National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-23

y 0. How could theyi A. I viii show IL to
you. Her; u 10, page l1S, reporS Of 1878:
BOARD o. FrS 81 W6aks oe asS
4 WIN. r. HoTr, ContrasS Clerk.
Il hsvs examined the above list ~ to eOhuplets-
ness and figures. and certify to the Same.
WAsHrssroN, HovembSrI 1, Is3.
Q. Now you say there, Mr.. Cluss-
! ! have examined tbe above list as to complete
mes and figures and esrtify TO the same.
A. Yes, sir,
Q. Do you mean to say that the Board OF
Public Works vas not jussiled in putting cred
ence In any report signed by you. in that man.
ner, and assuming &c to lie eorrectI A. These
papers were prepared under the special orders
| OF the Governor, snd were presented TO me,
and instead of signing those things Ike dead.
head took one night carefully to Ieok over
them.
| Q. Was there any objection To- your loOkinx
over themf A. On November fst the Cav,
| ernor said the report must go In, ard IN order
night
q. The law requires report to be put IN the
LIST Of NoYemberof every yeari A. Therefore
u was very wrong, as the contract clerk, e
shown here, presented me with these papers
only on October 81.
Q. But the law requires that that r.poyt
shall be made every year, on the first OF No
Venber, does It noti A. IL may be 80. lean
not state 50 under oath. I suppose it Is So
| q. You are very particular about what you
state under OATH A. Yes, sir; Of course
Mr.: Mattingly. That Is right. Bot you did
examine these vouchers to justify you, at the
time, in putting the certificates that you id,
snd signing them. A, Yes, sir; did the best
could corrected great many errors IN
that one night. wish to say further that 60
he idea of III
Il forgery, but il Mr.. Mattingiy calls &c 50 Il
take 1t as such,
O. You say your name has been fosgedf L.
LIZ my name is not In there. 49,
g. Suppose your name Is there, then do you
eau IL perjury on your part3 A. am ready
Q. Now, Mr.. CIuss, referring to these Gov
ernnent measurements of which you deny all
knowledge and responsibility this question was
put to you:
O. Will call your attention now, in that CON-
neetion TO some matters which may have a.
tracted ysuu attention. For example, thare was
an account which seems to have been made out
which was made the basis Of an appropriation Of
do with thatr A. No, sir. wish to say. how
ever, that this Is Of those cases where an as
my supervision, aud he under the direct order 81
| the vice president, then made these charges. /
am not responsible Tor an loEa Of the whole
q. Do you mean to say that statement is
truei A, mean this statement is substan-
tally true; hope, also, verbally. Il Is SO
long, and in the careless way in which the
work Of the Board of Public Works f. done,
that 1t might possibly have been laid before
me Tor signature. was then only few DAYS
member of the board. I was appointed on
October23, and on November l, only seven
days thereafter, this report had to be signed;
and did in this seven days the best could.
Q. You state here that an assistant, respon-
sible to you-see that do not misstate you
you state here, under oath, that an assistant,
responsible to you, was taken out of your
ohce. under the orders Of the vice president,
and directed to do this work. Now, Mr.. Cluss,
don't you know that at the time this statement
was made out Yon were not q member Of the
Board Of Public Worksl A was a member
OF the Board OF Public Works when the report
| OF 1877 was In, and, In Justice TO my position,
the papers Ought to have been submitted
| to me. ....r---. -
Q. But when the assistant engineer in your
Office was directed to make that statement
were you member Of the Board Of Public
Works, and had you anything to do with himl
Do you know when that statement was made
Quit A. Mr.. Oertly since has told me that he
has been at work upon it as early as from Sep
| TENDER.
! Q. Made IL out in Sepsemberl A. No. sir:
/ from eptember-commenced in September.
Q. Were you member of the Board of Pub
lie Works at that timei A. Not in September;
but / wish to qualify what I said here I
thought, you know, when Judge Wilson asked
those questions, that he had reference to every
thing that related to the payments obtained
from the Government Of about three and q
half millions, and ! may have been hereI
may have been misled in the wording of Il.
thought this had reference to all those appro-
| prtations when was . member Of the board
Q. Didn't you, whan read 1t over to you
just now, repeat that it was substantially true,
and you hoped verbally A. Well, l have to
| qualify that In so far as this interfered with
the organization Of the engineer department,
and had reference to all the work under
which the money from the public treasury was
obtained. This might have been an uninten-
tional error. .o
By the Chairman Q. want to ask ques-
ton right here. Do youmean what you stated
to correct 1t nowl A. Mr.. Chairman, mean
to say that when these questions were pro-
pounded to me certainly thought that all of
them referred TORTOISE statements in the report
of 1878, and not of 1879.
l Q. Then you were mistaken wholly in this
answer of yesterday A. suppose l was
mistaken when tho very question was pro-
pounded.
By Mr.. Mattingly: Q. 1 understand you now,
then, to state that that statement Is not sub
stantially true, or verbally eitherl A. Well,
had, in the way this question was put, refer
ence to all the statements in the report of
| 1873.
@. Is this not part Of the statement of 1873
A. VIII you please give me the report.
4 Q. Here it Is, [handing the witness copy. j
A. 1t Is my impression that it Is In the report
of 1872. Ny answer was especially to say, you
know, that all these voluminous statements In
the first part of the repors are not, In my opin-
ion, worth the pen and paper they arc written
upon, and that they are to mislead the public
Q. What statements are you talking about
nowi A. The report for 1873.
Il Q. They were made to mislead the pnbliel
\ A. Yes, sir. -.
/ Q. 1 understood you, In answer to the question
yesterday, as 10 whether you had ANYTHING to
do with the statement of appropriation-with
the preparing Of a statement on which the ap-
preparation OF 81 ,2i0, 600 was to be based, THAI
you referred In your answer to all these state
ments In the report of 1873, which were made
to deceive the public; ls that sol A. Yes, air.
/ Q. Did you, in making that answer, pay
much attention to the question asked youl A.
/ knew that the 81 FAC, 900 had been obtained
on the 10th OF January, or the Slh Of January,
1873. certainly, when this question was put
to me, thought it related to the measurement
upon which this 81, 4i6, 900 were obtained.
Q. How was that money obtained, on any
measurements made by the engineer Of the
Board of Public Works, or any engineer under
/ the Board of Public Worksl A. I have read
I
| Eesr was TO re-ucasure that work, so thought
for sure the measurement ought to have teon
made by the engineer Of the Board OF Pubic
Works.
A secular journal states that Mr.. Paul
Hayne recently visited the grave of Edgar
Allan Poe, in the Presbyterian churchyard in
Baltimore, and draws a sad picture of its desO-
lation. The burial ground is quite uncaFed
for, and the grave Is only marked by wooden
| foot-board. The head-st represented In all
the biographies, with It's Latin epitaph, has
never marked Poe's resting place. Soon after
1t was finished, and awaiting removal from the
stone-mason's yard, freight car precipitaied
from & track near by, rushed through tho yard,
and ground the stone to powder.
[oFTIcIAL.1
WAR DEPARTMENT
| ADJCTANT GENERALS OFFIcE, )
Washington, May p, 1854.
| General Orders No, -
With deep pain, the Secretary of War has to
| announce the deeease, at the Washington Arsenal
II