place that was attended with more acrimony or greater excitement. Turning, as it did, on the frauds of the Tammany Ring, all classes of citizens, irrespective of party, were aroused. Merchants, almost to a man, closed their stores; and thousands who had not voted for years exercised on this occasion the right of franchise. Republicans and Democrats united to crush one of the wickedest conspiracies ever aimed against municipal integrity and life. The result was an overwhelming defeat of the "Ring." General Franz Sigel was elected Register by a majority of twenty-five thousand votes. All of the anti-Tammany judges were elected; and only one (Wm. M. Tweed) of the five Tammany Senators was successful. Of the twenty-one Assemblymen sent to the Legislature by the city, Tammany elected but seven; while all the anti-Tammany Aldermen were elected but two. Of the twentyone Assistant Aldermen chosen, a majority were pledged to reform.

Tammany, however, did not yield without a desperate struggle. All her old tactics of "ballot-stuffing," and intimidation at the polls, with which she was wont to be successful heretofore, were employed. "In this city," says the New York Tribune, in commenting upon the election, "the frauds on election day in Tweed's district are understood to have been enormous, and the intimidation of voters was without parallel in recent years. It is no exaggeration to say that the ballots for O'Donovan Rossa were kept out of the boxes by sheer ruffianism; and in many precincts it was literally unsafe to vote against the 'Boss.' Anti-Tammany voters were beaten and driven away from the polls, and there seems to be ground for charging that some of the police were in collusion with the assailants. If Tweed were allowed to take his seat in the

electoral college, consequent upon the result of the New York State election, gave the Presidency to Jefferson instead of to Adams.

Senate on the strength of an election like this, the principles of free republican government would receive a worse blow than from the theft of twenty millions of dollars."*

The effects of the election were soon apparent. Members of the Ring who, up to this time, had been defiant, became crestfallen; several of the most prominent of them

*To the same effect, Mr. Melville D. Landon, a perfectly credible journalist, wrote the next day after the election, in the Commercial Advertiser, as follows:

"The disgraceful scenes, the ruffianly assaults, the dishonest repeating. fraudulent voting, and final surrender of the ballot-boxes in this Tweed ward cannot be described. I am not writing about what I heard or read in the newspapers, but I state what I saw with my own eyes.

"I saw drunken men come into the second voting precinct-not with Republican votes, for such a man would have been assaulted in three minutes, but with the ticket of the Committee of Seventy, including O'Donovan Rossa, and lay them on the ballot-boxes.

"I saw Edward Coppers, a low, vulgar scoundrel, acting as inspector, snap these votes off, and before the eyes of Michael Costello, the only Republican who dared to stay in the room, deposit Tweed votes.

"I saw four policemen, among whom was a contemptible scoundrel of the name of Francis O'Rourke, connive at these frauds.

"I saw thief after thief come in, whom Mr. Costello knew to be voting fraudulently, and their votes were received by their associate thief, Coppers, and deposited unchallenged.

"I saw brave Michael Costello challenge one brutal repeater, and then I saw five scoundrels assault him, and drag him to the ground, while four policemen stood by and saw it done.

"Then I saw Francis O'Rourke march this innocent brave Republican challenger to the station-house, and falsely accuse him of assault, when he knew he was telling a villainous lie.

"Then I saw Michael Costello in a cold, damp, stone cell, looking, like a felon, out of an iron gate.

"Shall this scoundrel police officer, Francis O'Rourke, go free-shall he still remain on the police force?

After this I saw the ballot-boxes in the hands of thieves and repeaters. Every Republican vote was rejected unless it was disguised. Only Tweed votes were received.

After this, H. G. Leask, of the Committee of Seventy,' sent Patrick Elliff to take Michael Costello's place. He was assaulted and driven away from the polls, and Mr. Leask's son was also abused and struck. The mob of thieves and roughs now attacked Mr. Leask's store, which was defended by police.

