558 



NEW YORK. 



Scribner received 54,137, and Willers 83,326. 

 There were eight justices of the Supreme 

 Court elected, as follows : First District, George 

 C. Barrett, Independent Democrat, over T. A. 

 Ledwith, Tammany Democrat, 80,127 to 45,- 

 916 ; Second District, Joseph F. Barnard, Dem- 

 ocrat, reelected, no opposition ; Third District, 

 Charles R. Ingalls, Democrat, no opposition ; 

 Fourth District, Joseph Potter, Republican, 

 42,932 to 29,054 for Samuel W. Jackson, Dem- 

 ocrat ; Fifth District, George A. Hardin, Re- 

 publican, no opposition; Sixth District, Ran- 

 som Balcom, Republican, reelected, 43,302 to 

 32,223 for J. McGuire ; Seventh District, E. 

 Darwin Smith, Republican, reelected, no op- 

 position : Eighth District, George D. Lament, 

 Republican, 43,078 votes to 34,620 for Richard 

 P. Marvin. 



The Legislature of 1872 stands: 24 Repub- 

 licans and 8 Democrats in the Senate, and 97 

 Republicans and 31 Democrats in the As- 

 sembly. 



The election was a good deal affected by 

 disclosures of irregularity and fraud in the 

 administration of affairs in New York City. 

 One of the newspapers of that city, during the 

 summer, made charges of gross frauds against 

 the leading officials, and presented a vast array 

 of figures purporting to have been transcribed 

 from the books of the Comptroller, showing 

 that many exorbitant claims against the city 

 for work done and material furnished had 

 been presented, passed by the official Board 

 of Audit, and paid from the Treasury. Con- 

 siderable excitement was caused by these 

 revelations, and, on the evening of the 4th of 

 September, a mass meeting was held at the 

 Cooper Institute, and a Committee of Seventy 

 prominent citizens was appointed to make 

 investigations, and if possible bring the guilty 

 persons to punishment. The committee, divid- 

 ing itself into sub-committees, set to work 

 making investigations, and gathering evidence. 

 The committee called upon the Governor for 

 the cooperation of the Attorney-General of the 

 State, and that official delegated his powers, 

 so far as these proceedings were concerned, to 

 Mr. Charles O'Conor, who associated with 

 himself certain of the counsel, and established 

 a " Bureau of Municipal Correction " as a sort 

 of branch of the Attorney-General's office in 

 the city of New York. An injunction was 

 obtained, restraining the Comptroller from 

 making further payments under the taxy levy, 

 on the ground that the funds legally applicable 

 to the ordinary purposes of the government 

 were exhausted. This was subsequently relaxed 

 to allow of special payments at various times. 

 Mr. Richard B. Connolly, the Comptroller, was 

 induced to appoint Andrew H. Green as his 

 deputy, with full power, and afterward to 

 resign and allow that gentleman to be regularly 

 appointed by the mayor. Suits were then 

 brought against Mr. Connolly, who was ar- 

 rested, and, on failure to give bail in $500,000, 

 was lodged in the county jail, where he lay 



for some weeks, until bail was obtained. Mr. 

 Tweed, President of the Department of Public 

 Works, was also arrested, and gave bail to the 

 amount of $1,000,000. He subsequently re- 

 signed his office. Mr. Peter B. Sweeny, head 

 of the Department of Public Parks, also re- 

 signed after the election in November, and left 

 the city. The grand-jury of the Court of Gen- 

 eral Sessions in November took the matter up, 

 and after long and laborious investigations 

 brought in a large number of indictments 

 against the officials and other parties implicated 

 in the frauds, the November term of the court 

 having been prolonged from time to time until 

 March, 1872, to allow them to complete the 

 work. The only person thus far brought to 

 trial on this indictment is A. Oakey Hall, the 

 mayor of the city, whose trial was suddenly 

 interrupted by the death of one of the jury- 

 men in March, 1872. 



The developments of fraud and abuse in the 

 municipal government constituted the main 

 issue in the election in the city in November, 

 and the reform candidates were very generally 

 elected by large majorities. Although the 

 excitement had fairly subsided in the early 

 part of 1872, the proceedings which had been 

 begun had brought about but imperfect and 

 incomplete results. 



The Committee of Seventy also prepared a 

 draft of a new charter for the city, which was 

 introduced into the Legislature after the com- 

 mencement of the session of ] 872. The Gov- 

 ernor in his annual message devoted consider- 

 able space to the discussion of the affairs of 

 the metropolitan city, and presented his own 

 views regarding the leading features of any 

 new charter which should be adopted. He 

 presented the following points as necessary 

 to be " kept prominently in view : " 



1. Fixing the responsibility for good administra- 

 tion of all city affairs upon the mayor ; and to this 

 end giving him full power of appointment and re- 

 moval of all heads of departments, except the police. 



2. Giving the people an early opportunity for a 

 new election of local officers. 



3. Making the mayor subject to removal by the 

 Governor, for malfeasance in office or neglect of duty. 



4. Providing for a police department, with three 

 commissioners, to be appointed as follows : one by 

 the mayor, one by the chief judge of the Court of 

 Common Pleas, and one by the chief judge of the 

 Superior Court, to be removable, any of them, as in 

 the case of sheriffs, by the Governor, for cause. 



5. ^Requiring full monthly publication of all re- 

 ceipts and expenditures, and of all bonds issued, 

 and frequent publication also of all contracts made 

 by any department, with a statement of the general 

 operations of each department and of their pay-rolls. 



6. Concentrating the responsibility of those ccm 

 posing what may be termed the legislative branch 

 of the city government, by constituting this of only 

 one board, a board of aldermen not too numerous ; 

 this board, with the Mayor, acting as supervisors, 

 levying all taxes. If any plan can be devised for 

 giving in the legislative branch of the city govern- 

 ment, by election, a just and proportionate represen- 

 tation to the minority, it would be a wholesome im- 

 provement. 



7. Providing that there shall be no debt created 

 except for some single work or object by authority 



