The New York Herald Newspaper, September 18, 1874, Page 4

my fdlayor Havemeyer's Charges Against the Tammany Sachem. 1” JOWN KELLY. —_—_—- . “KELLY WORSE THAN TWEED” What Our Municipal Fossil Knows About Fraud. Career of Sheriif Kelly Reviewed. ‘The Pictures of Tammany Tricks and Management How Kelly Libelled the) Irish Race. FRAUDULENT FEES FOR EXECUTIONS ‘You Are Sunk to the Lowest | Depths of Disgrace.” | Sary for me to speak of Morrissey. NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1874.—TRIPLE SHEET, | to aid in its destruction ts the principal object | Croker,” Here I deem tt proper — that I have in this letier. | vo state to the bearer hereof, tor the information of any who may be iguorant of the fact, THAT | HAVE BEEN FROM EARLY YOUTH A DEMO- | ORAT. William Leggets was my schoolmate and during all bis life my intimate friend. | unequalied brilliancy and vigor in the Bvening Post | and the Plaindealer, I was an earn jupporter | of those great leaders of the democracy o/ this State, Silas Wright, Samuel Young and Michael | Hoffuian, Those convictions are unchanged. Yet | Lhave never knowingly voted for any Gemocrat | who failed to sustain his country in the war for the Union or who bas been in the least connected with public robbery. As i was elected to my pres- | ent term of office by ciuzens of all partion, a large | majority of whom are republicans, I have endeav- ored in my appointments to office, while never in- tentionaily appointing a vad man, to be fair and Just to all sides; THEREFORE I APPOINTED CROKER FOR YOU | and other men onwarious recommendations. If have lailed to give general satisfaction the fault has veen in my head and not to my Leart. This ts | alll shall say im reference to my own political views, Democrat as | am, I cannot see that there ig any more virtue in the so-called Tammany or- ganization now than there has been at any ume within the last, say twenty years. Fortunately tts | | power tor evil is less, because it has buta slight | | control over our local government, If our people | are wise it will never—while under its present con- | trol, at least—have any more. | THE TAMMANY MACHINERY. chinery to be able to say Whetner it is true, as 1s alleged, that it consists IN KEALITY ONLY OF MORRISSEY AND YOURSELF. Intelligent men appear, however, to agree in the opinion that you two control absolutely. 1 | suppOse the bulk of its members consist of oMce- holders or seekers, Who are held by fear, Javor or expectation, reiniorced by @ few respectable men Oi Strong political sympathies, Tt certainiy must be sad to old-fashioned demo- | crats to see their great party in this great city coutrolled by you and Morrissey. It is Dot neces- In the yeport of an interview with you, preteutiously parfed a day or two since 1p one of the daily papers, you speak of efforts to reduce the democratic party to ‘THE LEVEL OF A BACCHANALIAN PESTHOUSE.'? Except as a public officer | nave little iniormation in respect to piaces of that character; bu! it seems to me that if there be any that your words describe exactiy, Morrissey’s gambiing houses must be among them, It is reported that you are ashamed Of bis association, or ratier, 1 presume, you dread | that mis repatation may be ‘injurious to your own | schemes. Yet Mornissey 1s commonly understood FALSE STATISTICS OF CRIME. John Kelly Gives a Sample of His Reply. Last night the Mayor resolved to give his long- promised letter im reference to the charges against John Kelly to the press. Various reasons have been assigned jor withholding it until to-day. That which found the readiest acceptance wag that the Mayor did not wish to diminish, by 118 publication, the chances of Mr. Tilden’s nomina- tion for Governor. The letter will be found to contain many serious charges against ex-Sheriff Kelly—charges that affect his honesty as a public man and his moral fitness as a political leader. Statistics, which the Mayor alleges are careiully prepared, and the correctness of which, he says, may be relied upon, show false returns for the purpose of obtaining unearned fees. The lan- @uage selected by His Honor is plain and una- dorned, bearing in no instance any doubt as to his meaning. It is significant that the Mayor ac- knowledges he has made many mistakes, THE MAYOR'S LE’ Mayor's OFFICE, NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 1374, To JonN KeLiy :— Sik—Un the 29th of June last a letter by you ad. | dressed tome was published in the dally papers of this city. You afterwards made and procured to be made various charges against me to the Governor of the State m the hope of procurmg my removal from the office of Mayor. In my answer to your charges I stated to the Governor that the necessity of confining it to the record presented by my assailants had ‘imposed upon me @ con- Btraint which, at some not very distant date, I Might think it suitable to break.” I had your let- terin my mind when | made that statement, and Inow propose to answer it, As your better was a mere personal paper I shall exercise some latitude of reiereuce and comment in the consideration 1 shall give it. Your letter nas never been delivered to me. You will not assume, however, that I take any exception to its transmission to me through the public press. On the contrary I rejoice that you sent to me an open letter by a messenger of such power. I mention the fact merely to explain why I return an answer through the same channel. In my answer I shall include many facts, which Iam desirous that the bearer of your letter should know and communicate to the great public which is behind all of us. I trust you will receive my answer with the same equani- mity with which 1 perused your letter. Beyond that I make no compiaint against the newspapers, Sometimes I have thought that they were rather hard upon me; but I remember that when a Schoolboy I wrote from a copy, “Many men of many minds,” and I do not expect all men to look at matters turough my eyes. Indeed, the pressure of my official duties upon me has been so great that Ihave been able to read but little of What the newspapers have said about me. 1 re- main in ignorance doubtless of many raps that they have given to me, perhaps deservedly. THE MAYOR'S MISTAKES, Tam not ignorant, however, thatthe criticisms of the press upon me have been mainly basea upon my appolutments to office. I srankly admit (by way of parenthesis, not to you but to the bearer ofyour letter) that Lhave made some mistakes in that respect. I do not claim to be perlect, and there may be some ground for the accusation that I sometimes give too much creden*e to represen- tations of persons in whom I confide. Indeed I Know that such is the jact, and I am going to prove it. I premise, however, that I do not claim that ail of my mistakes were, based upon false Tepresentations, but acknowledge that some of them were errors of my own, MARSHAL RICHARD CROKER. The first appointment of mine that was received ‘with pubitc disfavor was that of Richard Croker to bea marshal. Alter lentered upon the duties of my oMee you were among the first who called upon me to solicit patronage. You asked me to appoint Croker, and you were warm in his commendation. Idid not suppose from your re- marks that he was a member of any church, but I did assume that he was a young man whose Merits had failed to receive full appreciation and ‘Whose appointment would secure to the public an excellent servant. sons why, in ignorance ot your real character, I Was desirous to oblige you. When Croker’s ap- pointment was announced I was overwhelmed by atorrent of pubiic indignation. That uniortu- hate act, indeed, into which Iwas betrayed by you was the keynote to the attacks which were subsequently made. I| ascertained that, instead of being a man of uprightness and peace (witch above all