| Show I NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY WHY TWEEDS SENTENCE WAS TWELVE YEARS By fly E ii J i Edwards This dally daily series url of ot anecdotes and end In Incidents IncIdent incidents that throw new Interesting and frequently dramatic light on famous mou events and of ot the tha past pat have been collect u by Mr Edwards Edward Hol 1101 Holland Holland land during nearly nurl forty years year of ot more or lisa Its Intimate acquaintance with many of the country leaders since alnee the Civil war wr Each Eull anecdote or Incident U II fresh from Mr Edwards notebook hitherto unpublished New News 2 11 of Yesterday gar garn n r d from the men who made the news new the history or from equally authoritative tive sources A As Aa Important contributions of at th the human Interest Inte t sort ort to Ameri American can chin history hillory th these sa articles have havo a dis distinctive dl value all nil their heir own Following his hIli conviction by a I jury of ot hi his peers peen William M lii L Tweed who vho os as every ovel schoolboy knows know holds an un unenviable Unenviable enviable place In American history as us u uthe the republic star grafter was eon sen sentenced by Judge More Davis before whom he lie wo WILl tried for tor 13 12 years In all Tweed was convicted on 12 counts of ofen en n Indictment the maximum punish punishment mont ment upon each count being five e years 1 Judge Davis sentenced lente ed him to a year on each Mh count Intending that tsi IU neil tence should be BO so served that thero there would be 12 1 years lars Imprisonment In all 1111 allHut allhut Hut Hul the court of ot the state toto de sic decided that the sentences were so 80 that while Tweed was serving fenIng one year yeu he was wan really oIly serving 13 33 At Al the thu time that thai sentence was Im Imposed posed poised many persons wondered why the judge had hod given Tweed so light Ugh t a 0 sari len sentence tence and tot not so 0 very long lOOK ago OKO a well known student of o American graft hit his history tory lory expressed similar curiosity on title this head bend I count myself fortunate In now being able to throw the tho proper light on this Ihl point light which I received from Judge Davis Davin himself when a year oar or two before etore his dent death I asked him how he came allm to sentence Tweed for a year ear upon each e h of ot the tho counts or 12 years ears earsIn in all alt when ho he might have havo sentenced him to to years upon each count or GO CO years In all 1111 Judge Judae Davis Davia said laid That question has h JI been beoo asked me many times but I have never given IPen to any ono one an a explanation of ot the tho th reasons reason which led me mo to fix upon On u this son sen tence tenee Ill do BO so now Atter After Tweeds conviction I went to tomy tomy tomy my home for he wo was not 1101 to be son sen until tho thu next nest day determined to spend the evening In considering what would bo proper punishment for far tho the offen otren offenses s of cf which Tweed had i been an convicted The Tho offenses were vero misdemeanors nicanora moano not felonies and therefore he could be imprisoned not nol In states state pris prison prison on but bul in the penitentiary Whilo I wo was meditating late that night upon tho the proper sentence I sud aud denly den recollected the testimony which had been beon prepared by Samuel T L Tilden afterwards governor of ot the tho state and Democratic candidate for tor president That was a wonderful piece j of analytic work done by Governor Tilden fib JIo hAIl had a n few fow scraps scrape of ot paper r some mutilated stubs of ot check and a few other docu monte ments and with these thelle he demonstrated as accurately as an any teacher could demonstrate a n mathematical problem no not nol only nn What the th total of ot the Tweed conspirators were wore but bul what hal share each earh ono one of tho the conspirators re o Ills demonstration allowed that Tweed Tweel received 20 per cent so I said Mid to myself melt A JI Tweed got gol 20 O per cent of It the total stealing why not sentence him to tn 20 10 0 per cent of ot the to till num number er ot of yetra which the statutes ue ret et forth forth as the tite maximum penalty I could give gho him five vo years fealS on each ooch count count ot of th the Indictment nt Twenty per I cent of ot that would be one year IU er Therefore I determined d l to 10 sentence him tot for ono year upon Un caer count or 12 years arllin In all and I wa tva tu sure that h he would l 1 12 years lInt Hut our ur highest hist court deeded decided that the various sentences were con |
