A Notorious Eastchester Resident ...

I discovered this guy while trolling the NYTimes in the 19th century for mentions of Eastchester. Very fun story about a forgotten but pivotal figure in the Tweed scandals.

Cornelius Corson was Boss Bill Tweed's right-hand man and secretary. He was a trustee of the 10th Ward - and held at least four jobs on the NYC payroll at the same time in the 1860s and 1870s. The most important of these was chief of the Board of Elections. Hilariously, nobody at the Times could figure out how he got the job or what his official duties were, but they included publishing elections rules and ballots. He came to be known as "The Lucky Printer" for the huge amount of money he accumulated at NYC taxpayers' expense as president of the New-York Printing Association. The Times named him "One of the leading 10th Ward Know-Nothings."

In 1869 he prepared a bill for in the state legislature to annex for New York City much of lower Westchester - including Morrisania, West Farms, Westchester village and Mt. Vernon. But the bill stalled. Though officially a resident of NYC, he occupied a "princely" estate in Eastchester.

"His property is situated just outside the village limits of Mount Vernon, on the line of the New-York and New-Haven Railroad, and is worth at least $150,000..." The Times  went on to describe the home's rich furnishings, including a ballroom seating 600 people.  His stables, "Corson's big barn" were "the wonder of the country for miles about."

In addition, he had "about 10 miles of boulevards in that village under his control, obtained through legislative enactment against the wishes and interests of the residents..."


Corson was also president of the village gas company, "grand factotum of the Episcopal Church,"  and founded the Eastchester National Bank, of which Tweed was the biggest stockholder. When Tweed's daughter married in 1868 it was a huge affair and Corson was among those listed as giving her generous presents, in his case a watch in a finger ring valued at $1000.

He founded a newspaper, the "Westchester County Democrat," to advocate boulevard projects and annexation of lower Westchester by New York City. He attempted to have himself elected Colonel of the Third Westchester Regiment and took to calling himself "Col. Corson."

Tweed fell in the early 1870s, but Corson somehow escaped prosecution. He briefly fled New York, and sold his Westchester properties. The mansion and stable were  burned down by suspected arsonists in 1878. He moved to a prime Manhattan address and went into the blank-book business. He apparently kept his nose clean, and was enough of a social figure to have his family's summer vacations at International Falls mentioned in the newspaper.

When he died at age 65 in 1897, the Times headlined "He Was Tweed's Friend." The obituary added, "He enjoyed the friendship and respect of his business associates, but he was seldom heard to make any allusion to the Tweed days."