The forty thieves or the common scoundrels of New-York

The title continues: "Breaking up of a Grand Spree in the Tea Room & total abflustification of the common scoundrels." Weitenkampf calls the print a satirical look at members of the New York Common Council "after a spree of eating and drinking," and cites two others by Elton. The artist also suggests corruption in that Tammany-controlled civic body, a center of Democratic power in 1840. It is a crowded scene of drunken merriment. In the foreground are several comical figures in various attitudes, including a reeling heavy-set man who says, "I'm affraid I've not done me juty to me w-a-r-d this evening, let me see what I've had: three Oyster stews . . . " He leans on a smaller man who says, "Don't make yourself uneasy Sir, if you havent done your duty on this occassion, I would like to see the man who has & if there is such a man all I want is his Daguerreotype Likeness to hang on the inside of my shirt to remember him by . . ." (Daguerreotypes were first introduced in 1839, and portrait studios had opened in several major cities in the United States by early 1840.) On the right two others converse. One, with a bulbous red nose, lifts his glass aloft. The second holds a bag marked "40,000." The first says, "Ah! that's the talk! let me see with that amount of stuff, I can cut out forty pairs of pantaloons with a thousand sets of trimmings for each man, o yes Sir depend on it, the documents shall be forthcoming!" The second, "Here is the Stuff for pantaloons & I hope now you will put that matter through & let me have the contract without delay." In the middle ground left a black manservant holds a tray of cups before the open door to a "Tea Room."
For sale at 124 Nassau St. N.Y.
Probably drawn by John L. Magee.
Title appears as it is written on the item.
Murrell, p. 162, 164.
Weitenkampf, p. 68-69.
Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)
Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-1.