National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-07
DISTRICT INVESTIGATION.

afteenth section provides that the Legislative
Assembly shall never grant, grant o. ~ an nnhII,
odiesr AGENT servant or contractor alter ssrViot
haI been rends or contract made.
ThiS nroytGton, 1t will be seen, applies exclu
sIyeiy to The legislature, and not to the Board o.
ToFendef contracts made by tbs board valid Of
binding on the District it is only required thai
they should be in writing and signed by the par
ties making them; and besides that they should
be preceded BY appropriations. But the fact that
the original contract must be In writing, as Il
be obligatory upon the District, does not prevent
. modification Of it, or an increase Of prices.
Whether such increase should be made, there
fore, becomes purely question for the sound dis
erection or judgment Of the board. And it seem:
to me when such increase Is necessary to prevent
manifest injustice In the execution Oh Poonss
work, IN consequence Of o change In the FaIue o.
materials, or from pecul!aritles or changes %
work, notifications should be made. suggest;
however, that all such notifications neI ,n I'M o
action Of the beard, be reduced to writing, Or =;
memorandum 10 writing In some iotm DC ~ sNe u =,
the changes, and be signed BY the parties: In
TINS mode the changes may &c "a 10 ma
ARrs1ur3 aSTS"i'h 'hs pAp VIZ. Cock,
AssPe0'' Attornev District OF Columbia.
To the Honorable Board ~ P~'!te WOKE
@. When was that opinion Writtent A. Tnat
ouinion was written September %, 1873.
o. Did the board act upon that opinicni A
I ought not to answer that question. OF my
personal knowledge, I cannot say.
o. Did they increase the pricel A. Of my
personal knowledge, cannot answer. The
fact is, however, that they did not, and that q
suit has beeninstituted by Enoch Totten, on the
part of Mr.. Strong, in relation to that subject,
IS well as to Others. ought to say that about
the same time rendered a similar opinion IN
the case of the Evans Concrete Paving Com
pany.
@. Are these the only two cases in which you
gave such opinion, or were there othersf A.
Those are the only two cases that were referred
to me, if remember correctly, involving that
subject.
Q. Were you at that time the counsel or at
torney of the Board of Public Works. A. /
was.
Q. Do you know why no bond was required
of De Gollyer and McCleIlanl A. lido.
Q. State why. A They had promised to
furnish bonds, and when they failed to do so
they were referred to me, in order that the
matter might in some form be adjusted. len
deavored to procure the bonds in the ordinary
mode from them, but could not succeed in do
ing 80. then asccrtained that they had a
large amount of property in the District,
amounting to several thousand dollars, and
directed schedule of their property to be
made and an approximation Of its value to be
sscertained by Mr.. Cluss, if l remember cor
rectly. That was done. Then they consented
to give to the Board Of Public Works chattel-
mortgage on that property in @ieu OF bond
That was done. That mortgage was placed
upon the records Of the office of the recorder Of
deeds.
@. Do you remember the estimated value of
that property A. Not distinctly; the impress
sion upon my mind is that it run up to like
something between thirty and forty thousand
dollars. 1t was an amount regarded as sufti-
Client at the time to secure the faithful execu-
ton Of their contract.
Mr. Merrick would like to have the chair
man inquire of him as to the character OF that
property.
By the Chairman: Q. What was the charac-
ter of that property A. 1t consisted of mate
rial and machinery used in the laying of pave
ment in the District. A better answer to that
would be copy Of the mortgage itself.
Q. desire to get your general knowledge Of
the subject. Having examined, naturally
suppose you know something about 1t. do.
Q. ask you only to state the general char
ber-but l wish the committee to remember
this, that in the multiplicity OF business It is
impossible for me TO remember distinctly and
clearly every word.
The Chairman. You can give US a copy Of
the mortgage; perhaps that would be better.
Q. VIII you state why it was that in the
contracts with C. Z. Evans no bonds were re-
quired or givenl A. Such is not the fact.
O. What is the factl A. The fact is that
given, but upon examination found that the
bonds were insufficient; at least so considered
them. Those contracts were in the main of
the Evans Paving Contract Company.
Q. Is that a corporation A. 1t was an asso-
citation. don't know whether it was a cor
poration or not, but they attempted to bond
individuals, if / remember correctly, connected
with that company attempted to bond for the
company. Upon examination desired further
nd ha cd n fol
the most cautions mode to procure what l
would consider sufficient security. / did so.
@. What Governor A. Governor Shepherd.
Q. Was he then Governor, or vice president
of the Board of Public WOrksl A. He was
then vice president. procured from Massa-
chusetts a schedule aud certificates in relation
to the property owned by the wife of Mr.. Evans.
1t amounted to several hundred thousand dol
lars. Upon doing so l insisted that bonds
should be given-additional bonds on those con-
tracts, and that was done.
Q. That is, the wife of C. E. Evans became
security for those contractsl A. Yes, sir; here
are the bonds.
1.-THE witness produced the same, and handed
them to Mr.. Bass.
Q. What was the result of your examination
ss TO the responsibility of Mr.. Evans wifel
me which indicated that she was worth real es-
tate amounting to some three hundred or four
hundred thousand dollars.
Q. She signed all of them? A. Yes, sir;
they are here.
By Mr.. Bass: Q. Where did she sign thesei
A. In this city; she wac brought on here partly
for that purpose.
The Chairman. Mr.. Christy, this comprises
the last question. Have you anything elsel
Mr.. Christy. desire to interrogate the wit
ness, II the committee is through.
Mr.. Merriek. Dou you know when those
bonds were signed by herl A. WITNESS, ex-
aiming the bonds. cannot state from recol-
lection; probably in February, 1874.
By the Chairman: Q. Since this examination
beganl A. No, sir.
By Mr.. Merrick: Since this session of Con-
Zressl A. Yes, sir; since this session of Con-
By the Chairman: You say February,
Mr.. Merrick. The committee was organized
On the 18th of February, think.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Are you enabled to give
he dates when these bonds were signedi A. 1
cannot give them; in the early part of Febru-
ary, think. The fact is, that in carrying out
the instructions gave them they we're
Mr.. Bass. This bond have In my hand
notice is dated the 9Th of February.
Witness. Yes, sir; 1 think probably that is
he date. After the instructions gave, the
bonds were fixed up in the contract-clerk's
off1ee, and subsequently returned to me for ex-
animation, so that could not definitely tell
The date.
Mr.. Wilson. wish toask you If these bonds
we're not executed after the resolution was in
reduced in the Senate for the purpose of set
ing on foot this investigation A. do not
remember; but this / do remember, that the
preliminary steps in the execution Of these
oonds were taken long before.
Q. How long before2 A. think at least q
month before; had, indeed, more than a
month prior insisted with Mr.. Evans that there
must be additional security furnished.
@. Do you not know it to be fact these
,onds were procured and that the matter was
et on foot in anticipation of an investigation
" Congreesl A. am absolutely certain that
10 such consideration Influenced in the most
emote degree the procurement Of these bonds.
Q. How long had this work been done when
he bonds were executed A. That is ques-
ion outside Of the office of District Attorney,
which cannot answer.
Q. You know generally, do you not Don't
7ou have any knowledge at all as to when Mr..
Evans concluded the execution of his work. A.
No, sir in point Of fact # is not concluded yet,
because the board retains $50, 600 for the pur-
pose Of putting his work in good repair.
Q. He had quite a large number of contracts,
lidn't he A. Yes, sir.
Q. And good many of them had been COM
'leted some time siDce2 A. I cannot say
Then they were completed.
Q. Do you know whether the board had paid
Tim for The contrarfs that had been cornr1leted1