“FRAUDS GIGANTIC ON ANY SCALE”: TWO RARE ORIGINAL NEW YORK CITY PAYROLL SHEETS, SIGNED BY “BOSS” TWEED, 1867 & 1870

TWEED, William [Boss]. Documents signed. Two original payroll forms printed and completed in manuscript. New York, 1867, 1870. Printed on recto with one-fourth panel printed on verso. One sheet measuring 8-1/2 inches by 14 inches, the other measuring 8-1/2 inches by 13-1/2 inches.

Two original payroll forms, each authorized and signed by Tammany Hall’s infamous “Boss” Tweed: one from New York City’s Street Department, dated May 31, 1867, and the second from the city’s Department of Public Works, dated July 1870.

In the 19th century, “William Magear Tweed didn’t invent civic corruption or ballot-box stuffing, but he and his Tammany crowd elevated the techniques to stunning proportions.” As noted by historian Kenneth Ackerman, “Boss” Tweed, along with New York City’s mayor, chamberlain and city comptroller, “committed frauds gigantic on any scale… In later years, estimates of ‘Tweed Ring’ total plunder jumped from the relatively modest $25 million to $45 million… to fully $200 million ($4 billion in modern dollars)” (Boss Tweed). “Tweed’s control of patronage appointments increased when in 1863 he was appointed deputy street commissioner, a position he held until 1870. He dramatically enlarged the Street Department workforce to accommodate party stalwarts he wished to reward, creating by 1864, for example, 12 jobs for ‘manure inspectors’ and 22 for ‘distributors of corporation ordinances.” The enactment of a revised charter in 1870 “consolidated the Tweed Ring’s control of city finances” with Tweed’s appointment to the “new position of commissioner of public works for the city” (ANB). These two original documents—one from the Street Department and the other from the Department of Public Works—trace Tweed’s path to power through these very city agencies. The printed payroll form for “Lamp-Lighters,” under the Street Department controlled by Tweed, is finished by hand in black ink, listing payments totaling $226.66 made during the month of May, 1867. Tweed’s signature appears above the title “Deputy Street Commissioner” on the lower right corner of the sheet. The second document, a printed payroll form for the Department of Public Works—dated the year Tweed was appointed its first commissioner—is also finished by hand, in blue and black ink, listing amounts paid to two inspectors for the “Extra Cleaning” of streets in July 1870 and signed by Tweed on the lower right corner of the sheet. Each sheet has three creases, dividing the leaves into four equal panels; on the verso of each sheet the left panel is printed, finished by hand, stamped in blue ink by the “City of New York Department of Finance,” then signed by the city’s “Auditor of Accounts.”

Minute loss to upper left of “Street Department” form, without affecting text; slight wear along fold lines. Two remarkable, signed documents in near-fine condition.