TAMMANY’S PRESENT STATUS
1914-1917
Upon the removal of Governor Sulzer from office, Martin Glynn, as has
already been noted, had become Governor of New York State. A Democrat,
he consequently appointed men of the party to which he belonged to
various offices. Tammany and its auxiliaries now had control of the
Public Service Commission, First District.
But this control was abruptly ended by the effect of the disclosures
made in the testimony before the (Thompson) Joint Legislative Committee
probing into the affairs of the Public Service Commissions. Mr. Glynn
was succeeded as Governor by Charles S. Whitman who had done such
notable service as District Attorney of New York County. During 1915
the Joint Legislative Committee held many hearings at which much
testimony of an upheaving nature was given.
One result of this inquiry was a series of grave charges against
Edward E. McCall, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, First
District, and, as we have seen, recent candidate of Tammany Hall for
Mayor. Accompanied, by a request for Mr. McCall’s removal from office,
these charges were made to Governor Whitman by the Joint Legislative
Committee on December 12, 1915, and were supplemented by a bill of
particulars, specifying twenty charges, formally filed ten days later.
The charges declared that Mr. McCall’s acceptance of his appointment
to the Public Service Commission was in violation of law; that he was
at the time the owner of stock in a corporation subject to the Public
Service Commission’s supervision; that thereafter he attempted to
transfer this stock to his wife “which attempt was a mere subterfuge
and a clumsy effort to evade the statute”; and that as Chairman of
the Public Service Commission he participated in the consideration of
matters affecting the value of this stock.
Further, the charges accused Mr. McCall of accepting a retainer for
legal services from a corporation, the chief owner of the stock of
which was commonly reputed to be a controlling factor in the management
of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company; and that in another case
he accepted a retainer in an action then pending in the Supreme Court
“in which action the engineers in the employ of the Public Service
Commission will be necessary as material witnesses.” Other charges
specified that he favored the public service corporations to the
detriment of public interests. The sixteenth charge particularized
that in the matter of the third tracking of the elevated railroads
in Manhattan he failed to reserve the power of supervision to the
Commission “and that as a result of such failure the lessee of
the Manhattan Railway Company [the Interborough] has entered into
extravagant and improvident contracts under which its stockholders and
the people of the City of New York have suffered and will suffer large
losses”. The seventeenth charge arraigned McCall for having authorized
the construction of connecting lines by the Interborough Rapid Transit
Company “at an extravagant and exorbitant price and without competition
to the disadvantage of the city of New York and its inhabitants.” The
eighteenth charge set forth that in the execution of the dual subway
contracts “he permitted the inclusion of a provision under which the
New York Municipal Railway Corporation will be permitted unwarrantedly
to deduct from the earnings of that company, before the division of the
net earnings between the company and the city can be accomplished, a
sum aggregating more than $10,000,000.” In brief, the charges declared
that McCall showed misconduct in office, favoritism, neglect of duty,
and inefficiency.
After consideration of the charges, Governor Whitman, on December 6,
1915, removed Mr. McCall from office as the Chairman of the Public
Service Commission, First District. The particular charge substantiated
was that McCall violated that section of the Public Service Commissions
law forbidding a Commissioner to hold stock in a corporation subject to
the Commission’s supervision.
McCall, however, was not the only Public Service Commissioner involved
in the revelations before the Joint Legislative Committee. At a session
on December 16, 1915, Sidney G. Johnson, vice-president of the General
Railway Signal Company, testified that Robert Colgate Wood, another
Public Service Commissioner, demanded $5,000 from the Union Switch and
Signal Company for using his influence as Commissioner to give that
company a subway signal system contract. The offer, it was testified,
was refused. On January 25, 1916, the Grand Jury in New York County
indicted Mr. Wood for the alleged solicitation of a bribe. Meanwhile,
on December 27, 1915, George V. S. Williams, another Public Service
Commissioner, resigned from office on the plea that for some time he
had been contemplating this step, and now that he was no longer “under
fire” he could retire in justice to himself.
Serious as these developments were, they did not have the damaging
effect upon Tammany that might ordinarily be supposed. Except in
certain offices here and there Tammany was out of power, and therefore,
not being prominently on the defensive, could not be effectively
assailed. Moreover, in view of the results of a recently tried libel
suit, it was anything but a propitious time for Tammany’s Republican
opponents to make capital from such incidents.
This libel action, which conspicuously held public attention, was
one brought by William Barnes, Jr., Republican State leader, against
Theodore Roosevelt. In a published article, Colonel Roosevelt had
practically charged that there was a corrupt alliance between Mr.
Barnes and Charles F. Murphy, the Tammany leader, and that Mr. Barnes
had worked through a corrupt alliance between crooked business and
crooked politics. The article did not charge personal corruption in the
sense of bribery, but emphasized the nature of the political methods
used. The trial of this action resulted, on May 22, 1915, in the jury
finding a verdict in favor of Roosevelt.
The proceedings of this trial directed general notice much more to the
workings of the Republican machine system than to Tammany methods.
To the initiated it had long been known that the Republican machine,
as the power usually controlling the Legislature, was the preferred
instrument through which the powerful financial, industrial, utility,
commercial and other corporations operated to get the legislation
that they wanted. This fact was now confirmed and disseminated by
the outcome of the libel suit. Long, too, had it been suspected that
between the apparently hostile political machines there often existed
secret understandings or alliances cloaked over by pretended political
warfare which was merely mock opposition intended for credulous public
consumption. The court proceedings and the verdict showed that the
stating of this fact was not a libel.