things else @ marshal should be), Croker was one whose career had been notorious for violence and disnone liearned that he was first brought forward by James U'Brien, with whom be quarrelied; that be then attached bimselt to Wiliam M. Tweed, to whom he was as devoted as he now is to you; tnat upon the downiall of Tweed he sought your pa- tronage; that in the desperate rivairy between you ana ‘U’rien trol of the Eighteenth Assembly district, you wel- comed him to your favor by reason of the infu. ace he was reported to have wito the rough and Vicious portion of the inhabitants on the easterly vide of that district. | also became fully satisfied hat Croker was the leader of a body of men who ad been frequently engaged in acts ol violence ind fraud, both at primary and general elections in this city and in Long Island City. In a word, fustead of being a ft man for the office for which . appoinved hit he was one of the last who should have been considered, 1), as | said, I sometimes }ystem too readily to a man of only pretended onesty, | never, after I discover my error, repeat my confidence, | saw (hat you had deceived me, mn’ 1 never trusted you uiterward; hence your erty. % yov axp sonx MORRISSEY."? yonr enmity has not been merely that of an i. Viduat, You and Jonn Morrissey have been a p. oer im this community, and your joint eftorts uve placed judges apon the benon and otner men in offices of more Or less \wportance, all of whom you claim to own—falseiy, | trust; at least, as far us the judges are concerned. ‘This combination of stronage and @ supposed ability to distribute ore, ' reat power to accomplish results, ‘Ibis | have had opportuni:y to observe in respect to my own case, It 18 @ power dangerous to the pubic wei. gare, To guard my Jellow Citizens against i, aud And there were especia! rea- | , Involving &@ contest fortne con. | et to come, have given to youand Morrts- | amount both of money and brains. The amount | neds reported to have gained this summer in Sara- | toga in his gambling house and’ at the racecourse 1s almost labulous. 1t was doubtiess large, and gives confidence among eager Classes to the belef | to contribute to the paituerslip a much greater | that your partnership wili have abundant pecuniary means or the all election. AS to the shame of the association, however, | Lapprehend that Morrissey, alter he reads this ievter, will be of the opinion that it should pe on his part, even ti he does not instantaneously dis- solve the partnersiip. I express this veliel b cause lum going not only to charge but to prove, beyond any possibility of doubt, that YOU ARE ONE OF THE MOST CONSUMMATE HYPO CRITES that the people of this city have ever had in tneir midst. When Iwas a young man I jrequently heard 0! an allusion by @ great orator to the politi- cal co-operation of two eminent statesmen as a Coa ition between ‘the Puritan and the black.eg.’? All the parties to that controversy are dead, but in the present decadence of public virtue any one of them Would be hatled a8 a paragon. ‘ihat ex- pression was the mere outburst of a political ue- vate, aud did no injury to the objects of it. But the Combination between you and Morrissey to Tule tas city with absolute power will ba so clearly shown, by an iron-clad statement of figures and iacts, to be the alliance of a gambler and a hypocrite that every reader will perceive at once 1's danger and its disgrace to our city. Yet knowing, as you do, What you and Morrissey are, in the interview I nave relerred to above you stated, with an audacity born of alow beginning, | raised to undue elevation, that yours and Morris- | sey’s is “the only reiorm party in existence nere | to-day!? ‘This statement in reference to Mor: ise sey and you wili suMciently introauce the expo- sure | am about to make Of the means to which you have resorted in atd of your schemes to ovtain politcal power. | THE HONESTY OF KELLY. In your letter to me you discourse of honesty, anu especially in respect to elections, a8 though you were a purist, It would be well il, even now, you were really in favor of honest elections; but When did you become su? Upon your first election to (ongress, if { remember correctly, you were returned over Mike Walsh by less thaa a dozen majority, and in your secona election as Sheriff you were returned over Judge Counolly by a smali majority. In each case there were loud cuarges that you had veen counted in by iraud. 1 do not say that such charges Were truly made. 1 only reier lo them as showing your reputation. Perhaps this letter may lead to proor o1 their truth, Insiead Of dealing with electious heid so long ago 1 propose to show that yonr action now is incon- sistent with your proiessions, ‘The first object of the c. mbination controlied by you and Morri-sey being to obtain political ,ower, by whatever means, it became of prime importance to you to procure the appoitment of your tools as | ims pevtcrs of elections. | ALLEGED EFFRONTERY. | Here let me observe that nothing can be more absurd than your impudent claim that you and Morrissey have an absolute right to name one-nalf of the inspectors and poll cierks, The law says that one-fall shall be of each of the two political parties, but 1t does not give to your nor any other pohtical frm or clique the right to name any. It makes it the duty o{ the Police Commissioners to appoint all of them. The late Board unwisely ac- ceded to your demand, and thence came all their troubles. | THE GARDNER-CHARLICK IMBROGLIO. Men of notoreusiy baa Character, and the Board were compeiled by their duty to remove them, | One of your inspectors Was a man named John | Sheridan, who was appointed for the Twenty-third Election district of the Eighteenth Assembly dis- trict. Tne day before the election two aftidavits | were presented to the Commissioners of Police showing that Sheridan had avowed his participa- ton in previous election frauds and declares that he would repeat them, The duty of the Commis- sioners to remove such @ man is clear. Ip your letter to me you altempt to impugn the amMidavits upon which the removal was made. But I am in- jormed from trustworthy sources tbat Sheriaan | was the irtend of your Lieutenant, Croker, whom 1 | appointed on your recommendation as Marshal, | and his dsséclate im dishonesty and violeuce at primary and general elections. A DETECTIVE’S AFFIDAVIT. Besides the affidavits on whjch the Commission- rs acted I have the affidavit of a detective that he has seen Sheridan travelling from poil to poil on élection days in the company Of a gang ot re- eaters, and that his reputation is bad; also the afidavit of a gentleman who served with Suer- idan as aD ipspector in 1872 and also In 1573 until he was removed. He states that the conduct of Sheridan as an inspector was improper and dis- honest; that he proposed that the maker oi the aMiuavit should allow him to cheat in favor of your man Croker as a candidate for Coroner and be would cheat in favor of auother candidate jor his associate, and that the maker of the aMdavit threatened Sheridan witu ar- rest and went to the Bureau of Elections and represented that he was an improper man | tor tnspector, More than that, I have an attidavit | showing that one Pickwell was arrested for as- saultivg @ man in @ railroad car and robbing him of his Watch, Jor which offence he was indicted ; that Sheridan was with Pickwell, and that the same Croker ;ou had appointec as Marshal be- came one of the bondsmen on the arrest. It must be plain to any one who reads this statement that Sheridan was not a maa who should have been aliowed to remain a day in office alter his charuc- ver became known. The Police Commissioners re- moved him, but, acting unuer the advice oi coun- | sel that they had power to do 80, they omitted to | give lim notice that they were about