or other securities, which may 
 be converted, at the pleasure of the Comptroller, into long bonds, 
 which will not be payable until 1911 — forty years after many of 
 the frauds which called them into existence shall have been success - 
 fully consummated by Connolly and his colleagues. 
 
 In addition to these several schemes of plunder, Connolly placed 
 his son (who is a worthy representative of an illustrious sire) in the 
 position of Auditor in the City Bureau, where all the claims for 
 street openings, grading, paving, &c, are paid, as are also the host 
 of men who are borne on the rolls of the Department of Public 
 Works, the Department of Public Parks, the Fire and Police De- 
 partments, and all the other departments of the City Government, 
 and where the opportunities for stealing are innumerable. He also 
 placed his two sons-in-law in important positions — one as Sur- 
 rogate, and the other as Deputy Receiver of Taxes. Not one of the 
 three has either brains or energy enough to earn a hundred dollars a 
 month in any legitimate business if thrown on his own resources; 
 but, during the four years that Connolly has been in office, they have 
 all succeeded (through street opening and other thieving jobs, added 
 to the enormous stealings connected with their respective positions), 
 in amassing handsome fortunes. 
 
 Instead of making any attempt to check the wholesale robbery 
 which Tweed, Hall, and Sweeny desired to carry out, Connolly 
 entered fully into all their plans, and, while doubting their sincerity 
 and cursing them for their exactions, he tried to prove himself a 
 faithful ally, while he was exerting every effort to strengthen his 
 
35 
 
 own position and to surround himself with a small army of retainers 
 upon whose support he might confidently rely. When the Young 
 Democracy made their fight in Albany, Connolly watched the vary- 
 ing phases of the contest with painful anxiety, ready to declare 
 allegiance to the side that came out victorious. Since then, the 
 jealousy between Tweed and himself has been more intense, and it 
 would have long since precipitated an open rupture if they had not 
 been held together by the " cohesive power of public plunder/ 7 
 When a vacancy occurred in the County Auditor's position, Tweed 
 wanted to place Corson there, in order to have a more effectual check 
 upon Connolly. Connolly knew that Corson was as unscrupulous as 
 his master, and he knew also that there was nothing connected with 
 the inside working of the office that could be concealed from him 
 if he once got in. Hence the struggle for the mastery was long and 
 bitter, but finally a compromise was effected by which Corson was 
 to have control of certain appropriations, while Stephen C. Lynes, 
 Jr., the County Book-keeper, was to be the nominal Auditor. This 
 arrangement answered Connolly's purpose very well, as he would 
 still be able to conceal from his confederates the enormous amount 
 of stealing in which they were not allowed to participate. Lynes 
 lias been in the department for a dozen years, and is thoroughly 
 familiar with ail the villainy that is practiced there, but he has 
 criminated himself so far, that if he were turned out of his position 
 to-morrow, he would not dare open his mouth to denounce the 
 thieves With whom he has been associated ; and this rule applies 
 with equal force to Deputy Comptroller Storrs, and every other 
 man who holds an important position in the department. The 
 manner in which these men are led to criminate themselves may be 
 briefly described as follows : When it becomes necessary to place 
 a man in an important position, or a position where he must 
 necessarily become acquainted with the secrets of the office, some 
 one who is already in the confidence of the thieves throws out a hint 
 that their intended victim can make a hundred or two hundred dol- 
 lars a month, in addition to his salary, by placing one or two fictitious 
 names on one of the rolls, and drawing the checks for the salaries 
 to which actual claimants would be entitled at the end of each month. 
 This involves the necessity of signing the fictitious names on 
 the pay-roll, or voucher, when the check is received, and indorsing 
 the same name on the check before the bank will cash it. As a 
 general rule, the men who hold positions in the department are 
 
36 
 
 politicians, or are associated with politicians and appointed through 
 their influence. The moral sensibilities of such men are not gen- 
 erally very acute, and when they are living in an atmosphere of 
 venality and corruption, and witness the immense power that the 
 most dishonest men in the community wield, it is scarcely to be 
 wondered at if they generally succumb to the temptations thus held 
 out, and think themselves fortunate in being able to grab even so 
 small a share of the vast sums that are stolen from the public. The 
 moment a man takes the first step in this direction, he is lost. He 
 has, indeed, ' : sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage!'' for he 
 becomes the mere creature and the slave of the thieves who are 
 above him. So long as he is willing to do their bidding and to 
 embark in every description of rascality at their dictation, he can 
 go along very smoothly ; but if he should become troublesome at 
 any time, or if he should show any conscientious scruples when 
 called upon to execute the will of his masters, they would turn him 
 adrift without an hour's warning, and crush him, with tli« : evidence 
 of his guilt in their possession, if he had the hardihood to whisper 
 a word about the nefarious transactions that he had witnessed. 
 
