New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-04-02
THE NAVAL INVESTIGATION.
HOW CnVTR ACTS ARE MADE-vALrE OF NAVY
YARD WORK-MORE EXPERIMENTS - Tiif'
ToRPEDO-EOAT II ROR-UNACIHORiLLprH '
,rrAr or nm sECNR Inns,


GENERAL PREss DiSPAIthJ
W,suIXCTov. April 1.-The Select Commit
fee 10 investigate the charges against Secretary Rooesoh
met tonight Al o'clock 1ley decided MOI to receive the
testimony of COL william 7. Wood, who MIR. Daua had.
on Friday called to show that simon Johnson, deceased
employed sought to employ the witness TO prevent
disclosure Of the character oi the Sccor 'ains ana
that he admitted 10 The Witess their fraudulent char
actcr.
Commodore Case. chief ot the Bureau o. Ordnance.
testified that in December, 1871. he did not make tho
contracts Tor The construction oftwo onsuos for two
torpcdOboats with John Roach Sons or Nowiok, but
he scnc toia by oidr IL the Secretary of The Navy
lie requested the SECRETARY to have the contracts pre-
pared and have tie witness sign them. III orae.
that there might he no complications, hc wdIltec
The contracts prfpHrSd oy fMn@Ih.s u" pr,s
were dome N IAe Eurt&u 81 90, ,!neloh' We
models the OrIedo-OoHt he recommended the boats
should DC bnl ~ iEc naN atIs ms 70 ",nV innto.
did not TIE engines; thc Department dd not want
TN" public TO- En"" anytmnS Don' tie bni'E o. 'nohe
boats; this inv .isa9 was d.,eatns ING oJv,',u
The Ordnance Oiicc, whose movements IA tnis lni'r
secret and il Was important tAe ONCE Should Keep
In reponse TO IN inquiry by Mr. Bartlett whether the
of engine, wIh the Fowler wheel attached was not
rather an Innovation the witness said: /, takes Jhc
ne teered as well IN one direction ~ another; lie did
no no" Who liked he prices Tor tr engines; ono of
ana the other by Admiral Porter: as the Admiral de-
signed one Of them. he had r;ti 70 say what eD2nes
h. would pUt tn beat; 20 Win tie Chief Construct ~
Secretary Rohcs0n asked the Commodore nulnciois
the service foryour wears aud has been Chief OF The
Ordnance Bureau since August 1850 as 70 advertising
for supplies, lie Lad leon informed lat Admiral Dahl
eIen. while Chief OF the Bureau OF Qrdi 'lce acted Oh
The puncple thar t.e law dill not apply 10
visable 10 let the public know what it was doing;
after tho toTpod0bolt were antIOTiz d. various models
were submitted TO he E,ard hy cirith' tail's; tht
Board was appointed by the secrear. O The Navy; it
consisted Of chief Constructors Aan>ro Doano, Len,
thai Capt AuIncn ana re "itnosSi l.. b"i 'G..c'rd
two model~-tAOsc q Htuaeom nd Admiral P1r'or;
tley were WIZ" noirc FL m 1bI ned 18th
parties were perfectly satisfied that the chslnoS
reau: Tie contracts guaranteed certain results
a certain umubcr OF revolutions; there could have
Sseh 40 NJ if IN De HapyYrds rcsae
are missed there remedy hut 10 make rev efforts
irOpeler with the Fowler wheel. and tie Navy Depar,
incit delayed good deal 10 ni ont about that whc,i
meuts considered tOrpedoboat an expert
ment lie wanted five thinking TIA one good one could
wrote Nooread CO. Of 1T sburSh, by order OF the
sitoIs they had the best reputation they, However
could the work the Wines b d said 10 the sec
rotary who had asked him watcher it necessary 10
ADVERTISE that it was not necessary.
MI Bartlett called tue attention Of thc witness 70 the
advertised tor which the witness explained hid been
construed not 10 apply 10 she ORDINANCES burau ana 50
st1ucion tiat the great transactions OF tie war were
MI Archer asked WITNESSES opinion os TO tie relative
quality Of work done ri The navy ai b private
contractors. when Witoss replied that Lo considered
they got better work at the yyyards.
H. A. GOdsbOrOugh Chief Clerk of the Bure1I OF Con-
stTuctiOn and Repairs, tcs that hc had nO partIcu
lar conversation with Loutha about the law OF 1885, IL
came his by accident, when Len'hu tod hiIn
be had written order pay the Secor extra claim. ad
that this order received out OF office hours.
VIM ii. ALVIN testified tIt lac engaged for eight
years ia the Bureau OF SIC Engineering ard let IN
August 1870, while the Chief Of Tie Bur, al, MI King,
was California, package of letters brought 10
him bv Mr.. SuOOk, including the Boggs report OF the
Secor claims; after looking at them, said
tev DAD pertain 10 that Bureau, but belonged
Burean Construction; he looked the report con-
cetninS Tho tAIee vessels. aud saw the aggregate
amount allowed 1000 theroabout; tho
witness then made statement what
the Board reported aud closed by calling the attention
of the Secretary the Navy 10 the law OF
Secor clams which $4,000, IN full satisfaction Of
all claims; he gave this statement 10 Mr. Shook being
law; he afterward saw Mr. Leniai, and told him these
papers had been sent TO the Bureau by mistake; when Mr.
King returned he brought To him thc state
ment he had prepared, and asked INN what
10 meant Mr. King seemed quite angry al
the acti0n taken by the witness and turned abruptly aud
left him witness did not know whether Shook has
turned the papers to the department to tic Bureau OF
law 1868 cstoppcd the from further claims
among the papers was letter fIOm King the SecOr
stating the items OF these clas had bCCl
cred by the former Board OF which he was cnhor In
reply 10 question witness said II the u the
Bureau TO state the terms OF the Contracts vii fulInes3
care and with great particularly. In response TO
questions by Secretary Robson. witness said contracts
not always advertised but sometimes notice was
to contractors, and that during the late
made to the extent of ssO00O0 The witness
wished ii to be understood he had given information
directly or Indirectly, TO The Neu-IorR SUM-