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Political Career
Tweeds arrest and subsequent flight The end came when one of the plunderers, dissatisfied with the amount he received, gave The New York Times evidence that conclusively proved that stealing was going on. In a subsequent interview about the fraud, Tweed's only reply was, "What are you going to do about it?" However, accounts in The New York Times and political cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast and published in Harper's Weekly resulted in the election of numerous opposition candidates in 1871. Tweed is attributed with exclaiming, "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents can't read, but, damn it, they can see pictures!" In October 1871, when Tweed was held on $1,000,000 bail, Jay Gould was the chief bondsman. The efforts of political reformers William H. Wickham (1875 New York City mayor) and Samuel J. Tilden (later the 1876 Democratic presidential nominee) resulted in Tweed's trial and conviction in 1873. He was given a 12-year prison sentence, which was reduced by a higher court and he served one year. He was then re-arrested on civil charges, sued by New York State for $6,000,000, and held in debtor's prison until he could post $3,000,000 as bail. On December 4, 1875, Tweed escaped and fled to Cuba. His presence in Cuba was discovered by the U.S. Government and he was held by the Cuban government. Before the U.S. Government could arrange for his extradition, Tweed bribed his way onto a ship headed to Spain. Before he arrived in Spain, the U.S. Government discovered his eventual destination and made arrangements for his arrest as soon as he reached the Spanish coast. The Spanish government identified him, purportedly recognizing Tweed from one of Nast's cartoons, and extradited him to New York; he was delivered to authorities in New York City on November 23, 1876, where he died in the Ludlow Street Jail, just a few blocks from his childhood home, two years later on April 12, 1878, at the age of 55. He was buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. Succession Trivia Boss Tweed was portrayed by Jim Broadbent in the 2002 film Gangs of New York. It is a common misconception that Boss Tweed's middle name was Marcy. While his middle initial was in fact M, it more likely stood for his mother's maiden name, Magear. Another common misconception about Boss Tweed is that he was Irish. Although he was born on Cherry Street in Manhattan, he was of Scottish-Irish descent. Further reading | ||||||||||||
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