 The great aim of the Ring has been to concentrate all power in 
 their own hands, and to surround themselves with a class of 
 creatures who are utterly destitute of honesty and decency, and 
 who are willing to embark in any scheme of villainy which will 
 serve to give them a continued lease of their present position. 
 John J. Bradley is City Chamberlain and also a member of the 
 State Senate. Thomas J. Creamer is a State Senator and a Tax 
 Commissioner — receiving $10,000 a year in the latter position. 
 Michael Norton is a State Senator and one of the Commissioners of 
 the New Court House. Henry Genet is a State Senator and a 
 Commissioner of the Harlem Court House. Tweed is a State 
 Senator and the Commissioner of Public Works. Frear, Bpottfaw 
 Hitchman, Dennis Burns, Timothy J. Campbell, Peter Mitchell, 
 Richard Flanagan, James [mug and several other members of 
 Assembly, hold sinecure positions under the City Government. 
 The several positions that these men hold are either in the gift of 
 t ie- Mayor, or bhe heads of t he different departments, and when any 
 Pleasure affecting these functionaries comes up in the Legislature, 
 the entire delegation from this City have to vote just as their 
 masters of the Ring direct them. This is a part of the machinery 
 by which our rulers are enabled to perpetuate their power : but, 
 
37 
 
 in addition to this, there is scarcely a keeper of a low groggery, a 
 policy dealer, a gambler, or a brothel keeper in the City, whose name 
 cannot be found upon the pay-rolls of one of the departments of 
 the City Government. 
 
 If Connolly were an honest man, not one of these men could 
 receive a dollar from the City Treasury; but, being equally as 
 unscrupulous as his colleagues of the Ring, and fully in sympathy 
 with the class just described, he interposes no obstacle to the con- 
 summation of their plans, but promptly assists them by every 
 means in his power to draw moneys for which they have never 
 rendered an equivalent. Not content with this, he subjects per- 
 sons having legitimate claims to unnecessary delays and hard- 
 ships. If a man who is not a member of the Ring has the misfor- 
 tune to hold a claim against the City he is kept waiting for months, 
 and sometimes years, before he can get his money. Where these 
 claims are laro-e, and the men holding them are in urgent need of 
 money, they are often obliged to sell their claims to one of the 
 agents of the Ring for fifty or sixty cents on the dollar ; but imme- 
 diately on this arrangement being completed the agent aforesaid 
 presents his claim at the Comptroller's Office, and it is paid with- 
 out any delay. 
 
 A number of men Avho hold positions under the City Govern- 
 ment, and who live beyond their means have made a practice of 
 assigning their salaries to persons willing to advance the money 
 before it became due. Many of these men were able to find some 
 friend who would advance the money without charging any thing 
 for its use, but in order to prevent this, and to give a mono- 
 poly of the business to a few who were willing to charge an out- 
 rageously exorbitant percentage for the use of the money, and then 
 to divide with certain parties in the Comptroller's Office, a notice 
 was conspicuously displayed in various parts of the office, sometime 
 ago, stating that no assignments for salaries would be received on 
 and after such a date. A clerk named " Mike" Moloney manipu- 
 lates this branch of the business in the County Bureau, and also 
 looks after the armorers of the different regiments, who are sup- 
 posed to receive two dollars a day, and others having petty claims 
 against the department. Moloney sits opposite the door by which 
 his victims have to enter, and watches for them with all the avidity 
 that a spider might watch the approach of a fly. The moment an 
 unlucky claimant makes his appearance Moloney jumps on his feet, 
 
38 
 
 and steps forward to the counter to meet him. Bending* forward 
 he listens to the application of the victim, and then by a series of 
 ominous shakes of his head, and " the oft-told tale" repeated in 
 half-smothered whispers, he tries to convince the applicant that 
 there is no prospect of him receiving his money for some time to 
 come, and that, if he really needs it, he had hetter go over to the 
 City Hall and see Mr. Thomas Colligan. The victim has no alter- 
 native. His necessities are such that he most raise some money, 
 so he enters the City Hall to find Mr. Colligan, and, having found 
 him, he comes out feeling much the same as if he had lost his pocket- 
 book ; while the genial Mr. Colligan pockets £; the little differ- 
 ence," invites Moloney to dinner, and quietly divides the spoils 
 while sipping his Champagne or smoking a Havana. 
 
 In short, the thieves in the office of Comptroller tight with two- 
 edged swords, which cut open the public purse and penetrate the 
 vitals of honest claimants at the same moment. There is no de- 
 scription of villainy that it is possible for unscrupulous men to 
 attempt in connection with the office that is not practiced by those 
 who are now there ; and no scheme can be devised for taking money 
 out of the Treasury that the machinery for drawing it out is not 
 immediately put in operation. And this, too, with the full knowl- 
 edge and approval of" Slippery Dick " Connolly. 
 
