National Republican., 1874-05-08

for laying 10000 yards Of Belgian stone pavement
Of the New York specification pattern, at the
prices established BY the board You will notify
| the work.
CHAs. s. Johnson,
Assistant Secretary.
ASssrs IS ,,Gonnor ShanEsg care j. il HiRds No.
True copy.
Secretary.
On the Both Of July this Aetter was rsceivedr
Hon. A. r. ssspae-d TyAisIB5EGHSS VS. July g
iic Works VGshiaotos, b. G':'''" O. 00Gra e' F10-
SIR: We will accept the award Of $4,000 saaro
Be- prepared, viii be ready to proceed with tSs
work on or before the 5th daV Of August next.
Wnf you DO US the favor to designate the street,
that we may make preparations 20 Commence work
at once, and agree TO finish the sarzs in sixty
days We would prefer az approved, by your
block, with bed boards treated by the Watsrbury
Should. you now swsrd the stone contract Of
900 s4uase yards we Will agree to PerforsR the
work within the same TINS. :. .!
r. OCONEoR & SHAHLr4 :
CIndforsenaent.1 ... =
wAsHfSsroNS y. C., July %. 1s1ss
No. 6s97. C5s OF P. W. VoE 81
square yards 81 wood pavement, andJ If the strest
is prepared viii be ready to- procsed on or befoG5
August 8. Wish to know the strsst 30 they can
Golyer No. 1, wish bed boards, trested By Water
bury or other OH process: Request contract for
10000 square yards.
I That is the history of the eo'Cousor & Shan
ley matter. They did not ds' any Work-why,
do not know, but ne work was ever done by
them, and there the matter rested.
Q. will ask you right here, did you know
Mr.. Wilcox in that transactioal A. Mr. VIII
cox was introduced tome, as was Ms. Kinds,
by some one, do not recollect rust at this mo-
ment who ir was-some friend Of theirs. The
sta nd hot
interested with this O'COnnor & Stanley and
were to superintend the work antFhaRe some-
thing to do with it, and were to have an trter-
est in it, in fact. My reply to 'thenswas that
if responsible parties could be found to do she
work, | should be very glad to get themy the
object being to get men responsible to do what
ever work we awarded.
@. You knew nothing of any Arrangement
by which Mr.. Kinds, was TO have a contract for
himselfl A. Nothing, whatever:
Q. He never had any promise from yoB=thSk
he should have a CONT actl A.. Never that
know Of: was very careful in regard to that
matter, and never treated with ANYBODY but
persons who were the contractors and whoI1sd
some knowledge of the business, or who had
capital enough to carry out whatever they un-
dertook.-
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Did you ver-desiguate
the street on which that %, 900 yards, was to
be laidl A. No, sir; there was never anything
done about IL.
Q. Did not they ask you in that 1etter;to
designate the street, A. Yes, sir; but they
never came to haYe the street designated and
never sent the material or sent anything else
to begin the work.
Q. They could not very well do that uuth
they knew A. If they had had any dispo.
sition to do the work they would have found
out tho streets without any difficulty. There
were plenty of streets ready for them.
The Chairman. State the circumstances con-
nected with the fillingof the Washington canal,
and the benefit derived therefrom to the Gov
crnment, anu how much was paid for filling by
Mr.. Wilson. First let me ask what is the
date of that awardi A. The award was the
18th of July, 1873.
Q. On the 3Oth of July, 1873, this letter
bears date at Washington. You see they say
they will be ready to proceed with the work oa
or before the 5th of August, and add will
YOU do us the favor to designate the street that
we may make preparations to commence the
work at once, aud we agree to finish the same
in sixty days" That is signed by O'Connor
and Stanley. What kiud of a response did
yo1 sendi A. think that was presented in
person, and told them as soon as they were
ready to 90 work the street would be desig-
mated.
Q. They asked you to designate the street so
that they might get ready to 90 to work. A.
1t was just that way. If they had made any
preparation to go on with their work; shown
any material or anything of that kind, IshoUld
have designated the street at once; but to. come
and ask me to designate street without haV-
ing made any preparation, or done anything to
show that they were prepared to commence the
| work, it was thing would not do.
Q. Would it not have been very easy mat
ter to indicate to them certain street that you
desired to have paved, and then let them go ont
A. indicated to them that the moment they
had material to 60 on with their work, the
street would be designated.
Q. What disadvantage would it have been to
| designate the street then, and let them prepare
| their material? Was not that q reasonable re-
| quest9 A. 1t was reasonable request, provided
| they had the materials here ready to go on with
the work The streets were being prepared;
there were dozen streets cut up at that time,
ready for the pavement.
Q. How were the streets being prepatedf A.
Why, by having the curb set, the footYalks
laid, and the grading done.
By the Chairman: Q. forgot to ask you II
you saw Mr.. Kirkland In connection with this
pavement. A. No, sir; never heard of Mr.
Kirkland, as stated before, until heard of him
here.
q. You Didn't hear of him In connection with
this pavement A. No, sir; had 10 idea that
he knew the parties, or that there was such
person.
Q. What are the circumstances connected
viii Tue washington CduaE a. Inc ClrcuIn-
stances connected with the Washington canal
are simply these: The board determined to fill
| it up, and build sewer alongside of 1t. On
that they paid s122, ,2l6.SO.
Q. For filling itl A. Yes, sir; and the law
which made an appropriation for filling 1t up
gobbled up the land which was reclaimed,
amounting to more than 2, 800, 600 feet.
Q. What do you mem by "gobbled up2" A.
They quietly took possession of it. 1t was
land which belonged to the city of Washington.
| Q. Who took III A. The United States Gov
| ernment. The act making the appropriation
for this filing of the canal provided that all
land reclaimed should belong to the Govern
ment of the United States.
| Q. Have you the cost to the city of that
| flling-to the District-to the Board of Public
! Worksl A. Well, it was simply a dumping
| ground to get rid of the dirt which we were
carrying of from the streets. 1t was dumping
| ground for the various streets which we were
improving. The earth was dumped there.
Q. Then you kept no account of the cost Of
filling up at alll A. No, sir.
Q. Had this canal been filed up before the
appropriation had been madel A. It was then
in the process of filling.
Q. Where is that actl A. It was passed
along in May or June, 1872.
Mr.. Stanton. [IIanding the act to the chair
man, It was passed May IS, 1872.
| The Chairman. will read 1t, so that it may
/ appear in this connection.
The act was then read as follows:
AN ACT making appropriations for sundry civil
expenses of the Government for the fiscal year
ending June 80, ls7s and for other purposes
To pay the Board of Public Works of the Dis
trict of Columbia the proportion Of the costs pro-
| perly payable by the United States Government
| for the ilIing Of the canal from Seventh street
west to Seventeenth street west, and Of the cost
of the intercepting sewer along the canal adioin-
| ing the property of the United States Govern
ment, said work being under the direction Of the
Board of Public Works, S6s, ,3o5 or so much there
| OF q, may be necessary: Provided, That all pay
| ments made under this and tho preceding approA
priation shall be made only upon vouchers ap-
proved by the officer In charge of the public build
ings and grounds Of the District; and no portion
| of the money herewith appropriated shall he
| used by the Board Of Public Works for any other
| purpose whatever than the purpose that Is named
| In the said two last paragraphs: And the land
made by the filling up OF the said canal is hereby
declared TO be the property OF the United States.
And the said appropriations shall not be con-
strued to create or imply any obligation on the
part Of the United States In any respect whatever
In future
| ITO be concluded tomorrow
NEW ADVER RTLSEAENTS.