The effect upon public opinion of this libel action was far more
injurious to the Republican State organization than to Tammany, a
reaction naturally to be expected in judging an organization which
had so long found campaign material in strong virtuous denunciations
of “Tammany corruption.” At the same time public disfavor of the
Republican organization was increased by the bad record of the
Republican Legislature in 1915--a record that in many respects was
worse than that of a Tammany Legislature. These influences were to
Tammany’s advantage. Always rushing to excesses when in prosperity,
Tammany in times of adversity moderated its action by observing
prudence and deferring to public proprieties. Its chief candidates in
the 1915 election were men of accredited good character and reputed
ability. These conditions, together with the fact that the Republicans
and the Progressives did not unite in opposition to Tammany, helped
to bring a measure of success to Tammany. For the first time in more
than fifteen years Tammany managed to elect a District Attorney in the
County of New York in the person of Judge Edward Swann, and it elected
Alfred E. Smith to the office of Sheriff.
From the beginning of 1916 Tammany was thus in full control of the
criminal machinery of the law in New York County. District Attorney
Swann showed such energy in the sustained prosecution of the infamous
“white slavers,” that the formulating of charges against him came as
a surprise to many citizens who had formed a good estimate of his
activities in office. These charges, made by Judge James A. Delahanty
of the Court of General Sessions, on December 30, 1916, alleged
misconduct in office in the matter of certain assault cases resulting
from the garment trades strike of 1914.
In the list of charges forwarded to Governor Whitman Judge Delahanty
accused District Attorney Swann of having deliberately presented a
false recommendation to a Judge of General Sessions on the strength
of which he obtained the discharge on bail of more than a score of
defendants indicted in March, 1914, on various charges of assault,
riots, and injuries to property occurring during the course of labor
disputes on the East Side. Judge Delahanty further charged that
District Attorney Swann even sought to have the indictments against
these men dismissed, although seven of them had offered to plead
guilty. Judge Delahanty had been an Assistant District Attorney when
Mr. Whitman was District Attorney, and hence could claim an intimate
familiarity with the details of those very cases. Among the characters
concerned in the clothing trades strike were such notorious gangsters
as “Dopey Benny” Fein, “Waxy” Gordon, “Jew” Murphy and others such
widely known for their activities in the section east of the Bowery.
Assistant District Attorney Lucian S. Breckinridge who had had charge
of the preparation of many of these cases for trial, had resigned on
March 28, 1916, on the ground that District Attorney Swann’s action
in the cases was “a travesty on justice, and an outrage to decency,”
and that he (Mr. Breckinridge) did not purpose to acquiesce in that
action either actively or by silence. In his letter of resignation Mr.
Breckinridge asserted that the investigation of the strike “disclosed
a tale of wrong and outrage, and a use of gangsters and thugs in labor
troubles unparalleled in the history of this country.” On the other
hand, Morris Hillquit, chief counsel for the labor unions involved,
asserted in an interview that “the indictments were based on evidence
furnished by a combination of notorious lawbreakers, who were known
as such to the prosecuting officials.” Mr. Hillquit denounced their
story as “a most clumsy concoction, bearing evidence of deliberate
fabrication.”
After the filing of the charges against him, District Attorney Swann
declared that the charges were actuated by politics. He made a bitter
personal attack upon Mr. Breckenridge, and retaliated later by causing
Mr. Breckinridge to be indicted upon the allegation that he had
received a bribe from manufacturers. On January 14, 1917, the City
Club presented charges to Governor Whitman and asked for District
Attorney Swann’s removal from office. The first charge included Judge
Delahanty’s statements, and declared that District Attorney Swann’s
efforts to procure the dismissal of indictments against labor union men
charged with assault constituted an attempt to perpetrate a fraud on
the Court of General Sessions, and that its object was to pay a Tammany
election debt to East Side labor unionists. The second charge asserted
that by various means Mr. Swann had sought to coerce and intimidate
Mr. Breckinridge, who was a valuable witness into any inquiry into the
charges against the District Attorney.
At this writing (March, 1917), it is not possible to give the outcome
of these charges; the determination of them and the decision are still
to be forthcoming from Governor Whitman when sufficient time shall have
been allowed for adequate inquiry.
By the end of 1916 the municipal administration headed by Mayor John
Purroy Mitchel had been in power for three years with another year to
serve. Usually in past times after a fusion administration had been
in office for a year or two its unwise repressive acts only the more
strengthened Tammany, which always put forth the boast that it was
the real democratic bulwark against aristocratic property rule and
that it was the genuine representative of the masses. On this claim it
generally had succeeded in elections for nearly two decades, returning
a majority of from 75,000 to 100,000 for the Democratic candidates,
especially in State and National elections. In the 1916 election
Tammany was able to give Wilson a plurality of only about 40,000 over
Hughes. To accept the results of any one particular election would be
unsafe. Nevertheless, it would seem to be the case that as compared
with its past Tammany is in a moribund condition; its only large hold,
the decline of which is relieved by but an occasional victory, is in
Manhattan Borough. The population of Manhattan is not growing nearly as
rapidly as some of the other boroughs which at the same time show an
increasing anti-Tammany or Republican tendency.
While Tammany has been clinging to outworn tactics and aims out of
keeping with the rising standards of the times, the anti-Tammany
farces have learned much from the experiences of previous movements.
Likewise they have proved responsive to the broadening currents of the
age. Whatever their minor mistakes they have not regarded New York
City as an object of low political tyranny and brutal spoliation. They
have, in the main, applied constructive ability to administration, and
have evinced a keen sense not merely of the cleanly appearance and
well-ordered functions of the great city but of its architectural and
other aesthetic values as well, as shown by several measures recently
adopted. This is a very different condition from that prevailing during
the times when the city’s affairs were dictated by ignorant politicians
whose sole aim was to enrich themselves quickly and satisfy the
predatory desires of their followers.
The anti-Tammany forces have learned, too, that repression
only nullifies in the popular mind the good effects of other
accomplishments. In the last few years New York City officials have
allowed absolute freedom of speech and freedom of assemblage on the
public streets, designating certain places for the purpose, and
qualifying this liberty only by the salutary proviso that the speakers
be held responsible for any unlawful utterances. An instructively
different attitude, this, from that in days not so long gone by when
assemblages of citizens were forbidden to use streets and were mauled
and clubbed by the police, and when they were prohibited from holding
discussions in public buildings.