 PETER B. SWEENY. 
 
 The illustrious progenitor of this wonderful genius kept a rum- 
 shop on Park Row, and it was in this dingy abode, reeking with the 
 fumes of whiskey and the exhalations of the (literally) "unwashed 
 Democracy," that Peter B. first imbibed the knowledge of public 
 ailairs, and the lessons in State-craft which have since made him 
 famous. 
 
 It is asserted, on apparently good authority, that Sweeny entered 
 a law office as an errand boy while he was still a youth, and that it 
 is to the smattering of law which he then acquired, that he owes his 
 subsequent admission to the bar. Be this as it may, Sweeny never 
 held any rank among the able lawyers of the New York bar. He 
 found the problem of Metropolitan politics much more easy of solu- ' 
 tion than the mastery of profound legal questions, and preferred to 
 cultivate a more intimate acquaintance with the members of the 
 "Spartan Band, 1 ' and the popular amusement of ballot-box stnf- 
 
39 
 
 fing, rather than to waste his time on mere abstract theories ot right 
 or wrong, or to puzzle his brain over the abstruse philosophy of 
 Kent or Blackstone. Acting on this principle, he sought a nom- 
 ination to the position of Counsel to the Corporation, received it, 
 and was duly elected. This position required a faculty for manip- 
 ulating jobs, but no legal acumen, and as Sweeny was fully up to 
 the required standard in both particulars, he fully realized the ex- 
 pectations of the men who placed him in the position, and was very 
 successful. At a more recent period he was elected to the position 
 of District Attorney; but shrinking from a mental contest with the 
 able criminal lawyers who practiced in our courts, he obtained 
 leave of absence to go to Europe, and, on his return, resigned his 
 position, and has since devoted himself entirely to politics. 
 
 He was appointed City Chamberlain, to succeed the late Daniel 
 Devlin, and held the position until his term had nearly expired, 
 when he considerately resigned to make way for his brother-in-law, 
 John J. Bradley, who was appointed for the full term, while James 
 M. Sweeny remained in the position of Deputy Chamberlain, to 
 which he had been appointed by his brother. 
 
 When Sweeny entered on the duties of City Chamberlain, he 
 astonished a good many simple people by turning over the interest on 
 the city deposits to the City Treasury — where it properly belonged. 
 But this very clever and apparently disinterested act on the part 
 of Mr. Sweeny, was only one of the many little tricks to which he 
 has resorted for the purpose of throwing dust in the eyes of the 
 public; and was about on a par with the liberality of the thief who 
 robbed a drunken man, but considerately returned ten cents to the 
 pocket of his victim, to enable him to get a drink on waking up, 
 and to prove that the thief was not as bad as he might be. While 
 Mr. Sweeny was making a great parade of his honesty in returning 
 certain moneys, to which he had not the shadow of a claim, to the 
 Treasury, he was conniving at a system of wholesale robbery, 
 and participating in the profits accruing therefrom. Every fraudu- 
 lent claim that was paid during his term in office, was paid with 
 his knowledge and, at least, tacit approval, as the checks that were 
 paid out, in liquidation of these claims, were subsequently returned 
 from the Bank to Sweeny (as City Chamberlain), and were all re- 
 corded in the department of which he was the head. Those checks 
 bore upon their face the evidence of fraud, and if Sweeny had been 
 an honest man, or a faithful public servant,Uie would have exposed 
 
40 
 
 these frauds and thus have saved millions of dollars to the Tax- 
 pavers of the City. 
 
 Sweeny's participation in the infamous operations of James 
 Fisk, Jr.. in connection with the manipulation of Erie Railroad 
 stock, &c.j is well known to those who are familiar with his career ; 
 as is also his connection with the Tenth National Bank. Sweeny 
 was City Chamberlain, and had the immediate control of the City 
 funds on the eventful " Black Friday/' which involved so many 
 business men in ruin. If the scheme to run up the price of gold 
 did not actually originate with him, he was fully cognizant of all 
 that it was intended to accomplish, and mainly instrumental in 
 giving it a practical direction. Had this scheme been successful, it 
 would have crushed nearly all our bankers and merchants, and 
 would have plunged our mercantile and monetary interests into 
 such chaos^and ruin that years must have elapsed before our former 
 prosperity could have been restored. 
 
 The private life of Mr. Sweeny has not been as entirely free 
 from blemish as some of his more discreet friends could wish. In 
 early life he was a "bunker" round an engine house, like his dis- 
 tinguished colleague Tweed, and being a bachelor he was not as 
 mindful of the proprieties of life as might be reasonably expected 
 from a man who hoped to play so important a part before the pub- 
 lic. For some years he is said to have lived with a female on terms 
 of intimacy that are not sanctioned by the rules of the church nor 
 the usages of good society. A child, it is alleged, was one of the 
 results of this intimacy, and it was not until the admirers of Mr. 
 Sweeny, and the hungry Bohemians of the press, commenced lo 
 talk about Sweeny in connection with the Presidency of the United 
 States that he performed the tardy act of justice of legalizing the 
 relations existing between this woman and himself, and of removing 
 in some measure the stam of bastardy from the brow of their child. 
 
