The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-07-25

daion was in part laid; the building was evidently
enlarged; the cost would evidently be greater. He
then makes negotiation with these plaintiffs
! by which he passes off five thousand dollars of
| the stock OF the city at par when nobody dreamed
| OF giving more than 80 cents on the dollar
! for it. And he did it honestly no doubt
upon the estimate which he obtained (athough it
| was not in writing) from the City Commissioner
| that the work done at that time on the ground
the materials on the ground, and the materials
! ready to be put into the building, were worth
| five thousand dollars. And be repeats the opera
| tion on the following November, by handing
| over twenty thousand dollars of the stock of the
| city, upon the conviction that there was then S25-
| 900 worth of property in and about the building
as the work was then going on. And horc was it
| then going on? This drawing, which I hold in my
/ hand, tells u.s. gentlemen how the work was going
| on The foundations were there marked out upon
| the ground Just appears on this drawing, and
were laid. And every body concerned not only
| knew but could not have avoided knowing that in
the month of November, 1885, these nen were going
on to construct the building according to this plan
Whether they We're authorised to do it is a matter
which shall inquire into BY and bv; but the fact
| that theT were putting up building upon that
plan was as obvious light in the month of Novem-
! Der, 1856, when Mr.. Kinks paid that twenty five
thousand dollars and saved to the CITY some six or
seven thousand dollars by the operation Not a
word of complaint falls from the lips of anybody,
| OF which we have had any evidence, until the
succeeding month of February.
| Mr.. Swans advent to the mayoralty, fortunate
! ly for the city, had taken place in the month of
october, and he was enjoying all the honors in the
month of November. In the month of March, the
duty OF nominating to the many corporate offices
| that belong to the corporation was coming round
when Mr.. Crawford Nelson, n gentleman of known
| intelligence-known by the Mayor to be ipteli
| gent--whose honesty nobody has ever questioned
ana whose honesty, therefore, the Mayor had no
right to question, and whose honesty he never did
| question, hearing of the manner in which the
building was going on, and believing that there
| had been departure from the Dixon plan, and
| such departure from it would involve the CITY
| in larger expenditure than was anticipated on
the Sth of July--he himself having submitted
| plan for constructing the buding-goes down to
the Mayors office and tells him that he feels it to be
his right as well his duty to inform him what was
| going on in regard to the matter; that the Dixon
plan had been abandoned; that the Jail instead of
costing only Sl02 900, would cost four times that
amount; that this had been the work of the Citv
Commissioner, who had done it, as Mr.. Nelson al
! legged, by an abuse of his authority; and Mr.. NJ
therefore, invoked the Mayor, claiming the right to
do So as tax-paying citizen of the city of Balti-
more, to turn this man out of office
| Did the Mayor turn him out, gentlemen? He
re-nominated him in March. Did he not know,
| when he re nominated him, what was going on
Everybody else knew it, and he knew it, unless he
could give some why he disregarded Mr.
Nelson's warning, and dsbelieved in point of fact
Mr.. Nelson's testimony. But he tells YOU that he
knew that Mr.. Nelson was disappointed party; he
had submitted plan which had not been adopted;
he had been a competitor of the Messrs Dixon and
he wished, if he could, to put an end to the con-
struction OF the building according to his rivals
plan. Why, gentlemen, he told the Mayor nothing
about the cost the rival plan would involve the
| city in; he informed him that the plan upon which
the building was then being erec ed was not the
plan of his rival, but that it very extravagant
and costly. He told him that the work then on
| the ground, and the materials upon the ground
| amounted to from sixty to seventy thousand dol
| lars and yet the work was not above the founda-
ton. The Mavor did not act upon his information
gentlemen of the jury, because he perfectly
willing, In the then undsclosed temper of the pub
lie mind, to let the building go on and to derive
all the honor of having such structure put up in
! this city during his administration
! Well, it went on. March, April May June july
August-siX months rolled away. Estimates were
sent In regularly; moneys were paid upon those
estimates as regularly the means of the ctv ena-
| oled them to be paid and then his honor became
alarmed-l mean his official honor (laugbter)-
! and he causes these trembling contractors to be
| brought before him. He summons, to use the Ian
guage of his message, tbs ''defaulting'' commits
sioner, adopting tru regal styles and he conesses
that he becomes considerably excited, and he turns
| the commissioner out. Whom did he put in Ths
| INK upon the paper announcing the dismissal was
| not dry before the ink upon the paper appointing
| his successor to be seen. He put in Mr. Bailey
| in the month of August What was Mr. Bailey's
duty? TO go out to the Jail and stop the building, if it
was being put up in such a as to perpetrate
| a fraud upon the city. Did he do it? He suffered
the whole month of August to pass by and the build
ing to go on; the month of September to pass by
| sixteenth
| of that month, when the Mayor sends in a message
OF which shall speak by and by, and suffers to be
paid thousands of dollars upon the work as it was
| going on, until they had paid in the aggregate
| from first to last, on the 26th of November, 1857
the date of that award, nearly $40, 600 for work
done and materials furnished upon the Bryant plan;
and then, under the authority of the resolution of
the 6tt of October 1857 he ignominiously dismissed
! these contractors and did all he couId-he nearly
succeeded in it, and has succeeded in it for time at
least-in running them, not only in their trade and
calling so far as their success depends on other ee-
ments than their mere integrity but in their integri
| ty also. He dismissed them upon the ground that
they had couded with this fraudulent commissioner,
to involve the city in this enormous expense in
which it was about to be involved, and in which it
| had to great extent, he says been involved up
| to the 18th of October, 1857.