Judged by the performances of many exploiting administrations that
have ruled and robbed New York City, Mayor Mitchel’s administration
has been one of wholesome tendencies and accomplishments. Its
opponents have bitterly attacked some of its policies, but however
of a debatable nature these may have been or are, the antagonists of
this administration have not been able to assail it on the score of
endorsed graft and incompetence as has been the case with so many
other city administrations. It is not contended that evils have
entirely disappeared, but at any rate the base, ignoble practices and
the repellant incompetence characteristic of past “boss” rule have
been much supplanted by improved methods, expert judgment, technical
experience, a higher tone, and good spirit.
The police department, so long the special canker, has been placed on
a different basis. A recent report of the Bureau of Social Hygiene,
which has closely investigated that department, does not claim that
graft has been entirely eliminated but it points out that “tremendous
gains have been made.” The “vice ring,” it reports, has been broken
up; the gambling evil has been greatly reduced; organized graft is
no longer the sinister and secure system that it was. “Collusion
between exploiters of vice and officials in the Police Department
has ceased. Petty grafting still occurs. The man on the beat may
take a small bribe to overlook a breach of the law, but protection
can no longer be purchased.” The Committee of Fourteen gives credit
for this transformation largely to the “clean-up” movement started
by Police Commissioner Cropsey under Mayor Gaynor, and continued and
elaborated by Police Commissioner Arthur Woods under Mayor Mitchel’s
administration. Some survivals of old standards still remain,
particularly in the selection of policemen too much for physical
capacity and not enough for technical intelligence as applied to
detective work. From these continuing old standards serious incapacity
has often resulted in the unearthing of crimes.
Had New York City a homogeneous population the movement for a general
elevation of civic standards would have proceeded faster. But New
York City’s conglomerate population with its polyglot diversities has
naturally presented great difficulties in the solid formation of a
unity of understanding and purposes. Nevertheless the progress has
been very considerable. In spreading its educational measures for
the conservation of health, the Health Department of New York City
for example, has obviously encountered serious obstacles, in dealing
with a heterogeneous and in many quarters a congested population.
Yet by intelligent perseverance it has succeeded so well that in
1916, notwithstanding an infantile paralysis epidemic, the death rate
was only 13.82 per 1000--the lowest death rate in New York City’s
history. The notable improvements brought about by these and other
departments attest ever-increasing proficiency. Where formerly the
traditional conception of politics in New York City was one cynically
regarding office as a legitimate means of spoils, graft, corruption and
corporation pillaging, new traditions have been gradually substituted.
The old influences may here and there persist, but they are no longer
accepted by masses of voters as a fixed creed. The stage has been
passed when the open venality of politics can be successfully flaunted;
it is now the subtle influences often seeking surreptitiously to use
government for their own invidious ends that require the watching.
The supporters of Mayor Mitchel’s administration hold that by
eradicating partisan politics it has been able to concentrate its
whole attention upon the one duty of providing efficient government
for the city. They point out, that contrary to the careless methods
of some former administrations, the Mitchel administration has, by
prudent supervision of finances reduced the budget annually by several
million dollars, and yet has made notable extensions in service. They
further call attention to the fact that the Mitchel administration
has put a stop to the ruinous practice of mortgaging the credit of
the city for generations in advance. For the first time, they also
tell, New York City has protested against the old arbitrary practice
of making enormous State appropriations for objects in which New
York City had no share; that as result of this protest the State has
already made partial restitution; and that the program of city relief
in this direction should eventually mean an annual reduction of
$12,000,000 in New York City’s tax burdens. The Mitchel administration
forces emphasize the great increase in the collections from taxes,
assessments, water rates, docks, ferries, subway and miscellaneous
revenue. These are some of the financial improvements enumerated.
In the line of departmental progress Mayor Mitchel’s administration is
credited with a large list of reforms and innovations: The transformed
morale of the Police Department; the efficiency of the Fire Department
in greatly curtailing the number of fires while at the same time that
department has cost $200,000 less a year than formerly; the humanizing
of the activities of the Charities Department and of the correctional
system; the progressive work of the Health, Education and other
departments; the enterprise of the Dock Department in adding seven
miles of wharfage and vast areas of dock space to New York harbor’s
piers. This is but the merest synopsis of the abundant details set
forth showing what Mayor Mitchel’s administration has done.
So attractive is this record that the description may possibly seem
open to the suspicion of being one-sided, if not effusive. Recalling
how often New York City has suffered from flagrant maladministration,
the skeptic may be tempted to regard these attributed deeds as being
too good to be true. Besides, campaign documents are to be scrutinized
not so much for their assertions as for their omissions.
It is true that the great bulk of the accomplishments of Mayor
Mitchel’s administration may be justly claimed by his supporters
as genuine services which are bound to become fixed standards any
overthrow of which will not be easily tolerated by the educated
public. These Administration annalists, however, have not separated
the reforms essentially enduring from those which by their nature are
merely experimental, as, for example, certain educational policies.
But experiments have their distinct value; better that they should be
tried than inertia should prevail.
One of the few specific charges brought against Mayor Mitchel’s
administration is the assertion that a coterie of real estate
speculators has profited unduly by the sale of park sites and other
real estate to the city and State during recent years. In reply the
supporters of Mayor Mitchel’s administration say that the acquisition
of these properties was indispensable to great public improvements
planned; that whatever payments have been made have been paid by the
regularly determined award of the courts; and that there is not the
slightest evidence of collusion on the part of city officials.
Thus far the opponents of Mayor Mitchel’s administration have devoted
much of their energy to attempts at personal onslaughts. This line
of action has called forth the comment that it is because of the
very absence of administrative scandals that the administration’s
adversaries resort to vague personal attacks. From these opponents has
come the persistent innuendo that because of Mayor Mitchel’s occasional
social associations with rich and powerful personages, his official
activities must necessarily be influenced by that contact. It is aptly
pointed out that the hypocrisy and demagogery of such an aspersion may
be properly estimated when it is recalled that the elements mainly
concerned in spreading it have been the identical organized forces
that year after year were the tools of designing men and corporations
that by the adroit use of corrupt politics vested in themselves huge
corporate privileges and powers and enormous wealth.
