CHAPTER XXXVII

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