National Republican., 1874-05-21


meetings, or In what way was this thing donei
A. know Of one contract that was let In regu-
lar board meeting. This was the sward OF
75, 900 square yards Of wood pavement TO the
saccessors Of DeGolyer q Mcclellan. A board
meeting wss called; think It must have been
IN june or July Of last year. Mr.. Jeiries was
there Is their attorney. A statement was
made that we would throw two or three men
into bankruptcy II this contract was not
awarded; SO it had to be given out. This Is tho
only contract where know the board has been
consnlted officiaily. cT ~ - n
Q.Who did award these contractsi A.
think the yice-president.
Q. How did they get upon the minutes OF
the boardi A. have attended every meeting
Of the board, to the best of my knowledge,
that has been called since have been
member of the board. do not think have
missed single meeting. Last Monday was
preparing papers for you, and duly notified
the other members Of the board that was of
necessity absent, but how they got on the
minutes Of the board can make an explana-
ton. About three weeks ago this very ques-
tion was up. II was mentioned that q certain
| transaction was on the minutes of the board.
/ told them / was sure II was not
| there. Mr.. hagruder came forward and said:
81 think have spoken to you about this mat
ter. However, If have not, spoke at the
time to Governor Cooke and to Governor Shep-
herd. That makes three. There are q major
ity, and q majority rules" My answer was:
"Mr. Magruder, If you meet Mr.. Shepherd on
one curbstone corner, and you meet Governor
Cooke on the next curbstone corner, and you
three agree upon something, do you call that q
meeting OF the board1" He said ayes" There
was, before became q member of the board, q
rule Iassed where the vice president-in fact,
wherever he set himself down to write con-
tract or do anything else officially, the clerk
was to enter such action as done at the meeting
of tie board. That Is all the statement have
to make in regard to that.
! @. Are we to understand you to say, in re-
gard to this letting of contracts, that you were
not consulted as q member Of the boardl A.
Never. wish to say there is one single ex-
ception, and this is as far as remember. l
] went some time in July of last year-I happened
to go on business-to the private office of the
yice-president, Mr.. shepherd. found him
there in consultation with Mr.. Oertly, and,
looking at what they were dUing, saw they
were giving out contracts for main-sewers.
They showed me what they were doing, and at
that hour, think 1t was-yes, 1t was then
that about million dollars worth of con-
tracts were given out. was present, but was
not consulted but In one single instance. l re-
member l made an objection to the party who
was to have this contract.
| O. Who was thati A. think 10 was con-
tract for Boundary-street sewer-this main
1
certain statements and. calculations. For in
stance, there was q statement Of the continua.
ton Of the TIber-creek sewer from Maryland
avenue to Virginia avenue, s350, 900. Mr.
Shepherds answer was, "Put down Carroha1
& Co." 1t was the first time that had heard
the name Of that firm.
Q. Was that contract awarded to Carrohar
& Coz A. Yes, sir; he is now proceeding
under It.
Q. Were any other main-sewcr contracts
given out that day that you know OF A.
have stated to the best of my recollection that
a million collars worth of work was given out
on that day.
Q. Who was the other work given out toi
A. Gantz s. Appleman.
Q. What did they getl A. Boundary street
sewer, between Second and Eleventh streets;
SAMUEL Strong, Boundary-street sewer, between
Eleventh and Fifteenth streets; Gregg Co.,
boundary. street sewer outlet, from Fifteenth
street 10 the Eastern Branch as far as 1t went
contract was given then to William H. Adams
for an extension of his sewer, which. he built
under the previous contract.
| Q. That was done, you say, at Governor
Shepherds private oficel A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where is thatl A. On Pennsylvania
avenue, between Ninth and Tenth streets.
By the Chairman: Q. You say you spoke to
Mr.. Magruder about that matter which you
found on the minutes, but you did not state
what matteri A. The matter was the resigna-
tion of Mr.. Henry A. Willard as vice president
of the board. II you will allow me, will
state the occurrence. Some work was pro-
posed to be done, and this work considered as
entirely unnecessary and wasteful In the pres
cnt state of our fnarces. The answer was
made that this work had to be done, since 1t
was already included in the assessment-sheet
made some time ago. / asked for the assess
ment-sheet, and afterward was rather a little
grufFed. then said, 81 ask this as q member OF
the board and as the engineer ofthe board. Some
other words passed, and afterwards said to
Mr.. Willard i claim have been legally elected
| by my fellow-melnbers here, and therefore
stick to the rights and duties OF my office.
told him that should have been glad to have
voted for him as vice president Of the board,
and would have voted for him three times, In
stead of seeing him designated by the Governor
for this place. Mr.. Msgruder then said Mr..
Willard has been elected, and the fact Is on
the minutes of the board. Ithen reminded him,
Mr.. Henry A. Willard, that on some Sunday
morning he came TO my house, and asked me
for my friendly advice as TO whether he should
accept the designation of the Governor, when
promptly advised him that he should not do
It. told him that i should be glad TO vote for
him as vice president, but wanted him
regularly appointed by his fellow members.
Mr.. Willard seemed to be impressed BY what
said, hut left. 1t seems he sfterward concluded
to keep the appointment. So when this came
up the other day, I certainly objected to bis
telling me that this was IN the regular meet
ing. Mr.. Magruder said these meetings were
| TO be considered as rather In the PickTickian
wav-in a construction way.
@. You told Mr.. Willard you would be glad
to vote for himl A. Yes, cir.
Q. You consider him a competent man for
the placei A. Yes, sir. He is very reliable
man. would not say exactly whether Mr.
Willard has the necessary experience to attend
to such business, but that Is not the question.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Have there been any
cases where contracts have been let, and the
contractors gone to work upon the streets be-
fore the engineer department had notice of the
factl A. Many.
q. What has been the rule Of your depart
ment, or the conduct Of your department, in
relation to this matter Of taking cross-sections
and getting the necessary data upon which to
make PROPER measurements A. I have in
sisted upon their being made in every case.
Q. Have they been made In every easel A.
Since that time think we have got good cross
sections in each case.
Q. Do you regard cross-sections as essential
to an accurate measurement Of work-cross-
sections taken before the work is commenced
A. l consider them as absolutely necessary,
even In the plainest case.
i
casesl A. Well, / find in q geod many bills
which have to settle for work done before
was q member of the board, almost Invariably
there are no cross-sections.
|. q. That was where work was being dono
prior to your being memberl A. Yes, sir.
@. Was there any mode by which you could
get an accurate measurement Of the work that
had been donei A. No, sir.
Q. Before forget it-you mentioned mo-
ment ago that you had called for an assessment,
sheet on some street where an assessment had
already been made, and the work had not yet
been donei A. Yes, sir.
Q. What street was thatl A. Nineteenth
street.
Q. What work was It that had not yet been
donsi A. was hunted by everybody to olong
stretches of parking-sodding. This was one
of; the cases. Since this question had been so
often before me, was most earnest TO see II
Mr. Forsyth had actually included this In his
assessment, 90 that It was necessary to expend
this amount of money, which considered as q
dead waste.
Q. In that case, how did you find out7 Had
the parking been charged for and put in tho
asssessment-shecti A. Up to this time, not
withstanding repeated applications for the pur-
pose-up to this day have not yet found the
assessment-sheet forthcoming. Other state
ments came to me, which were not the assess
ment- sheets, but ! always sent them back
again. wanted the assessment-sheet. have