THE END
INDEX
A
Abolitionist movement, 122-123
Ackerman, Simon, 24
Adams, John, 5
Adams, John Quincy, 5, 61-65, 70-74, 82
Ætna Fire Insurance Co., 97
Ahearn, John F., 316, 324-326
Aldermanic corruption, 81, 98-99, 103, 105, 132-133, 155, 156, 167-171,
181, 197-198, 252, 263-265
Allds, Jotham P., 312
Allen, Stephen, 57, 60, 88, 89, 106
Alley, Saul, 106
Amory, William N., 293, 320-321, 332, 334-335
Andrews, Avery D., 279
Anti-Masonic party, 83, 87
Anti-Monopolists, 103, 109, 113-114, 119
Apollo Hall Democracy, 254
Arcularius, Philip I., 23
Astor, John Jacob, 232
B
Bailey, Benjamin, 88
Baker, Gardiner, 7
Baker, Ray Stannard, 321
Bank of America, 96, 126
Bank of the Metropolis, 64
Bank of the United States (see U. S. Bank)
Banks, abuses of, 13-14, 18, 79, 96-98, 106-107, 114
Bannard, Otto, 341-342
Bar Association, 253, 276, 284, 373
Barker, Isaac O., 179-180
Barker, Jacob, 13, 31, 44, 48, 49, 66, 70-71
Barker, James W., 174
Barnard, George G., 223, 242, 244, 248, 268
“Barnburners,” 140-149, 161
Barnes, William, Jr., 395
Barr, Thomas J., 163, 165, 170
Barrett, George C., 237
Becker, Charles, 356-357, 359-360
Bedell, Louis, 347
Beecher, Henry Ward, 237
Bell, Isaac, Jr., 192
Belmont, August, 230-252, 350-351
Bennet, William M., 338
Bennett, James Gordon, 72, 144
Bermel, Joseph, 329-30
Bensel, John A., 389
Betts, Peter, 96
Biddle, Nicholas, 89
Billings, Rev. H. W., 225
Bingham, John, 24-25
Bingham, Theodore A., 339-340
Binkerd, Robert S., 331
Birney, James G., 137
“Blackbirds,” 186
Blake, George W., 363, 369-370, 377
Bleecker, Anthony J., 179-180
Bloodgood, Abraham, 118
Bloodgood, John M., 118, 125, 144
Blunt, Orison, 205
Bogardus, Cornelius, 165
Bogert, John A., 147
Boole, Francis I. A., 199, 202, 203, 205, 206, 208
Bowne, Walter, 42, 81, 82, 88, 89, 98, 121, 127
Breckinridge, Lucian S., 397-398
Bradley, Gaffney & Steers, 365
Brady, Anthony N., 332, 351, 383, 385-386, 390
Brady, James T., 144, 194
Brady, William V., 141-142
Briggs, John R., 213
Broadway Railroad Co., 263-264
Broadway Surface Railroad Co., 263-264
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co., 378
Broome, John. L., 16, 50, 60
Brown, E. D., 232
Brownell, J. Sherman, 141
Brush, Jacob, 165
Bryan, William J., 281
Bryant, William Cullen, 100, 116
Buchanan, James, 178, 180, 194, 251
Buckmaster, George, 40, 41, 60
Buckley, William H., 343
Bureau of Municipal Research, 325
Bureau of Social Hygiene, 400
Burr, Aaron, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 126
Butler, Benjamin F., 206
Butler, W. O., 143
Byrnes, Thomas F., 316
C
Calhoun, John C., 64
Cambreleng, C. C., 89, 140
Campbell, Allan, 262
Cardozo, Albert, 220, 248
Carroll, John F., 284-298
Cass, Lewis, 87, 143, 157
Cassidy, Edward F., 341-342
Cassidy, Joseph, 330, 386-387
Catholics, feeling against, 30, 134
Cebra, John Y., 95
Chatham Fire Insurance Co., 97
Cheetham, James, 26, 27, 28
Chemical Bank, 96-97
Chittenden, S. B., 197-198
Choate, Joseph H., 240
Church, Sanford E., 252
Cisco, John J., 150
City Club, 278, 291, 303-304, 325, 327, 331
Citizens’ Union, 282, 327
City Reform party, 172-174, 178-180
Civic Alliance, 341
Civil War, 49, 194, 196-197, 306
Cleveland, Grover, 262, 265, 271, 274-275
Clark, Aaron, 109, 110, 118, 120, 144
Clark, William H., 273
Clay, Henry, 82, 137, 157
Clinton, DeWitt, 16, 17-19, 26, 28-30, 31-32, 34, 36, 38-40, 45-48, 52,
54-55, 61, 64, 68, 75, 88
Clinton, George, 2, 17-19, 26
Cochran W. Bourke, 267-273
Cochrane, John, 165, 172, 188
Cockroft, William, 168
Coddington, Jonathan I., 134-135
Cohalan, Daniel F., 353-354, 355, 373-374
Colden, Cadwallader D., 8, 47, 48, 51, 52-53, 60
Coler, Bird S., 304, 316
Commercial Bank, 103
Committee of Seventy, 253, 278
Conkling, Frederick A., 218-219
Conner, William C., 192
Connolly, J. A., 373
Connolly, Richard B., 122, 152, 165, 202, 214-215, 221, 227, 235,
240-241, 244, 248, 249
Conover, Daniel D., 182
Cook, Noah, 119
Coogan, James J., 271
Cooper, Edward, 184, 259, 260
Cornell, Alonzo B., 260, 262
Cornell, William H., 273
Corruption, 77, 96-98, 126, 132-133, 153-154, 167-171, 181-182,
191-192, 197-199, 200, 203, 206-207, 212-213, 219-220, 222-223,
227, 229, 232-233, 238, 239, 241, 263-264, 271-273, 277-278,
288-289, 307-308, 317, 318, 338, 342-350, 358-359, 363-371, 372,
386-387
Coulter, James E., 167
Cram, J. Sergeant, 383-385
Cravath, Paul D., 334
Crawford, William H., 61, 63-64
Creek Indians, 6
Croker, Richard, 226, 255, 263-264, 267-270, 278-282, 284, 287-289, 292,
293, 295-298, 310, 360, 389
Crolius, Clarkson, 86