 In addition to those already enumerated, there are many other 
 men whose antecedents will not bear examination, holding high 
 positions under the City Government. Matthew T. Brennan, the 
 Sheriff, kept a low groggery in the Sixth Ward in his less prosper- 
 ous days. He is now one of the leaders of the Democracy in this 
 City, while his brother Owen is a prominent Tammany Republican, 
 and holds a couple of important places under the Hing; and another 
 brother, who is a nondescript, holds a position in the Board of 
 Education. But it is not sufficient thatjjall the brothers of the 
 
41 
 
 Brennan family should live off the Tax-payers. They provide for 
 all their relations in the same manner. The " Mike " Moloney, 
 described elsewhere as a clerk in the Comptroller's Office, is a 
 nephew to Sheriff Brennan, as is also William J. A. McGrath, 
 clerk to Judge Dowling at the Tombs Police Court. The earliest 
 recollections of these two fashionable young gentlemen carry them 
 back to the misery and squalor of a low rum shop on West 
 Street, where they were mere grubs in the gutters of that wretched 
 neighborhood, but under the exhilarating rays reflected from their 
 great luminary of an uncle, they have developed into the most 
 brilliantly tinted Democratic butterflies. John J. Bradley, City 
 Chamberlain and brother-in-law to Peter B. Sweeny, first saw the 
 light in a low groggery in Keade Street, when it was considered one 
 of the worst streets in the city. During his early manhood he 
 worked as a hack-driver, but he had attained to the dignity of a 
 livery stable-keeper before he married the sister of Mr. Sweeny, and 
 is now a millionaire. 
 
 Our Aldermen, Councilmen, Coroners, and other city officials 
 are, as a rule, selected from the rum sellers, ticket swindlers, or 
 other notorious classes that infest the city, while the different 
 Boards of Commissioners under the City Government are mainly 
 composed of men of little intelligence and of doubtful antecedents. 
 
 And now, free men of America, how long will these men be 
 permitted to rule the great city of New York, and to disgrace the 
 positions which they have wrested from the people by the grossest 
 frauds and the most reckless violence ? Wake up from your dream 
 of fancied security. Shake off the fatal spell of apathy which has 
 lured you into permitting the first city on the continent to become 
 a prey to an organized band of thieves. Assert again the prin- 
 ciples that your fathers sanctified with thei^ blood : declare undy- 
 ing hostility to usurpers and their hireling followers, and defend, 
 with your lives, if need be, the priceless boon for which the found- 
 ers of the government periled their lives and fortunes. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES. 
 
 The machinery of the Finance Department of the City and 
 County is so complex: that many of our most respectable citizens 
 are utterly ignorant of its practical working. The general irnpres- 
 
42 
 
 sion seems to be that the thirty or thirty-one millions raised under 
 the general Tax Levy, and from rents of markets, docks, &c., cover 
 all the expenditures of the City and County Government. This 
 vast sum, however, represents only about one-third of the amount 
 that annually passes through the hands of the Comptroller, the 
 larger amount being raised by issuing bonds for every conceivable 
 object, and under every conceivable title. Thus we have accumu- 
 lated Debt Bonds, Assessment Fund Bonds, Croton Aqueduct 
 Bonds, Croton Reservoir Bonds, Central Park Improvement Fund 
 Stock, City Improvement Stock, Street Improvement Bonds, City 
 Lunatic Asylum Stock, Department of Parks Improvement Bonds, 
 Fire Department Stock, Fire Telegraph Stock, Dock Bonds, New 
 York Bridge Bonds, Revenue Bonds, Tax Relief Bonds, Riot 
 Damages Indemnity Bonds, Riot Damage Redemption Bonds, 
 Soldiers' Bounty Fund Bonds, Soldiers' Substitute Bounty Re- 
 demption Bonds, New Courthouse Stock, Repairs to County offices 
 and Buildings Stock, &c, &c, &c. Now there are two distinct 
 bureaus — one for the City and one for the County — from which 
 bonds and stocks are issued, and in which claims are audited and 
 paid ; hence it follows that the stocks or bonds issued from one 
 bureau may be duplicated in the other, or that an unlimited amount 
 can be issued from either city or county bureau without the public 
 having any means of knowing how much has been raised, or what 
 disposition lias been made of it when raised. 
 
