National Republican., 1874-05-27

exactly what should, or should not, be iu
cludedi A.. No, sir; will simply state thai
this Is only my opinion Of how an avenue should
be done. win say that the statement Of Mr.
oertly, which be msde, pf ths assessments or
Pennsylvania avenue east, and this assessment
Of ours agree, except we have charged TO The
Intersection Of streets s20, 900, and they have
only charged $1,000. lin other words, the
amount due the Governments by our assess.
ment is 1896. 300. but hsze charged $40 ,00C
to intersections, and they havs only charged
$1,000; so that 1t brings that up to $14 200
more, or makes It s246, 900.
BY Mr.SteHzrt: q. You'll have been over all
these mistakes that were ascertsined by Mr..
Blickensderfer yourself, and you know where
you can get at them readily in the recordi A.
| Yes, sir. -.--
Q. Can you make up in little while state
ment from the record Of these errors which
have been detected, and ascertain how much
money has been oyerpaid to contractors where
| they are finally settled with, so that the Dis
i trict has lost; how much the contractors have
| got BY reason Of the mistakes that have already
been discovered in this testimony A. will
do so;-you mean the mistakes discovered
i by Mr.. Blickensderfera
Q. All you have discovered in the work
where contractors have been paid; all that has
been testified to here by you or hei A. have
not tested any of those. .-
@. mean all that are in proof before the
committee. want to see what the aggregate
of these errors Is In payment tothe contractors,
how much contractors have received in conse-
! quence Of these errors that have been dis
covered during the investigation, above what
| they ought A. l will do SO, sir.
By Mr.. Stanton: Q. In some of the instances
| In which you have furnished cross-sections to
Mr.. Biickensderfer, had there not been some
work done before the cross-section was takena
| A. Yes, sir. .. .r..
- Thot -, A.. .n.o g., -o.-... l.. ~
| Hampshire avenue, to some extenti A. Yes,
| sir.
Q. And It was the case, also, on Maryland
avenue, was it noL2 A. Yes, sir; presume so.
The cross-section shows depression in the
centre of the street; suppose 1t was cut out
before. Ers ,- .... a. .
O. May It not have been go In others alsol
A. Yes, sir; Ipresume so.
By Mr.. Mattingly: Q. Do you know any
thing about alteration of figures over Mr..
Cluss's signature, in the account of Seven
teenth street, A. know asked our clerk
about that, and he said that Mr. Oertly had
put down the figures on Seventeenth street,
and he had linked those figures over just ss
they were by Mr.. Oertly, 30 that he would
know how 1t came there. 90. -. s....
Q. That was all the alteration that was
made2 A. That is all that know of; yes,
sir. -
The Chairman, to Mr.. Mattingly. I do not
think Mr.. Cluss said that it was an sltera-
ton. He stated that the amounts were in
serted, I think, after he had made his certif-
cate. -
Mr.. Msttingly That Is what understood
him, and Understand Mr.. Barney's state
ment, it was not an insertion afterward. -
The Witness. will not say that do not
know. asked the clerk about It, and he said
those figures were put IN pencil, and he linked
them over; when he did that DO not know.
By Mr.. Mattilgly: 9: Do you know anything
about the mistake testified to by Mr.. Cluss as
made by Mr.. Forsyth on NJ street, A. The
only recollection have of that was that my
self and one of my assistants made a measure
mept and Mr.. Forsyth also made a measure
ment, and, think, we came out within two
yards. How the mistake occurred I do not
recollect, or what 1t was. know there was
some trouble about It.
@. It was two yards and not 1000 yards' A.
I do know that; and Mr.. Forsyth made meas
urement, and we came within two yards Of
each other. ..---.
Q. Well, sir, was not that coming pretty
close for two engineersa A. should say It
was. --
o. Was that not the amount that was re-
turned, and on which the street was assessed
A. really have forgotten,
Q. You do not remember positively A. No,
sir; would not like to say, because I do not
recollect. Iknow that we made the measure
ment, and we came out within two yards Of
each other.
Q. Mr.. CIuss testified rs to an error of Mr..
Forsyth In the measurement of the De Golyer
pavement. east of the Capitol; do you know
anything about thatl A. know that there
was such an error discovered, and that Mr..
Cluss went over Pennsylvania avenue and
found that there was q discrepancy there; but
/ have understood since that time that that was
owing to the railroad track not being taken out.
Q. Do you know anything about the error
testified to on B street, between Second and
Third-whether it was not mere clerical error
in the carrying out Of hgurea A. am not
positive about that sir. l have understood
since that such was the case. Those errors
ffS e hnt mpT rcoc
that there were such things, and that they
were corrected, and supposed were all right. |
Q. Were not errors frequent In the engineers
office-necessarily so from the magnitude Of
the work that you were doing, and were they |
not mutually corrected, sometimes corrected |
in the auditors Office and sometimes in your
own officel A. Yes, sir. L do not mean to |
say that we are infalible. 1 have found errors
after have approved u voucher. have found |
errors after avoucher has gone to the auditon;s |
Office, and corrected it there In many in |
stances I found that.
Q. Do you remember requesting Mr.. FORSYTH /
to measure Connolly's work on Massachusetts, |
avenue! A. Yes, sir; old request him to do |
that, though I asked Mr.. Cluss about that in |
the first place. I told him had no figures.
and did not feel like making a measurement |
there becacse 1t was such difficult place. |
asked him if / could not send the matter to Mr.. |
Forsyth to be measured. He told me to do so,,
and think 1 gave 1t to one of the clerks and |
sent it up to Mr.. Forsyth, and asked him IL he |
would not be good enough to make that meas
Q. Mr.. Wilson asked you little while ago
about the Tagging of John o. Evans, in cases
where John D. Evans was allowed ninety cents
for some tagging and dollar and quarter
for others, is 1t not fair to answer that they
were different kinds of fiaggingi A. I should
certainly say so.
Q. 1t ought to be, ought IT noi A. Yes,
sir. 20
Q. When you made cross-sections did you
send copies Of them to Mr. Forsyth A. No,
sir.
@: You referred to letter from Mr.. Mullett
TO you requesting you to make cross-sections.
There is a prior letter, December 10, 1871.
State whether that is letter that you received |
in relation to grades and levelsl A. Yes, sir;
1t is as follows:
BOARD OF PUBLIC woRKs,)
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
WAsHINGToN. December Is, ls51.