Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-07-29
S36I.I74 81
80

| This firm of keySer q Co. thus earned
| altogether the modest sum of S1,231,-
| SI7 20, chiefly in the course of two years,
| Are they not "top-sawyers" in their
| trade?. ~ ... ~ --..
Every warrant was signed by Connolly
and countersigned by Hall.
| Let us now recapitulate a little. Pres
emily we may give Hall & Connolly a
fresh series of their figures to ponder over.
We have seen what good thing it is to
be appointed furniture-dealer, or carpen-
ter, or plasterer, or plumber, under the
city authorities. We have seen that the
money paid, or alleged to have been paid,
for carpets in the new Courthouse and
armories, would have purchased 100, DO
SCARE yards at 81 so yard. If of usual
width per yard, this carpet would cover
366,666 feet, or about seventy miles-in
other words, it would so nearly from New
York to New Haven, or half way to AL
| bany, or four times from the Battery to
YOnkers, or from Albany to OswegO.
| But what carpets are there really i'll the
| Court house? Only three floors of the new
| Court house are occupied. On each floor
! 1922 square yards are occupied as offices,
making total of 9,216 square yards. If
covered with carpet at So per yard, the cost
would be SAG, $50. One of the largest rooms,
that occupied by the Bureau of Arrears of
L
floor. The County Clerks office, Sheriff's
office, and office of the Surro cate, are not
carpeted but are covered with oil cloth and
mating, with the exception Of the small
private offices. Few of the other offices or
court rooms are carpeted throughout.
With regard to the carpenter work done
to the new Court house. for which such
enormous sums have been paid, it must be
remembered that the building is chiefly
constructed of marble and iron-there is
very little wood work in it. Yet, if this
wood work cost SO much, what must have
been the expense Of the iron and marble?
Those materials do not enter into the ac-
counts which we have laid before the
public.
For chairs supplied to the GrBlOricS only
IngersoIl was paid S17O,7 so. If armo
ry chairs cost So each, and if each chair
was % feet in depth, the money paid to
Ingersoll would have bought 81, 145 chairs,
and if placed in q straight row these chairs
would have reached So, 1868 feet, or about II
miles, If they cost $40 each they would
make line of s! miles, and even at S25
each they would stretch from the City
Hall Park to Forty-second street.
For cabinet work and furniture in the
new Courthouse and County offices the
sum of s., S17 .469 10 was spent-or at least
was signed away by Mayor Hall and Con-
troller Connolly. An eminent upholster-
er informs us, after making a careful esti-
mate, that he would furnish the new
Courthouse magnificently for $500, 900, aid
make a handsome profit on the transac-
ton.
Look at this charge in another way.
What could be done with the So 81, 469 in
furnishing private houses? Allowing
$4,000 per house, it would furnish, thor
oughly, nearly three hundred houses on
Fifth avenue, from Washington Square to
Thirtieth street, on both sides of the street.
The same amount would put two parlOr
suites at $3.50 EACH, and three bedroom
suites at $500 each. into every house on
Broadway from the Battery to the upper
end, on both sides, and enough would be
left to furnish in some way every house on
Third avenue from BOwery to Seventeen
street, on both sides. r---
1t is only by testing the figures in this
way that the prodigious frauds necessarily
involved in the warrants we have pub
lishstl, can be brought home to the minds
of persons little accustomed to deal with
accounts. .-..... .--.r