National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-01

1920, ~ - -
Q. And ends where his comes into o street,
A, We begin at the bottom and work up.
o. Your contract is then from street to
where his sewer crosses North Capitol street
which is at street, A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you receive from the Board OF Public
Works note TO appear az this opeaing Of bids|
A. think I'D. would not be certain.
Q. Have you that paper heret A. No, sic;
II received it it was simply notice that there
would 10 meeting of contractors at that date
| When we put in our bids the first of Septem.
Der, the board received them; and, II my
memory serves me, they were all read and
taken down--the bidders names and what the5
offered to contract to do the work for. re.
member they told us they would have meet
ing at some future time, and they would give
us the result Of their action on those bias.
| Q. Have you ever dene any kind OF work al
to seweragef A. Yes, sir; we paved Maryland
avenue and G street; We put in small sewer
on Delaware avenue here.
! Q. Bartlett s. Wtlhamsi A. Yes, SIR
| Q. Have you aay knowledge Of any bidder
| not being invited 10 appear there at the open
ing of the bids A, No, sir; have never heard
\ of any one being prevented from attending 1t
On the other hasd, If my memory serves me
| all those who put in bids were there. know
the room was full, and we we're mingline
4 together discussing the action OF the board II
reducing the rates below any of the offers.
By Mr.. Mattingly: Q. Did not some Of
your contracts require you to receive pay IL
sewer certificates A. This last contract
have does.
By Mr.. Christy: Q. Did you deposit, as re
quired by the advertisement, the thousand dol
| lars, with theregister ofshe city Washington A
Yes, sir; also the Eve hundred for either the
Tiber arch think five hundred dollars wat
required; also deposited that.
| o. When did you first receive Information
that the contracts would not be awarded tc
such information.
O. Did not you bid with the expectation Of
| a contract being awarded to the lowest bidderi
| A. did; 1t was in the case of Tiber arch. We
were the lowest bidders there by about ter
dollars a foot.
O. Hare You done all that work under the
original award or price' A. No, sir.
| o. Was there not a very large increase sub
seouently! A. Yes, SIR; also an increase of the
material used in the arch.
| O. When was that increase to You made by
the boar6l A. 1t was made before ever there
was any arch completed. could not tell you
exactly when In the first place, our bid called
for certain size arch. The engineer then had
not confidence In the strength of that arch to
hold the carriageway, as this was to be built
under Third street, and he required greater
1
benches, and the increased price of Tiber arch
was in proportion to the increased material
used IN its construction, or, in other words,
might state that our bid at S75 was few cents
below what the engineers had estimated the
cost of that work would be. They took the
estimate OF so much thousand for brick, and
so much for excavation; SO much for stone
work. Then in the new plan the engineer gave
us, we were allowed at the same rate so much
| for brick, and SO much for stone, and so much
for excavation. That brought our price up tc
| S102.5 il my memory serves me right.
Q. You say there was general discussion
| By the contractors at the meeting on the 14th
| of September, complaining of the price al
which the board awarded the various con
| tractsl A. remember my partner stated at
that time-I think he stated It TO the Governor
that excavations could not be made at that
price unless they were paid for the filling also.
O. / do not want the discussion, simply the
fact there was some. / will ask you this, ii
the contracts were not frequently taken by all
to whom they were awarded A. That could
not tell.
Q. Were they not arbitrarily awarded to
whomsoever they pleased A. No, sir; do
not think they were. / know we have had
many contracts awarded to us that we have
not taken-that we did not want.
Q. That you had not applied for? A. Well,
with one exception. The words "applied for
might leave a wrong impression, because bid
rTs in putting in their bids oftentimes designate
the streets. We did the same, If remember
Alright; We did not receive contract for any
street that we had designated in our bid, but
received contracts for other streets.
Q. At what rates did you sell them, your
sewer certiicatcsl A. sold some for so cents.