 To enable the Ring to carry out their schemes of plunder with 
 greater facility, the Legislature passed an act last winter authoriz- 
 ing the conversion of city into county securities, and vice versa, at 
 the pleasure of the Comptroller, and also authorizing the issue of 
 long bonds for the entire debt of the city and county, thus giving 
 the thieves who control the finances of the city the power to rob 
 the public with impunity so long as they can retain possession of 
 the offices they now hold. In each bureau there are two separate sets 
 of accounts — one of warrants drawn on account of appropriations, 
 and one <>t' warrants drawn on what is called " special account." 
 The warrants drawn on special account are not paid out of any 
 appropriation, hut out, of a fund raised by the issue of stocks and 
 bonds. Hence it happens, that there arc no less than five different 
 titl. s under which the subjoined amounts, paid for repairs and fur- 
 niture in county offices and armories, have been charged. The 
 titles of these accounts read as follows : " Armories and Drill- 
 
43 
 
 Rooms ;'' u County Liabilities " Adjusted Claims " County 
 Contingencies :" and Repairs to County Offices and Buildings." 
 
 Many of the checks enumerated in the following paees were 
 drawn in the name of dummies, Ingersoll using the names of C. D. 
 Bollar & Co., J. A. Smith, M. W. Davis, and A. G. Miller : and 
 Garvey using the names of R. J. Hennessy, T. C. Cushman, 
 and Phillippo Donnarumma. These men have been paid large 
 sums for repairs in county offices and armories, and for furniture 
 and carpets for the same : but the name of a single one of them 
 does not appear in the City Directory : nor can anyone be found in 
 the several lines of business, in which they are said to be engaged, 
 who has ever heard of them. If we add to this the important fact 
 that all the checks drawn in their favor have been returned from 
 the bank bearing the indorsement of Ingersoll or Garvey. the con- 
 clusion that they have no existence is inevitable : and that in indors- 
 ing their names on the checks, and in signing their names to the 
 vouchers. Ingersoll and Garvey have simply added forgery to fraud. 
 
 All the checks that are drawn in the name of George S. Miller 
 are handed over to Ingersoll, and bear his indorsement : but the 
 amount drawn by him is so large that the list of checks is given 
 under his name. It must be understood, however, that it was 
 Ingersoll (as the agent of the Ring) who received the entire amount 
 which they represent. 
 
 Date. To Whom Paid. Separate Checks. Aggregate Am*t 
 
 1869. oil each Pate. 
 
 Jan. 11th. Andrew J. Garvey #33,76.7 27 
 
 " George S. Miller.' 15.415 14 
 
 " Ingersoll & Co 38,906 71 
 
 : - Keyser &Co.\ 26.829 97 
 
 $119,919 09 
 
 19th, IngersolKv Co 31.801 95 
 
 " George S. Miller 14.691 78 
 
 Andrew J. Garvey 49.479 74 
 
 " Kevser & Co 4.435 29 
 
 100.408 76 
 
 " 29th, Keyser & Go 9.834 94 
 
 Feb. 18th, Ingersoll & Co 15.786 40 
 
 Andrew J. Garvey 4I.S09 92 
 
 57.596 32 
 
44 
 
 Date. To Whom Paid. Separate Checks. Aggregate Am t 
 
 1869. on each Date. 
 
 Feb. 27th. Ingersoll & Co 55,791 56 
 
 " George S. Miller 27,937 51 
 
 " Keyser & Co 31,942 C7 
 
 " " Keyser & Co 22,454 93 
 
 138,12b' 67 
 
 A}>ril26th, Ingersoll & Co 39,844 68 
 
 " " Andrew J. Garvey 38,859 00 
 
 " Keyser & Co...." 14,328 58 
 
 93,032 26 
 
 May 12th ; Ingersoll & Co 19,163 65 
 
 " 21,969 13 
 
 " George S. Miiler 27,651 40 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 5,635 30 
 
 7,123 75 
 
 " Keyser & Co 19,987 64 
 
 101,530 87 
 
 June 5th, Ingersoll & Co 26,325 26 
 
 < : f " 38,907 43 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 36,762 00 
 
