Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1858-11-26

MUNlPELIER, NOV. IL, 1895.
To the Editors If Free Press;
The argument before the Committee on Public
! Buildings closed last evening by Mr.. Bradley,
| '~h- -r~h~, - two sessions nhort fa"" te~..-so
the Committee has been bored with ten hours Of
pleading at the winding up Of the testimony, one
each by Mcssrs, Merrill and RcdGeld, and four
each by Powers and Bradley. Of course l cannot
give, nor you find space t. print, the speeches. in
any way that will do any justice to the speakers.
But it may interest you and your readers to know
something of the points in debate, and what this
investigation will, through tho Committee, bring
before the Legislature and the people Of the State
The first point (thc arrangement i. minc) is to
ascertain the position lr. Silloway now holds
| The evidence is clear and admitted ON both sides
that he was employed at the outset, as Architect,
to do the whole work Of designing, planning &C.
! for stipulated sum (?C50 dolars,) by Dr. Pow
| ers, with the advice Of the Commissioners. The
DR.. claims that he found Silloway incompetent
and dismissed him and employed another. Sillo-
way claims that 10y advice Of the Commits sionors
Geo P, Marsh especially, he insisted upon hold
ing his position and has in many things protested
against bad work. Mr., Marsh tcstifes that he
has mad long correspondence with Mr.. Silloway,
amounting to 40 letters received and he believes
! him to be thoroughly competent. Mr.. Merrill
said: "The whole trouble grew out Of the fact
that Thomas l.. Powers wanted to be Corporal,
Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Colonel, and Gen.
eral."
The second point is tho faults in the work.
lst, there is crack in the wall. In order to put
steam boiler in the basement Of tue East wing,
the inside Of the old wall the sides of the cell
lar, which was uneven and rough, must be made
even BY breaking on the projecting rocks with the
hammer This work loosened the wall, and af-
terward crack, cracks, were noticed above,
which Mr. Marsh, siloway and others, attribute to
the hammcring and looscning. The pr. denies
this to be the cause of the cracks.
"a. The boilers are dangerous. They may ex-'
plode and hoist the Senators in the room above.
Powers consulted the Commissioners, and they
said it would do # men of practical experience
should so say. Powers says he did so get the APP
proyal Of practical men, The other side say he
got only the approval Of the Contractor who is
to put the boilers in.
3rd The chimney. This dcformity is the work
Of the Dr. alone No one advised him. only Mr..
Richards, his Architect, assentcd to it
That's "tho house that Tom built"
4th. Certain iron beams are too small. They
have already sagged one half inch. The DR.. or
dcrcd them on the affirmation Of the contractors
for them that they were large enough. Siloway
says be asked to accompany the DR.. to New York
to advise in the contract for them, but was refused
by the Doctor.
9TH. Wooden stairs are used above the second
floor, where the Commissioners and Silloway or
dered stone Or iron, that the whole might be made
FIRE proof.
9TH Burnt and patched ,t,no are used against
silloway's advice, we'll as Ar. Marsh's. They
prevented, however, by protest, (Which the DR..
says never reached him) more than few being
used. The columns are patched, ''to transmit"
as Mr. Bradley said, "the civilization, TASTE and
art Of this generation to the generations to como,
in shollac aud paste instead OF solid granite"
Cornice stones, it was also proposed 20 use, so
cracked and broken that it would be necessary to
iasten them in their places with iron bolts. But
these have not been used, as Silloway claims, ON
account of his protest, II proper to state here
that DR.. Powers claims that Mr. Silloway has had
no business whatever with him OF the state House
since last March. In coming to MONTPELIER and
interesting himself M the work Oh the state
House, he was acting as ga proving spy Mr Brad
ley repl ed to this, at anlowuy wa, spy, he has
had Dco. r. Marsh "a un aeeou Pine,
'th. The tru.--s to support tAs aou.,, out4o..
izod by siiloepy and prepared ba.. been ,.o-
nouu,,d bv um .upr,.,d to boz c.up,toa TO
jud7o, 1sa 'c.'ut aud u.r one have b-,u r5,-