Q. Have you exchanged any of them for real
PROPERTY A. No, sir.
FREDERICK JoHHsoN RECALLED.
Question. find it stated in the seventh
specification, under the first charge Of the
memorialists:
previous public notice, likewise agreed with the
said John o. Evans and his said associates, and
caused the came TO be inserted In their contracts
ments may be made under direction OF said party
Of the first party, lthe said Board Of Public
works,) otherwise than under tho direction of
sah engineer, as provided above, II, in the
opinion q tho said party Of the FIRST part the Wig
orous prosecution Of the work will be promoted
thereby" which provision IS not in the printed
P ss cRp5 5 e. NJ Nj s'Z q
a. a. ll5, le0 2e, AZ l69, 81 S2) thus enabling the
said John o. Evans and his said associates to
advancing any considerable Capital on their part,
and to receive pay In advance on any inspection
o. estimate o. the work done by them; that said
Board OF Public Works, likewise, to assist the said
John o. Evans and his said associates, permitted
them 10 go suretes for each other upon the bonds
accompanying all Of the contracts, SO far as ex-
anined by your memorlalists, and thus permitted
LOWS CIephane to execute the bonds attached to
contracts Nos. 2p3 Il, 1i5 g. ~ q, 49, 104 81 g.
sggrcgating sl7l, 900 the said Lewis Clephane, at
the times said bonds are alleged to have been
given, not being worth over $4,000, and thus, al
though by the rules and regulations OF said board
each contractor was required to keep tho improve
three years, and such bonds being the only secu-
rity required by said Beard Of Public Works, each
by their rules being entitled TO be paid
Board Of Public Works, likewise to aid and assist
made ma certain exceptions IL their fafof Il f.
pair pair said 'f rule to keep pl @pfSyeSepts In in
az. sPi sss5 HE sa' t sS"i +
S SIeS Sos isl and 1si That the said Board
Of Public Works likewise, to aid and ASST. the
said John o. Evans and his assoe;Stes, unlaw-
fully agreed to pay cents per square
wOOdenPayemepi" =. =. excess Of the original con
traet prices "a long after the period prescribed
ior the Completion Of said contracts had expired.
extensions to contracts with Lewis L. Fiibert,
Nos. 81 and 32) That the said Board OF Public
Works granted these privileges and advantages
to tho said John o. Evans and his said associates,
and withheld all knowledge Of their intention to
make these special arrangements from the bid
ders outside and ignorant Of the existence Of said
ments to be considered in preparing their said bids
or proposals.
Q. will ask you whether you have made
any examination Sf contracts entered into by
the Board Of Public Works for the purpose of
ascertaining whether this provision is limited
by the contracts awarded to Mr.. Evans and
Nr. G.ephaIel A, have, and ] find It Is not
limitedTi ~ y
Q. Can you state in how many contracts you
ind 1t Incorporated A. / find 1t in nearly ell
the contracts up until the time the new n-i;,t tod
blanks that were used after the =. $500
gave out :. With VI, very fe exceptions, It is in
sss z W. I'D IN, 1t was q mere clerical
efreJ - - contract Office. In earlier con-
Tracts it was blank space there, and that was
Hrltten In. Not always the same thing, but
always the same idea would be conveyed.
q. In this, however, it is excluded; what is
the character of the workl A. or no aggre-
gate amount of any great consequence, and
sometimes the nature of the contract would
not require anything of that kind, because, in
contracts for furnishing tree-boxes, they would
be paid for, not in certificates of the engineer
office, or measurements of the engineer office,
but upon the certificates of the officer or agent
of the board designated for that purpose, who
received the tree-boxes; the same in the case
of man-hole tops and sewer-traps, or certih-
Gates of the superintendent Of sewers, and In
cases OF miscellaneous and similar character
By Mr.. Christy: Q. When were your blanks
in fact prepared A. That cannot answer.
O. How long after the 24th of September