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119 C H A P T E R S I X Tweed In the late summer of 1871, Thomas Nast received a visitor to his Harlem home. The man was a representative of the Broadway Bank, and after an introductory period of small talk, he asked Nast whether it was true that he would be traveling to Europe soon to study art. Nast said that he was too busy to leave just then. “I have reason to believe,” the man replied, “you could get a hundred thousand dollars for your trip.”1 Nast understood that this was a bribe, and that his visitor represented the Democratic machine, based at Tammany Hall. The machine’s boss, William M. Tweed, was the target of a campaign to destroy the power of the Democrats and reform city government. The New York Times, Harper’s Weekly, and Nast’s unrelenting pencil were the primary weapons in the fight. Clearly, Nast’s cartoons were hitting home, and Tweed hoped that he could induce Nast to abandon the crusade against the machine. Nast asked whether he might be given $200,000. The answer was yes. What about $500,000? After a slight pause, the gentleman dropped all pretense. “You can. You can get five hundred thousand dollars in gold to drop this Ring business and get out of the country.” The banker must have thought that he had finally hit upon Nast’s true desire. Five hundred thousand dollars was not a fortune that would rival that of the Astors, Vanderbilts , or the railroad barons, but it was enough money to catapult Nast into the upper classes. Nothing would be impossible with five hundred thousand dollars. Yet the answer was no. “I made up my mind not long ago,” Nast told the man, “to put some of those fellows behind the bars, and I’m going to put them there!” The man replied, threateningly, “Only be careful, Mr. Nast, that you do not first put yourself in a coffin!” Already, Sallie and the children had been moved to Morristown, New Jersey, to protect them from the possibility of violence. Lurking toughs, threatening letters, and the removal of a friendly local police captain had all presaged this visitor. It was clear that the stakes were rising, both for Nast and for his primary target: Boss Tweed.2 120Tweed The confrontation between Nast and Tweed had been a long time coming.The two men had a serendipitous history together, beginning when Nast was only a child and Tweed was a promising young Democrat in the toughest ward in New York.The two men becoming enemies and Nast joining , then leading, the fight to destroy Tweed is one of the most dramatic episodes in Nast’s life. Two points make the Tweed period important. First, Nast’s participation in the campaign against Tweed catapulted him to the forefront of his profession. He became a man whose work could change minds, topple leaders, and influence elections. Not mere editorials, Nast’s cartoons captured public attention and inspired public outrage. Editorials supplied evidence. Nast helped people react. Second, the Tweed crusade made Nast a celebrity, toasted in both New York and Washington, D.C., and fame gave him power—political, social, and economic. When Thomas Nast entered school on Cherry Street, he was probably between eight and ten years old. Nast liked it no better than any other school. He preferred to draw, wander the streets, and chase fire trucks. A nearby company, the Big Six, was one of the best in the city. In a city whose fire companies resembled gangs as much as public servants, the Big Six’s men were tall, tough, and willing to fight any other men who might arrive at the scene of a fire. Sometimes fighting between fire companies was so fierce that fires raged unchecked because there was no one left to operate the hoses. Home owners could only watch despairingly as their possessions burned.3 If anyone could understand why the Cherry Street School repelled Thomas Nast, it was one of the Big Six, William Tweed. Tweed, a Cherry Street dropout, was a strapping young man with a bull neck and a talent for trouble. He was also a promising young member of the Democratic Party. By the time Tweed left the Big Six for political office, Nast was almost eleven years old. It is easy to imagine the impression Tweed might have made on Nast. At five foot eleven and...

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