National Republican., 1874-05-29

Y 04 ,s23: now, was there any part of thas work
that was doae a. thats.tm A. could moi, D.
Q. Is there any explanation that you desire
20 give In regard 70 any portion Of that work!
A. have said before, that this east and south
west from Tenth to Thirteenth street grading
and hsuling to the canal, 81, ,7g5 Is; this
work was done without grades being given BY
the ENGINEER, and, In fact, after the work was
done, they dug hole which I have invited
you to look ct, which cost US some Thousand
dollars to I'LL up.
O. That understand do not care anything
about thati A. I have given this explanation
of street north and Seventh and G streets;
that Is what had reference to. Ihad further
reference to this Maryland avenue, where
s5,O00-so much given for just tearing up
the street and leaving IL afterwards.
Y. Are there any matters In any OF these
Vouchers that have been brought out in your
testimony with reference to which you wish to
make any explanation A. No, sir; just
wanted to impress more earnestly the irregu-
Iarity upon you and the imposibility for the
engineer to do his duty under such eircum-
stances.
9. That work on Maryland avenue, between
Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, and from
Seventh to Eleventh, grading and hauling to
the canal was that work done at that time do
you knowi A. L do not think, by LOOKING al
this nowy the engineers gave any grades there,
and indeed I am not positive whether there
8rc any CrOoo-5cctlOuS LncIe SINCE ne stopped
all at once--by the time noticed that the
whole thing was in q bad state. For sure that
filing ought TO have been paid. It was Ger
tainly wrong to the citizens of Maryland ave-
nue., for between Seventh and Ninth streets
some grading was done, and then again the
earth was not taken away for filling on Twelfth
street, but instead OF that it was hauled to the
canal
@. Have you the papers in reference to this
tagging matterf A. I have received these
papers u little while age, but they are not In
full yet. noticed on Janu-fy, believe, the
24th, about $4,000 had tecn paid to Mr..
John o. Evans for Tagging, and have not
been furnished with any data showing me eyi-
denee Of the order under which it was done,
and under what agreement, and / desire to
have these transactions in full. There is
| nothing at all, but the first thing see here is
| voucher for twenty-five hundred and odd dol
lars on two different days after the appropriation
of one million was realized, and nothing previous
| to show how this man comes to furnish any
such tagging. The vouchers are in, but the
| transaction is not complete.
have seen various irregularities In the few
minutes afforded me to examine them. have
noticed, for instance, that Thomas P. Morgan
was paid 81 .24 per square foot for Tagging
for rough tagging, as rough as you can find
anywhere. 1t is in that little square opposite
Seventh street, or rather on Seventh street op-
posite Mount Vernon square-mind you, on
| Mount Vernon square, where Mr.. Morgan was
pushed Off aud Mr.. Evans was pushed into lay
that tagging. Then he was given the little
reservation just across the street. He laid, to
the best ofmy recollection, about 10 600 feet of
| tagging, for which he was paid S12, 400, in
stead Of, at the highest rate, IS 500. In the
few minutes afforded me to look over these
papers, / request the committee, if the meeting
is to close to-day, that be allowed to make a
report in writing and furnish it to the commit
tee for record of the whole transaction.
| Q. Now, Mr.. Cluss, at a former part of your
investigation there was some discussion here In
regard to the grading Of private lots. State
how they came to be graded: who was respon-
| sible for II, and what connection you had in
regard to itl A. II the committee ask me ac-
cording to my maxim, will answer. Here is
in that very voucher, square 2l2, grading and
charge for grading of those lots belonging-I
do not remember who--but just q few lots
west of Senator Bayard's and Senator Ed
munds's. 1t was done to reconcile the prop
rty-holders and to indemnify them for change
of grade. think Judge Wylie is the owner.
Q. Do you know of any other cases in which
private property has been graded?
By Mr.. Mattingiy: Q. Where was that y A.
It Is on Massachusetts avenue, between Four
teenth and Fifteenth, where the Board of Pub
lie, Works injured the property, and then, after
ward, in order to pacify the indignant property
| holders, they had to do this as matter OF JUS
| tice to them.
Q. Do you know of any other private prop
erty being graded downi A. If my eyes had
not happened to have fallen upon this very
item here would not have remembered this
one. think there have been others, but lean
not recollect them just now:
Q. Do you know of any cases in which earth
was taken of private property for the purpose
of filling up lots A. was speaking just now
of cutting down private lots.
Q. am speaking of where they took earth
from public lots and filed up private lots with
it. A. No, sir; this do not know anything
about. If it has been done, it has been done
without my knowledge; that is, to the best of
my knowledge and belief. might be mis-
taken.
The Chairman. Gentlemen, we expect to
close this case tomorrow. We will sit to-
morrow till we close this testimony finally.
We hope every gentleman will come to-mc rrow
with this in view, SO thst any little matters
you may have omitted you viii put in to-
morrow.
The committee then adjourned till 10 O'Clock
| to-morrow morning, -..--