National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-22

Q. AMI unIe he direct qp of Mr.. BarneyF
A. Under the direction of Mr. Barney.
Q. Is he q Competent mani 4. A very conf
petent man.
Q. is sIr. Barney a competent mani A.
Yes, very competent man.
Q. And Mr.. Dsncnhower and Mr.. Franklin.
do you regard them as competent menl A
As competen. as can be found In the country
Q. Their business, then, is to do what is
known as the outdoor work. A. Yea, sir.
q. Mr.. Barney being the chief out-doo mani
A. Yes, sir.
o. Has Mr.. oertIy any subordinatcs. A.
Mr.. 0ertly has q nunber OF clerks under his
charge.
Q. They are mere clerks, not assistant engi-
neersi A. No, sir; they arc clerks; and then
he has couple of craftsmen, but these drafts
men are mostly under Mr.. Barney BY my per-
| sonal directions.
Q. But Mr.. oertlY is an Office engineer A.
Yes, sir.
Q. His business Is to make computations
| A. Yes, sir; to make computations; to estimate
1 and see what Is required, and then he has 70
make estimates as TO how many Of seYer-pipes,
what Is the excavation, and what the whole
thing foots up, &c.
Q. How loug has Mr.. oertly been In the
ONCE In that capacity A. He was there, |
think, one year before became q member Of
i the board.
Q. You found him there when you went
therei A. Yes, sir.
Q: Did you find Mr.. Barney also therei A.
did.
| Q. Do you consider Mr.. OertIy competent
/ for the discharge of the duties imposed upon
hint A. Mr.. 0ertly Is q very accomplished
engineer, and, If he is under proper system,
think he Is as useful man as can easily be
found. But he acts according to orders. He
i Is not an Independent man like Mr.. Barney is.
Q. Does he act uder your orders at ala A.
No, sir; he frequently has disregarded my
orders.
Q. 4 know; but does be act under your Or
ders at ALL A. Nominally; yes, sir.
Q. Nominally he is your subordinatel A
Yes, sir.
| Q. But he takes orders from Governor Shep-
herd when they are giveni A. Yes, sir.
| Q. When these orders are not IN accord with
yours they are followed rather than your ownf
A. Yes, sir; and then breaks up the discipline.
Q. In case of conflict does he report TO you'll
A. Rarely; hardly ever. - q.
| Q. Do you know that he is constantly or
frequently receiving orders from Governor
/ Shepherd A. i see that he leaves the Office
| for week or two weeks, and have seen that
| number of tables are brought to you and
\ that Mr.. Oertly has sworn to them, and so
| have q right to suppose that he has been under
| the orders of the Governor while he has been
absent.
Q. Did not Mr.. Shepherd tell you that he
wanted Mr.. Oertly to prepare these tablesl
Did he not tell you that in my presencel
The Witness. What tablesl
Mr.. Mattingly. The tables Mr.. Oertly
brought here. A. wish to say that l saw
Governor Shepherd In your presence only about
| three weeks ago, after Mr.. OertIy had been for
several months upon this work. wish further
| TO say, that on this evening when you told me
l should appear before this committee, re-
quested to be relieved.
arnIxy aid rrO1 n Hv1NAr AMT
A. Because these estimates Of fences, which
you know were not In accordance with what
they ought to have been, were TO be tabled
you refer now to an interview In the Board or
Public Works. 1t was about Colton's fence.
l was to be brought up as fsthering the price
| for COlton's fence. Don't You remember If
@. remember seeing a little draft on tho
back of voucher, andI remember asking you
about that A. Yes, sir, exactly; and then
afterward It was said, 1t Is better, you know,
not to bring the drafts up here, j" was it not
Mr.. Mattingly. No, the draft was brought
up here. .Itwas in evidence.
The Witness. doubt it.
By the Chairman Q. Mr.. Oertly has pre-
| pared some tables and brought them here YOU
say, without your knowledgel A. Yes, sir.