to remove him. For that omission you Worked incessantly until you procared the indictment of two of the Commissioners. THE PURITY OF RLECTIONS, | Betore I discuss the proceedings upon that in- dictment I wish to state that this man Sheridan is billeted upon the pubitc treasury as an employé in the Sixth District Court, and while you are pranng in hetters and interviews of the purity of elections and honest government he, corrupt a8 he 13, 1s anoficer of a court! To secure success in your prosecution of two of the Police Commissioners, jor omitting, Under legal advice, a mere formality in the periormance of an imperative public duty, you deemed it necessary to have the District At+ Torney of this county debarred from the prosecu- tion, In your letter to me you seem to justly your course in this respect upon two grounds— first, that the DistAct Attorney lad trie@and con- Vicred one Dennis Hogan, for fraudulently serving 4s an inspector of election, betore bringing on the Irlal Of other indictments; and, second, that the let Attorney bad nls own opinion as to the DED As to the case of Dennis Hogan, you say he was &@ Tammany man, evigently intending that it should beinierred that that was the reason he Was tried. I am unable to see, as he Was un- doubtedly guiity, why his politics should have | saved him. You' complain that the District At- torney “pushed on’ tis trial, and almost in the | next Sentence add that the law makes it his duty to try “election cases in preference to ali others.’ | What excnse do you make for Hogan’s ofence? | That ne acted under tne advice oan “ignorant lawyer.” But you could see no excuse for ine Police Commissioners, although their offence was merely technical, and they acted under the advice of good counsel. Beautilul consistency | WILLIAM CONKLID | Iwillstate the facts of Hogan's case, One of | your Tammany inapectors, appointed for the Twelfth Election district of the Eighteenth Assem- bly district, Was@man by the name of William Conkiing), and it must be remembered that Shert- dan and Conkling were both appointed for the As- sembiy district m which you reside, and of which you had oficial charge). lt appears from an att | Gavit of a sergeant of police lor that precinct that Conkling had been sentenced to the State Prison | part in acherge wit three eignatares that was | 18 5 10,810 fer five years, and that on election day the ser- | subsequently presented, but if was so unimpor- | 18% 108 geant found Hogan, who had been indicted jor — tant aud so late in appearing that the signers of tt | 167 Der highway robbery, serving a4 inspector in Gonk- | reminded me of three iittie boys ranning after ® | orgy joa? a2eb ling’s name, Of course he arrested him and took | show that lad p dd. With that exception | can | Add 18.9, 100 and 1861... 64,609 him to the station house, On the Way | scarcely be mistaken in holding that ali the Me | there Hoyun told toe servaant that “Dick | charges presented against me were the work of { Grand totals.........,J00208 1 shared fuliv in | the convictions which be expressed with almost | | that principle than you have perpetrated in this | Ido not know enough about the Tammany ma- | | which you proceeded 1s not to provide jor setting | | Some of the inspectors you have appointed were | aot the same man _ that mended to me for marshal, told him to go aud serve as Inspector, and if he got into trouble he (Croker) would ‘see that ne got safe out of 1t;"? end, a Hogan said he would, Croker did appear | third time, rechosen twice without any action of | at the station house with counsel and bail ior him. From these instances the public will be able ‘to perceive to wiat Ciass Of persons you, in your pretended desire to preserve the purity of elec- tions, propose to intrust the baliot box. Your other ground for assailing the District Attorney 18 that he did not agree rie ro in your opinions. You say that he ‘construed the law against you”? at every point, and, notwithstanding that ‘eml- | hent criminal lawyers differed from hii, ‘'per- | sisted in advising the Grand Jury according to his own notions,” So, with cool assur- ance, you proceeded to have the public prosecutor elected by the people of this county ousted from his duties, and two lawyers selected by you who would accept your “notions,’’ sub- stituted in his place, For this purpose you obtained from a Justice of the Supreme Court, elected in a rict 100 miles away Irom this city, Who was temporarily here, a requisition upon the Attorney Generai vo Couduct the prosecution; | none of the justices elected in this city, as | un- derstand, being willing w sign the paper. There- upon the Attornéy General, instead of complying with the requirement, sent a young man residing in Albany to take charge of the case. THE LEADER OF THE DEMOCRACY, You assume to be # leader of the democracy of | this city, and they have heretolore maue a great point of the might of local seli-government. there has ever been a more flagrant violation of case, I should ake to have it specified, I am advised that the object of the statute uuder aside the District Attorney, but to secure tor him, upon the requisition o/ the Governor, oro! a Jus- tice Of tne Supreme Court, the aid of the Attorney | General If that officer should attend of course he Would control the prosecution, but he has po power to substitute other counsel, His right to | empioy such counsel is expressly restricted to civil cases. The Legislature never intended that the elected prosecutor Of a county should be | pushed aside by any counsel the Attorney General | might choose to select. If such an enactment | were made it would be of doubtful consitution- if | you recom- | yourself and your tools, for the promotion of your selfish political scheme: A THIRD TERM MAYOR, | Tam the incumbent of the Mayor's office for the my own, alter I had been, at one time two years ana at the other over twenty out of the office. My Jellow citizens have had abundant opportunities | to form their opinion of my character, and no man | has ever yet lisped a dount of my integrity. Yet, When my oficial term was drawing to a close, and the shadows of my years were becoming long, | from the west, you sought without the imputation of corruption, but in the pursuit of your pony ersonal purposes to close my career, finally, in ishonor, Foiled in your object, 1 might so far as 1 am concerned, leave you, to be torn by your own | bad passions. But there is a duty to my fellow | citizens that devolves upon me and it shali | faithfully performed. “YOU ARE A VERY DISHONEST MAN.’” You say with emphasis in your letter that you are an “honest mun,” and you have repeated that atement so oiten heretofore that you might almost believe it to be true. 1 shall show that you are a very dishonest man, that you have defrauded this city and county of large sums of money, and you bave been guilty ofacrime that 18 ade- | quately described by the word ‘“ielontous,” al- | though you say in your letter that it is of “nar- row" significance, It ts not probable that you will read this answer with surprise, except a3 to the discovery of your frauds, | had done, and in your letter to me you remark, with the sageness of a Bunsby, that “aggrieved and injured people are the first to criticise.” | There wi!l not be two opinions as to the /act that | your conduct demands criticism. I esteem it to be my duty to make this exposure, because, in my opinion, the threatened rule of this city | by Morrissey and you would be as disgraceful and 48 dangerous as was that of the fatien and dishon- ored men who, when they held the rod over it, conferred upon each of you high office, and re- ceived in return homage aud service. As the re- matnder of this letter will be devoted to the frauds thar perpetrated upon the Rae treasury while jolding