Cromwell, George, 317
Cullen, Edgar M., 376-377
Cutting, Francis B., 147
D
Darling, William A., 208
Darlington, Thomas, 389
Davies, Thomas E., 168
Davis, Matthew L., 12, 24, 25, 28, 45, 70-71
Davis, William A., 16, 83
Davis, Vernon M., 367
“Dead Rabbits,” 186, 189, 191
Debt, imprisonment for, 94-95
Delaney, John H., 364-365, 368, 383
Delavan, Daniel E., 152
Delahanty, James A., 396-397
Democratic Club, 388
Denniston, Isaac, 51
Devlin, Charles, 182, 204
Dix, John A., 259, 331, 353, 354
Dolan, Thomas, 293
Douglas, Stephen, 195
Dowd, William, 260
Downes, Samuel, 197
Drake, Ellis G., 141
Dunn, Bartholomew, 326, 328, 389
Dunn, Thomas J., 326
Duryea, Stephen C., 152
E
Eckford, Henry, 70, 71
Edson, Franklin, 262, 264, 268
Edwards, Ogden, 89
Eighth Avenue railroad, 167
Einstein, Edwin, 274-275
Elder, Robert, 350
Election frauds, 73-75, 90-91, 114, 118-122, 135, 137, 147, 158-159,
177-180, 191, 195-196, 203-204, 206, 208-209, 218, 220, 275, 276
Election violence, 73-75, 92, 159, 177-180
Ellingwood & Cunningham, 346-347
Ellis, William A., 275
Elkins, William L., 332
Ely, Smith, Jr., 208, 259
Emmett, Thomas Addis, 46
Empire Club, 136-138
Engeman, William A., 349
Equitable Life Assurance Society, 307-308, 334
Equal Rights party, 93-95, 98, 100-102, 105-108, 110-111, 114
Erhardt, Joel B., 271
Erie Canal, 16, 40, 45, 48, 49, 54, 65-68
Erie Railway corruption, 223, 231
Evarts, William M., 237-242
Exchange Bank, 48, 70
F
Fairlie, James, 72
Farley, Terrence, 200
Fassett Committee, 263-264, 272-274
Fassett, J. Sloat, 272
Federalists, 9, 11, 13-14, 16, 25-26, 29, 34-37, 40-41, 44, 45, 47, 49,
61, 109, 114
Fellows, John R., 264
Fenton, Reuben E., 208
Ferguson, John, 38, 39
Fidelity & Casualty Co., 344
Fields, “Tom,” 244
Fillmore, Millard, 80
Fish, Preserved, 101
Fisk, James, Jr., 223, 230
Flack, James A., 271
Flannery, Joseph A., 328
Foley, Charles A., 390
Foley, John, 232, 242
Foley, Thomas F., 389
Fornes, Charles V., 306
Fowler, Isaac V., 146, 165, 190-191, 194
Fowler, John Walker, 195-251
Fox, John, 225, 389
Francis, John W., 4
Franklin, Morris, 134-135
Freedman, Andrew, 296-297
Free Soilers, 161
Fremont, John C., 80
French Revolution, 8, 9
Fulton Bank, 71
G
Gaffney, James E., 302, 310-311, 313, 349, 362, 366-369, 371-372,
385, 389
Gallagher, Ernest, 329-330
“Gangs,” 130-132, 185-186, 267, 299
Gardiner, Asa Bird, 289
Garvey, Andrew J., 216, 221-222, 248-249
Gaynor, William J., 340-341, 349, 356, 378-379, 400
General Railway Signal Co., 394
Genet, E. C., 50
Genet, Harry W., 225, 226, 244
George, Henry, 269, 270, 282
George, Henry, Jr., 282
Gibbs, Frederick S., 262
Gilbert, Garrit, 103
Gilroy, Thomas F., 267, 274, 275
Glynn, Martin, 388-392
Goff, John W., 276
Goodsell, Louis F., 347
Gorham, Daniel, 114
Gould, Jay, 223
Grace, William R., 260-261, 262
Grady, Thomas F., 343-4, 349
Grant, Hugh J., 262-264, 265, 267-269, 271-272, 274, 278
Grant, U. S., 218, 256
Greeley, Horace, 115, 117, 188, 254
Green, Andrew H., 241, 248
Green, Duff, 87
Greene, Francis V., 304
Gresser, Lawrence, 316, 330-331
Grinnell, Moses H., 119
Griswold, John A., 217
Grout, Edward M., 306
Gumbleton, Henry A., 260
Gunther, C. Godfrey, 189, 201, 205, 208, 252
Guthrie, W. D., 328, 373
H
Hadfelt, Richard, 36
Haff, John P., 13, 51, 60
Haffen, Louis F., 294, 297, 298, 316, 326-329
Hackett, John K., 204
Hackley, Andrew J., 198
Hagan, James J., 363
Haight, D. H., 168
Hall, A. Oakey, 216, 218, 224, 227, 230, 239, 240-242
Halleck, Fritz Greene, 11
Hallett, William Paxen, 95, 124-125
Hamilton, Alexander, 2, 3, 14, 19, 66
Hamilton, Andrew, 308, 381
Hammond, Judah, 1, 10
Hancock, Winfield S., 260
Hanford, Benjamin, 295
Hanger, Harry B., 366
“Hardshells,” 161-165, 173, 174-175
Harlem Railroad, 99, 103, 123
Harper, James, 134-136
Harrison, William Henry, 129-130
Hart, Emanuel B., 141, 184
Haskell, Job, 104, 114
Havemeyer, William F., 138-139, 140, 142, 152, 192-193, 237, 239, 241,
252, 254, 255, 256, 261, 279
Hayes, Jacob, 13
Hearst, George, 309
Hearst, William R., 309, 322-323, 341-342
Hennessy, John A., 363-365, 369, 377, 382-386
Herrick, John J., 174-175
Hewitt, Abram S., 268-271, 273
Hill, David B., 275
Hillquit, Morris, 397
Hoffman, John T., 208, 216-218, 224, 230, 250
Hoffman, Josiah Ogden, 7
Holmes, Silas, 96
Home Insurance Co., 343
Hone, Philip, 69
Hotchkiss, William H., 342-347
Houston, Sam, 141
Hoyt, Gould, 41
Hoyt, Jesse, 106, 124
Hubbard, Ruggles, 50, 60
“Huckleberry” railroads franchises, 280
Hudson Insurance Co., 98
Hughes, Charles E., 323, 326-331, 334, 346, 347, 398