"To this the writer proposes to testify when Wm. M. Tweed asks for his seat in Albany next winter. This morning I see this voting precinct gave 346 votes for Tweed and only 42 against him, when it cast 48 Republican votes for Woodford in 1870."

hastened to hand in their resignations of important positions which they held; and, finally, on the 20th of November, Richard B. Connolly resigned his office as Comptroller in favor of Andrew H. Green, who was at once appointed to the vacancy by the Mayor.* With this memorable election the curtain fell upon the play which Tammany had so long kept upon the political boards, to rise again under very different management.

On the 25th of November ex-Comptroller Connolly was arrested on substantially the same charges as his colleague in public office, William M. Tweed, and was also held to bail in the same sum; but, not so fortunate as the latter, he was unable to obtain the requisite amount of bail, and, on the 29th of November, was committed to the Ludlow Street Jail, where he remained until the last day of the year. On the 16th of December the Grand Jury indicted William M. Tweed for felony. On his way to the Tombs, however, he was rescued by a writ of habeas corpus; and, upon being taken before Judge Barnard, was released on

* Undoubtedly, one of the principal results of the election will be the creating of a new charter for the city. In framing one, the leading idea, says the New York Times, should be so "to reduce the profits of office-holding, that the professional politicians and place-hunters will be forced to abandon their corrupt and corrupting avocation. Every officer under the City Government should receive a fixed salary, and in no case should he be allowed to pocket any of the fees connected with his office. So far as possible all fees should be abolished, and, wherever they are collected, they should be promptly turned over to the City Treasury. As for the subordinate offices, such as clerkships and the like, it would be well if they could be made permanent and independent of political changes. Civil service reform is now agitating the minds of the best men in the country of both parties, and is looked forward to as the cure for the worst evils of our politics. The Republican Party now adminis tering the National Government has taken the initiative in this much-needed reform. Why should not the same party, which will have entire control of the next Legislature, second the efforts of their representatives in the General Government, and anticipate them in making a practical trial of the experi ment? No better place could be found to test the virtues of civil service reform than the City of New York; for nowhere else have the evils of the old system wrought such wide-spread corruption, and produced such demoralization of political parties as here."

the trifling sum of five thousand dollars bail. At length, on Friday, the 29th day of December, Mr. Tweed, forced to the step by the power of public opinion, resigned his office of Commissioner of Public Works, George Van Nort, a gentleman of large experience and high standing, being appointed to fill the vacancy. On the same day that this resignation was sent in, Mayor Hall was prohibited by a writ from Judge Brady from reappointing or recognizing the old Common Council; while, to complete the final downfall of the "Ring," William M. Tweed, spurned by nearly all of his fair-weather friends, was ejected from the position of Grand Sachem of the Tammany SocietyAugustus Schell being elected to his place by acclamation.*

Upon the assembling of the Legislature at Albany on the 1st of January, 1872, the Committee of Seventy forwarded a petition to the Senate praying for the expulsion of Wm. M. Tweed from his seat in that body; and 1872. here, at the present time of writing (February 1st, 1872), the matter rests. The "Tammany Ring has been broken into fragments." Tweed is under heavy bonds to answer for various charges; Connolly and other subordinate, though probably not less guilty, leaders, keep out of the public view; James Fisk, Jr.,† is in his grave

* As an illustration of the unstableness of power and influence, especially when not founded upon principles of rectitude, the reader can compare the position held by Mr. Tweed now (1872) with the one held by him only a few months since, when, at the wedding of his daughter, nearly $100,000 worth of gifts was presented to the latter by her father's political and personal admirers. At the close of Appendix No. XI. a partial list of these presents is given, both as a curious bit of history and as a "sign" of the "times." No propriety is violated by this publication, since the list was printed at the time, purposely, by the family in nearly all of the city papers.

For the act of incorporation of the Tammany Society see Appendix No. XII. On Sunday, the 7th of January, 1872, James Fisk, Jr., died from the effects of a pistol shot received at the hands of Edward S. Stokes, on the afternoon previous, in the Grand Central Hotel.

It may, at first, seem singular that Fisk is mentioned in the text in connec