The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-23


by William II. Allyn, late Chief Clerk of the
Bureau of Steam Engineering. According
to the story told by Mr. Allyn, Chief Engi-
neer J. W. Hing who succeeded the experin
menting Isherwood as head OF the Bureau of
Stesm Engineering, is guilty not only of
gross mismanagement, but of aiding to de-
fraud the Government of large sum of
money in the interests Of the CDrliss Steam
Engine Company. The facts of the case, as
far as we can gather them from Allyn's state
meDt and from his testimony and that of Por-
Ter before the Congressional Joint Ssleot
Committee on Retrenchment, are that when
the present administration came into power
i, was deemed desirable to compro-
mise with contractors who were building
steam machinery for the navy rather than to
draw from the Treasury the large sums of
money that would be necessary if the con-
tracts were fully carried out and the ma
chinery finished. There appears to have
been no difficulty in effecting q settlement
with any of the contractors except Corliss,
who endeRvored to obtain the full amount
that would have been due him if his engines
were completed and placed on board of a
vessel, whereas the machinery was only about
three -fourths finished, and Allyn contende1
that the deduction to be made by the Gov
ernment should be the difference between
the value of the engines as complete and
fitted on board of vessel and the value as
delivered to the Government imperfect-this
difference amounting, according to his cal
culation, to the large sum of $2t0.00D. The
Corliss contract for q 1O0-inch engine was for
$3.50, GOO, of which amount $50, 900 repre-
entedthe cost of transportation to the Charleg-
town Navy Yard and fitting it in vessel,
and the proposition he made to the Navy
Department was that he should receive the
face of the contract less the $50, 900. Previous
to this board of officers, consisting Of Car
tain Strong and Chief Engineers Garvin and
Fithian. had examined the machinery and
estimated that it would cost $40, 00) to COM
plete it. Chief Engineer Henderson of the
Charestown Navy Yard, also made an exami-
completion at the still larger sum
of SeG0,000. Allyn states that in
spite of the reports of these officers the
proposition of Corliss was accepted by the
Navy Department, and that this could not
have been done except at the recommends.
tion Of Engineer-in-chief King What makes
the matter more serious is that the PROPOSE
tion of Corliss was found, when the investi-
cation into the matter commenced, to be
indorsed "Accept the last proposition
D. d. P" These are the initials
of Vice Admiral Porter; but before the
Committee on Retrenchment he swere that
tho Endorsement was forgery and that he
never gave his approval to the document.
Before the committee Allyn also swore that
the Endorsement was not in the handwriting
of the Vice-Admiral, and he further stated
that the reports of the board of officers and
Of the engineers who had examined the Cor
liss engines were mutilated so that they did
not read the same as when they first came to
the Navy Department.
There is certainly sufficient in these alIega-
tions to cause very thorough investigation
to be made, and Chief Engineer King, if he
is innocent of any derelction of duty, will
demand searching inquiry into his conduct
Pending such an inquiry, it is only proper
that the accusations of Allyn aui Porter
should be received with some grains of allow
ance. Porter is an enemy of the
entire corps of naval engineers, and would be
only too glad of an opportunity to do all or
any one of them an injury, and certain
amount of vindictiveness toward MIR. King
is to be accounted for from the fact of that
gentleman having labored during the last
session of Congress for the passage of
law to grant positive rank to the
staff officers Of the navy in opposition
to the weltknown desires of Porter to appro-
pirate all.the honors of the naval service to the
line. Allyn's enmity to Mr.. King is not
unaccountable in view of his discharge from
the chief clerksbip of the Bureau of Steam
Engineering. We put the matter before our
readers in this shape because Chief Engineer
King, during many years of service in the
navy, has always borne an irreproachable
character as an officer and a gentleman, and
he is entitled to presumption in favor of his
innocence until he is proved to be guilty on
more substantial evidence than the er parte
statement of men who by their own showing
bear him no good will.
But whether Chief Engineer King is inno-
cent or guilty, this trouble proves one thing
very clearly, and that is that the Navy De-
partment is grossly mismanaged Practically
there is no head to it, and the fact that
Allyn's letter is addressed to Porter, and the
almost contemptuous manner in which both
Porter and Allyn refer to the Secretary when
they have occasion to do so, show that that
officer is not considered to be even a respect
able igure-head to the department. Ad-
miral Porter, who seems to be the
one in authority, has no legal status at the