the office of Sherift, I will first state wnat fees you were by law entitled to receive from the public moneys, KELLY'S ALLEGED FRAUDS, ality. Jt the Attorney General, who is a lawyer of | ability and jearping, of high standing in his pro- | fession, and the senior of the District Attorney, | had conducted the prosecution in person, your | proceeding would not have been so onensive, and tue result might have been different. Instead of doing so, he sent, for that purpose, Mr, Fairchild, a young man who is an as- sistant in his office. I am informed that he 18 @ gentleman of promise in his pro- | Jession and of unblemished character, and I Would not speak of him unkindly. ‘There is a rea- sou, however, why you caused‘him tO be sent to this city 48 prosecutor which has not yet been | Stated. The prosecution of the Police Commis: | gtable, and for attendin Slobers Was a part of your warfare upon me. Men of your class are always most vindiclive toward those they bave wronged, and your abuse of my coufidence in procuring my appointment of Croker was a great wroug. I deemed it my duty to tne people Oo: this city to resist, as far as could, the eniorcement of the statute directing | them to pay one-hal! of the expense incurred by the Ceutral and Hudson River Railroad Com- pany for its tracks in the Fourtn ave- nue. It may be that the law 1s too strong for me, but the iniustice of that enormous job 18 manilest. O1 course I have incurred the uniriendly ieeling of that poweriul corporation, Mr, Fairchild is the son of its rreas- | urer. Without imputing to him any unworthy | motive, his feelings Would naturally be with you | in a prosecution intended to reach me, He car- ried out your wisves by selectung lor the manage- ment of the prosecution the two counsel you had | seiected, but whom COLONEL FELLOWS. One of them was Jonn R. Fellows, an adventurer from this Sta\e, Who betore the rebellion floated to the Svuthwest, and there, without tie poor ex- Cuse Of those porn upon the sou that they were tig nting Jor the land of their birth, raised his par- ricidai hand agaist his country, When de- feated he the North, do not learn that -he has character here except for treaciery. He was odsequicus in tis day Of power as he now is to you, word to gy cutor. It was stated in a newspaper at the time, and, | believe, never denied, returned to but I servillty and to. “Iweed Ihave a ucipated in the conviction of a murderer, he went up to him and said he hoped the murderer did not | “feel hard” toward him jor his part in the proge- cution. Fellows is to be judged by what ne said irrespective of the gutit oi the convict. If he did not believe him guilty it was an atrocious erime 10 press his conviction; if he dia believe nim guilty his appeal io him mantiestea an exquisite sense of omicial dignity and personal honor, ‘The other counse! you selected, George W. Win- gate, is only Known as a sort of legal runner to you and Morrissey, these are the two men you had substituted jor the District Attorney chosen by the peuple of this county, 1 have seldom Known a more shameiul outrage. Mr. Phelps is a man of mature years, whose avility, learning and tutegrity are universal!y rec- Osnized by our citizens. ‘They caunot fee! too deeply the wrong that has been donesto him. The abuse of him which you ha¥e included im your letter to me cannot injure lim, now that your own character becomes known, NO CORRUPT MOTIVE. The prosecution careiully omitted to offer any proof o! corrupt motive on the part of the Police Commissionera. This course prevented any proof onthe part of the aefence. ‘hat Sueridan was removed and wituout notice were adinitted facts, and that was your whole case, and there was nothing to controvert. The Judge held that these constituted a techvical offence, and under his view @ conviction was 4 matter of course. the absence, to use his own language, o! “any proof ot wicked and wiliul intent to do any wrong,” he merely imposed a fine. You have either the ignorance or the hardiiood to say that “the in- dictment Was so narrowly drawn that any such evidence would not have been relevant aud ad- muissible.” I am no lawyer; but I always sup. posed that when an act was alleyed in an indict- ment to have been “/eloniousiy”’ done, the broudest possible foundation was laid jor proot of corrupt motive. I have dwelt somewhat at length upon this matter, because all the facts have not belore been made public; and I look to my fellow citizens | With a confident hope that, the excitement of the | moment having passed away, they will re- view the matter without prejudice and with @ more favorable judgment. With my strong couviction that the Police Commissioners were the Victims of a most iniquitous persecution, for selfish and poittical objecte on your part, 1 could nothave respected myseli if had not stood by them. If any Of my fellow citizens yet think that I did wrong I respect thetr opinions and trust that they will give me credit Jor the honesty of my motives, MOVING ON THE GOVERNOR, The next proceeding in your wWariare upon me was the presentation of charges to the Governer for the purpose of procuring my removal trom oifice. lspeak of this Whole matter as your pro- ceeding, for Lexpect to show that it is substan- laliy yours, only except so Jar as Morrissey par- | ucipated, I know that the name o! Alderinan Otvendorier is affixed to the Main charges, and [ deeply regret that he hag taken such offence at anything i have said or done that he could alow himseli to .o me such wrong. I shail not retaliate by the utterance of anything inconsistent with the respect 1 have for his personal and official cbaracier, When he placed bis name beside yours he jound himseif in company he 1s not accustomed to keep. Aiter he reads this letter ne will not be apt to keep it again. The otver signature joined with yours 1s that of William H. Wickuam, It may be said that the frankness with which he ayows his desire to obtain @ good office 1s only equalled by the assidutty of his aitentions upon you, in the hope of procuring it, Such expectations are xel- dom reauzed; but meanwhile he is doing your work, and his action may justiy be actrisuted to yeu. You and Morrissey were represented in the presentation ol these charges by the same counsel that you selected for the trial of the Pouce Com- missioners. COLONEL DURYFR. A separate charge was preferred by Mr, Charles Watrous, His signature was especially desired py you, because he was arepubiican and a member Ol the Committee of Seventy. AS the charge ap- | pears to have been prepared tor the signature of | More than one, and he is the oniy signer, Lussume | that you could not get any other member to sign. You ‘solicited the signature of Mr. Watronus, | be- lieve, by Mr. Wickham. Mr. Watrous is olfended at me because I appointed Coionel Duryee as a@ Police Commissioner. You are the surety and friend of Duryee, and you say of tim in your letter that he ‘needs no eulogy,” and that he is “univer- sally honored and respected.” Mr. Watrous differs from you on that point, and you used his bad opin- jon of your iriend to aid your warfare upon me, Another charge was presented by several respecta- vie gentlemen of the Eighteenth Assembly district Who Were dissatisfied, I believe, because their can- didate in that district lor member of Assembly Was not elected. Iv is rather hard if th yor of tis city is to have the opposition of those who are dis: appointed by the result of an election, | assume that these gentiemen were influenced by personal | feenug to sign ihe se it is in the § | ca ne Janguage as the one pre- sented by Mr. Watrous. Anotier fact that de- hotes the common origin of that charge aud the one signed by Mr. Watrous, is | the fact that Mr. Henry L. Clinton appeared as counsel for the signers of buth documents. Six