The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1853-08-25
The Portage Railroad Iavestiga-
tians
TIE CHARGES SUSTAINED!

of the strike on the Portage Road, and
made public reportupon the subject
We have not space for the report, but the
result is, they admit that all the material
charges brought against the State officers
have been sustained. The only palliation
they have to offer is, that they had no a.
dea such things werc done!
The committee on behalf of the opera
tivcs made the following charges to the
Board:
? MOUNTAIN HOUSE, July 9Th, 1858.
W. I. MORRISON, Esq,
President Board Canal Commissioners
SIR In reply to yours of this date,
We make the following charges, and sus-
tain them in the following manner:
Our first charge as set forth in the ad-
dress of the operatives of the Allegheny
Portage Railroad: That many Of us
have been in the employ of the Common
wealth for months, without receiving any
| pay. This charge we will prove by the
following PERSONS: By Daniel Drophy,
we will prove thBt at the time Of the strike
there was between fifteen and sixteen
months wages due him, and that every
time that he knew there was money pay
ing by the superintendent he tried to get
| it., but did not succeed. That William
Shiels, do eleven months; Harkins Ott.,
between eight and niue months; Terrence
Hudson, do, between ten and eleven
months; William Kerns lad fourteen
months due him. We can give any num-
Der of names, if necessary for similar pc
riods.
The second charge is. That hands
have been compelled to sell their time at
discount.
I We will prove by Richard Trotter, en-
gineer at the head of plane Of No. a; That
he had to sell three months of his time at
a discount of ten per cent, at brokers'
Office in Hollidaysburg, after the passage
of the appropriation bill. That Henry
Downy and 0. H. Kelly sold at the same
place, at the same rate. That Daniel NJ
Manamy sold six months time, amount
ing to S342, and had to pay ten per cent.
discount; part of this time sold to A. NJ.
& r. White, and the rest to Bell, John
ston, Jack & Co. Those persons are now
present, and any amount of names can be
had of persons who were compelled to
sell But these we consider sufficient.
The third charge is: That the check
rolls sold to the brokers, &C., first find
their way into the treasury. That NJ. NJ.
Adams, a member of this committee,
found audited in the Auditor Generals
books, bill of his, which from the time
he sold, to the date of its auditing, did
not exceed two months. That it was for
materials furnished for the road - a.
mounted to over eleven hundred
That he sold the bill to Bell
Jack & Co., and paid ten
on it.
The fourth charge is:
100000 of bills and
found their way into
had not passed thro<
dents hands. Thl
by the men on the
by Mr.. Crawford, anN
II VI ~il
ting clerk, to two of this comm
That Immediately after the passage -
appropriation bill, one of the clerks of the
Treasury Office carried in two bundles of
check rolls and bills amounting to be-
tween $4,000 and $4,000 which were
to F. r. West, Esq, late Su-
perintcndent Allegheny Portage railroad.
lie said that some of them were audited,
and the balance were sent back to the
superintendent Office in Hollidaysburg,
as they had to be receipted to Gen. Ross
before they could be audided. They
were sent back and properly made out
and all audited, with the exception of a
few bills. The next charge is: That men
have been discharged without being paid
and were compelled to call several times
for their money. This is such common
occurrence on the road, as renders it al
most useless to say anything about it, as
every man who knows anything about the
road, knows this is the manner of doing
business on it. 1t has been asserted that
he officers of the road know nothing of
he strike. This is not true, as one of
his committee, Cornelius Collins, had a
with Jesse r. Crawford, two
,r three weeks previous to the strike, and
old him that the strike would come off.
IRA wford said that the men on the road
lad not nerve enough to strike. These
ire all that have been appointed to an
wer. Some of the other members of
his committee have some charges to make
which will form a separate communica-
ion. Truly yours.
THOS. COLLINS, Chairman, &c.
These charges are admitted by the !
Board to have been all substantially !
proved. In reference to them, the Canal
commissioners say:
"Without attempting to review the tes-
imony which was taken by the Board, in
yetai1, it may be remarked generally, that :
was abundantly established hat at the
ime of the "strike," there had been mon
y due some of the hands for three, six, c
line, twelve, and some even fifteen months, 9
"The effect of this was that many of t