National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-11


| Mr.. Christy. Ihave no doubt Of that; but b
said that this included certain other work don
/ by some one else at an anterior period.
The Chairman. he knows nothing abou
that, of course.
By Mr.. Merrick: Q. Did YOU 90 up on ID
ground after the work was done and measur
the depth OF the excavation, aud verify that b
q Comparison with the original levels and bro
fle' "A. did. VIII simply state chat
might have brought s,cross-eection up here 70
the gentlemen to look at If had thought o
| 1t. l Will repeat that the contour Of tn
| ground Is just plotted on TO cross-section pape
the original contour. Then, after the worl
| is done, there is q set Of final levels run owe
the street, and these final levels are plotted o.
the original cross-section. The difference be
tween the two lines gives the area taken out.
| By Mr.. Wilson: Q. There was no occasion
for your going back upon the ground AM
making these measurements A. No, sir; no
the slightest. $1,000
@. Was &c before the earth was taken ava,
| from there under the Mcnamara contract
Had you taken the necessary oss-sections 70
the purpose of enabling you to determine, ate
the work was completed, just how much eartl
| had been excayatedI A. Yes, sir; that Is th,
purpose for which the levels were taken.
Q. Those you have In your oficei A Yes
sir. ~ - ,sa.,.'. -.,.--t l'NA rs -iSt
Q. So there Will be no trouble even now Il
determining from the papers In your Office tn,
exact amount of earth taken outi A. No, sir
! invite the most critical examination Of 4
from any one, gfL5g.s q D. q. f..se-,... - -
By. Mr.. Wilson,. O.. So understand. Iwil
ask you one further question in connection
with that; whether, In making up tbs final es
Innate for laying the wood pavement there Il
De Golyer &MeClellan, there, was any deduc
ton made on account Of gradingi A. w,
measured just what the contract called for
Peter Mcnamara had the contract for grading
and we measured the grading. DeGolyer
Mcclellan had the wood pavement, and w
measured that.
Q.I am not askingthat question with 8 view
to any reflection upon you. Isimply wanted Z
know how that thing was DONE 30 it was MOI
donel A. No, sir; we did not deduct any. =
Q. Now in making up your certificates, OF
whatever you call them, final estimates, what
do you put down the amounts att Estlnti
within, perhaps, six weeks we have always put
in the largest amounts, and not put any prices
They carried tho prices out. ~ 8 lslS9i -
O.. By whom were these prices carried out
Al By the auditor. q. ------. g.. c--J - .ii5e
@. You have nothing to do with the prices
put IN hefef A. No, Sir. g.. ~ sd
Q. 80 that II there was contract for grad.
ing on street you would just simply putdowr
the amount Of grading, without carrying Out
the amount A. Yes; sir. -gl.e .st. sG-a. Ifa ~
@. Then If there was contract for paving
the same street you would put down the
amount of pavement that had been doas with
out carrying og. any sRou9tsl A Yes, ctr;
of grading has not been deducted on account
of the pavement or accounted for in the paving
It is not the fault Of the engineer department
] VIII make just little explanation Of that be-
fore / go on further, n the same contractor
has paving and grading I always deduct the
two feet from him. If different contractors
have the paving and grading, return the two
amounts separately. You will find that in Q
great many Of these vouchers that the con
tractor ispaid for Q certain amount of grading
at so and 40 cents. And you will find also that
there is q larger amount Of grading paid for
hauling than there is Just for simply digging.
Q. Here Is q voucher. Please look at II and
see what It relates tot A. It Is z street be-
tween Ninth and Tenth.
o. Was your attention called to the work on
that street at or about the time that voucher
was nader a. Yes, sir. o-' az ..-5
@. Now give the facts to the committed A.
This work was measured up and returned in
Just the same manner Is any other work. The
two feet were deducted as you see here. This
item Of Il, III yards was returned at IS cents,
and you will see the amount of hauling was
IS, AT. The difference between these Is the
two feet that was deducted, and We allowed
haul for that. Afterward, suppose from
some application Of the contractors, they were
not satisfied with that, and Mr.. Willard sent
for me and instructed me to give him the total
amount of earth excavated on r street from the
top Of the old surface to the bottom of the
ground underneath the blocks; give him oil the
earth taken out there-rsilroad track and all.
did so, aud then he also asked me to make
up this account on the same basis that Major
Vandenburgh's account was, on Seventh street
between G and N streets. did that and re-
turned 1t. He instructed me at the same time
to write to him letter stating that on account
of the difficulty and expense attending the low.
ering of the railroad track on street, It was
necessary to make somo allowance, and that
the same allowance should be made to Mr..
Yandenburgh on Seventh street; which I did.
That is the last heard Of it.
9. That was done under the direction of Mr.
Willard A: Yes, sir. '..i
Q. Did you know OF any cases where con-
tracts were awarded and parties-were put TO
work on the streets before the engineer had
knowledge OF the fact that they were at work
therel A. Yes, sir. Last summer, and the
summer before, particularly, there was so much
work going on that 1t was utterly impossible
for US to get all the cross sections. We could
not do it-give grade, stakes, give line, and
everything that We had to do. We did the
best we could, however. Sometimes the con-
tractor along on the street would tear up the
street before we were aware of 1t, and conse-
quently we could not get the contours Of the
surfaces. = g.. .-r ..
Q. State how often that thing occurred. A.
I am hardly able to state. Whenever the
grading amounted to anything, whenever 1t
was at all heavy, would leave other cases
which were lighter to attend to that, so that I
might, in difficult cases, be sure was right in
regard to the quantity Of grading, but even in
some of those cases We have failed to do it
failed to get cross-sections.
@. In what cases were those where there
was heavy gradingi A. hardly know.
hardly recollect, any place, you might say. l
think on portion Of Massachusetts, avenue,
between New Jersey avenue and Eleventh
street, we had no cross-sections.
Q. Was that heavy work. A. Yes, sir; the
filling was about IS or go feet deep. ~
Q. Was It possible for you, then, not having
these cross-sections afterward to properly
measure that work. A. We were Obliged 70
use our own Judgment in regard to it.
@. Gould you DO otherwise than just simply
make an approximation to III A. We would
do the best we could under the circumstance.
There were great many cases where we
had landmarks, and we worked from them
and got an estimate, very close; but still
would not certify to it, or would not be as well
satisfied was right, as would If had the
cross-sections. ~
Q. Are there any other eases in which you
failed to get the cross-seetiensi A. think we
had no croes-sections or North Carolina ave-
nue. between New Jersey avenue and Fourth
street, although am not positive about that.
Q. Who was the contractor therel A.
think his name was z. z. Barnes.
Q. Who was the contractor 10 the former
case you have mentioned A. A man by the
name of Connolly.
@. Are there many cases Of that kind about
the cityi A. No, sir; not great many.
c Q. Had the contractors gone to work at those
places before. the engineers department was
notified of the fact that contract was lett A..
l do not know about that. know that the
contractors were, at work before we had q
chance 70 get the cross sections.
g Q. Do you know any other cases In the city
where the grade was let TO one party and the
paving to another party and no deductions
made on account Of the two feeti A. Yes, sir;
I think, on East Capitol street.
Q. Who did the paving on East Capitol
street, Al think Albert Gleason did 1t.
am not sure. EF
Q. Was it not done by John o. Evansi Al
have forgotten.
Q. What other streets do you know where
that occurred A. There Is First street, from
Pennsylvania avenue 70 street Second street,
between the same points Seventh street |;
Tenth street Eleventh street Thirteenth
street. These are all can think of OF these