 " Keyser & Co 18,177 89 
 
 " " " 39,986 80 
 
 146,182 93 
 
 " " " 90,923 40 
 
 397,265 71 
 
 June 7tb 3 Ingersoll & Co $22,496 33 
 
 38,907 43 
 
 " f* 93,467 75 
 
 129,469 48 
 
 " " George S. .Miller 38.(57(5 50 
 
 " 13,864 07 
 
 " Keyser & Co 25,010 02 
 
 $361,891 5S 
 
 JirneSth, fngersoll & Co 129,4(59 48 
 
 U «, a 90,923 40 
 
 220,392 88 
 
 June 10th, A. I. Garvey 29,324 (55 
 
 30,383 50 
 
 59,708 15 
 
45 
 
 Date. To Whom Paid. Separate (.'hecks. Aggregate Ami 
 
 I860 on eac ^ 1 ^ ate - 
 
 June 15th, Ingersoll & Co 72,605 97 
 
 30,000 00 
 
 102,605 97 
 
 July 2d, Ingersoll & Co 42,550 64 
 
 " ' " George S. Miller 905 51 
 
 « " << 6,089 24 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 13,9S9 25 
 
 " « * 691 12 
 
 " " " 31,286 52 
 
 " Kevser & Co 6.516 26 
 
 102.02S 54 
 
 July 16th, Ingersoll & Co 94,038 13 
 
 " " " A. J. Garvey 26,890 35 
 
 " u Kevser & Go 9.774 36 
 
 130.702 84 
 
 July 28th, George S. Miller 11,349 54 
 
 " " " . 10,647 56 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 4,780 02 
 
 " " " * 3,089 24 
 
 " " 41,752 94 
 
 31,275 70 
 
 " Keyser & Co 1,351 50 
 
 " " ' " 1,689 60 
 
 105,936 10 
 
 Aug. 4th, Ingersoll & Co $53,206 75 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 38,791 62 
 
 " " Keyser & Co 23,840 91 
 
 — 3115,839 28 
 
 Sept. 7th, Ingersoll & Co 60,334 71 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 41,685 10 
 
 - 32,695 63 
 
 29,792 55 
 
 " " Keyser & Co 54,050 55 
 
 2,959 65 
 
 3,209^40 
 
 — — 224,727 59 
 
 Sept. 8th, Ingersoll & Co 42,901 47 
 
 " George S. Miller 48,833 23 
 
 - 91,734 70 
 
46 
 
 Daie. To Whom Paid. Separate Checks. Aggregate Ain't 
 
 1S69. ou each Dare. 
 
 Sept. 17th, A. J. Gtaryej 7,991 60 
 
 " 20th. Ingei>«.)ll & Co 30,116 26 
 
 32,112 7S 
 
 " Geoisge S. Miller 14,130 36 
 
 u A. J? Garvey 15,S10 00 
 
 " Keyser & Co 22,531 1)4 
 
 114,701 34 
 
 Sept. 27th, A. J. Garvey & Co 41,741 70 
 
 18^099 30 
 
 " Ingersoll 30,000 00 
 
 " 4S,654 52 
 
 43,654 52 
 
 18,823 14 
 
 200,973 IS 
 
 Sept.2Sth, IngerBoll & Co 48,798 63 
 
 ^ 30th, Ingersoll & Co 44,737 45 
 
 Oct. 11th, George S. Mille 49,763 80 
 
 il Keyser & Co 14,070 68 
 
 " " A. J. Garvey 39,706 16 
 
 " 153,855 50 
 
 257.396 14 
 
 Oct. 22d, Ingersoll & : Co 63,201 16 
 
 " 23d, " 27,154 55 
 
 u 28th, « 28.032 11 
 
 A. A. Garvejj 33.704 4L 
 
 " Keyser & Oo 21,690 85 
 
 83.427 37 
 
 Oct. 30th, Keys,-]- & Qc $15,697 38 
 
 Nov. 6th, Ingersoll & C 136,422 10 
 
 ki Keyser & Co 19.815 26 
 
 56,337 36 
 
 " 16th, Ingersoll & 9 32,185 20 
 
 " 17th, M 32,617 13 
 
 " " A. ii Qarvey £ U 30,386 08 
 
 63,003 21 
 
 u 19th. [ngersoll & C< 10,494 61 
 
 Keyser ids Co 37.324 44 
 
 47,819 05 
 
 < ; 22,1, • 51,461 75 
 
47 
 
 Date, To Whom Paid. Separate Checks Aggregate Am't 
 
 1869. ou eac h date. 
 
 Nov. 24th, Ingersoil & Co 32,826 81 
 
 " 26th, A. J. Garvey & Co 50,624 45 
 
 Dec. 3d, Ingersoil & Co 32,6S2 38 
 
 Ci (i 
 
 cc cc 
 
 George S. Miller 23,03S 74 
 
 A. J. -Garvey- ______ 167,355 24 
 
 223,076 36 
 
 9th, A. J. Garvey 46,500 84 
 
 10th, Ingersoil & Co 54,243 57 
 
 " Keyser & Co 34,588 51 
 
 17th, A. J. Garvey 42,630 24 
 
 16,609 22 
 
 88,832 08 
 
 59,239 46 
 
 cc cc 
 
 20th, Ingersoil & Co 34,785 03 
 
 18,222 47 
 
 137,108 58 
 
 190,116 08 
 
 22d, Keyser & Co 11,893 63 
 
 28th, A. J. Garvey 33,283 00 
 
 " Keyser & Co 19,802 33 
 
 29th, George S. Miller 27,885 04 
 
 Keyser&Co I... 26,360 65 
 
 L 7 
 
 CC CC 
 
 53,085 33 
 
 54,245 69 
 
 cc 
 
 31st, A. J. Garvey 33,129 89 
 
 86,168 00 
 
 72,864 00 
 
 " " " 69,242 00 
 
 30^975 00 
 
 Jan. 10th, A. J. Garvey. 
 
