Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great CityMcCabe, James Dabney
History
Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City
McCabe, James Dabney
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel; New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
"The manner in which the city warrants were identified is explained in
the affidavit of Mr. Tilden. The first table is headed, 'County
Liabilities.' That is made up from the records in the Comptroller's
office and the warrants. The last contains all that there is (memoranda
and endorsements) on the back of the warrants. Nearly all the vouchers
of these bills were among those stolen on Sunday, September 10th, but the
warrants were kept in a different place, and are now in the Comptroller's
office. The next table headed, 'Identification of Parties who received
the Proceeds of the Warrants,' is made up, as to the description of the
warrants, from the books of the Comptroller's office, and from the
warrants themselves, and the identification of the persons who deposited
the warrants is made out from accounts of the entries, in the National
Broadway Bank. The asterisks against the amounts of the warrants in the
fifth column indicate those of the Keyser warrants on which John H.
Keyser alleges the endorsements were forged.
"All those warrants which fell within the period of this account were
collected by Woodward, _except one_, _and that one by Ingersoll_.
"Undoubtedly the transactions, taken together, were in the opinion of the
Acting Attorney-General, a conspiracy to defraud the county by means of
bills exaggerated many times, for work or services received, or for work
and services already paid for, or for accounts that were fictitious.
"The result throws great light both on the stealing and burning of the
vouchers by Haggerty, the janitor of the building, appointed by the
Chamberlain, and also upon the Keyser forgeries."
Woodward did not wait for the accumulation of evidence against him. He
followed the example of Ingersoll and Garvey, and took flight, and at
present his whereabouts is unknown.
Mr. Tilden's affidavit relating the facts of his discovery furnished
evidence sufficient to justify the arrest of Mr. Tweed. The Sheriff
performed the farce of arresting the "Boss" in his office at the
Department of Public Works. Bail was offered and accepted. The Sheriff
treated the great defaulter with the utmost courtesy and deference,
appearing before him, hat in hand, with a profusion of servile bows. No
absolute monarch could have been treated with greater reverence. The
moral sense of the community was outraged. On the same day a poor wretch
who had stolen a loaf of bread to keep his sick wife from starving was
sentenced for theft.
Mr. Tweed attempted to explain away Mr. Tilden's discovery, but was met
at once by that gentleman, who more than fastened his guilt upon him.
Said Mr. Tilden:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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