ABSTRACT
The double inaugurations of New Year's Day, 1871 over—Hall was again sworn in as Mayor, and Hoffman as Governor—Tweed began to move fast to silence The Times, by purchase, or otherwise. Those daily tirades from the tireless pen of Jennings, while they could not affect Tweed's hold on the party locally, would affect his standing with the Democrats of the Nation. That would spell defeat of his plan to make Hoffman President. If Taylor were only alive! The very fact that he and the deceased director of The Times were partners in his corrupt printing company would, in itself, have forced Jones and Jennings to think twice before attacking him. They had no proofs of his guilt, or that of any of the other members of The Ring. They just suspected that he, and Hall, and Sweeny, and Connolly were corrupt, and let drive at them. It was one thing to call a man a thief, but it was something else again to prove him one. No evidence of his corruption could be obtained without access to the books of the Comptroller's office. And only one man ever saw those books besides Connolly. This was Jimmy Watson, the County Auditor. And Jimmy was a sharp lad. How he must work, looking after most of the accounts himself! He trusted nobody else. But then, he was well paid for it. A small-salaried clerk who lived in a mansion and had his own stable adjoining.
