The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1869-10-06
LOCAL DEPARTMENT.
TaE CITY HALL INVESTIGATION.
CHARGES AGAINST THE MAYoR,
Oaeial Repors Of ere Testimony Of
Mr.. j. II. Crane and Mr..
s.. Peter MeNaDara.

oil tne testimony u hFs j. H Ofhut anu Ihr.
Peter Mcnamara, taken before the committee
engaged In the Investigation Of the charges
against Mayor bowen. We shall continue
the investig ation In full from day to day, In
order that the public msy read and determine
for themselves how much Justification there
was for preferrlos the charges In the ars,
place, as we'll as how far the charges have
been proven and sustained. Thih Is a matter
In which the public at large has great interest,
and 1t would therefore be unjust to citizens A
well as to tho party charged and the witnesses
to eonnne Ourselves to aynoptioai reports;
TESTIMONY OF .. n. CRANE.
John II. Crane, sworn by Alderman Thomas
y. Connolly. Examined by Mr.. Hall, chair.
q win you state to the committee what
you know In regard to the letting Of the con.
tract for grading and travelling M and h
streets north, from North CAPitcl street 70
Boundary street, q street north, from North
Capitol street to Second street east, and First
street east, from q 20 II streets north
A. oa the nth OF November, ises, the Mayor
directed me to advertise NJ and X streets
north, and advertised them for ten days, and
~ the end Of that time went into the Mayors
ouNee to open the bids. The Mayor stated that
day; that he could not do so. Invent into his
officc the next day for the purpose OF attend.
ing to II, and received the same answer.
and each time was met by the remark that he
was not ready to proceed with the opening Of
the bids. AFTER the expirstlon OF shout
morning, And was then told to my surprise
that the bids had been opened. asked the
Mayor why he had opened those BIDS withou!
know as 1t made any difference whether Twas
there or not. / stated that II was customary
Tor the commissioner to be present; that II
any one should be present besides the Mayor,
II should be the man who advertised the bids.
We had some pretty sharp words about the
matter. That passed OF, however, and the
contract was not awarded, though the Mayor
stated that he wished to give 1t to Andrew
Gleason, who had put 10 bids for the grading
and grsvellng the streets In question, and the
Al cents being the rate bid for grading and 81
cents for Rravoling, including the arch road.
wy-and that he intended to give both streets
others who claimed the streets. Mr.. McPier-
son claimed the streets, AZ being the lowest
bidder, he bidding 20 cents a yard for grading
cents for sravelinR. Mr.. Glesson's bid was II
cents for each. Notwithstanding Mr.. Nc
Pierson was the lowest bidder, the Mayor de.
elined to award the work to him. Thus the
matter remained for about two or three weeks,
agreat deal of hard feeling springing up 10
the meantime In regard to the matter. Sew
Jeot, but he could not be induced to make the
awatd Mr., Crossman wrote him 4 long let.
tSr, representing that II he persisted in re-
fusing to make the award to the lowest bidder,
and gave the work to Mr.. Gleason, who was
not the lowest bidder, thus ignoring the DO.
lltieal friends, and doing so In violation OF law,
Nothing was done until the 3oth OF December,
when Mr.. Bowen ordered me again to adver.
tise Tor the grading and graveling Of NJ and X
streets,snd to include q and First streets east,
thus subjecting the corporation to an add,
NoDal expense Of 400 900. l did go, and at the
end OF tea days the bids were opened. Iva,
decide at that time who he would award til,
contract to. Several parties claimed 1t. Col
O'Beirne met me outside Of the City Hail. on
you to WORK for me- for those streetsS YAH
to him, "Mr. O'Beirne, II you are not a bidder
you cannotg get It," He says: ~ am interested,
are the lowest bidder you will probably get
whichever streets you bid lowest o." He
says; 81 want the whole four streets, and
to get tsen." Ae further SAD! III You 'H VIII
help me to get those streets will make 1t all
right with you.n lmAde no reply to that fur.
duty, so far as had any influence, to secure
the work for Republicans, unless Democratic
were the lowest bidders. The matter lay
along for several days-fnaily Mr.. Bowel
stating that he wished to give the work Il
John Donovan he did SO, though 1t was wei
known that Gleason had an interest In tn,
work; Several protests were made agains
their having the whole four streets, but Mr.
