GOVERNOR JOHN THOMPSON HOFFMAN - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED CHECK 03/31/1868 CO-SIGNED BY: RICHARD B. CONNOLLY, EDWARD J. STAPLETON - HFSID 320499

NEW YORK CITY GOVERNMENT: JOHN THOMPSON HOFFMAN, RICHARD B. CONNOLLY, and EDWARD J. STAPLETON
Hoffman, as Mayor of New York, and Connolly, as City Comptroller, sign a $125.00 salary check to County bookkeeper Stapleton, who endorses it.
Check signed: "John T. Hoffman" as Mayor, "Richard B. Connolly" as Comptroller, 8x3¾. New York, N. Y. 1868 March 31.Check #1260, drawn on the Salaries Account of the County Treasurer at the National Broadway Bank, payable to Edward J. Stapleton for $125.00. Payment is for salary as Book Keeper in the County Clerk's Office, March 1868. Also signed by an unidentified clerk of the Board of Supervisors. Endorsed on verso: "Edw. J. Stapleton". JOHN THOMPSON HOFFMAN (1828-1888), previously a state judge, was Mayor of New York City (1866-1868) and Governor of New York (1869-1872). Although there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Hoffman, his friendship with several members of the Tweed gang tarnished his reputation at the end of an otherwise successful tenure. DeWitt Clinton in the 1820s was the first Mayor of New York to become Governor; Hoffman was the second. No one since has held both offices. While Hoffman was personally honest, the same could not be city of RICHARD B. CONNOLLY (1810-1880), New York's appointed City Comptroller (1867-1871). A member of the notoriously corrupt "Tweed Ring" of Tammany Hall sachem William M. Tweed, he was arrested a week after leaving office, but jumped bail and fled the country, dying in France a decade later. Small hole in center. Cancellation punch in center. Corners lightly worn. Slightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.