Now, gentlemen, shall not take up the PRAYERS
and read them, for have neither time nor strength
lett to me during such hot weather to do so, and it
would be but an unnecessary waste of time, indeed
| to do so. What shall speak in reference to the
| prayers, shall speak under the direction of his
honor the judge, begging him to correct me if
| am wrong. The court have told you, gentlemen
that the plaintiffs right TO recover independent of
| the question which will hereafter arise whether
| they have not already been paid, will depend up
| on your being satisfied ofOne oftwo things The
hrstis that the contract between the CITY and the
! plaintiffs, made by Mr. Shannon as agent of the
city the l1th of August, 1856, authorised those
| changes If they authorised, there is an end
| to the question, and the contract bound the
! city Secondly, that although you shall find that
| they were not in whole nor in part authorised by
the terms of the resolution of July and that in put
| ting up the building as it was being put up upon
| the 7th of October, Mr.. Shannon had entirely de-
parted from the authority which the resoln tiOn of
! the Sth of July devolved upon him, the plaintiffs
are nevertheless entitled to recover, provided YOU
! shall think from the evidence that what they were
doing under direction of that officer of the corpora
| ton Mr. Shannon) was known to the Mayor
known to the City Council-known to his successor
IN office, Mr. Bailey, and not disapproved of when it
! became known. Now will argue the last ques-
| tion first, gentlemen, because there are a great
many important facts about that question: and it is
better that should consider it while l am compar-
| atively fresh.
First and foremost, did Mr.. Thomas Swami know
that that building was being put up upon that plan?
| Everybody else seemed to know it, and the pre-
sumption would be, therefore that intelligent and
vigilant an officer as we know he has proved him
selfto be, and so cautious of the city's good name
and character, must have known it, too But he
says he did not know it. | am not here to say that
he speaks what he does not believe. Some men
have minds that can be made to work out almost
any problem to conviction; but am here to satisfy
you, gentlemen, that he did know it unless he was
stupid to the very verge of imbecility.
Now what is to be known? Nothing under the
direction of the court but the fact that the build
| ing was then being constructed according to that
plan. Nothing but the fact that the Dixon plan
had been so far departed from to be enlarged and
| changed according to that plan. Why, gentlemen
of the jury, in the first place will prove it out of
| his own mouth. No man with a mind like Mr..
Swami, should write as much as MIR. Swami is in
the habit of writing, or speak as much as he is in
the habit of speaking | will first ask your atten-
ton to a sentence or two of his message of March,
1857 to be found in the Proceedings of the First
Branch of the City Council for 1857 page 4s8; and
l shall also quote from page 972 of the same Jour-
| nal, being his message of the 10th of September
| Recoect, gentlemen of the jury, Mr.. Swami said
he was surprised and amazed, and therefore he be-
came excited. What did he tell the councils in
March had been The result of the interview that he
had had with the City Commissioner antecedent to
March? l will read
'From peated conferences with the City commission
rather forced to the conclusion that the proposed
building will require much larger outlay than the
Gil had infer from the report Of the committee
suggesting alterations Messr DiXon's plan. The
amount stated in the contract with Messrs H R and j.
Reynolds t$l02750 does not in my opinion, than
present ToIiRdte estimate of this improN emen when
the contemplated alterations shall have been intro
| dueed."
Now that is in the month of March; and in the
same connection permit me to read sentence or
two from his message of the 10th of September, of
the same year. Speaking of the specifications of Mr.
| Bryant, he says:
''They were founded upon understanding between
the commissioner and the buiders of the jail The orgi-
nal contract for S102 $50 thus virtually
The contractor could and DO the work the Com
missioner could exercise his discretion paying his
drafts upon the treasury The the jail under these
specifications has been estimated by the
at $350O00 But this is estimate. There is no
agreement to bind him to any such AMOUNT &c.
| He has said, as you have seen, in an antecedent
message in March, that the contract price, as fixed
by the contract of the llth of August was not even