uffrages of these
people, by whom he was elected at the November election. In due time the
various committees appointed by the citizens made their reports,
presenting the facts we have embodied in this chapter. The guilt of the
members of the Ring was proven so clearly that no reasonable person could
doubt it; but still grave fears were expressed that it would be
impossible to bring these men to justice, in consequence of the arts of
shrewd counsel and legal quibbles. The determination of the citizens
grew with the approach of the elections. Their last great victory over
the Ring was achieved at the polls on the 7th of November, when the
entire Ring ticket in the city, with but one or two exceptions, was
overwhelmingly defeated.

Whether the guilty parties will be punished as they deserve, or whether
the citizens will allow the prosecutions they have instituted to flag,
the future alone can decide. At the present there is reason to fear that
the guilty will escape. Should this fear be realized, the citizens of
New York will have abundant cause to regret it. The Ring is badly
beaten, but it is not destroyed. Many of its members are still in
office, and there are still numbers of its followers ready to do its
bidding. Until the last man tainted with the infamy of an alliance with
the Ring is removed from office, the people of New York may be sure that
the danger is not at an end.

II. PERSONNEL OF THE RING.

Generally speaking, the Ring may be said to include every office-holder
in the city, and it is very certain that of late every official has come
in for a share of the suspicion with which the people regard the
transactions of the Ring. It would be impossible to give an accurate and
complete list of the members of that body, for many of them are not yet
known to the public; but the recent investigations have shown that it is
not composed exclusively of Democrats. A number of Republicans, while
openly acting with their party, have been found to be allied with and in
the pay of the Ring.

The men who are supposed to have played the most conspicuous parts in the
doings of the Ring, and who are believed by the public to be chiefly
responsible for its acts, are Mayor A. O. Hall, Richard B. Connolly,
William M. Tweed, Peter B. Sweeny, J. H. Ingersoll, Andrew J. Garvey, and
E. A. Woodward.

A. OAKEY HALL, Mayor of the city, was born in New York, is of American
parentage, and is about forty-six years ol