of the seven signers of the charge presented by Mr. Crosby and otuers are Jawyers, aud some Of them of distinction, and the seventh signed 1t doubtiess to avail himself of the first vpportanity ever oflered him to distinguish MMmseit. ‘They would not be likely, if they acted from their own impulse and conviction in preparing charges against the incumbent of an jimportant public office, to select Mr. Clinton, Wwiuo was as devoted to TWeed jormerly as he now is to you, as their | moning a Grand 1. Poelps retused to accept. | earned any | to bis fitness to be a public proses | that alter Fellows | haa been Assistant District Attorney and had par- | But m | iucitation, be- | The part of the Revised Statutes which provides for such fees ts the eleventh section pf the title which relates to “fees of officers and ministers of justice in criminal cases.” It provides that the Sherif may receive for every person committed to rison 37%¢ cents; for every person discharged rom prison, Fide cents, and “for sum- jury for a Court of Oyer and Terminer or General Sessions $10." An- other statute provides ior his compensation tor conveying prisoners to the State Prison, which 1s paid by the State and is not included in pis ac- counts against the county. Another allows him for summoning constables to attend the Supreme Court, or any other Court, fifty cents for each con- the Supreme Court $2 perday. Another, to which I shall referenore | fully hereatter, requires him to make a report of convictions to the Secretary of State, and autho- rizes the Board of Supervisors to fix his compen- sation therefor, These are all the statutes that, upon investigation, could be found allowing fees to the Sheriif of thig county 1m criminal cases, A clause added to the eleventh section above speci- fied provides that for periorming any duty which may be performed by a constable the Sherif! may receive the same fees whicli are allowed to a con- stable, But the fees of constables are provided by the fourth section of the same title, and the nintl section Is in this comprehensive language :— Swctiox 9—The preceding sections of this title shall not extend to the vity and county ot New York, but the oMcers and ministers of Justice In that city and county shall rece hereafter shall be specially provided by law. For nearly fifty years, therefore, the Supervisors of this county have nad no power to audit and allow the accounts of sueriffs ior services in crim- | inal cases unless at rates established by provision o! law, except only im the case of the report of convictions to the Secretary of State. In my state- ment of the moneys you have Iravdulently ob- tamed from the ‘Treasury of inis county I shall treat you not only with fairness but with liberality, | The following rales will govern 1t:— | First—Moneys that you obtained trom the trea: ury, if like moneys were paid to your predecessors, although the payments were bot authorized by law, will not be included in the accounts, but i—If you received such moneys in disregard of an expicit provision of law they Wul be stated | as “illegal payments,” and services or for services parvially periormed, so tar as they were in excess of actual performances, and ll moneys you received without authority o! law | unless extenuated by similar payments to your predecessors and so far as they were in excess of such extenuation, will be stated as “Iraudulent paymenis.’’ KELLY FORMALLY IMPEACHED. Having made these grave statements in this | connection | proceed at once to state a proceeding on your part which pervades the whole of each of your terms of office, and which involves the per- | petuation by youo! a flagrant crime. By au act passed tn 1839 it was provided that within ten ways aller the adjournment of any Court of Oyer and ferminer, General Sessions and Spectal Sessions in this city, the Sherif should report by mail to the Secretary o1 State “the name, occupa- tion, age, sex and native country of every person convicted ut such court of an offence, the degree Of instruction which each person so convicted has | received and suca other items’ as the Secretary | of State should require; and for thas service the | Supervisors were directed to aliow ‘a reasonable sum.” The Supervisors of tnis county fixed the compensation at fifty cents tor each convict—a compensation so liberal thata sherif® ought, in | gratitude, at least, to have been honest, The Clerk of the Geueral Sessions by the Revised | Statutes as to courts of record and by the act of 1839 as to the Special Sessions, was aiso required to report the convictions, but with different items | of iniormanion. | _ An abstract of these returns was made out by | the Secretary of State and transmitted by him to the Legislature tn each year. LEGISLATIVE REPORTS ON THR SUBJECT. Those during your two terms of office were made ; out by D. RK Floyd Jones, Horatio Ballard, Homer | A. Nelson and Francis C. Barlow. These abstracts are printed in tne Legislative documents of the sessions neXt ensuing the reports. It appears by these printed abstracts that the totais in each year oi the respective reports made by you and | the Clerk were as lollows:— —Sheriff's Report-—— —— Clerks’ Report. ——~ | Courts of Special tat Courts of Special | Record, Sessions, Record. Sexsions, Total 1859, 705 2,818 3.523 1 474-2778 3,252 1 65l 334581996 1 673-3782 3480 | | 1866. 653-2506 8.159 | 187. 669 2827 3,496 | Totals.. 3,933 109,157 113,090 ‘3,530 «17,056 20,836 | Tt thus appears that during your six years of office you reported 113,690 convictions ‘in this county, While the clerk only reported 20,886, In other words, that your eyes, keenly directed | moneywards, were able to discover 92,204 convicts that the records of the cour s dia not mention, DO FIGURES LIB. I have not, however, stated the whole of your offence, The law, uutil 1861, imperatively required you to report tue name ol each convict. You com- plied as tu the comparatively small number con- victed In courts of record, a3 to Woom there was but slight dilerence between you and tue clerk. | But you disregarded it in respect te the enormous | numver you reported jor the special ses- gious, In respect to these you ea gave | the total number each month. f you had complied with the statute your reports | would have made w great buik in the Secretary’s office; but, treating the law with con- | tempt, your report each month was contained in one page of large paper, it was beyoad your capacity, although, as 1 shali presently show, you had as expert assistance as a man can have tn the | commission of @ crime, to manuiacture enough names, with other details, to reach the measure of ‘our fraud, The statute imposes a penalty o1 $50 for “any neglect” by the Sherit! to comply with its requirements. J assume that this means $50 for each convict, Ii that be so and your reports were true, a8 you received pay during the first two years and three montus you were in office, during Which time the law of 1839 was still in force, for | over jorty-seven thousand alleged convicts that | you did not name you would be liable, if not saved by the statute of limitauons, for penalties to an | amount exceeding $2,000,000. | In 1861 a law was passed still requiring the | names to be reported tor the Courts of Kecord, but perinitting the total number to be given ior tue | Special Sessions. Alter the passage o! that act the eople of this city were indebted to Supervisor Weissman. tor partial rele! Jrom a fraud that | under your maDipuiation was reaching immense | proportions, ‘ihat upright but kind hearted officer, on the 31st of October, 1861, offered a pre- amble and resolution in the Board of Supervisors, reciting the passage Of the act of 1861, and adding with equal simplicity and truth that tue number | of convictions reported was “every year becoming | @ heavier charge on our county treasury.” He therefore proposed a resolution fixing the compen. sation after (he piration of your then term of office at filty cents for convictions in the Oyer and ‘Verminer and General and essions and twelve and a hall cents for the police courts, was referred to a committee, but the [rand was too great, and the committee had to report in Javor of the resolution and it was adopted, ANOTHER FRAUD, | JT shall not make out the statement of the moneys you obtained by this fraud upon the basis ol your reports to the Secretary of State, jor you collected pay tor 6,: m phyictions than you reported, Ih order to guard agamst any possivle injustice to you, and, | the figures given above were correct, to fortiiy my statement, | have ob- tained from the Clerk of Vyer and Terminer and General and Special Sessions a return of ail the convictions had in those courts during your six years of office. As the resu slighy more | favorable to you than the Clerk’s report to the ore somet J Secretary of State I give you tae benefit of it. Aulous attendance on Wieeverimay bein apwer | The number ol convictions charged lor by you at Tammany, realy to do any work he may be | 80d jg 3 oe trig Speer: he) momesuunr seooren trusted with, in the bope of obtaining some pro- | 8t@ 48 i tis fessional office, which to him is aiways coming, but | ae ee Ga ee hever comes. Ashe ls more noted for prolxity Decor anion 7 ~ bathe hh bet than acumen there was some danger tnat Ne | gig Mecord Sesrlone fetal Berard Would be as long in bringing his case against me | jx) - ou to an end as he nas been in pursult of an office, It | 1361 - = 685 Was only by omitring to eay anytning that ne was | able to finish, Ido not know that you nad ang | Totais, — - 11,293 ‘ou knew what you | ve such tees in criminal cases a3 now are or | Third—Ail moneys you recetved for pretendea | 1 it | yn | ending December 1 Drst call attention to the marvellous fact that | the figures given in your bills tor the years 1865, 1866 und 1567 are entirely different from those con- tained in your reports to the Secretary of State, To make “assurance doubly sure’’ I have obtained Jrom the Penitentiary and House ot Refuge returns of the number of persons admitted each month on commitments from our courts, specifying {rom which court. ‘The number adinitted is sitghtly Jess than those sentenced, a result the legal pro- fession could easily accomplish. THREE LINES OF PROOF. Thave thus three different limes of proof, all con- | curring in the establishment of the fact of your | Irands, viz.:—The Clerk’s report to the Secretary | Of State, the Court records and the books ofthe penal institutions, A lew of the minor convictions obtained since the passage of the act of 1861 in the police courts | May not be included in the returns by the clerks | given in the above tables, and I have not been | able to procure @ return from the police courts in | Ume or this statement. ‘There Cannot be many, however, for the follow- ing. reasons, Viz. :— ‘irst—The number of convictions reported and | charged for by you In 1860, when convictions in the police courts were not tncluded, is iarger than you | reported or charged for in any year after the pass- age of the act of 1861, by whieh reports from those courts are required, | The Clerk as well as you had toreport | the convictions in all the courts, and bis reports | | for the three years of your second term do not vary materially trom the number for whicn you | | charge in the same years at the rate of filty celts. AMOUNT OF THE PLUNDER. I will now show how much you pocketed by this shameless {re \d. For the thi ars of your first term you charged and received pay for reporting ¢on- victions to tha Secretary of State...........-., 68,569 The records of the Court show that during those years there were only convictions... + 11,893 —— | The excess reported by you being. 57,176 by To which must be added the exc tions charged by you during your second term, at filty cents, over the number shown 10.422 20 by tne Court record— Charged by you... . Showa by Court record. . Being an excess of.... Making a total excess of. which, at fifty cents eac 8.3L | 65,487 | $52,743 90 From which must be deducted the amount takon off by the Board of Supervisors from oue of your mon ills, as will bo hereatter ex- | pininediyeati cet ats s+ 2590 00 | Leaving a balance o speseeee ss 88199 50 To which add the amount received ‘for excess of .winor convictions charged b: FO 12 9 41,263 Shown by 8 Excess. . 2 | —which, at 12%, cents cach 4,065 87 | Making the total amount which you fraudu- | lently recgived 3 $34,259 37 | ie | convictions in police courts not included in the | clerks’ reports. The amounts of money you ob- | tained, however, was but a slight part of the in- | jury youaid. You have aestroyed the vaiue of the statstics of the State; worse even than that, you have serlously injured the reputation of tnis city. While you Were Streriff the great number of | criminal convictions in tnis city began to be com- | menved upon throughout the United States, It | appeared as if there were more criminais residing in this city in proportion to its population than in apy other city inthe worla, Our citizens, who , had generously bestowed upon you the most lucra- | | tive oMce in their gift, in the honesty of their own Nature never even suspected that the bad character of the city came from the fuct that, in | | order to swell the pletnorte profits of your office, , | you were reporting at fAity cents each five times @8 Many convictions for crime as the facts would | | Warrant. | | KELLY’S OWN FIGURES. I will show the value of your reports as sta- tistics by a relerence solely tO your own figures, | taken from the printed abstracts of the Secretary | Of Siate, As before stated, in your reports o1 con- victions in courts of record, you gave the name of | the convicts, but not for thuse in the Special Ses- | | flons. This was the aliference in sex you made between the two classes :— ——Courts of Record. —— aoe bn y rs ue 109,157 54,027 When you gave their names the convicts con- | sisted of about eight mates to one female. When you Manufactured the statistics you made out about 70 | an equal number of each sex. The whole world | Inight well open its eyes with wonder upon hear- | ing that in this city 54,000 women were convicted | of offences in six years! But your treatment of | | the femaie sex was not so bad as the treatment * you meted out to those born in the land of your ancestors. If eyer aman was under a mountain of obligation to bis brethren you were so bound to | | the people of your own race. They nad taken you | | Jrom obscurity and labor and given to you ad- | vancement and fortune. I will now show how you | treated them. by repeating 1rom your own figures, | | taken irom the printed abstracts of the Secretary | of State, the difference you made in the nativity of | convicts when you gave their names and wien | ; You aid not. WHERE THE CONVICTS ARB BORN. The table I subjoin gives the countries in which you reported the convicts were porn, the column | of otuer countries including those born in the United States:— Courts of Record Special, Sessions. — | Treland. Countrics. Total, Ireland. Countries, Total. | | a aS 66S TLS TIS RU | \4 SSS Tage aUL9a7 | 2 CSS 1S T1Z7 2.026 | cis Sus Stas lets | | 690 «NTT G62 19,399 Totals.1,132 2764 3,896 = 70,708 © 38,449 100,157 | When you gave the names you reported two- sevenths of the convicts born in Ireland; when you did not you made about twice a8 many born | | in Ireland as in ail the rest of the world. ‘Neurly | 72,000 naiives of Ireland convicted in this city in | | six years! Vee if you could have had another term you would have had every person in this city | born 10 Ireiand convicted—on paper. Why