"Boss" Tweed : the story of a grim generation / by Denis Tilden Lynch.

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"Boss" Tweed

he paid it to the boys at the City Hall. Tweed fared almost
as well as the Common Council. He was given a block of stock
of the Brooklyn Bridge Company, having par value of approximately $40,000, and later made a director of the corporation.
There was another matter that went before the Common
Council in 1866 which added to the wealth of some of the
Aldermen. And Tweed got more out of it than any one-a
hearty laugh on Peter B. Sweeny, who paid $60,000 for the
amusement of The Boss. Sweeny wanted to be Chamberlain.
But again the Common Council would have to give its consent
to the appointment, which was made by the Mayor. Sweeny
was acceptable to Hoffman. Tweed did not care for Sweeny.
But Sweeny, like Connolly, was indispensable, because of his
hold on his people. The Boss did not dare oppose Sweeny,
who was thus described by Tweed:
"Sweeny is a hard, over-bearing, revengeful man. He wants
his way. He treasures up his wrath. He has considerable
ability of a kind."
And of the relations between Tweed and Sweeny, The Boss
said:
"We were so opposite and unalike that we never got along
very well."
The Common Council held up Sweeny's appointment until he
paid the "strikers" $60,000 for its approval.
This was a small price to pay for the post of Chamberlain
where one of the perquisites of the office was the interest from
deposits of municipal funds. The Chamberlain selected the
depositories, and in earlier days, when there were no rigid
banking laws, some of the banks selected by the Chamberlain
were known as skeleton banks. These institutions "failed" so
that their organizers might rob the depositors. The returns to
a scrupulously honest man would be at least $250,000 in the
late Sixties. What could a dishonest Chamberlain make in
addition to this by demanding bonuses from banks in which
the city's money was deposited at two per cent per annum?
Sweeny had long ago lost most of his conscience.
Tweed, who was now forty-three years of age, had a family