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TWEED, William Marcy, a Representative from New York; born in New York City April 3, 1823;
completed preparatory studies; learned the trade of chair maker; alderman in New York City in 1852
and 1853; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855);
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress; school commissioner in
1856 and 1857; member of the board of supervisors for New York County in 1858; defeated as the
peace candidate for sheriff in 1861; deputy street commissioner 1861-1870; elected to the State
senate in 1867 and 1869, serving four years; again elected in 1871, but was not permitted to take his
seat; commissioner of the department of public works in 1870; tried in 1874 on charges of official
embezzlement, found guilty, and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment; escaped in December 1875
and was captured in Spain; brought back to the United States on a man-of-war; again confined in
prison in New York City from November 23, 1876, until his death, April 12, 1878; interment in
Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
BibliographyHershkowitz, Leo. Tweeds New York:
Another Look. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press-Doubleday, 1977; Ashby, Ruth. Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall. San Diego, Calif.: Blackbirch Press, 2002.
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