Cast of Caricatures

DOOMED
BY
CARTOON
How Cartoonist Thomas Nast and The New-York Times
Brought down Boss Tweed and His Ring of Thieves
JOHN ADLER
with Draper Hill
Doomed By Cartoon
DOOMED
BY
CARTOON
© 2008 John Adler. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
author or publisher (except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages and/or
show brief video clips in a review).
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-60037-443-2.
Published by:
Morgan James Publishing, LLC
1225 Franklin Ave. Ste 325
Garden City, NY 11530-1693
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Cover & Interior Design by:
Greg Weber
HarpWeek.com
gweber@harpweek.com
Doomed By Cartoon
4
II • Cast of Caricatures
THE BAD GUYS - The Boss
WILLIAM M. TWEED
The high-living Boss, who led the Tammany Hall Ring in stealing millions of dollars from the public.
Doomed By Cartoon
THE BAD GUYS - The “Brains”
PETER B. SWEENY
The “Brains” behind the organized theft, who originally was considered to be the ringleader.
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THE BAD GUYS - The Mayor
A. OAKEY HALL
Tweed’s elegant, hand-picked mayor, and front man, who authorized the
Ring’s fraudulent payments.
Doomed By Cartoon
THE BAD GUYS - The Money Man
RICHARD B. CONNOLLY
“Slippery Dick,” the comptroller and chief financial officer of the Tweed
Ring, who devised and manipulated its crooked multiple-entry accounting schemes.
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THE BAD GUYS - The Tammany Judges
GEORGE G. BARNARD
A corrupt, hard-drinking, poker-playing
chum of Boss Tweed, whose biased judicial
decisions enabled otherwise illegal Tweed
and Erie Ring activities.
THOMAS A. LEDWITH
A former Tammany Hall opponent who ran
unsuccessfully against Mayor Hall in 1870,
only to jump aboard the sinking Tweed
Ring ship in 1871.
Doomed By Cartoon
THE BAD GUYS - The Police Shield
HENRY “HANK” SMITH
President of the Police Commission, who
used his influence to protect Tweed Ring,
operations, and also served as president of
one of the Ring’s crooked banks.
JAMES J. KELSO
MATTHEW T. BRENNAN
The police superintendent who
helped foil a coup against Tweed,
met regularly with the Boss, and allowed police corruption to flourish.
The sheriff, who treated Tweed and
other defendants with extraordinary
leniency, and ultimately spent time
in jail for doing so.
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THE BAD GUYS - The Bagmen
ANDREW J. GARVEY
The “Prince of Plasterers,” who took huge kickbacks
for inflated construction, repairs and rent, and also
served as front man for other illegal payments.
ELBERT A. WOODWARD
Tweed’s shadowy, personal financial assistant,
and former clerk of the Board of Supervisors, who
became wealthy by processing, depositing and
sharing in many of the fraudulent payments, but
operated so far behind the scene that his picture was
never published in Harper’s Weekly nor caricatured
by Nast.
Doomed By Cartoon
JAMES H. INGERSOLL
A furniture manufacturer, known derisively
as “Chairs,” who provided furnishings for
Ring boondoggles at fraudulently inflated
prices, and also was a front man for other
illegal payments.
THE BAD GUYS - The Erie Ring
JAMES (JIM) FISK JR.
Jay Gould’s partner and Boss Tweed’s high-living
business associate and close personal friend, who
was gunned down by his former mistress’s new
lover two months after the Tweed Ring fell.
JAY GOULD
The extremely wealthy financier, who bought the
political support of Boss Tweed for his Erie Railroad
manipulations.
In the fall of 1869, Fisk and Gould tried to manipulate
and “corner” the gold market with the help of
President Ulysses S. Grant’s brother-in-law but were
unsuccessful. As Nast’s cartoon shows, Wall Street
was shaken.
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THE BAD GUYS - The Respectable Screen
JOHN T. HOFFMAN
The gentlemanly mayor of New York City, and later governor of New York State, who
provided the Ring with valuable cover.
Doomed By Cartoon
THE BAD GUYS - The Turncoat Tammany Republicans
THOMAS C. FIELDS
“Torpedo Tom,” the thoroughly corrupt city official, who played a more prominent role
in Nast’s cartoons than he may have warranted in real life.
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THE BAD GUYS - The Turncoat Tammany Republicans
NATHANIEL SANDS
The former anti-Tammany educator and reformer, who became a secret double agent
for a price.
Doomed By Cartoon
THE BAD GUYS - The Defense Counsel
DAVID DUDLEY FIELD
The renowned and talented lawyer, who had considerable success in defending Boss Tweed and Erie Ring
culprits Jim Fisk and Jay Gould.
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THE GOOD GUYS - The Press
Harper’s Weekly
Thomas Nast, Cartoonist
The New-York Times
George Jones, Publisher
This Nast cartoon, dated November 6, 1869, was published two years prior to the Tweed Ring’s
downfall. George Jones is at the far left, running behind Horace Greeley, publisher of the Tribune, who, in
turn, trails the diminutive Nast. (The point of the cartoon is to enlist the German vote, symbolized by Civil
War General and German immigrant, Franz Siegel, against the Tammany Ring.)
Doomed By Cartoon
THE GOOD GUYS - The Reform Democrat
SAMUEL J. TILDEN
The Chairman of the New York State Democratic Party whose late intervention— always questionable to
Thomas Nast — was important in toppling the Tweed Ring, and who used his success to build a political
career as a state legislator, governor, and presidential nominee.
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