Editing William M. Tweed (section)

==Scandal==

Tweed's downfall began in 1871. James Watson, who was a county auditor in Comptroller [[Richard B. Connolly|Dick Connolly]]'s office and who also held and recorded the ring's books, died a week after his head was smashed by a horse in a sleigh accident on January 24, 1871.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-james-watson-sleigh-a/147624659/ | title=James Watson sleigh accident | work=The New York Times | date=January 25, 1871 | page=1 }}</ref> Although Tweed guarded Watson's estate in the week prior to Watson's death, and although another ring member attempted to destroy Watson's records, a replacement auditor, Matthew O'Rourke, associated with former sheriff [[James O'Brien (U.S. Congressman)|James O'Brien]], provided city accounts to O'Brien.<ref>Allen, pp. 118–125.</ref> The [[Orange riots|Orange riot of 1871]] in the summer of that year did not help the ring's popularity. The riot was prompted after Tammany Hall banned a parade of Irish Protestants celebrating a historical victory against Catholicism, namely the [[Battle of the Boyne]]. The parade was banned because of a riot the previous year in which eight people died when a crowd of Irish Catholic laborers attacked the paraders. Under strong pressure from the newspapers and the Protestant elite of the city, Tammany reversed course, and the march was allowed to proceed, with protection from [[NYPD|city policemen]] and [[New York State National Guard|state militia]]. The result was an even larger riot in which over 60 people were killed and more than 150 injured.<ref name="bw1003-1008">Burrows & Wallace, pp. 1003–1008.</ref>

Although Tammany's electoral power base was largely centered in the Irish immigrant population, it also needed both the city's general population and elite to acquiesce in its rule, and this was conditional on the machine's ability to control the actions of its people. The July riot showed that this capability was not nearly as strong as had been supposed.<ref name="bw1003-1008"/>

[[File:Boss Tweed, Nast.jpg|thumb|Nast shows Tweed's source of power: control of the ballot box. "As long as I count the Votes, what are you going to do about it?"]]

Tweed had for months been under attack from ''The New York Times'' and [[Thomas Nast]], the cartoonist from ''[[Harper's Weekly]]''&nbsp;– regarding Nast's cartoons, Tweed reportedly said, "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures!"<ref>{{cite web |author=Bruce Jackson |url=http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~bjackson/lazio.html |title=lazio |publisher=Acsu.buffalo.edu |date=November 2, 2000 |access-date=July 19, 2009 |archive-date=March 14, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314230903/http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~bjackson/lazio.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> – but their campaign had only limited success in gaining traction. They were able to force an examination of the city's books, but the blue-ribbon commission of six businessmen appointed by Mayor [[A. Oakey Hall]], a Tammany man, which included [[John Jacob Astor III]], banker [[Moses Taylor]] and others who benefited from Tammany's actions, found that the books had been "faithfully kept", letting the air out of the effort to dethrone Tweed.<ref name=g1008>Burrows & Wallace, pp. 1008–1011.</ref>

The response to the Orange riot changed everything, and only days afterwards the ''Times''/Nast campaign began to garner popular support.<ref name=g1008 /> More important, the ''Times'' started to receive inside information from County Sheriff James O'Brien, whose support for Tweed had fluctuated during Tammany's reign. O'Brien had tried to [[blackmail]] Tammany by threatening to expose the ring's [[embezzlement]] to the press, and when this failed he provided the evidence he had collected to the ''Times''.<ref name="Ellis347-8">Ellis, pp. 347–348.</ref> Shortly afterward, county auditor Matthew J. O'Rourke supplied additional details to the ''Times'',<ref name="Ellis347-8" /> which was reportedly offered $5&nbsp;million to not publish the evidence.<ref>Paine, p. 170.</ref> The ''Times'' also obtained the accounts of the recently deceased James Watson, who was the Tweed Ring's bookkeeper, and these were published daily, culminating in a special four-page supplement on July 29 headlined "Gigantic Frauds of the Ring Exposed".<ref name=g1008 /> In August, Tweed began to transfer ownership in his real-estate empire and other investments to his family members.<ref name=encnyc />

The exposé provoked an international crisis of confidence in New York City's finances, and, in particular, in its ability to repay its debts. European investors were heavily positioned in the city's bonds and were already nervous about its management&nbsp;– only the reputations of the underwriters were preventing a run on the city's securities. New York's financial and business community knew that if the city's credit were to collapse, it could potentially bring down every bank in the city with it.<ref name=g1008 />

Thus, the city's elite met at [[Cooper Union]] in September to discuss political reform: but for the first time, the conversation included not only the usual reformers, but also [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] bigwigs such as [[Samuel J. Tilden]], who had been thrust aside by Tammany. The consensus was that the "wisest and best citizens" should take over the governance of the city and attempt to restore investor confidence. The result was the formation of the executive committee of Citizens and Taxpayers for Financial Reform of the city (also known as "the [[Committee of Seventy (New York City)|Committee of Seventy]]"), which attacked Tammany by cutting off the city's funding. Property owners refused to pay their municipal taxes, and a judge—Tweed's old friend George Barnard—enjoined the city Comptroller from issuing bonds or spending money. Unpaid workers turned against Tweed, marching to City Hall demanding to be paid. Tweed doled out some funds from his own purse—$50,000—but it was not sufficient to end the crisis, and Tammany began to lose its essential base.<ref name=g1008 />

Shortly thereafter, the Comptroller resigned, appointing [[Andrew Haswell Green]], an associate of Tilden, as his replacement. Green loosened the purse strings again, allowing city departments not under Tammany control to borrow money to operate. Green and Tilden had the city's records closely examined, and discovered money that went directly from city contractors into Tweed's pocket. The following day, they had Tweed arrested.<ref name=g1008 />