National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-06

Q. But at that time your contract had been
rescinded with the Board of Public Works, had
itl A. No, 1t had not been rescinded. As
told You we became Indifferent about furnish
ing the goods-kind of dropped of.
Q. Did not Mr.. Wall obtain from the Board
of Public Works considerably higher price for
the pipe than you would have obtained II sou
had furnished under your contract. A. No,
sir not the value of q rotten feather.
Q. Well, why was It that he had to make a
rev contract while the other was In force.
When did you, in fact. resciEd 1T A. That is
the first knowledge had that be made new
contract.
q. What do you mean when you state that
he made sales to The Board of Public worksi
A. do not know that he made any contract
never heard tell OF u. He received an order
from the Board of Public Works. That Is she
proper term. We had cousid cradle work on
hand. Tho Board OF Public Works were doing
some Of the tallest pipe-laylng that ever heard
tell of, using up thousands OF feet day, and
presume they asked Captain Wall IL we had
any, aud he said we had. "Was Mr. Wilson
willing to furnish at the old pricei" he wrote
TO me would do SO. I looked over my stock
and bank account, and thought had better
furnish little and get some money.
Q. That was In 1873, was It'll A. Yes, sir;
that was in 1873. There was no new contract;
no new bargain or negotiation al all.
" None OF these reasons operating on Jour
mind, and yet upon the application Of Captain
Wall you furnished pipe az the old rates to the
Board of Public Works, because they were
then paying money for the pipe. Is that trueI
A. On the dppliedttoai He had nothing to do
with applying to me to do It. He merely
transmitted to me what Information he gath
cred in the market. and then It became me 70
do or not TO do as pleased; that was all. He
wrote to me that the Board of Public Works
would now receive some more pipe If was
willing to furnish it.
Q. What time in 1873 was thatl A. cannot
tell you exactly the date.
2. Were they in fact paying cash for pipe at
that time! A. So l understood, and l under
stood up to the minute that bonds were put In
their hands. In fact, when he received the
bonds got telegraph from him which read,
$50 600 cash" and supposed il Vas cash.
q. When was thisi A. 1t was somewhere
about the LIST Of September, 1873; I remember
that particularly; Twas going away and wanted
the money at the time.
BY Mr.. Stanton: Q. You considered the ar
rangement effected by the Board of Public
Works pretty shrewl business operation on
the part of the boardi A. think it was;
think they bought their goods lower in our line
than they cculd-than anybody else could have
bought, or will again be able TO buy for o long
time, until oar wages AMI coal comes Sow u
very much. The wages in our busiurs. baii.
very low-priced, II is not probable they vii
ever come down.
MR. LEWIS cLEPaANE RECALLED.
By Mr..Wilson: Q. Have you those books,
A. have those books.
Q. Where are theyi A. They ara here.
q. Let me look at then.
The Witness. desire to say to the commit.
tee just here that should lie vers glad 70 fur
ihnSA hOn<s ltp t,,r, l,f-
personal inspection, and would bt very glad to
have them examine them thoroughly but |
have very deci1od objections to other parties
outside Of the committee examining them, un-
less the committee, after examination, shall
deem it desirable to have them do SO. There
are private business Transactions, and / would
like for the committee to examine them all
thoroughly, and then, offer that examination.
If they think they should be made public, ! am
perfectly willing they should be
MIR. Merrick. You are very aoE:2.imeataIy,
Mr.. Clephaue.
The Witness think you wiz see H. ,:y;:cs
Of my objections to having books of ;I;iva.e
business corporation made public.
Mr.. Merrick. do not. IL seems 10 me
edless.imputatIou upon the counsel who are
concerned in this case.
The Witness. desire to say that Il Il not an
imputation at all upon counsel; but these
things often get into the newspapers, and It Is
very unpleasant to have private caatters spread
5efore the public.
Mr.. Merrick You do not discriminate be-
tween counsel and anybody else.
