Thursday, June 4, 2020 Political Cartoons from Thomas Nast

By admin

THURSDAY

June 4th, 2020 

 RIHS’s 70th Issue of

DOG FUN ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON

JUNE 6th
BRING YOUR DOG TO THE KIOSK
TRAM PLAZA 1-4 P.M.
DOG TREATS  
GOODIES
FUN MERCHANDISE
THE DOGS NEED A SOCIALLY
DISTANCING FUN EVENT

IMAGE COURTESY OF MARC TETRO (C)

POLITICAL CARTOONS

THOMAS NAST 
ON
WILLIAM “BOSS”  MARCY TWEED

“The Brains”
Harper’s Weekly Oct. 21, 1871

The Tammany Tiger Loose “What are you going to do about it?”
Harper’s Weekly November, 1871

A group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to “Blow Over”-
“Let us Prey”
Harper’s Weekly, Sept. 23, 1871

“No Prison is big enough to hold the Boss.”

In on one side, and out at the other. This Harper’s Weekly cartoon by Thomas Nast predicts that the legal authorities of New York City will not be able to keep William Tweed, the corrupt boss of Tammany Hall, in jail. In the 1860s and early 1870s,

William Tweed ran Tammany Hall, the powerful Democratic political machine in New York City, and served as the city’s public works commissioner and as a state senator (1867-1871). The name of Boss Tweed and his bulky visual caricature became synonymous with political corruption and greed, an association that remains potent even today. This is thanks in large part to the creatively memorable cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly.

As political boss, Tweed used his formal and informal authority to gain financial profit for himself and his Tammany Hall cohorts. The Tweed Ring, as they became known, extorted a reported $6 million from the public treasury, although more recent estimates put the figure between $30 to $200 million. Tweed became one of New York City’s largest landowners by the late 1860s, and spent his ill-gotten gain lavishly, living in a mansion on Fifth Avenue and wearing a large diamond stud on his shirt. Although criticized by good-government reformers, the Tweed Ring found support among the working class, many of whom were immigrants, by providing jobs and basic necessities like food and fuel, establishing the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, and expanding the number of public baths, almshouses, and orphanages in the city. However, in the less than three years of the height of the Tweed Ring’s power (1869-1871),

New York City’s debt tripled and its taxes rose accordingly. The downfall of the Tweed Ring came when disgruntled Tammany Hall members leaked incriminating evidence to the New York Times, which published a series of damning articles beginning in July 1871. Harper’s Weekly and other newspapers joined the Times to expose the scandal, and Tweed allegedly most feared “those damned pictures” by Harper’s Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast. In November 1871, Tweed was reelected to another term in the state senate.

In general, though, the press campaign against the Tweed Ring was successful, with most Tammany Hall candidates losing in the fall election. In December, Tweed was arrested on fraud charges, and forced to resign as public works commissioner, state senator, and head of Tammany Hall. The first criminal trial against Tweed resulted in a hung jury, but the second ended with a conviction on misdemeanor charges. The sentence was a $12,500 fine and 13 years in jail, which in 1875 an appeals court deduced to $250 and one year.

Since he had already served 19 months in the city jail on Blackwell’s Island, he was released. The police, however, rearrested him the next day to stand trial on the civil charges. Being unable to raise the $3 million bail, Tweed ended up in Ludlow Street jail. He was granted privileges and liberties not allowed to other inmates, such as carriage rides and visits to his home and those of his adult children.

On December 4, 1875, he escaped while on such a sojourn and hid out in New Jersey. In March 1876, the civil jury found Tweed guilty and liable for over $6 million. Learning of the judgment, he fled to Cuba, then Spain. In September, Spanish officials arrested and deported him, mistakenly identifying him (through a Nast cartoon) as a child abductor. Back in New York by late November, he was placed in the Ludlow Street jail again. In poor health, Tweed gave the attorney general, Charles Fairchild, a full confession as part of a deal for his release. Fairchild, however, changed his mind and Tweed remained in prison. The former political boss later testified before a Board of Aldermen investigation, detailing how the ring operated, but he received no pardon for his cooperation. In April 1878, he died in Ludlow Street jail of heart failure caused by pneumonia

REVEREND EDWARD COWLEY
by
THOMAS NAST

Shepherd’s Fold was an institution under Reverend Edward Cowley charged with helping children. Instead many died in their charge. For the sad tale, see “Damnation Island” by Stacy Horn”

Campaign against the Tweed Ring The “Brains” Boss Tweed depicted by Thomas Nast

Nast’s drawings were instrumental in the downfall of Boss Tweed, the powerful Tammany Hall leader. As commissioner of public works for New York City, Tweed led a ring that by 1870 had gained total control of the city’s government, and controlled “a working majority in the State Legislature” Tweed and his associates—Peter Barr Sweeny (park commissioner), Richard B. Connolly (controller of public expenditures), and Mayor A. Oakey Hall—defrauded the city of many millions of dollars by grossly inflating expenses paid to contractors connected to the Ring.

Nast, whose cartoons attacking Tammany corruption had appeared occasionally since 1867, intensified his focus on the four principal players in 1870 and especially in 1871. Tweed so feared Nast’s campaign that he sent an emissary to offer the artist a bribe of $100,000, which was represented as a gift from a group of wealthy benefactors to enable Nast to study art in Europe.
Feigning interest,

Nast negotiated for more before finally refusing an offer of $500,000 with the words, “Well, I don’t think I’ll do it. I made up my mind not long ago to put some of those fellows behind the bars”. Nast pressed his attack in the pages of Harper’s, and the Ring was removed from power in the election of November 7, 1871. Tweed was arrested in 1873 and convicted of fraud. When Tweed attempted to escape justice in December 1875 by fleeing to Cuba and from there to Spain, officials in Vigo were able to identify the fugitive by using one of Nast’s cartoons.

Cartoon depicts how Tweed lived on Blackwell’s Island
While others worked the quarry and lived in cells he 
seemed to be living in the warden’s house

EDITORIAL

Many of us have seen an increase in the number of four legged friends on the island since March. It is time for the dogs to have a day in the sun.  Bring your pooch over to the kiosk on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.  Snacks for them and all the water they can drink.   

The kiosk is not open yet, but we will be glad to provide any gifts you need. We are eager to welcome everyone back soon!   We have a real good deal on winter gloves, which were good sellers when we closed on March 15th!!!

See you Saturday and the Kiosk crew will be here to welcome you and your four legged friends back
Judith Berdy
212 688 4836
Jbird134@aol.com

IMAGE OF THE DAY THURSDAY

What is this object and where is it located?
E-Mail: jbird134@aol.com
Win a trinket from the RIHS Kiosk

YESTERDAY’S IMAGE OF THE DAY

Correctly guessed by Shelly Brooks

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter  and Deborah Dorff


All image are copyrighted (c)
Thanks to the RIHS Archives for Images
Harper’s Weekly Archive
Damnation Island

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