Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1869-10-30
THE wEsINvKsFIGArioN.

Closing Meeting Of the Com m !tiss.
Last evening the com nis,ee to inyesiiga'e
the charges made against Mayor Bowen OF
Mr. John 4. Gram, la'e C1mn.ssionsr OF the
Fourth Ward. h5Id a meeting a; the committee
room, City Hall, 70 bear ne arguments OF coan.
sci.
MT. John Ii. Crane. the prose- ating witness.
opened the argnms nt speaking At considerable
length OIL the evidence, claiming oy u thai ne
Mr. WIN. A. Cook, for the defence, followed.
speaking for nearly two hours, anu not having
cor cluded permits ion was given 10 hun 20
PRINT the remainder Of his argument.
Mr. d. ID. Barrett, for the prosecution. made
the CLOSING arg ument, com mencing by reading
the resolution Of August sd, authorizing the
investigation, and stating that the inc airies
which the committee were required to ans wer
were: Was the contract let TO the lowest bid :
dersl Has the work been done accord ng 10
this contract without warrant oflaWf
In regard 70 the nrst question, he stated that
Mr.. Bliss last fall made an estimate of ths
amount OF moankment, excavation ana gravel
ing required on the streets in question, which
footed mp 1869 cubic yards OF embankment,
63,i32 Of excavation, s7,5i2 square yards Of
graveling. Bids were advertised for, and
@. w. q. Eslin, for NJ street, grading II cents
eraveliDg 81 cents; Peter Mcnamara, for X
street, IA cents, 6x cents; H. q. Belt, for q
First street, IA cents. 6x cents; John Donovan,
CT all four of the streets, II cents, Ii cents
The evidence shows that the bids were made
eth this condition "rhe contractor is 10 re-
ceive pay only for excavation or emb ankms nt,
as he may elect" The Mayors evidence shows
that Donovan took the contract for the four
streets with the same priv ileges and restrictions
parts Of the said four streets formed thewhole,
or contiguous parts Of one and the same street
Mr.. Bliss report shows that the embankment
exceeds the excavation by 1907 yards, and the
cost of the work under the Donovan contract,
taking Mr. Bliss estimate, would be 81, S3a 49,
Taking the data furnished by the Mayor and
Mr.. Meads, had the work been let to the lowest
Re S16.7e5O6-s5l3.43 less than the Donovan
contract. He referred to Mr.. McNamara's tes-
timony as to the Mayor refusing to award him
the con tract for h street, he being the lowest
and q streets would not take them unless they
had X street. He held that Donovan's bid was
accompanied by guarantee to enter into
contract, and il was his duty to hold hum to
his bid. II. however, all his bids had been
thrown out the work could have been done nj
q saving Of $3.50 81. As to a saving being eff
street in making entertainments in another
street, Mr.. b. said ii was admitted By all who
gave evidence on this point that q Contractor
could not, under the terms Of the contract in
question, be required to haul surplus earth
from NJ street to either lat or q Streets and
none from M street could be requred in
street, as that street had q surplus. 1t there.
fore follows that all the saving that could he
made in the matter In question was in the az
Of the surplus ear th in X street In the embank K.
ment OF q or LIST street. But this surplus earth
amounts to but also cubic yards. which, at II
cents per cubic yard, would amount to only
S237 ~, sum less than the difference bet ween
The amount called for by the Donovan contract
and the sum of the lowest bids for those streets,
and the usion is that the streets were not
awarded to the lowest bidders. He coutended
that as Mr.. McNamara was the lowest bidder
for street, be had as much right to the whole
work as Mr and be referred to Mr.. mems
fnP2 Lac
all the lowest bids, which. il accepted, would
nave saved the corporation St,0I343. In an.
swer to another question, he said he would
have offered to do 1t at least one cent per yard
cbaper Than the rate he finally offered to do
II for. The number Of yards OF embankment
ana graveling being 1851, a saving Of one
This added to the sI.043.l3 makes $1,000 n.
which the Mayor could have saved the Cor.
poration. Certainly this sum was worth
saving.
In concluding on the first question. Mr.. b.
said that the Mayor gave Dono van a contract
for doing the work in question at S5i3 - above
me lowest bids for the same work. He let the
contract at s363.3l above the lowest bids, ex.
Guiding Donovans; at Sl,Oi343 above what
Peter McNamara offered to take il at when he
found It was to let by election; and at s269s "a
done for by Peter McNamara, by offering TO
pay MIN In the same way ne has paif for the
work under the Donovan contract. They had
the evidence before them, and IRON that they
hed 10 answer that the contract had not been
given to the lowest bidder.
MT. Barrett continued, arguing at some
length the other questions, as to whether the
work mas been done according to contract, and
whether money had been paid without author.
ity OF law, claiming that neither has the con-
tract been faithfully executed. nor has the law
been complied with as to the payments Of the
money.
The committee about 1Ok O'Clock adjourned
and IL is full y expected that their report will
be submitted to the Councils on next Monday
night.
THE BOYS IN BLUE AND THE EMANCIPATION