The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1869-10-25
THE CITY HALL INVESTIGATION
Testimony of Collector BosweII-Mr
WIS. HuntiugtOn Recalled.

tor boswell before inc City Hail InveGtigA-
tion Committee; and that OF W. s. Huntington,
esq, recalled;
TESTIMONY or COLLECTOR BOSWELL.
Shampion,By Mr.. Holmes, at tho instance Of
A: Ye.,siri from July, 1907, TO July, 1850.
Q. Have you been 10 the habit Of advising
the payment Of money before tho Mayor
v. Ia thu habit Of H. / have done t" such )
g; Dls y S,n advise the payment Of money to
eontracti A. / will state my recollection in
that case. % the 18th and 18th OF june last,
James r. oBeiIae came into my office, OF
went Into the Mayors offioe and found him
there, / dlsremember which. However, we
came together before the Mayor. He stated,
according to my recollection, that on the
streets on which Donovan was at work there
was between eight and twelve thousand dol.
lars worth Of work done. He wanted to get
Il could not he done. Tho Mayor told him tia th
he could not advance any such money. Sub
ssquently, believe that put the question to
pay the iaboring men He answered between
S2,Too and 1000 The Mayor and my self told
him he could have u, 200: The estimate was
survsyor's ONCE, Went into Mr.. Biiss' oli i
He came back and said Mr.. Bliss was not In
the once, and gave voucher. naming all the
:tse.s although Know that Fiast.T SSa' e sa
and NJ street were mixed up In 1t; and upon
that ststsment =, 900 wa. paid, would state
Into my ot,ios and asked II ladrsW alceson
nS .a nEy hs he
these men was one Of the grounds on which
Oolonei O'Beirne based his arguments for
5000. That Is all the money know anything
q. Did you advise the payment OF that
money! A. l do not know as advised the
Inf h. .l.4N IA
at the time. I have no recollection OF advising
q. Dot you remember Of telling Colonel
O'Beirne that you could not do anything about
It when no came to youi that he would have
to settle that matter with the Mayorl A. l
think TIL; ,s sonyS.sstioa have sPoEsn Of was
when the question was asked how much 1t
would take to pay these men. His plea was
s, ss S.y fe . On s
he could not 10 on with the work "'"''' ""'
q. You told him, you could do nothing
eight thousand dollars l told him IL was i'm.
possible. I think tho Mayor also said to him
that he could not do IT, and my selection 10
His answer was, "Between s2,TOo and $1,000
and upon that I think the Mayor asked the
question II he had an estimate, or could get
q. Did you, or did you not advise the pay,
ment OF that money! A. Well, I may have
any direct advice, one way or the other. /
may have ooncurred In paying money sum
client for those men, Iwould not say did or
did not, for the thing WAS something l never
expected to hear OF again at the time, and II It
had not bean for the mode In which O'Beirno
to ssth The Sous would not
@. Do you recollect OF telling me some ten
days ago, that you declined to have anything
You 10 could not do anything s6oa. It, that he
would have to see the Mnyori A. told you,
II my recollection serves me right, that did
place between myself and o'Beirno about this
money, when O'Beirne approached me, that
10, as to what exactly did say TO him.
money to oBsirnsHsny Of tso.o :, other 0 pay.
ments to hint A. think can answer clearly
not; There were but two checks drawn for
for o, 900 was drawn either the 18th or 10Th OF
June. That was drawn IN my own hand. The
Donovan, to be paid out OF the Fourth ward
fund for grading, and was for s2,7t5.as.
q. What was the next d,tel A. Those arc
take any notice OF the rest Mr.. Chase drew
what olhor checks were drawn. l had no |
agency In them whatever.
of the corporstioni A; by law the register Is |
the hnsncial agent OF the corporation; but, |
while that y so by Law he meyer knows any
ments Of the bank as to the financial condition |
Of the corporation are returned to the Mayor. |
During my term Of Office, under Mr.. Wallsoh
and under Mr.. Bowen, ! never had exhibited |
to me but one statement Of the bank. think |
that was In December OF last year, when Mr..
nowen exhibited to me statement. Wo then
had a Considerable amount OF money In bank,
and, n my memory serves me, Mr.. Bowen was
speculatinE as to what could be done whereby
We could make use OF this money bene hcially
10 Improvements, how much he could expend.
That 10 the only time that ever saw a bank
statement to my recollection while was reg.
istsr, through any Of the Mayors.
Q. Would mot the ansncl al officer of the cor
poration be the person to best understand the
condition Of Its fundsi A. He ought to be.
The law contemplated q transfer of the funds
from tho office formerly known as the treas
urer Of this city to that Of the register, and
every office. q the cooperation was made sub
mixed as the tnsncial officer Of the corpora
tion, yet he never knows anything about the
90. Well, you were not prepared to gIvo
checks II you did not know the condition of
the funds OF the corporation, without consult
cheeks In law without the approval Of the
Mayor. The check 10 worth nothing with the
signature OF the register without that Of the
q. Dan the Mayor draw any money without
the signature Of the register A. by law he
cannot. The law provides that the warrant
countersigned by the register. would state
here, that, according 70 precedent which wa.
set BY some one, I do not know who. and
time, the register signs the check nfst, and
they are then handed to the Mayor.
(By the chairman;
q. while you were register did you ever
know OF any payments being made to contrao.
tors, on the estimate OF the surveyor, before
the contract was completed A. would not
swear that there had or had not been, / am
under the impression that there was, but
would not like to swear to 1t.
q, Do you know Of any law against such
partial psymontsi A, l do not know as am
the proper person to put construction on the
lAwj will answer that by saying, however,
that the law preacribes that when the work 10
complete, the work shall be approved by the
commissioner, and l have always taken II for
granted that the same thing would apply 10
wrong, however, about that.
q. DO You know OF partial payment being
made to II. q. Sheriff, of the Second ward,
while you were register, before the work was
eomplstedi A. Yes, sifj I know that such
was the oasej l will state here that have
never assumed to disregard any act Of the
Mayor, except In one instance, and as some
Minimum w "A m Ala To that In the teatimOnY Of