The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-07-20
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and thin; but an article upon the Asfle.
vile and Spartanhuyg Railroad, which j
read in the Ne,0s short time ago. en-
courages me to believe that you will not
refuse to expose the huge job which has
been devised in connection with the
Blue Ridge Railroad. My information
comes from q first-rate source. The
statements make can be proved to be
true, and will convince the people that
the Blue Ridge Railroad Ring may hold
up it's head by the side of the great
Whiskey Ring, and not lose by the com
parison. believe that the whole scheme
has but one object-to put money in the
pocket Of DR.. r. K. Scott, the So. called
Governor of South Carolina. WHY
should he care if $S,OO0,OOO or $40, OOO,-
600 be added to the State debt? All that
he cares for is to make hay while the sun
shines, and he will do it if we let him
alone.
need not remind you that the Legis-
lature in September last passed q bill au-
thorizing the guarantee of 81, 600, 900
for the completion of the Blue Ridge
Railroad, and that at the meeting of the
company held lately in Charleston it was
determined to make the principal and
interest of the guaranteed bonds paya-
BILE in coin. About the end of June,
advertisements were published in The
State papers, and in the Northern and
Western papers, calling upon responsible
persons to come forward and contract
for building the road from Anderson to
Knoxville. distance of i52 miles, pay
ment to be made in the aforesaid coin
bonds. Colonel Low, the chief en-
gineer, was to have plans and specifica-
tions ready, and the bids were to be
opened ut Columbia, on July s. The
Chief Engineer was very close and gave
no information as to what his estimate
of the cost of building the road was;
yet, queerly enough, it turned out after
wards that the bid of one contractor was
in every item so little above, or so little
below, the estimate of the Chief En-
gineer, that the total bid was Just about
the same.
When the 9Th came, the bidders, or
their representatives, met in Gov Scott's
Office at Columbia, and it was found that
bids had been submitted by the follow
ing persons: J. Nj. Christy & Co., Criss-
will, Patterson & Sellers, Dudley, Bard
we'll & Co., j. A. Hunt, of North Caro-
lima; D. Tyler e Co., of Pennsylvania;
B. D. Hasell of New York, and J. D.
Champlin, of New York, and one other
All the bidders named were resposible
persons, and could guarantee the fulfil
ment of their contracts. The lowest bid
for the work was, in round numbers,
81. 500, 600, and the highest $40, 900, 600
This last was the bid of Crissvill & Co.
There was one higher bid, but it was un-
derstood to have been put in only that
Crissvill's might not be the highest.
When the bids had been exposed, Go
vernon Scott said he found that it would
take ut least $4,000, 900 to complete the
road, and he could only command 81, =
900, 900. 1t would not do to spend any
of this, as it was his intention to apply
to the Legislature to increase the guaran
tee to the full amount required. The
engineers estimate was, 1 think, So, 500,
900. This caused the contractors to
prick their ears; one of them, however,
was in the secret. Mr.. Mcclure, repre-
sentiDg Crissvill & Co., came forward
and said that he had known the views of
the Governor, and had so arranged his
bid as to advance the company ut once
100000 to pay off its outstanding lia-
bilities, and that he would carry on the
work for nine months, at cost of about
81 900, 900, without touching the bonds.
The other contractors very properly
objected to this way of doing business.
They said that they had not known what
Scott's views were and asked to be al
lowed to modify their bids, so as to be
able to offer the same advances. Scott
could not refuse this. The contractors
revised their bids and submitted them
afresh, Crissvill &c %. IS being still of the
bona file bids the highest. All the con-
tractors were then bowed out. except
Crissvill & Co., who seemed to occupy
permanently the Governors back room.
When the uninitiated were ont of the
way, there was palaver between Scott
and Crissvill & Co. After some talk they
agreed to reduce their bid to about &c.
600, 900, which was accepted. There were
other bids as responsible in every way, al
$8, 100000 and less, but the $4,000, ,00C
bid was accepted. Is Scott in partner.
ship with Orissvill? He certainly was
not in partnership with the bidders al