Humbert, Jonas, 23, 24, 25, 60
“Hunkers,” 140-149, 159, 161
Hunn, John S., 44
Hunt, Wilson G., 174-175
Hyde, Charles H., 348-349
I
Ice Trust, 286
Immigration, 134, 154-155, 209
Immigrants, marshalling in politics, 128-129, 151, 188, 209, 217
Ingersoll, James H., 214-215, 221, 238
Interstate Commerce Commission, 315-318
Interborough Rapid Transit Co., 378-380, 393
Ireland, W. H., 72, 89
Irish, prejudice against, 30, 45
Irish, mob Tammany Hall, 46
Irving Hall, 226
“Irving Hall Democracy,” 258, 260-262, 274
Irving, “Jimmy,” 244
Ives, Henry S., 272
Ivins, William M., 322-323
J
Jaehne, Henry W., 264
Jackson, Andrew, 5, 52, 61-65, 70, 73-76, 80, 85-89, 90-91, 115, 123, 188
Jacques, Moses, 94, 106, 110
Jefferson, Thomas, 4, 5, 9, 15, 116, 188
Jerome, William Travers, 291-292, 294, 319-322, 331-335
Johnson, Sidney G., 394
Judah, Naphtali, 51, 60
K
Keating, James P., 272
Kelly, John, 215, 218-219, 250-257, 258-261, 267, 268
Kendall, George H., 372
Kennedy, John J., 389-390
Kennedy, William D., 196
King, Charles, 41
Kingsland, Ambrose C., 152
Kingsley, Darwin P., 345
Kipp, Solomon, 167
Knights of Labor, 269
Know-Nothings (see also Native Americans), 174, 191
L
Laimbeer, Francis E., 287
Lawrence, Abraham R., 254
Lawrence, Cornelius W., 92, 102
Lawrence, John L., 72
Ledwith, Thomas W., 229-230
Lee, Gideon, 101
Legislative corruption, 77, 96-98, 103-104, 200, 222-223, 227, 244,
342-350, 352, 372
Leggett, William, 100, 110, 116, 122, 123
Lexow, Clarence, 276
Lewis, Morgan, 18
Liberal Republicans, 253
Libby, James S., 177, 179-180
Life & Fire Insurance Co., 71
Lincoln, Abraham, 196, 206
Livingston, Edward, 9, 16
Livingston family, 30
Locofocos, 102, 108, 115
Loew, Charles E., 206-207
Long Sault Development Co., 377
Lovejoy, Reuben, 170
Low, Seth, 282, 290, 294-295, 302, 303-306
Lowber, Robert W., 181
Lotteries, 51, 52
Lynch, John R., 213
Lyons Beet Sugar Refining Co., 352
M
McAneny, George, 382
McCall, Edward E., 345, 362, 371, 380-382, 385, 388, 392-394
McCall, John A., 380-383
McCarren, Patrick H., 317, 339, 349, 351
McCann, Patrick H., 263, 268
McClave, John, 278
McClellan, Gen. George B., 206
McClellan, George B., 305, 316-317, 322-325, 327, 338-340
McCullough, John, 285
McGillivray, Alexander, 6
McGowan, Patrick F., 316, 317
McKane, John Y., 340
“McKeon Democracy,” 205, 208
McKeon, John, 141, 152, 184
McLaughlin, Hugh, 306
McLean, George W., 221
McMahon, Daniel F., 297
McQuade, Arthur J., 264
McQuade, John, 282
Mack, Norman E., 383
Madison, James, 5, 32, 33
Manhattan Bank, 13, 14, 18, 37, 126-127
Manning, John J., 147
Marcy, William L., 91, 119
Martin, Bernard F., 272
Martin, James J., 278
Martling, Abraham, 11
Mason, Daniel, 334
Maxwell, Hugh, 36
Mazet Committee, 280, 284-286
Mechanics’ Fire Insurance Co., 71
Medical Science lottery swindle, 51
Mellen, Charles S., 314-318
Merchants’ Bank, 96, 100
Merritt, Henry W., 125
Metcalfe, Luke, 96
Metropolitan Securities Co., 332
Metropolitan Street Railway Co., 293-294, 319, 320, 333-334, 348
Metz, Herman A., 317, 338
Mickle, Andrew H., 139, 147, 152
Ming, Alexander Jr., 114
Mitchel, John Purroy, 322, 326, 382, 388, 398-403
Monroe, James, 5, 39, 49, 51, 83
Montgomery, General, 52
Mooney, William, 1, 12, 24, 25, 34, 52, 87
Morgan, Edwin D., 27
Morgan, John J., 110
Morgan, J. Pierpont, 351
Morgan, J. P. & Co., 314-315
Morgans, Morgan, 160
Morris Canal & Banking Co., 71
Morris, Robert H., 127, 130, 132, 134
Morrissey, John, 225, 250, 252, 255
Morse, Samuel F. B., 130
Morss, John, 89
Moss, Frank, 279, 287
Mozart Hall, 188, 190, 196, 198, 200-205, 208, 219
Municipal Ownership League, 309, 322
Municipal Taxpayers’ Association, 253
Murphy, Charles F., 297-298, 299-303, 306, 310-311, 317, 322, 324, 326,
338-340, 344, 349, 351, 353, 355, 356, 360-364, 369-373, 375-376,
378, 382-386, 388-389, 395
Murphy, John J., 301, 310
Murphy, John M., 366
Mutual Life Insurance Co., 307
N
Nast, Thomas, 235, 239
National Republican party, 85-86;
election frauds, 90-91
Native American party, 103, 108, 121, 128, 134-135, 138, 139, 142, 155,
174-175, 179, 187, 191
Naughton & Co., 297
Nestell, Christian, 24
Newcomb, Colin G., 127
New York Contracting & Trucking Co., 302, 309-312, 314, 318
New York County Democracy, 261-262, 269, 274
New York Life Insurance Co., 307-308, 346, 381
New York Municipal Railway Corporation, 393
New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co., 312-318
New York & Portchester Railroad, 312-318
New York Stock Exchange, 377
