William
Tweed was born in New York in 1823. A
chairmaker he eventually became involved in politics and served as
a alderman (1852-53) and as a congressman (1853-55). A member of the
powerful Tammany Society, by 1865 Tweed
and his three loyal companions, Peter Sweeney, Richard Connolly and
Oakley Hall, ruled New York like despots.
In 1870 Tweed was appointed as commissioner of public works in New
York. This enabled Tweed to carry out wholesale corruption. For
example, he purchased 300 benches for $5 each and resold them to the
city for $600. Tweed also organised the building of City Hall Park.
Originally estimated to cost $350,000, by the time it was finished,
expenditure had reached $13,000,000.
Information about Tweed's corrupt activities were passed to Thomas
Nast, a cartoonist working for Harper's
Weekly. Nast now began a campaign to expose Tweed's
corruption. Tweed was furious and told the editor: "I don't care
a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don't know how
to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures."
Pressure was put on Harper Brothers, the company that produced the
magazine, and when it refused to sack Thomas
Nast, the company lost the contract to provide New York schools
with books. Nast himself was offered a $500,000 bribe to end his campaign.
This was hundred times the salary of $5,000 that the magazine paid
him but Nast still refused to back-down.
On 21st July, the New York Times
published the contents of the New York County ledger books. This revealed
that thermometers were costing $7,500 and brooms were being charged
at a staggering $41,190 apiece. Tweed's friends were commissioned
to do the work. George Miller, a carpenter, was paid $360,747 for
a month's labour, whereas James Ingersoll received $5,691,144 for
furniture and carpets.
In 1871 Samuel Tilden established a committee
to look into Tweed's activities. Other prominent political figures
in New York such as Joseph
Seligman and Richard Croker now became
involved in the campaign against Tweed. Jimmy O'Brien, the sheriff
of New York, believed Tweed was not paying him enough money for his
services. Disgruntled, he passed documents to Tilden's committee.
Tweed was arrested and found guilty of corruption, was sentenced to
12 years in jail. Tweed, who had made an estimated $200,000,000 from
his activities, was able to use his wealth to escape from prison.
Tweed fled to Cuba, before moving on to Spain. An American in Spain
recognised Tweed from one of Nast's cartoons that he had. He used
the cartoon to convince the authorities and Tweed was arrested and
sent back to the United States. William Tweed died in prison in 1878.
Thomas Nast, The Arrest of Boss Tweed,
(Harper's Weekly, 1871)
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