He escaped to Cuba, and finally to Spain, but he was again
arrested, returned to New York on a man-of-war, and put into
Ludlow Street jail, where he died April 12, 1878, apparently
without money or friends.
The exact amount of the plunder was never ascertained. An expert
accountant employed by the housecleaners estimated that for three
years, 1868-71, the frauds totaled between $45,000,000 and
$50,000,000. The estimate of the aldermen's committee was
$60,000,000. Tweed never gave any figures; he probably had never
counted his gains, but merely spent them as they came. O'Rourke,
one of the gang, estimated that the Ring stole about $75,000,000
during 1865-71, and that, "counting vast issues of fraudulent
bonds," the looting "probably amounted to $200,000,000."
The story of these disclosures circled the earth and still
affects the popular judgment of the American metropolis. It
seemed as though Tammany were forever discredited. But, to the
despair of reformers, in 1874 Tammany returned to power, electing
its candidate for mayor by over 9000 majority. The new boss who
maneuvered this rapid resurrection was John Kelly, a stone-mason,
known among his Irish followers as "Honest John." Besides the
political probity which the occasion demanded, he possessed a
capacity for knowing men and sensing public opinion. This enabled
him to lift the prostrate organization. He persuaded such men as
Samuel J. Tilden, the distinguished lawyer, August Belmont, a
leading financier, Horatio Seymour, who had been governor, and
Charles O'Conor, the famous advocate, to become sachems under
him.
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