you | should have perpetrated this terrible libel on your own race I cannot imagine, -unless you believe there Was a prejudice against them, and that by | pandering to that prejudice you would divert at- | tention {rom your irauds. Ihave spoken above of | -the help you had in the perpetration of your | | frauds. Itis only Ket that | learned of your | inuumacy with the deceased County Auditor, James Watson. If | had known of it at the time I should not have extended to you that degree of confi- | dence which lea me to appoint Croker upon your recommendation. DISHONEST FRIENDS. | I knew that you had been intimate with Richard | B. vonnolly and had exerted yourself very streou- ously to have him elected as Comptroller. His reputation, s0 far as Ihave heard, was good pre- | viously to his election to that office; but with Wat- | son the case Was different, It seems Lo have been | | well known to the legal profession that Watson was brought here from Cualitornia as a prisoner, | and that as soon as, li not before, he was dis- charged as a prisoner irom your custody you took | him into your confidence as a clerk. The Honorable John McKeon, whose hostility to corruption 1s as well known as his vigor in denouncing it, has 6iten stated that Watson came here in irons, but he May not have intended to be understood literally. | The fact that Watson was under arrest for dis- | honest praciices should have made you cautious | | in trusting or recommending him, The inti- macy between you and Watson is a mut- | ter beyond doubt. Your bills against the county | for the second quarter ol your second year and Others aiterward are receipted by Watson, and no bade but him or you received any of your moneys | | from the county during your first term of office. He | continued with you to its close, and now that your | dishonesty 1 exposed the public will believe | that the reason you took him into your confidence | was because he could aid you in the perpetration of your frauds. The intimacy between you, lam | told, was not merely of a business ,character, but | was alxo social, and continued until his death. It | is understood that he was appotnted as Auditor at | your solicitation, although, doubtless, the Ring | | then forming knew that he could be as use ul to them as to you. It 18 not likely that ne would ever | have had aby connection with public adairs but | for you; and so far as he was the instrnment of | the robbery and disgrace to which this city has | been subjected, it Wus an injury that you by your | aid to him did more than any other person to | cause. [can imagine tnat you will endeavor to diminish the lorce of this exposure of your \rauds | by representing that although you received the proceeds of the frauds you were ignorant of them sand supposed that the money came to you bon- | | estly. ‘That resort is not open toyou. | KELLY’S EXCESSIVE CHARGES, | _ Your bill for the quarter ending September 30, | 1860, Was razeed nearly one-half by the Board of Supervisors, probably in consequence of some misunderstanding between you and Tweed. As | Chairman of the Committee on County OMices he pial upon your bills. You charged that quarter | Jor reporting 7,533 convictions; Dut the Board took | off $2,550 for 5,100 of them. ‘weed in his report treats the matter cautiously, merely saying that the committee had agreed to audit the bill at the reduced amount, Upon the biil, however, as paid by the Comptroiler, ts @ Statement that the $2,550 was taken Off because the number of convictions | reported by you was 5,100 greater than the num- | | ber according to the records in the ofMfce of the | Clerk of the Court of General Sessions, Below that statement you puta protest against the de- | duction, doudtiess to avoid the appearance of con- | | fessing the fraua, | OONNIVANCE WITH TWEED. | | . But you must have made the matter all right | With Tweed, for the next month and afterward the fraud went on as before. ‘These circumstances | prove conclusively that you had full knowledge of | your fraud, Beiore passing from this subject f will | Add that this fraud appears to have had its begin- ning tn the term of your immediate predecessor. For bis first quarter, ending March 81, 1856, he charged for reporting 603 convictions; for his last, | 1858, he charged for 3,799. | You, however, during your first term, reaped the Jull harvest of dishouest gains in this field, You | exiausted the soilto such an extent that you were not able to gather half as large a crop from tt | curing your secona term. The next class of your charges that | shall examine is that tor the con- | veyance of convicts to penal institutions withia | | the limits of the county, Upon the first examina. | | Won O/ those charges the hope was induiged buat, | | any source you: had | county at double the previous large rate. | You in respect at least to the number of prisoners, your charges might,be honest, ALL KELLY’S CHARGES FRAUDULENT, Fraud permeates every part of your bills to such an extent that one honest spot would be a sort of relief, in such a matter as conveying convicts to prison it does seem that you might have been Satisfied to be honest. it was only after this let- ter was begun that any attempt was made to as- certain whether you had correctly charged the number of prisoners conveyed. The examination shows that during your second term you took ad- vantage of the tact that your protégé Watson had me County Auditor, tocharge for conveying to prison about twice as many prisoners a3 Were sentenced to go there. In the subjoined table the column headed G. 5. shows the whole number o! persons sentenced, tm the years named, by the Courts of General Ses sions and Oyer and Terminer, to confinement elsewhere than tn the State Prison, as returned to me by the clerks of those courts. The column headed S. S. shows the total number,fin eachjof the years specified, sentenced by the Court of special Sessions to confinement anywhere, a8 returned to me by the Clerk of that court, HARD PAN. The column headed H. R, shows the number of pernaoe received in the same years irom the po- lice courts In the House of Retuge, as returned to me from that tysticution, The column headed B. Te shows the returns made to me from the Peniten- tiary, on Blackwell's Island, of the number of per= sons received there during the same years (rom the police courts, It is manifest that for 1861, 1806 and 1867, the number ts incomplete. By the same return from the Penitentiary, | perceive that gome of those committed bv the police courts were included among those credited to the Spe- cial Sessions, for the number go creaited is, in those years only, in excess of the total nome ber sent there, which number appears by the Clerk’s return given in the column headed S$. 