 CC CC ki 
 
 $9,493 54 
 
 8,188 
 
 20 
 
 26,098 
 
 30 
 
 20,655 
 
 72 
 
 20,291 
 
 44 
 
 23,005 
 
 83 
 
 297,378 89 
 
 $43,780 04 
 
 63 ; 952 99 
 
48 
 
 Date. To Whom Paid. Separate Checks. 
 
 1870. 
 
 Jan. 24th, Geo. S. Miller 26.952 99 
 
 " Ingersoll & Co 33,538 36 
 
 " 28th, Geo. S.Miller 25,366 49 
 
 " " Keyser & Co 18.569 00 
 
 Feb. 7th, Ingersoll & Co 
 
 " 16th, " 
 
 " 23d, " .,; 
 
 " 26tl, « 26,981 90 
 
 33,037 15 
 
 March 7th, Keyser & Co 
 
 " 12th, A.J. Garvey 39,835 00 
 
 " " Ingersoll & Co 58,937 60 
 
 " " Geo. S. Miller 38,084 28 
 
 " " Keyser & Co 27,742 45 
 
 " 21st, Geo. S. Miller 20,255 00 
 
 " " Keyser & Co 30,315 67 
 
 " 28th, Ingersoll & Co 49,742 45 
 
 « " A. J. Garvey 19,343 82 
 
 " 31st, Geo. S. Miller 45,266 04 
 
 " " Ingersoll & Co 38,S18 84 
 
 " " Keyser & Co 35,959 87 
 
 April 2d, A. J. Garvey $33,250 00 
 
 « " « 35,490 30 
 
 " 8th, Geo. S. Miller 18,955 69 
 
 « « " 22,494 74 
 
 « " " 21,418 99 
 
 " " A. J. Garvey 24,578 86 
 
 24,391 05 
 
 « " " 29,655 39 
 
 « ti 25,931 88 
 
 « " M 28,264 86 
 
 « « M 30,461 98 
 
 Aggregate Ain't 
 on each date. 
 
 60.491 35 
 
 43,935 49 
 11,186 92 
 29,404 48 
 5L813 77 
 
 60,019 05 
 38,265 55 
 
 164,599 33 
 50,570 67 
 69,086 27 
 
 120,044 75 
 
 868,740 30 
 
 226,153 44 
 
49 
 
 Date. To Whom Paid. Separate Chucks. Aggregate Am't 
 
 1S70. 011 eacl1 date. 
 
 April 9th, A. J. Garvey 39,436 12 
 
 " 16th, " 30,975 00 
 
 " " KeyBer & Co J 2,395 80 
 
 " " Ingersoll & Co 28,608 68 
 
 " " Geo. S. Miller 8,147 88 
 
 " " " 25,948 38 
 
 " " Ingersoll & Co 22,612 10 
 
 128,687 84 
 
 May 6th, Ingersoll & Co 64,954 87 
 
 34,082 25 
 
 <• A. J. Garvey 4b*,02o 67 
 
 " Keyser & Co 32,596 08 
 
 177,658^87 
 
 « " Ingersoll & Co 39,260 17 
 
 35,H4 08 
 
 " " " 36,083 80 
 
 " Geo. S. Miller 42,128 47 
 
 152,586 52 
 
 " 13th, Ingersoll & Co 89,379 00 
 
 " Geo. S. Miller 38,902 22 
 
 128,281 22 
 
 May 14th, A. J. Garvey §45.355 92 
 
 <; 44,255 85 
 
 " Keyser & Co 27,837 38 
 
 8117,499 15 
 
 " 21st, Ingersoll & Co 70,117 59 
 
 64,984 82 
 
 " " « 39,950 18 
 
 39,614 59 
 
 34,515 73 
 
 Geo. S. Miller 34,990 66 
 
 A.J. Garvey 44,094 91 
 
 44,281 16 
 
 45,444 46 
 
 417,994 10 
 
 " 23d, Keyser & Co 31,067 79 
 
 28,093 70 
 
 " " " 16,924 62 
 
 4 
 
 76,086 11 
 
50 . 
 
 Date. To Whom Paid. Separate Checks. Ajj^rejrate Am t 
 
 IS /0. on each date. 
 
