National Republican., 1874-04-02


To Washington Corporation, rr.
To all instalimsnt tax for paving nooa,
70 ss1s 9,siss' g lss 'sa per ssR SQUARE 1 s oas
Book 8, page 81
'OA-. = To washington Corporation. Dr.
To all installment tax for paving foot
To interest at ten per cent, from July Is,
lsTa 10 square e9o, lot Of
Received payment. co,reesr
Q. Is this a Thoroughbred A. No, sir. Have
you got q map7
Q: Point out where this place is on ths map.
The witness does 80.
Witness. 1t is not thorcuyhfare. We are
cus OF from the city by the canal. five are on
that street at ALL in order to get to the city, We
have got to go to Virginia avenue, cut aciofs
the bridge, and go up one of those other strcets.
2. Did any of the property holders I'm thaI
neighborhood petition for this Improvement
that you. know on A. No, sir; a contractor
@. What was his name, A. Hsnams WI
Hubbell.
o, Did the people owning property there pro
test against itl A. We didn't know ANYTHING
about It until the work was done. It was all
done in the month of December, and we could
not tell anything about IL until the bills were
presented.
o. You knew nothing of II until the work was
donel A. did not, until the bills were pre-
sented.
o. Is there any other matter that you desire
to explain to the committee with reference to
this Board of Public Worksi A! think l have
been cheated all around very badly by the
Board of Public Works. have had my pave
ments pulled up, taken away-new pavements-
better payements than they laid for me-paVe-
ments where the street was not graded; there
was no change of the grade in any way, shape,
or form. have piece of property on Ninth
street, between the Avenue and D.. saw the
contractor there, and he was about pulling up
the pavement. asked him II that was not q
coed pavement. Says he, "Certainly that is."
Says /, "Are you going to change the grader
sNo," says he. Says I, ''Why are you going
to pull 1t upP' He says, "The Board Of Public
Works ordered me to do It." Says 1 "Can't
asked why. He said, ''The Board Of Public
Works ordered me to put q new pavement
theye."
Q. Did you pay for q new pavement A.
No; haven't paid for ii yet.
Q. Have they assessed you for it, A. Yes;
they have assessed me. 1 think It was Sl60.
Q. Did they allow you for the material taken
away from therel A. No, sir.
Q. Did they take il awsyl A. Yes, sir.
Q. Have you made any application to the
board for pay, or for an allowance or draw
backa A. No. I went down there; heard
some parties were getting an allowance.
went down there, but could not get anybody
to tell me how to 60 to work. They would
send me from ono> clerk to another, and one
| clerk to another, but nobody knew anything
t5o5s Sg~- = s. d %
Governor Shepherd. win you ask him II he
addressed communication to the Board Ct
Public Worksl IL.
o. Have you addressed any written commu-
nication to the Board of Public Works asking
for an adjustment of that mattera A. No, sir;
did not know that it was necessary. You
can't get anybody around there to teach US
how to do it. was going to say in regard to
the pavement on A street, was going Into
| the city one morning, and found them pulling
up the pavement on 8, between thirteenth
and Fourteenth. That is a new pavement, too,
bye-the-bye. / asked the contractor what he
was pulling It up for; told him there was no
change of the grade. He said they intended to
narrow the street; that was new pavement
and new grade, and 1t all would be used over
again, and would only have to pay for relay
ing, as they used the old brick. They were
going to pile them up nicely on the side of the
payement-which he did do-and take care Of
! the curb, and everything Of the kind, for two
or three DAYS. lfhe next week came into
town, and they had all been moved OF scme-
where. That pavement cost me very nearly
81 900. had just got through paying for 1t
when the Board of Public Works took posses
sion. * SS- -, y
Q. Where was that lotl A. That lot is on
| street between Thirteenth and Fourteenth-un-
improved property. .-
By Mr.. Bass: Q. What kind of q pavement
did they layl A. They haven't laid any yet;
they have taken it all up, and it has been up
| for months. r--HE -
Q. What BECAME of your old materiali A. It
all went to some other street, believe.
Q. Do you know where ii wentl A. No; l
don't know where It went.
Q. What was the old materiall A. Brick,
and curbing, and gutter pavement.
O. Have you any voucher for ita A. No, sir.
O. What kind of pavement are they laying
in that vicinityl A. They are not laying any.
Q. Are they not in progress of laying any
new pavement? A. The work has been going
on for a long lime.
Q. Is there any grading done for new pave
mentl A. No, sir; there is to be no grading ON
the street. believe it is all right.
Q. No sand laid, or any foundation for new
pavepentl A. No, sir.
Q. Nor on any of your neighbors' lotsi A.
No, sir; own the whole lot.
O. How many feet 'front.' A. One hundred
and ffty-seyen feet.
o. How is it with your neighbors' lotsl We're
their pavements taken upl A. Yes, sir; they
were taken up on the whole square, up to the
State Department, think. .-.f
Q. Did they take away the sand under tie
brick after the removal of the brickl A. /
believe they took everything. didn't look 20
particularly as all that. / was satisfied whCn
the man only told me he was only going to mar
row the street, that he WOULD just move q Q
pavement out eight or ten feet; that all my
materials were good, and that would not have
to pay for new work.
r n, H. I,on oofO ruoc7 A
KNOW him by sight only; don't know his
nime - & ~ : ? 1rs~
Q. Did you ever complain of that to the
'ard of Public Workss A. No, sir; l thought
l would wait and see what they were going to
finish out with before made any complaint.
Q. Have they rendered you bill for itl A.
No, sir.
By the Chairman: Q. Counsel for the Dis
trict desire me to ask you when this work
mentioned in the certificates was done! A.
This work was done in pessmb2r, 1871.
Q. Done under the charge of the Board of
Public Works! A. Done by an order given ty
General Bslloch, chief of the bureau Of avenues
and streets.
O. Under the hoardl A. Yes, sir.
Q. They direct my attention to the fact that
this is made out '.To Washington Corpora
tion;' how does it come that that bill was
made out i'm that way! A. In order to cut all
this matter short, / will read, If you will per-
NIT i'll have got an opinion here of General
Chipman-
The Chairman. That is not worth while; l
only wanted 10 ascertain when this work was
done.
The Witness. It was in December, ISL.
Governor Shepherd. TIE co.fo- alton was not
in existence at that time.
The Witness. complain, in regar1 to the
SeEenth street road, at the enormous extrays-
gance that was used in doing the work, where
hundreds of hands were employed where not
one half of them could work. / expected TO
have to pay for it, and l took considerable In
terest In the work as It was going on, and
noticed how it was done in every way, shape,
and form. A gang of men that was there
/ suppose there could not have been less than
15O-and, gentlemen, there was not really room
for twenty men to work; one half Of the men
had to wait and stop, while the other men
could dig and haul away. complained to the
man who had charge of the road, and told him
If be must employ so many men tkat he must
divide them-put one party on one side, and
one party on the other. In four or five days
he did so, but it was the same thing all the
way through-the character of the work.
By the Chairman: Q. Was this road let by
contracta A. No, sir; Il was days work; It
was hard to find out how it was done; It was