The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-07-17


AMOUNT OF TRE B1Ds--wHY TaEMIaHRsr BID
DER WAS gHosEN +-uHf CosF OF THE work.
WHO .1s BRsPoNsIBL&?
J"f T7tS fIIa.' Ci5f s-lNl. ;if'0 .A s.tj.3u
-Co1uMBiA. s.. C., EHuasDxz, July IL.
10 THE EDIEGR' OF THG NEWS.
know that your paper. has supported the
Blue4R Ridge Railroad.through thick and thin;
but AN article upon the Asheville and Spartahs
burg Railroad, which read In THE NEwi q
short time ago, encourages me to beneve that
you will not refuse to expose the huge jon
which has been deVlsed'i in conHAetion with he
Blue. Ridge Railroad. Il My information combs
from q Arst-rate source. The statements !
mako can be proved te.be true, and will convinpe
the people fhat the Rlae Ridge Railroad Ring
may hold up its head by the side OF the great
.Whlskey Ring. and net lose by the compat1.
son. Believe that the whole scheme has but
one ohjeot--to put money in the pooketof Or.
R.4K. Scots, the so-cailed sGoverner Of south
Carolina. Why should he care it eight or ten
millions be added to tho 5tate deb 2 al that
he.cares for slto make hay Mhllethe snn shines,
and he will doit if We LET him alone. '"gi
CALLING Foh PROPOSALS.
I need not remind you fhat the Legislature
in September last passed . BILL authorizing
the guarantee of four million Of dollars for. the
completion of the Blas Rfdge 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
payable in coin. About the end OF June ad-
vertisements we're published u the State pa
pers, and In the Northern and Western
papers, calling upon responsible persons
IN x ~
ing the csoad frona sson Sd Knexville.
payment 70 Be ~ f4as afasAsasd com
bonds. Colonel Low the chief engineer, was
to have plans and spsca atioShs ready. aud the
bids were to beiopened ak Columbia ON July g.
The Chief Engineer waS very close and gave
no insofmation as TO- ssliat his estirnate of the
cost Of. building the road was; yet; queetly
'spopgh, il turned ont after yards that the: bid
OF one contractor was in&every item 90 little
above, Or 90 little below, estimate Of the
Chiefi Engineer. that the total bid was Just
about the, same. 9.,. ''.3t} LIN; sssaG Y
Ally 50 ,opEsnsa. oFsTHB Dds: 81 'tia :hsI
When the 9Th came the bidders, Dr. their re-
representatives., met in governor SCOTS Office at
OolpmS,a. and Il Na fSapd ,}hat ,btdia bad been
submitted, BY the following persons J. NJ.
Christy & 90, etGr;ssy1I, Patterson i& Sellers;
Dudley, Bardweti q Co.. J. A. Hunt, Of North
Carolina, p. Tyler 4 Co., or Pennsylvania; b.
,: Haseii, 81 New. York;: end u p Champlin, Of
New York, and one other. All The bidders
named were responsible persons, and could
guarantee the fulflment of their contracts.
The lowest bid for the work was, lin rouDd num-
bers, 81 800 0oo, ri and the highest 10000 900.
This last was the bid oftCrissvill & Co. There
was one higher bid, hut. it was understood to
have been put in only that Crissvil's Anight
not be the highest. lll2 i.iH1lR NIX
MAKING, THH BARGAIN.
When the bids had been exposed. Governor
SCOTT SAID he found that it would take at least
$4,000. 600 to complete the road, and he could
only command "a. .OO0, 600. It would not do to
spend any Of this, as it was mis- intenticn to
apply to the Legislature to increase the
guarantee to the foll l y taired,, [The
enRnoer's estimate was.> 1 think. 40 800 Geo. ]
This caused the contractors 70 prick their ears;
onefos them; however. wass,in the secret.
Nf, MCCLURE, REPRESENTING aC1ssvill q 9Qo,.
came forward and said that he had known the
syleds OF the Governor and had so arranged
bis bid as to advance the Sompany at once
$500 900 to payoR ITS outst anding liabilities,
and that he would carry On the work for nine
months, at b cost obtabont 81 900. 900, .wlthous
touching the bonds. ~ it3'b4
\ The fothe- contractors. very properly OBJ;
tected to this way OF doing business. They:
said that they had not known what Soott's
views were, and asked TO be allowed to modify
their bids, 80 as TO be able TO offer the same
advances. scctt could not refuse this. The
contractors revised their bids and submitted
them atresh, Crssvill & Co.'s being still, of the
bona Jide BIDS, the highest. All the contrac-
tore were then bowed out. except Criss-
viii Co.. who seemed to occupy per-
manently the Governors back room. When the
unnitiated were out of the way. there was o
palayer between Scott and Crissvill b co.
After some talk they agreed to reduce their
bid to about 80 00O, 900, sohach qras accepted.
There we're other bids as responsible In every
way. At 10 0000 900 aud less, but the 80 000, 900
bid was accepted. Is SCOTT In partnership with
CTesSwsil2 He certainly was not in partner.
shIp with the bidders at 81 300 600 and 90 00O.-
COO. XXX. ,i3a8 ,aR
THE PRIoE OF THE. WORE ssuiaI.s
Now let us look st the prices at which inc
work was proposed to be done.
1heest'mates for earthwork, per Cubic yard.
ranged from 28 to 45 cents. Crissvill B. Co.'s
price was 40. tWhen there Id any bid at
higher price than theirs. st rnay bs ses down to
the account Of the covering bids put In TO
prevent Crissvill b 90. being st The top \ .5
For rubbing and clearing. per acre, the
bids were from go 10 $l7b. Crissvill's bld was
500. }8'E ss}tfiF# ,af91G .
For looee rock excavations. the bids were
fron 81 cents to 81. Crissviil's biah hllax vas 70
cents.
For solid rock the bids ran9ed from 81 rs to
y sO-the Last beng orissvli'e.