Was our vision of Santa Claus an invention of Coca Cola?

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7. Thomas Nast, Fighter of corruption. He broke Tammany Hall

News editors were writing about the corruption of Tammany. Boss Tweed didn't care. His followers couldn't read or didn't care to buy the papers. Nast's cartoons were something else. People understood the image of Tweed taking money from orphans and widows. Nast was offered money to stop and threatened.

One time, Nast's wife opened the front door and found a dead rat hanging from the front porch. That was beyond Tweed's conscience. He told he "aide" not to bother Nast's family. Samuel J.Tilden (Also an interesting character) prosecuted Tweed.

Tweed escaped jail and prison on two occasions. On one of those escapes, Tweed made his way to Barcelona where an American tourist recognized Tweed from Nast's cartoons. Tweed was arrested on request of the U.S. ambassador to Spain. Tweed was returned to the U.S. He died in a U.S. jail.