New York, Westchester & Boston Railroad Co., 312-318
New York, Westchester & Connecticut Traction Co., 332
Nicholl, Francis S., 63
Ninth Avenue Railroad, 167
Nixon, Lewis, 292, 295-296
Noah, M. M., 47, 60-62, 66, 75, 80, 88, 89, 123, 147
Norton “Mike,” 225, 244
O
O’Brien, James, 225, 238, 254, 268
O’Brien, John J., 262
O’Conor, Charles, 147, 242, 252
O’Gorman, James A., 353-354
Ogden, Henry, 123
O’Neil, “Honest” John, 264
Opdyke, George P., 170, 192-193, 201
Ordway, Samuel H., 330-331
O’Rourke, Matthew, 237-238, 248
Osborne, James W., 319-320, 365, 389
Owego Lottery, 51
Owen, Robert, 78
Owen, Robert Dale, 78-79
P
Page, William H., Jr., 334
Page, Samuel L., Jr., 24
Panics, 109, 117, 186-187
Parkhurst, Charles H., 278
Parton, James, 117
Partridge, John N., 303-304
Paulding, William, Jr., 47, 60, 69, 127
Parker, Andrew D., 279
Patterson & Co., 366
Peaconic Co., 101
Peck, Duncan W., 390
Peckham, Wheeler H., 242
Pendleton, Nathaniel, 19
Penn, William, 2
People’s Gas Light Co., 206
People’s Municipal League, 274
People’s Traction Co., 332
Perkins, James, 98, 179
Phelps, William Walter, 237
Philbin, Eugene A., 289-291
Phoenix Insurance Co., 342-345
Phoenix, J. Philips, 129
Pierce, Franklin, 157, 159, 194
Pierson, Isaac, 13
Pierrepont, Edwards, 240
Pintard, John, 7
Platt, Thomas C., 288, 305
Plunkett, George W., 383, 385, 389
Polk, James K., 136-137, 141
Populist party, 275
Porter, Peter B., 45, 46
Potter, Henry C., 289
Prendergast, William A., 382
Price, William M., 124
Prince, Benjamin, 41, 60
Prohibitionists, 275
Progressive party, 371, 396
Public Service Commission, 333, 379-380, 388, 392-394
Purdy, Elijah F., 122, 141, 146, 152, 163, 165, 168, 184, 192, 197
Purser, George H., 206
Q
Queens’ Borough Property Owners’ Ass’n, 329
Quincy, Josiah, 179
Quigg, Lemuel Eli, 333
R
Radcliff, Jacob, 29, 36, 39, 41, 42, 47
Raines, John, 352
Ramapo Water Company, 286
Rathbone, William P., 71
Reel, C. Gordon, 362, 365, 371, 390
Republicans, 161, 187, 191, 212, 217-218, 229-230, 243, 256, 262, 275,
282, 306-308, 346, 351-352, 382, 394-396
Revolution, American, 1, 3, 82
Reynolds, William B., 171
Riker, Richard, 15, 36
Ringgold, Benjamin, 107-108
Riots, 109, 131-132, 162, 182, 184, 185, 191
Roberts, Marshall O., 208, 231
Robinson, Lucius, 259-260
Roche, Walter, 213
Rogers, G. Tracy, 346-348
Rogers, H. H., 351
Romaine, Benjamin, 13, 22, 23, 25, 33, 34, 61, 72
Romaine, Samuel B., 77
Roosevelt, Robert B., 240
Roosevelt, J. J., 95
Roosevelt, Theodore, 270, 279, 285, 289, 395
Rosenthal, Herman, 256-257
Russell, Charles E., 382, 388
Russell, William Hepburn, 302
Rutgers, Col., 42
Ryan, Allan, 383-384, 390
Ryan, Thomas F., 293, 332-334, 353, 383-384
Rynders, Isaiah, 136, 138, 157, 195
S
Sanford, Nathan, 33
Savage, J. Y., 176-177
Schell, Augustus, 252-259
Schell, Edward, 232
Schureman, Nicholas, 70
Scott, Francis M., 274
Shandley, Edward J., 233
Seagrist, Nicholas, 188
Seaver, Joel P., 101
Selden, Dudley, 90, 138
Seventh Ward Bank, 97, 123, 124, 179
Seward, George F., 344-345
Seward, William H., 119
Seymour, Horatio, 152, 204, 216, 218, 230, 252
Sharp, George, 99
Sharp, Jacob, 168, 169
Sharpe, John, 44
Sharpe, Peter, 72, 77, 89
Shaw, James G., 367
Sheehan, John C., 278, 280, 281, 297
Sheehan, William F., 353
Shepard, Edward M., 290-295
Shepard, Lorenzo B., 141, 290, 295
Shonts, Theodore, 379-380
Sickles, Daniel E., 144, 158, 189
Single-Taxers, 269
Skidmore, Burtis, 168
Skidmore, William E., 114
Slamm, Levi D., 94-110
Slavery, Tammany’s support of, 143-148
Small, Wilson, 176-183
Smith, Alfred E., 396
Smith, Isaac L., 106
Smith, Morgan L., 107-108
Smith, Robert, 133
Smith, Thomas, 389
Smith, Thomas R., 81
Smythe, John F. B., 272
Socialist Labor party, 306
Socialists, 269, 275, 382, 384
“Softshells,” 161-165, 173, 174-175
Spencer, Mark, 71
Stagg, Abraham, 24, 25, 72, 77
Stagg, Peter, 72
State Bank, 107
Stayner, George H., 272
Stevens, John F., 379-380
Stewart, James C., 367, 383
Stilwell, Silas M., 80
Stilwell, Stephen J., 352, 372, 378
Stoneall, James C., 107
Strahan, Edward, 141
Straus, Nathan, 278
Strong, Roger, 41, 60
Strong, William L., 278-279
Sulzer, William, 360-373, 375-378, 381-385, 388, 390, 392
Sullivan, “Big Tim,” 315, 344-345
Sullivan, “Little Tim,” 311
Swann, Edward, 396-398
Swartwout, John 13, 18, 19, 33, 44
Swartwout, Robert, 13, 16, 33, 63, 97, 118
Swartwout, Samuel, 63, 76, 103, 106, 123-124
Sweeny, Peter B., 151, 176-177, 184, 214-215, 224, 247
T
Taintor, Henry F., 248
Tammany election frauds, 73-75, 90-91, 120, 135, 137, 154, 158, 159, etc.
