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

In Prison 397
the State to bring suit for moneys stolen from public treasuries. So when the disgraced Boss was released on January
15, 1875, he was rearrested on a civil action wherein the State,
as plaintiff, sought to recover $6,000,000 of loot that had been
directly traced to him. Bail was fixed in the unheard of sum
of $3,000,000.
Jay Gould did not rush to Tweed's aid to furnish this bond.
He did not dare. Tilden was now Governor, having been
inaugurated fifteen days before the release of his old foe.
And for Tweed to have put up the money would have meant
its certain loss, as there would be that much to attach in the
event of judgment, which was as certain as his conviction.
Tilden was the man of the hour. He had been elected directly
because of The Ring disclosures. For one to have spoken
ill of him now would have been to attack the idol of the shouting crowds. So Tweed was committed to Ludlow Street Jail
in default of surety of $3,000,000 cash or double that princely
sum in real estate.
Tweed's confinement in the debtors' prison was purely nominal. He left the jail almost every afternoon in a closed carriage, accompanied by the two keepers, and when one of the
upper sections of the city-then sparsely settled-was reached,
the prisoner of State would alight, and take a walk for a mile
or more. On the way back to the jail the party would stop
at Tweed's home where dinner would be served. This continued
for nearly a year.
At noon of December 4, 1875, Tweed, with his son William
M. Tweed, Jr., in the custody of Warden Dunham and Keeper
Hagan drove, as usual, to the upper end of the Island. This
time their destination was the furthermost extreme, and on
the return trip they stopped in Central Park where Tweed and
his son, the Warden and Keeper at a respectful distance,
walked for fifteen minutes, and then reentered the carriage,
which was driven to Tweed's mansion at the southeast corner
of Forty-third Street and Fifth Avenue. It was now dark.
Dunham and Hagan sat in the drawing room while Tweed
went to the second floor to talk with his wife. Five minutes
later, according to Dunham's story, he looked at his watch.