Mr.. Christy. He does, now l am perfectly
willing that the committee shall be subjected
to the labor Of examination. If they are willing
to undertake it, for have every eonGIsrce in
their intelligence.
The Witness. These books relate 70 purely
business operations, and It is not at all pleas.
ant to have ones private business spread
abroad throughout the country.
Mr.. Wilson Let US have the hooks.
The Witness. Here they are (prjiuc!ng the
same.)
Mr.. Christy We are willing to accept tho
books on any terms. All We wanted was to get
them.
The Witness. will state that the ledger is
here, and the record book, containing the pro-
ceedings of the company from Its yery orgauI-
cation, and also the stock look.
q. Did you bring any Of the books and
papers you received from Mr.. A. NJ. Smith A.
Yes, sir.
/ Q. Are your dividends in these booksi A.
Yes-everything.
@. Where are tie original articles of associa-
ton, or papers under which this Metropolis
Paving Company was organized2 A. They are
all In that volume. That contains the whole
record, (referring to the seeretary's book Of the
Metropolis Paving Company
Q. The drst thing lind here e the bylaws
10 what way was the company organized A.
It was organized as a stock company.
Q. Where are the papers showing who we're
the original subscribers to the ssockl A.
suppose 1t is all In the stock book. think the
original names are mentioned there.
Q. Did you have any articles of association
A. We had tho general Incorporation act.
@. Where Is thati A, That IL on file at the
court. believe II has been entered in our
proceedings somewhere.
Q. Were there articles Of Incorporation A.
There were.
Q. Were these articles of incorporation
siguedl A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you remember By whom they were
signedl A. The names are given In that paper.
BY Mr.. Wilson: Q. Where IL that paperl
Mr.. Mattingly. think II Is appended to the
first charge. On pages 900 and 299 Of the
record is the following statement:
THE Chairman You want to offer in .vld.po.
i Ps1i nssSls1 81 of tie Metropolis
m" mt s e5G!ssy eS s sis III, to . VA, ~.
names in this connection.
"M; Sn5ssg R s E'iS S s9s They
mons, and Addison NJ. Smith"
The following Is the copy of the certificate
of Incorporation on file in the Office Of the
register of deeds:
Incorporation Certificate ofthe"M efropolis Pdrfno
Company" Recorded October Il. 1870, II ".
This Is to certify that we, Levi, Ulephaus,
Richard B. Mohun, John L. KidweIl, Moses KEEL.
lev, William S. Huntington, Samuel @. Young,
Hallet Rilbourn, Adolphus y. Solomons and Adj
dIson.M Smith, have organized and formed com.
pany, TO be known by the name of the Metropolis
Paving Company, the objects Of said company
being the laying OF all kinds of payemsnIs, the
grading OF streets and avenues, the laying Of
footwafks and setting Of curbstones, and all work
pertaining to improvements Of this character,
within the limits OF the District OF Columbia
That the term OF the existence Of said company
shall be ten years, commencing from the date
hereof. That the capital stock OF the said COM
pany shall consist OF two hundred thousand dol
lars 1890, 000) divided into two thousand (2oO0)
shares Of ono hundred dollars (sloo) each. That
the trustees to manage the eonosrns thereof for
the first year shall Be nine IN number namelyI
Lewis Clephane, Richard B, Mohuu, John L.
Kidwoll, Moses Kelley, William s. Huntingdon
Soloulons and Addison NJ Smith.
The place of carrying on the business shsll bs
10 the city OF Washington, in the District OF 90.
lumbia.
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our
hands and affixed our seals on The 18Th day Of DO
tober, A. d. 1870.
LEWIS yLKpHANR, (sealI
r.s RICHARD b. MoHua, fSeai1
JOIN L. KIDwgLL, fSeaL1
MOSES KELLY, fSeaIi
WIN. 5. HUNTINGToS, fSelL1