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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. I

CHAPTER VII
THE Common Council to which Tweed was elected has gone
down into history as The Forty Thieves. It was a little more
brazen in its plunderings than its predecessors. Hence the fitting appellation. The Common Council at this time consisted of
the Boards of Aldermen and Assistant Aldermen, of twenty
members each. It was not until two years later that the latter
Board was abolished and supplanted by a Board of Councilmen.
The position of Alderman in 1852 was one of considerable
power. The Alderman was a petty despot. He appointed the
police of his ward, from the humblest patrolman to the commander of the precinct. He granted licenses to saloons, or
porter houses, as the language of the day had it. And with
his associates, he awarded franchises to operate 'bus and street
car lines and ferries. These grants, of course, were not valid
until signed by the Mayor, and if disapproved by him, they
could be repassed over his veto by the Aldermen. He enjoyed
other powers that enabled him-if he were so inclined-to levy
blackmail, but these were his principal sources of tainted
money. He enjoyed still another privilege. He sat as a
Justice in the Mayor's Court, which tribunal, now no more,
tried all prisoners accused of violations at the polls.
It was this last which made offenses against the Election
Law as safe as dropping money in the collection basket on
Sunday. These offenses against the ballot were not confined
to any party, so that the political belief of the offender never
prejudiced a Justice of the Mayor's Court. Moreover, the
Aldermen were practical politicians, who either connived at
these frauds or were parties to them. In many cases the
Aldermen were the agents provocateurs of the offenses charged
against the culprits brought before them.
6?