National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-22
DISTRICT INVESTIGATE

9. Before You pointed u out TO himi a.
Q.How did II happen, II you pointed u out
TO him and took the pains TO examine, that you
made such . sad mistake between cooolestone-
and wood pavement At Rawlins squared A.
the ground was covered with snow at the time
that was measured. - - r.cg-f - "a s.5sj.
@. And therefore you did not examine Il 2
A. We found that there was concrete laid upon
Z street, and the contract knew was to be for
concrete all around; but u turned out after-
ward that It was not 90. When ] discovered Il
I notified Mr.. samo Of the fact and had him 70
correct ft.
Q. whsn did you discover III A. think It
was IN November last. i--,1t - = li-ii.fs.li
O. Had your attention been called at the
time you discovered Il TO Newspaper pubhca-
tons, made In all the newspapers that were
published here IN this town, about the 18th Of
October, criticising thati A. Well, now, It
may have been some time sbout November or
October. could tell by referring 70 the COM
municatiou have written; and you could And
the date Iwrote TO Mr.. Same. That did not
govern me. discovered It In making the as
sessment Of Nineteenth street. g f5a'
Z O. You did not discover Il, then, until after
10 had been discovered BY many other persons
and made q matter Of public notonetyi A..
No, sir; did not state that. 1O I.'.t
= @. Do you know, as matter OF fact, that It
all the public printsi A. do not, sir. s-s7e-
O. You do not read the negspapersf A. i
do; and I, read the paper that y Is GENERALLY
published in, and have never seen 1t, and
subscribe for Il, too; l. read Il every night i
emphaticaIly say did not know, and ! do not
know 1t, and n ] did It should not have been
done. I'll found an error In any place should
notify them IS quickly rs / did that. 1t Is
nothing TO me one way or the other. went
A. -.or.k Az
I have done %; what believed and do believe
ought to DO charged. II have erred Il is not
q matter that was willfuily done. It Is what
believe to be there. i.-t- SO
o. Did you point out Judiciary square on the
west side 70 Mr.. Seymour A. No, sir; there
were no measurements made on the west side
of Judiciary square at all BY me.
= Q. None reported and charged againss the
Government on judiciary squaref A. No, SIR.
By the Chairman: @. What Is the method
adopted by you to ascertain these Government
messurements7 A. They show for themselves
upon the ground.
q. How do you and Mr.. Seymour, for exam
pie, get togetherl "A. Mr.. Seymour and ] go
out, and show him all these intersections of
streets-these different angles.
. @. Does Mr.. oertly always go with youi A.
Ali the time, as general thing. He has not
been for the last two or three times, I think.
Oh mean In making these Government
measurements A. Yes, SIR.
Q. You go out, and Mr.. Seymour, and Mr..
oertlyi 4. Yes, sir.
: O. Nobody else A. No person. else except
the assistants appointed to measure it.
!, @. How many assistantsf A. Three or four.
@. Are those your assistantst A. Yes, SIR.
O. Assistants from your Officer A. Yes, sir.
O. Then on all occasions you make actual
measurements A. Yes, sir.
? @. By the aid of these assistantsi a. Yes,
sir.
o. Do You measure the Tagging, curbing,
the paving and the gradingi A. Everything
that is on the ground at the time.
4, Q. 4 understood you to say that you knew
nothing about pricesa A. do not
@. When you 60 upon the ground to make
these measurements, then, nothing Is said about
pricesi A.. No, sir; nothing at all.
@. Does Mr.. Same ask you how much this
ought to cost, or how much It is WORTH A.
No, sir.
d. Does he say anything to Mr.. 0ertly on
these occasional A. Nothing, except making
the bills out, and then Mr.. 0ertley gives him
the proper prices, and passes the work.
@. Are these prices arranged BY contract TO
private individualsi A.. presume so.
@. Is that the way prices are sscertained-
prices paid by the board to contrsctorsa A.
He knows all the prices that should be paid,
both to the contractors and the United States.
He knows all about them; I do not.
Q. How does he know more than you dol
A. Because he has that special branch Of the
engineers department under his control.
o. The matter of pricesa A. The matter Of
prices, contracts and all about It,. .--s.
Q. You have nothing to do with III A.
Nothing whatever.
Q. You make the assessmentsi A. I make
those. $50 %
o. How do you make thosei A. From data
furnished by the auditor Of the Board of Pub
Lie Works.
o. How does the auditor get these datai A
From the returns made to him BY the engineer
department of the cost of the work.
Q. What engineersi A. The engineer Of the
Board of Public Works.
@. Mr.. Clussi A. Yes, sir.
Q. Not from your object A. Not from
mine.
By Mr.. Hubbell:. Q. How did you determine
with Mr.. Same the amount of excavation In
any one place. For instance, take any OF these
squares A. By the appearance Of the ground
the surrounding ground; take P-street circle
that has been determined BY the banks thai
now exist there.
Q. Did you measure there-the P-street cir
cle-with Mr.. SamoI a. / did, sir.
@. To determine the amount Of excavation
A. To determine that from the best eyidenes
we could find on the ground there.
/ @. And by actual measurement therei A
Yes, sir; of the banks.
O. Were there any levels taken there befor,
you commenced the worki A. Not that l an
aware of. I
o. You merely estimated from the genera
contour of the country therei A. That Is so.
O.. When did you next work on New Hamp
shire svenuei A. / cannot tell you.
@. Did you measure that work. A. meas
ured some part OF IL.
l. n - L.
of grading that had been done upon that ave
nuei A. ] did not. ~
@. Did you make any return Of the amour
Of work donel A. Whatever measurement
he returned areto be found in the Office of th,
Board of Public Works.
@. There Is . charge here Of 14S, SSS cub,
yards Of grading; did you furnish these figures
A. presume that they HAYS been partly fur
nished from measurements of the ground sni
partly from the graduation book in my Office.
Q. How did you make. that QUIT a. Wen
the measurements indicated By. the different
cuts and fills along the lines can be measured
| and there was part Of that which was cut dowr
between I and G streets, which had to be de
termincd from the original levels IN my ONCE
Q. Are you speaking now at random, or dc
you know that 10 the wsyl A. That Is the way
@. Now, do not you know there Is In exist
ence Q perfect survey Of that avenue, with
cross-sections and everything necessary 70 as
certain the exact quantitiesi A. lido not know
Q. Have you the means Of knowing III A
have not.
@. II such cross sections exist they were MOI
furnished you'll A. They were not.
@. You did claim to make your calculations
from these sectional a. No, sir; did not.
@. The amount charged here is the amount
you returned, understand A. That was the
amount returned by the measurements made
by Mr.. Same, Mr.. 0ertly and myself.
o. Then II there were cross sections from
which the exact quantities could be ascer-
tanned you did not use them in making that re-
turn for the work done by the CONTRACTOR A.
Inever knew there was cross section along the
whole line.
O.. Did you ever use any leker anywherei A.
presume not. In . great many instances
got the quantity from Mr.. Barney that was the
excavation to be done. II would measure
the sidewalks and other works would gel him
to give me the amount whenever he had made
excavations. That was his particular duty "a
do 60 whenever they were determined. -
Q. Now suppose Il should turn out that IN
one Of your measurements you bad Eade Z
mistake, say in quantities, say Of POO, 600 on
800, 600 yards, that you should make q mistake
Of i00,OOo-one third or one half, would you
think that would be . reasonable result from
your mode Of ascertaining the quantitess A.
/ would not. : Il r ~ \ Fl
o. II such should turn out TO be the result,
would You not suppose It TO be designedf A.