Bowen decided that Donovan ana three 9TH
PARTIES should be awarded the contract, an,
directed me to draw up the contract. made
one out la the usual form. aud took II into
the office. He was then occupying = room IL
the southwest corner OF the City Hall, work
men then being engaged In fitting up tn,
Mayors Office. 1t was about II o'clock In tn,
forenoon OF the 23i of February when tool
the contract to the Mayor. John Donovan
went In with me. The Mayor read the cor
tract carefully, and taking up a slip Of pape
wrote on 1t the words contained therein, a
follows;
And 10 ease any surplus earth from any on
street named above Is deposited In any other {
said streets the contractor IL to receive pay m /
f2r ege,yAtion or smbAnkment, as he may elect
b. paid for hilins another street with the sam
The Mayor then said "Mr, Donovan ia mi
the lowest bidder for these streets taken sepa
rstely, but we hnd by taking the whole fouI
streets and reckoning them as one street tn Al
he Is the lowest bidder, Estimating Il In tn Al
way, By careful calculation we lind we can
save the corporation from o. 800 to ~ ,O00 and
think that worth saving. / therefore feel 4,
my duty to give the four streets to Mr.. Dono
van" l had previously stated to him all
had to say 10 the way Of objection, and there
fore made no reply. took the slip of papeI
on which were written the words he desired
inserted In the contract, aud having stepped
over to desk In the room and inserted them
handed the contract back to him. He said,
after reading oyer what / had written, THAT
room, then walked up to the desk and signed
the contract, 1t was then passed over to Mr
Bowen and signed by him.
| forgot to state that Mr.. Bowen further
said, in speaking Of the advantage that woult
be gained by giving the work to Donovan, tn a
on q and First streets II would be all nlling
come out Of street. We would, therefore
he said, get q and First streets graded To-
nothing, II Donovan took the contract 10 tn,
WGyproPosed', IL ne were to let the contract
course they would have to pay for each street
separately, whichever measured the most.
q That -, 6y letting The contract to Dono
could be done cheaper, Is that the ideal
A. Yes, In that way 1t could be done cheaper
The contract was signed, aud the Bpecih "a
tion, which forms part OF the contract, an
nexed, ln 1t are words to this effect
THAT no Pert Of the representative viii be pal
veyor, eommissi!ner Of tbs ward aud the assi,tSI
commissioner
Above are the words:
THE WORK TO be d2ne according to ,sPeciacatic
and bids, which are herewith annexed. ~
The original contract has the bid annexed
1t. as well as the specification That Is In II
hands Of the MAYOR.
q. You state in your communication thu
the real contractors for this work are Jam,
X. O'Beirne, Andrew Gleason and John
Fry. VIII you state what violence YOU Ia,
that the parties named are the real contractor
and not MI. DonoVanl
A. Mr.. O'Beirne and Mr.. Fry told me- tho
were the contraetorsi that they, with NJ
Gleason, were the parties Interested, IN
donovan had no interest In It faTthe1 tn,
they made use OF his name as the bidder; NJ
O'Beirne and Mr. Fry told me SO 10 Il
mayors ONCE.
q. Was the Mayor present at the time!
A. He did not hear IT, they told me that
one end OF the Office where we had long co
yersation.
q. Did you ever have a conversation wit
Mr. Donovan about III
A, Donovan always claimed to be the col
tractor, though he never denied that they WEI
Interested In iti | will state, however, that
have been on the work several times, an
asked him about II, but he never seemed /
know much about 1t he works with a shov,
among the laborefs. | never had any CONVEX
ssh0n with the Mayor In regard to thos
streets from the time the contract was signe
up TO the present timei there never has been
WORD exchanged between US except on one OF
easioni ! stated to him that | had underatoo
that O'BeITDe, Fry aud Gleason claimed In a
they must have pay for q and Frat streeta a
that thought they should have A eopy OF III
contracts Mr.. Bowen replied that he could M
give copy of it, II they wanted to see the COZ
tract they could come Into his office and fead
but he should not allow copies to go out, I'M
10 all the conversation have ever had viii
time.
,Q, You have also stated In your communicS
nun thNt mere was money paid and bills al
E55S1ts1 ny we Mayor, the 2ith day OF APRIL 70
tsLiU,Ss' without your APPROVAL please stat
~ u'e ~ regard 10 pay Ing con tracts for wor
to ~ ""S Ia" In fesAr
A. Contractors generally regard thsD.o,,o
as lucky II they got their money ono 80,
TNaa A.. IL a.. H,.a.l