National Republican., 1874-04-02
Q. .Wh.. oaYla yeu .slI !. or, a. gsasr

.--e....-.-.-.-..@
| O. What ooVld you sell q for, A. I gener
d. Oh. I want 3 direct answer. want I
know what, In YOUR opinion, Is The value Of th
property? / cannot tNell 1t now; gave cor
tract out to build and b, pund myself to Il.
Q. Can you not state what, IN your opinioI
q the value Of that properly. Give me direS
70 what my fsther-in-isw, i7ght across u
way, sold . square TO Mr.. Stew VT Tor; ne CAV
forty cents . foot for that.
O. Do you mean to say thatN yours Is no
worth any more than forty cents q -pof a.
dare say e is.
Q. Can you not tell The committee what, Il
your opihiOn, it b WORTH A. canntE say;
am not land specufatos.
Q. How much general taxes DO you pzFpr
lit a. have not paid.
Q. Special Improvement taxes; how mushl
A. / suppose the way ! have got these biIft
and everything, by the time I get the improve
ments there, It will stand me about u 200.
There are about 800 fses, think; somewhere
along there.
Mr.. MattineIy. desire IN this connection, Il
the committee please, to read two sections OF
the Instructions given by the Board OF Public
works TO the special superintendents.
st. Before displacing any foot-payements,
curbing, cobblestones, fagway, OF any other
property, the superintendent shall estimate the
quantity, condition, and value of old material
to be removed, and enter such statement oppo-
site the name of the owner Of such lot or sub
division, for use in assessing the cost Of the i'm
provement."
"5. He shall see that no old material fit to
be used again Is removed from the premises,
and that none is taken away except by the
oincer In charge Of the property of the board,
who shall receipt for the same stating where
the material is to be deposited, and this receipt
shall be returned to the executive Office"
IS. He shall require all contractors to comply
literally with the terms Of their contract, and
shall at once report any violation thereof to
the executive Office"
Governor Shepherd. The date of that is octo-
Der, 1871.
TESTIMONY OF 2. a. HoBAN.
FIJI. Hoban was called and duly sworn.
Mr.. Christy. desire 10 have this witness
asked as to his knowledge Of old material taken
by the board.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Where do you reside, A.
No. S14 Fifteenth street.
. Q. Are you an owner Of property theref A.
No, sir; my mother has q piece of property
there: own some property around town,
though.
O.. What do you know, II anything, In rela-
ton to old material being taken away by the
Board of Public Works or contTactorsi A
Well, made an application last November OF
December to the effect that my mother should
be allowed for the old material taken from heI
premises.
Q. Had there been old material taken away
from therei A. 1t had not been taken away
Il had been reset. We live on an alley and
they took the curbing and run 1t up the side OF
the alley and then put the old brick down IN
front. made an application to the board to
that effect, and my brother saw Mr.. Forsyth
and asked him, and Mr.. Forsyth said that 1t
had been allowed In the bill. i made an appli-
cation and received from the board q notice to
the effect that 1t had been condemned as unfit
for use. Iran around to the board for, I sup
pose, about two weeks, off and on, from one
Office to the other. could not get any salts
faction at all. ascertained from several par
ties that there was q ring on getting allowances,
and If would go to either Boswell q Hall, or
Dickson & Patterson, or some OF these, / might
get an allowance. I went to Boswell & Hall
and saw man there by the name of Chase and
put the bill in-put In two lots, one on G
street next to Twenty-fTst and one on Fiji
teenth street, and got an allowance, to the best
and the other street did not get any allow
ance so far,
By Mr.. Wilson: O. Was the material that
you were allowed for, the material that had
been taken up, put down again in the same
placel A. 1t was the same material. thought
it strange we could not be allowed for the curb
ing, as it ran right up the side of the alley
to go in front, but they used it on this alley.
We considered that we were entitled to that at
least.
Q. Was there an assessment bill presented to
you for that work. A. Yes, sir; there was an
assessment bill presented for that property.
Q. Did you make this application to be al
lowed for this material before that bill was
paidl A. The bill has not been paid yet.
Q. Do you know whether this material was
allowed for in that assessment billl A. don't
think it was, because they had at the bottom OF
the bill, "Allowance made for old material, /"
and they scratched that out and asked about
it and sscertained that would have to put In
a special bill for that, or make q special apph-
cation to the board for it. So l applied regu.
larly to the proper authorities. 1t is on their
books, presume. Tley answered to the effect
that 1t had been condemned and was unit for
use. Well, l knew better than that, and was
not satisfied at all.
Q. You say there were some fifty dollars al
lowedl A. Fifty dollars and sixty-fve cents,
TO the best of my recollection.
Q. Was that the full value of the material
or less than its vsluei A. considered it a
very fair valuation, considering that the board
i
thought 1t was very we'll, indeed.
Q. What was the actual value3 A. Well,
we had twenty-five feet front; the curbing cost
originally, think, s1.29, to the best of my
knowledge. won't swear positively.
By Mr.. Jewett: Q. Do you mean per footl
A. Yes, sir; 1t was put down some eighteen or
twenty years ago; twenty years, think.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. You have not paid that
assessment A. No, sir.
Q. And yet they allowed you this fifty dol
larsa A. Yes, sir.
@. They have not refused to allow that fifty
dollarsl A. Oh, yes, sir; that is gone over long
ago; that Is only allowed within thirty days.
Q. What became of your. assessment A.
The eertihcatei
Q. Yes, sir. A. Boswell & Hall have It, I
told them to keep 1t until they got the balance
of the other.
@. Then when you go. to pay that assess
ment you get the whole allowance for that
allowance for that material1 A. No, sir.
@. What Is the reason you cannotl A. un-
derstand cannot. I have not made a trial
yet, because they say within thirty days, and
the brokers all advertised to that effect. With
in thirty days the certificates will be considered
worth their face. After thirty days they are
not allowed, and you will have to discount
them at whatever they are worth In the
market.
Q. Do these brokers own this certificate;
have they purchased itl A. They do q broker
age business In there; buy and sell them.
Q. Have they bought these certifcatesa A.
Do you mean this onel
Q. Yes. A. No, sir; left it until they got the
other one, at his suggestion.
@. You do not understand me. Has there
been an assessment made against your propertyi
A. Yes, sir: against my mothers property.
Q. Very well; who has got that certifcatel
A. Either the First or the Third National
Bank of New York; forgot which. received
a notice from Sam. Gross, l think.
Q. Then, the certificate has passed out of
the hands Of the Board Of Public Worksl A.
Yes, sir; from their corr ospondence it has,
could not say positively. They notified them
that the certificate was held BY that bank.
By Mr.. Bass: 20. WHAT'S 10 that youcomplain
on A. do not complain of anything special,
but that we made our application TO the board
for an allowance OF old material.
Q. But understand you to say that that has
been allowed fnallyi A. Yes, sir; but we had
to go to broker to get ii; that Is about the
trouble.
Q. That Is what understood. You COM
plain that you had 10 run about two weeks, and
finally went to broker and got IT. A. Yes,
sir.
Mr.. Christy. Pardon me, Mr.. Bass, that Is
not the point. You were not In when he testi-
fed.
Mr.. Bass. Yes. Ihave been here since he
was called.
The Witness. could not get It myself.
Mr.. Bass. Understand he says his certificate
1T. 4.