Q. Were those tables prepared in your ofiicei
A. No, sir: The engineer's department is
not responsible for them.
Q. That Is not what mean to-say. We're
they prepared In your Officer A. No, sir.
Q. Or from data in your ofieel A. That
am not able to say.
Q. You do not knoWi A. No, SIR
Q. Are you not in the office every dayl A.
Oh, yes.
Q. The point want to have you tell US, If
you can, Is whether or not Mr.. 0ertly made up
these tables from data In the engineers office,
or whether he made them up outside the engi-
neer's office, from data furnished him else
wherel A. He made them up from data out
1 l. r.. H. ~
him lsewhere-l think from the memorandum
books which they had.
Q. Were they submitted to you after they
were made upi A. No, sir; have meyer seen
them excepting where 1 saw them in print In
| The NATIONAL REPUBLICAN.
| Q. Have you examined theml A. / have
| examined some OF them.
| Q. Are they accuratei A. do not believe
60. have examined very particularly tho
| tables of sewerage, since that was part of
my duty to report to you to-day, and say that
the table where Mr.. Oertly tries to justify his
price of $40 for pipe-sewer Is altogether
rather adapted to concealing the truth than to
stating the truth.
Q. Then you think Mr.. Oertly has not been
| frank with this committee In this statement1
A. do not think he has.
| Q. You think he has made those tables
| to conceal the truth rather than to state it9
A. Well, l do not state that that is his OBJ
ject.
Q. But that is the effect of ito conceal
| the truth rather than to state it, A Yes, sir.
Q. When did Mr.. Oertly begin to absent
himself from your Office and take orders from
Governor Shepherd rather than from you;
when did that process begfnl A. It was ali
the while so, from the very beginning.
| Q. From the time you were made chief en-
/ gineerl A. Yes, sir; l have tried In courtesy
| to overcome this difficulty because the gentle
man upon whom I relied upon being present in
the Office to give satisfaction to the citizens
who came there went of all the time. he was
not about, and il brought me in disagreeable
position to the citizens against my Will and
against my power.
Q. When he was absent from the Office and
would return would you ask him where he had
beeni A. Well, It was so often that 1t was
not worth while for me to ask him.
Q. What was he doinsl Was he making
these measurements A. Yes; suppose so.
Q. understood you TO say that he was gen.
| orally called upon to make measurements for
particular personsl A. Well, have said as a
fact, when asked, that the measurements for
Mr.. Albert Gleason and for John o. Evans
were generally made by Mr.. Oertly; the bulk
| OF them.
Q. Do these estimates of Mr. Barney for
| work known as partial and final estimates pass
through your oificel A. Yes, sir; every one.
Q. They all come into your Office! A. Yes,
| sir.
|
ence TO a final voucher upon Mr.. Barney If you
| pleased A. One of the assistants Of the Office
makes measurement upon the street; this he
! furnishes inside of slip like this, and Mr..
| Barney goes to work at once. If necessary, he
goes out upon the street and examines this slip
to see whether 1t Is correct. In many cases he
measures It over. After he has all these cor
rected, he then has q voucher made ont. This
voucher afterward Is submitted to me for sig,
nature, aud as q general thing, in all small
matters, rely upon Mr.. Barney's judgment in
these matters. However, If there Is q large
measurement of o wood pavement, am in the
habit Of going to the map and taking my tape
line and running il out BY inches. and seeing
whether there could be o big cyer-measure-
ment or big mistake. know the width of
the street, four yards or five, and the length.
Q. You verify the measurements Yes, sir.
Q. Is 1t necessary to have your signature In
order to secure q voucher from the audltor1 A.
I have Informed the auditor distinctly that he
should not pay anything except upon my sigma
ture.
| @. And It Is usual to have your signaturei
A. It Is usual to have my signature-yes, sir.
Q. Is IL not essential to have III A. or course
1t IL essential. --H