Peter Barr Sweeny (October 9, 1825

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

– August 30, 1911

Mahopac Mahopac ( or ) is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in the town of Carmel in Putnam County, New York, United States. Also known as Lake Mahopac, the exurb is located some north of New York City, on US Route 6 at the county's southern centr ...

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) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

He was the son of James Sweeny, who kept a hotel in

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, and Mary (Barr) Sweeny. He attended Columbia College, then studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced law with James T. Brady in New York City. In 1852, he was appointed Public Administrator. He was

New York County District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ...

in 1858, elected on the Democratic ticket in November 1857, but resigned due to ill health. Sweeny was City Chamberlain and Park Commissioner under Mayor

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. He became notorious as a central figure in the ring that controlled

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

, and was depicted prominently in

Thomas Nast Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and ...

's cartoons alongside Boss Tweed, Richard B. Connolly and

. With Tweed, he was a director of the

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, which became "a gigantic highway of robbery and disgrace".Paine 1904, p. 157. Sweeny was also Director of the Tenth National Bank, in which city funds were deposited. In Nast's cartoons, Tweed and Sweeny were often identified as "Tweeny and Sweed"; in others, Sweeny was identified as "Peter 'Brains' Sweeny". Public indignation over the theft of millions of dollars by the Tweed ring led to the downfall of the Ring in the municipal election of November 7, 1871. Sweeny resigned from public life the following day.Paine 1904, p. 198. In February 1872, Sweeny was indicted but the D.A.'s office decided for nolle prosequi, and Sweeny went to

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. In 1877, Sweeny paid $400,000 to New York City in exchange for forgiveness. The fact that the sum was paid in the name of his recently deceased brother, James M. Sweeney, who had been a minor player in the financial operations of the Ring, was widely condemned in the press. On June 7, 1877, the ''Evening Post'' wrote, "Of course, nobody will be deceived by this disgraceful and offensive sham. The suit of the people was not against James M. Sweeny ... It is known that he lived by the breath of his brother, that he was but a mere miserable tool". Sweeny died at the home of his son Arthur Sweeny, Assistant Corporation Counsel of New York City.

Notes

Sources

''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1867; page 531)
''Candidates of the Different Parties for the November Election''
in NYT on October 28, 1857
''PETER B. SWEENY DEAD AT 86''
in NYT on September 1, 1911

References

*Paine, Albert Bigelow (1904). ''Th. Nast, His period and his pictures''. New York: The Macmillan Company. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeny, Peter B. 1825 births 1911 deaths New York County District Attorneys Columbia College (New York) alumni 19th-century American politicians William M. Tweed Leaders of Tammany Hall