Tammany Hall, violence in, 63, 113-114, 131, 138, 158, 161-162, 177, 189
Tammany leaders, frauds of, 23-26, 50-51, 70-71, 123-124, 126-127, 152,
167-171, 182, 194-195, 221-249, 263-264, 272-273, 325-329, 389
Tammany sachems in elections, 114-115, 162-165, 183-185, 189-190, 225
Tallmadge, Nathaniel P., 87
Tappan, Lewis, 123
Taylor, Douglas, 184-194
Taylor, Gen., 143
Taylor, James B., 168-170
Taylor, Joseph S., 182
Third Avenue surface railway franchise, 167-168
Thompson, Jonathan, 126-127
Thorne, Oakley, 314-315
Tibbits, Elisha, 95
Tiemann, Daniel F., 181, 187, 188, 192
Tilden, Samuel J., 140, 184, 227, 242, 245, 252, 256, 259
Todd, William, 64, 72
Tompkins, Daniel D., 15, 22, 39, 45, 53-54, 96
Tompkins, Minthorne, 140
Tories, 2, 3
Tradesmen’s Bank, 71
Tracy, Benjamin F., 282
Travis, Eugene M., 350
Tucker, Gideon J., 195
Tweed, Richard M., 246
Tweed, William M., 151, 156, 167-168, 191-192, 209-210, 211-224, 225-236,
239-247, 255, 259, 265, 281, 310, 318
Tyler, John, 137
U
Ulshoeffer, Michael, 77
Unionist Club, 137
United Labor party, 270, 271
United States Bank, 71, 84, 86, 89-92, 112-114
Untermeyer, Samuel, 334
V
Valentine, Abraham M., 31
Van Buren, Martin, 13, 72, 87, 88, 108, 112-114, 115, 124, 129, 130,
143, 205
Vanderbilt, William K., 351
Vanderpoel, Judge, 129
Van Ness, John, 13, 63
Van Ness, William P., 13, 15, 19, 65-66
Van Wyck, Robert C., 282, 286, 289, 295, 301
Van Schaick, Myndert, 144, 148
Van Tuyl, George C., 354
Varian, Isaac L., 102, 105, 118, 120, 121, 123, 129
Vermilyea, Thomas, 71
Verplanck, Gulian C., 36, 89, 90, 92
Viaduct Railroad, 231
Voorhis, Peter R., 191
Vreeland, H. H., 347-348
W
Wales, Salem H., 256
Waldron, William J., 97
Wall & Cortland St. Ferries Railroad, 332, 334
Wallach, W. D., 145
Walsh, “Mike,” 130-131, 144, 157, 251
War of 1812, 32-34, 35, 49
Ward, Jasper, 97
Waring, George E., Jr., 279
Warner, Cornelius, 23
Washington, George, 5, 6, 9, 10
Waterbury, Nelson J., 165, 190, 195-196
Webb, James Watson, 80, 87, 89
Weed, Thurlow, 98
Webster, Daniel, 188
Wendover, Peter, 61
Westervelt, Jacob A., 159-160
Western, Henry M., 146, 160
Wetmore, Prosper M., 107-108
Wetmore, Robert C., 119
Whig frauds, 108, 118-122, 154
Whigs, 92, 101, 103, 108-110, 114, 117-122, 128-129, 133-134, 137-139,
155, 159, 160, 171, 179, 211
White, Campbell P., 126
Whiting, James R., 125, 179
Whitman Charles S., 357, 359, 367, 387, 389, 392, 394, 396, 398
Whitney, William C., 293, 332, 351
Wickham, William H., 256
Widener, P. A. S., 293, 332, 351
Willett, Marinus, 6, 73
Willett, William, Jr., 386-387
Williams, George V. S., 394
Williams, Talcott, 184
Wilson, Woodrow, 398
Women’s Municipal League, 291
Wood, Fernando, 122, 146, 148, 149, 150-152, 159, 165, 174-180, 181-193,
196-205, 208-209, 219, 220
Woodford, Stewart, L., 230
Woodhull, Caleb S., 144
Woodruff, Thomas T., 86
Woods, Arthur, 400
Wortman, Tennis, 15, 25, 41, 51, 60
Y
“Young Democracy,” 225-226, 238
Young, George W., 379
Z
Zimmerlin, Henry F., 352