 May 27rh. Ingersoll & Co 125,830 56 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 40,870 4:3 
 
 166,701 01 
 
 " 28th, " 43,390 81 
 
 « " Ingersoll & Co 40,314 09 
 
 39,S44 19 
 
 73,602 46 
 
 " Geo. S. Miller. 39,'361 21 
 
 236,512 7G 
 
 " 30rh, Ingersoll & Co 6S/21S 82 
 
 " ' A.J. Garvey 40,89.3 34 
 
 109,114 16 
 
 June 3d, Ingersoll & Co $.34,030 26 
 
 " Geo. S. Miller 37,326 02 
 
 " Ingersoll & Co 63,17:3 51 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 42,942 16 
 
 " " " 41,399 63 
 
 ¥ " " €1,180 43 
 
 " Keyser & Co 19.870 14 
 
 $299,924 15 
 
 6th, Ingersoll & Co 42,291 4:3 
 
 " " " 44,259 23 
 
 " « " 36,9S7 2:3 
 
 " Geo. S. Miller 32,3Sl 73 
 
 35,663 82 
 
 u " A. J. Garvey 41,563 42 
 
 40,971 15 
 
 « M " 40.652 43 
 
 43,774 26 
 
 " Keyser & Co 11,300 31 
 
 w " " 1 1.794 16 
 
 13.326 21 
 
 " " « 72S S3 
 
 395,694 27 
 
 " 10th, Ingersoll & Co 69,719 10 
 
 " " " 67,487 2L 
 
 " Geo. S. Miller 44,474 30 
 
 m A.J. Garvey 41,309 50 
 
 " 25,609 30 
 
 " " " 41,160 35 
 
 " « Keyser & Co.. _ 36,830 80 
 
 326,590 56 
 
51 
 
 Date. To Whom Paid. Separate Checks. Aggregate Ain't 
 
 1S70. on each Date. 
 
 June 13th, Ingersoll & Co. _._ $93,259 07 
 
 " A. J. Garvey & Co.- 47,724 61 
 
 45,102 77 
 
 $191,OS6 45 
 
 " 17th, George S. Miller 43,76S 21 
 
 « A. J. Garvey 43,026 04 
 
 " 45,097 67 
 
 136,S91 02 
 
 " 20th, Ingersoll & Co. 66,292 33 
 
 " George S. Miller 40,965 41 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 43,900 53 
 
 " " 44,001 03 
 
 " Keyser&Co. — 50,953 85 
 
 . 246,113 20 
 
 " 24th, Ingersoll & Co... 36,441 42 
 
 " 49,082 30 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 43,383 76 
 
 " " 45,756 37 
 
 174,663 85 
 
 " 26th, Ingersoll & Co. 72,819 SI 
 
 " 27th, Ingersoll & Co 58,330 93 
 
 " George S. Miller _. 44,874 59 
 
 " " Ingersoll & Co 85,163 22 
 
 " Keyser&Co. 44,3SS 67 
 
 1 ■ 232,757 41 
 
 " 30th, Ingersoll & Co. 54,053 33 
 
 " " " 29,129 99 
 
 _ 37,426 87 
 
 ... 49,208 14 
 
 37,072 16 
 
 " " George S. Miller.... 40,549 24 
 
 ic k a 
 
 ci a cc 
 
 ... 35,748 29 
 
 " Ingersoll & Co. 59,932 01 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 44,995 99 
 
 " 44,002 38 
 
 432,118 40 
 
 July Sth, Georgo S. 2M511cr §29,317 59 
 
 " " 46,947 32 
 
 " Keyser & Co. 69,231 59 
 
 $145,496 50 
 
52 
 
 Date. To Whom Paid. Separate Checks. Aggregate Am't 
 
 1870. on each Date. 
 
 July 26th, George S. Miller.. _ 49,251 31 
 
 <• A. J. Garvey 48,869 53 
 
 ._ 49,491 75 
 
 147,612 59 
 
 Aug. 1st, IngersoD & Co..__ _ 91,325 50 
 
 60,503 43 
 
 69,537 68 
 
 " Keyser & Co . 42,224 93 
 
 263,591 54 
 
 " 5th, A. J. Garvey 72,075 08 
 
 x 9th; George S. Miller 40,607 49 
 
 * " Ingersoll & Co.. _. 77,949 58 
 
 " A. J. Garvey 66,118 31 
 
 184,675 38 
 
 " 12th, George S. Miller ...48,639 49 
 
 46,343 45 
 
 " A. J. Garvey. 67,068 89 
 
 " Keyser & Co. 53,620 46 
 
 215,672 29 
 
 " 30th, Ingersoll & Co 40,000 00 
 
 " " 10,000 00 
 
 50,000 00 
 
 « 31st, " 30,000 00 
 
 Oct. 26th, " 12,000 00 
 
 Total $11,237,773 10 
 
 Recapitulation. 
 
 Ingersoll, Furniture and Carpets $4,829,424 26 
 
 Garvey, Plastering 3,495,629 96 
 
 Keyser, Plumbing.... 1,508,410 S9 
 
 Miller, Carpenter- work 1,404,307 99 
 
 Total $1 1,237,773 IO 
 
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