]

[Footnote 1287: Subsequently the charred remains of these accounts were
discovered in an ash-heap in the City Hall attic. Myers, _History of
Tammany Hall_, p. 387.]

[Footnote 1288: Hall was indicted and tried, but the jury disagreed.
The second grand jury did not indict.]

Having anticipated a little it may not be improper to anticipate a
little more, and say what became of other members of this historic
Ring. When the public prosecutor began his work Sweeny and Connolly
fled to Europe.[1289] After one mistrial, Tweed, found guilty on
fifty-one counts, was sent to prison for twelve years on Blackwell's
Island, but at the end of a year the Court of Appeals reversed the
sentence, holding it cumulative. Being immediately rearrested Tweed,
in default of bail fixed at $3,000,000, remained in jail until his
escape in December, 1875. Disguised by cutting his beard and wearing a
wig and gold spectacles, he concealed his whereabouts for nearly a
year, going to Florida in a schooner, thence to Cuba in a fishing
smack, and finally to Spain, where he was recognised and returned to
New York on a United States man-of-war. He re-entered confinement on
November 23, 1876, and died friendless and moneyless in Ludlow Street
jail on April 12, 1878.

[Footnote 1289: Sweeny afterwards compromised for $400,000 and returned
to New York. Connolly, who was reported to have taken away $6,000,000,
died abroad.]

Meantime the Legislature of 1871 had ordered the impeachment of
Barnard and Cardozo of the Supreme Court, and McCunn of the Superior
Court. Their offences extended beyond the sphere of Tweed's
operations, indicating the greed of a Sweeny and the disregard of all
honorable obligations. Cardozo, the most infamous of the trio, called
the Machiavelli of the Bench, weakened under investigation and
resigned to avoid dismissal. Barnard and McCunn, being summarily
removed, were forever disqualified from holding any office of trust in
the State. McCunn died three days after sentence, while Barnard,
although living for seven years, went to his grave at the early age of
fifty.

The aggregate of the Ring's gigantic swindles is known only
approximately. Henry F. Taintor, the auditor employed by Andrew H.
Green, estimated it between forty-five and fifty millions; an
Aldermanic committee placed it at sixty millions; and Matthew J.
O'Rourke, after thorough study, fixed it at seventy-five millions,
adding that if his report had included the va