8. £ cannot procure @ return trom the police courts in time for this lctter, and you are, thereiore, not credited in this tabe lor the years 1861, 1866 and 1867 with aii the prisoners committed to the Peni- tentiary, but the deficiency ts leas than 300 in any year:— G8, 8.8, B.. H.R, Committed, 3 ‘ra Er iT ala 278 Mi 88 OUD 39 2 759 999 6% 192 = 887 ane nm 550 852816 265 a 2,355 her 185 19 12 2226 5,901 Number fraudulently charged The allowance of 1,000 for the police courts 1s at least doubie the number of the actual deficiency. | It appears from the above table that during your first term of office the number of prisoners for whom you charged was sligatly less than the num~ ber sentenced, This should be so, tor a ‘ew of those sentenced were discharged by subsequent legal proceeuings. MORE FRAUDS, But during your second term, when Watson was Auditor, you charged for conveying move than double the number o! persons sentenced to confines ment, I! we put the excess at 9,449, at seventy- five cents for each, the amount you mage by this fraud would ve $7,036 75, But you were guilty of @ greater fraud than this in the same matter, The duty of conveying prisoners sentenced to continement within the count; @ppears to have first devolved upon the Sheri, when Colone! William Jones held tuat oilice, there was some difficulty in fixing the raie of compen- sation. His bills were taxed by Judge Ingraham, who collected twenty-five cents for each prisoner conveyed to Blackweil’s Isiand, Colonei Jones was dissatisfied aud the Board of supervisors finally allowed seventy-five cents, which was done by giving him the two fees of thirty-seven and @ nalf cents “for every person committed to prison,!? | and of thirty-seven and a half cents “for every | prisoner discharged,” which, a3 | have stated, are Specifically authorized by law. At this rate of seventy-five cents every Sheriff was subsequently paid until you began your second term. The Board of Supervisors, by this action, exhausted in this respect the whole power of any body or omcer in this city and county, and no greater payment could be made @ unless authorized by a new statute. To show that am not inerrorl will quote trom a decision made by the Supreme Court in 1842 in the case of the Shertf of Chemung county. The valua of this decision will be appreciated when I say that the Bench was then composed of Samuel Neis on, Chief Justice, and Greene C. Bronson and Esek Cowen, Justices. The Court say:—“The attenuance of the Sheriff at these courts ts hignly necessary, but the statute seems to have referred his compensa- uuon to perquisites ior other services.” Lam advised that tuere has never been a decision con- ficting with the principle thus estabiishea, If this decision be sound in respeot to other counties, where the Supervisors have some discretion, now much more jorce does it carry here, where the Supervisors, by the section of the revised statutes Ihave quoted above, are apsolutely denuded of all power, except to see that the Sheriff renders the services ior Whicu fees are provided by law, be- fore he is paid for them. THE SHERIFF AND HIS PROFITS, Nor is there any hardstip in the rule that tf no fee is provided by law for any service, by tne Sheruf to the pubiic, he 18 to render it’ without compensation. In this city the Sheruf is provided at public expense witn fre, offices, gas and fuel, | toenavle him to do a large and profitable busi- ness with individuals, Almost your first act as Sherif was to obtain an pee emg from the Supervisors lor repairs to the oilice. You applied alterwards severai times to have the rooms re- paired or cleaned. Your anxiety in the latter re- spect appears to have been confined to the walls and ceiling. Wituin, as was long ago said of the abode of hypocrites, all was “full of extortion and excess” “and of all uncleanness.” The compen- sation of the Sherif (tor conveying prisoners had been fixed a+ the {uli amount allowed by law, but that could not limit your rapacity. Watson was Auditor and you were eager lor your reward, TWEED anv KELLX STRIKE HANDS. It may here be interesting to state how you oawe Lo be Sheriff the second time. After Watson was appointed Auditor you obtained nothing More. The men tu power seemed to think that you had had enough. You punished them by giv- ing the weight of your inflcvence with the [rish im December, 1563, to the Germans who were sup- porting G. Godirey Gunther tor meyer Gunwer was elected; Tweed was alarmed, In the Jall of 1864 you siruck hands, and Tweed noininated and elected you as Sheri, During the three years that you were then in office you were as quiet as a church mouse, though not as poor. You took office the second time under what you doubtless cousidered favorable circumstances, William M, Tweed was President of the Board of Supervisors, Walter Roche, a8 Chairman of the Committee on County Officers, passed upon your bills, and James | Watson, as County Auditor, had power to “put tiem through,” You saw your opportunity and improved i, Without tue slightest warrant from the audacity to charge in your bill ior conveying prisoners within the You charged $1 50 for each prisoner. ‘The vill went through, as things usuaily go througi a weil greased machine. You were patd at this rate tor two years and three monvhs; 13,260 prisoners ab 76 cents extra each gives $9,045 as the amount you made by that traud. But on the Ist of Jauue ary, 1567, Richard B, Connolly became Uomptrol- ler—a result jor which you nad been working five years, You seemed to think that the victory ought to “put money in your purse,’’ so you pus up the price of conveying prisoners within the county to $1 75, beimg $1 extra, and your bila during the iast nine months you were in office Went through at that rate; 4,586 prisoners at $1 each gives $4,536 as the amount you made by that iraud, In this connection 1 wih refer to a fraud you attempted during your first term of office, but with only partial success. Your predecessor had, to- ward the close of his teri, adopteu tue practice of including in his charge for prisouers ihe vagrants sent to the Almshouse, who Were never in his custody. In his first vill for three months, ending March 31, 1856, ne charged for 407 prison- ers, conveyed. In his last quarter, ending December 31, 1858, he charged for 2,499. ‘The fraud appears uot to have been discovered until ater he was paid in tuil, but it was known belore you were paid anything; so in the bill for your urst three mouths ending March 31, 1859, you only charged tor 635 prisoners; bu! at the meeting of tue Board of Supervisors, at which your first bul Was presente, a resolution was adopted, direct- ing the Committee on County Oficers to report upon the nature of the service charged under the head “ior conveying prisoners.” That this was @ t in your interest 1s plain, for your pre- or had been paid in full, and you had now ed for tho fraudulent service, INCHOATE RING POWER. Tweed reported that you bad not made the frauduient charge, “believing” that sou were “not warranted by laW in so doing.” He, vheretore, Subjoined a resolution, that the legal adviser of the Board should report what you could charge. But the resolution did not pass. The power of the Ring Was then only tchoate, and sensivle men did hut see way, When the committee stated im your behail, that you did not believe you had any rigut to the fraudulent jees, you. should be co- = ed Uy an opinion irom Richard Busteed to take m. You were thus completely foiled, but you were equal Ww the emergency—yon put the fraudulent Jees you did not beueve you Were entitied to im your next bill, and you went ahead of your prede- cessor, You appear to have charged double. first charged for 657 prisoners _con- veyed to prisons within the county, $417 75. Then you adued “for prisouers committed to and discharged from prison," 4,691 (including the vae grants) at 75 cents, $2,708 25, The bill slipped through and was paid, The Comptroller was nob | watching the “iouest” man in whose behalf it had been stated that he did not believe he was “ware ranted by law” in making the charge. You obtained the money, but have never returned it to the treasury, I include it among the moneya you have jraudulently obtained. A NON-PAYING COMPTROLLER. You tried the same thing in the oext bill, charge ing for 631 prisoners conveyed $510 75, and for 5,024 committed and discharged §3,768. ‘Tweed re- ported in favor of the bill, and it was passed by the Supervisors; but the Comptrolier had tound you out, and would not pay it. He deducted the $3,768 and paid you the balance, certifying, a6 | your request, on the bili that your acceptance the money Was not to “prejudice or tmpair”? your claim to the amount deducted, Your next move was to present the matter (again to the Boayd of Savervisore 10 a communl- Rel ‘ eR Nae ie Oe WhO ee ne RUAN Ee ANS! ETE RS EE