National Republican., 1874-06-01
DISTRICT INVESTIGATION.
CONCLUSION OF THE TESTIMoNY
TAKEN By THE8OINT COMMITTEE.

COL. MAGRUDER's EXPLANATION oFNAo-
CoUNTS-REYIsIoN OF STATEMENTS By
ENGINEERS RIvEs, CLUss AND BLIcK-
ENsDERFER LETTER OF COLUMBUS
ALEXANDER REQUESTING BILL OF
TTEMS-FILlNG OF STATEMENTS.
@. Is Mr.. Lay the boardl A. No, sir; Mr..
Lay does not do these things without being
ordered.
O. Let us understand this according TO this
statement; now this Messrs. Jones & Collins,
or somebody else, having an order from Jones
& Collins, walks into your auditors office, and
the auditor issues q certificate on that order or
on that account A. Yes, SIR 4-.---r.,
@. And that certificate is carried to you,
and you pay the money! A. This is possible,
and only possible, that If this did not go
through the board, Mr.. Willard hsd the ac-
counts referred to him of Jones g. Collins for
so much work done. Jones & Collins had Q
credit on his books for that mnch wosk, and
goes in with al order for IS, 900, and he gives
1t to Kidwell, instead of giving it to Jones
Collins. If Jones & Collins had gone In there
he would have given It TO them
Q. That is Just what am getting at. mat
q psrty goes In there and without any check
upon him whatever, Mr.. Lay issues this certi-
flcate! A. He has got the check of this. The
accounts haYe been referred TO him. ..
o. How do you know that in that easel A.
Because he never docs anything
O. How do you knowl A. cannot remem-
ber every little transaction that goes on and
nobody else. . . -. .-,.s.-..:. :. :.
O. Do not you see that here Is $4,000 paid
out upon single order without any indorse-.
ment upon It whatever indicating that II ever
was in the Board Of Public Works at all, or
was ever made q part Of the papers of the
Board Of Public Works; Is not that sol A.
That may be so. e.. % %,
Q. Let us see If there are any more Ike it.
] Just took this out of your report; now just
look at that as q voucher o1 which public
officer pays out money. A. Yes, sir. d. r.
Smith just so much money. He gave the order
for It. We owed him more, probably. I'd
@. told you to bring the vouchers upon
which certificate of $l2, 900 was paid to Mr..
LaughHnl A. Yes, sir; have got it here.
@. That appears on page 1e9 Of your report.
You have got the auditors certificate you Psidl
A. Yes, sir. -..-f .- .-...
O. What is the date of your auditors certih-
catel A. will tell you In q minute-M. G.
Laughlin, September 26, 1873.
@. Did you pay that on that datel A. do
not know.
Q. Is there any way of telling when you did
pay it, A. Yes, sir.
3. You have paid it, have youi A. Yes, sir;
Cancelled by the Board of Public Works.
@. Is there any way of telling when that
was cancelled A. No, sir.
Q. Won't your books show when it was can
celedi A. No, sir.
o. Nothing in the books Of the Board of
Public Works TO show when any certificate was
cancelled A No, sir there is the mans re-
ceipt on It.
There is not any date on the receipt.
Q. You do not date the receipts! A. No,
sir.
Q. See If that is in the voucher on which
that Sl2 900 certificate was issuedl A. The
work, as per schedule.
@. Is that the onel A. Yes, sir.
d. Now this Is an account made out on the
2Sth of September, 1873, and on that same day
Mr. Lay issues that certificate for l2,000 A.
Yes. sir.
O. And this is the only authority he had for
issuing It, is it notl A. That is the only au-
thority he had for issuing it; issued the mans
accounts showing that much money.
@. What Is the reason he could not haveis-
sued million in that wsyl A. He could have
issued as many as he pleased.
Q. Is there any way Of preventing his Issuing
q million of theInl A. No, SIR.
Q. Is there anymode by:which this commit
tee can tell how many of those certificates have
been issuedl A. Yes, sir. He has got stubs
of every certificate issued.
@. He may have, or he may not. How do
you know he hast A. If you cannot trust
anybody, you might get combination Of
rogues.
Q. You are member Of the Board of Public
Works, and, as o matter of course, the people
of this city have been intrusting, or somebody
has been iutrusting, you with the manage
ment Of these very great interests and is there
anything to tell now, excepting just simply
what Mr.. Willard has upon his books, as to
the amount of certificates of this kind that
have been issued A. No, sir.
Q. Nothing at ala A. No, sir.
G. The whole thing rests upon the integrity
of Mr.. Willard A. The integrity of the Off
cerc in his office.
O. Just rests upon that office A. Yes, sir.
q. And no check upon him A. No, sir
except the order that he has received as to
how he shall do these things.
Q. What order has he got for thatl A. He
has got to account against that party for the
work done.
Q. Is there any account anywhere else as
check on it? a. No, sir.
Q. Each of these Of the same charactera A.
] think not.
Q. Excepting this one-the Cotton matter
are they all of similar character, except thal
A. Let me look at them, and will tell you
Here are Page s Fletcher's vouchers-the whole
correspondence.
Q. Are there any Of these items that have
called attention to on this slip Of paper which
/ handed to you, with reference to which you
are unable to produce the voucher upon
which the money was paidi A. None but that
last one.
Q. What is that A. The Governors.
Q. What is that forl A. For auditors eer-
tfhcates.
Q. Where are they' A. They are charged
in that. l do not recollect what particular
ones there were.
Q. Can you find anything to correspond with
thst checki A. ] did not look.
Q. Why noti A. Because cannot tell any
thing about it at all.
Q.-Why notl A. would have to 20 over
this whole account to take up and make com
bi1ation Of that amount Of money. ,a 4,
G. How lcng would it take to go Thought
A. could do It probably in q week, sitting
down and taking each one to make Q eombina-
ton Of that amount of money. T.. --.. ...-- .
Q. There are two of those items. There is
another one for S10,000l A. Yes, sir; the
same thing. He had S27, 600 in certificates.
gave him 81, 900 in money, and accepted his
draft for the balance, and paid them after
wards, and that second check to take up one
of these drafts. Tbs frst was for seven thou
sand and odd hundred dollars over the $40, 900.
He has held these certificates from last winter,
and was very cross about them. He said that
he had got them, and paid pretty nearly value
for them, and said that he ought TO have his
money out Of our March appropriation. He
did not get it. The July appropriation came,
and gave him $1,000, and the balance did
not give him.
Q. But there Is no mode by which you can
tell A. What particular certificates were paid
him, no, sir. He may have possibly memo
randum Of the certificates he has, but I have
not; could not'see any necessity Of putting q
check. / drew exactly what certificates paid
them with. 49,. Zee. ay. e.. -
Q. would be glad If you would turn to your
book account and'tell us how much money you
had on hand ct the time you used that $75, 200
that was appropriated by Congress for the City
Hall. A. ! don't know that we had any.
Q. Don't you know that you did not have
snyl A. No, sir; don't.
Q. What is yorr best impression about thatl
L. don't think we had.
Q. About how much do you suppose you hadl
A. really cannot tell you.
Q. Did you have an overdrawn bank account
at that timef A. That cannot tell.
@. Have you any recollection at. all as to
state of your hnancsl A. / think very prob
ably we may have had an overdrswn bank
account. '-.. ID .'-- .-
Q. Didn't you use g part of this s75 900 for
that purposei A. That money lay in bank for
over q month, certainly, and you can see there
exactly when il was transferred You have
got my bank books. When the Board Of Pub
lie Works held meetings and authorized me 10
invest them ... .sE- -.. -.-r O. .. .---. = /