National Republican., 1874-05-29

AAPPAN'S3 NSSOoeH To- Loto
Engineer B. 2: W., in charge.
LeeHIty ina tnat the foregoing blll e correct In
tract, and is therefore audited In the the sum
Of -.
Auditor B. P.%.
Dated - 1879
Gindorssd) Cert. No. Account B. W.,
work done on Conn. ave. N. w, bet H and P-strcet
CIRCLE, sa5ss.sS. Hauling and dressing curb
| Oct. q, 1873.
A. This Is again bill of hauling.
.. No, 1t is not bill Of hauling; it says
3J3l6 feet Of circular curb, trimmed and
lointed; that is not hauling. A. Yes, sir; that
is so, have been taken In. and Mr. Barney
| has been taken in by that.
Q. You and Mr. Barney were both taken inf
A. Well, let me see; must look our price-list
over. The witness proceeds to do SOL Itis
| not in the price-list at all. It is dressing and
IoinEing, 90 cents, here. But wish TO say that
this is bill, most Likely, that REACHED US from
the superintendent Of Property. This is mainly
| hauling bill.
speaking about the circular-curb up there at
| the top. A. Yes, sir; it is IS you say.
Q. That is not hauling. That Is for trim
ming and jointing that curb. A. But the
| whole is g bill that comes to US from the super
intendent OF property, but IL might be inserted
in our Office, and the rest of the bill has come
from there. But think both of Us might have
been misled.
Q. In case both Of you have been misled, and
that you certified there as to the quantity and
quality of that circular curb, the board was
justified In receiving it and charging for 1t as
circular curbing, was il notf A. If my atten-
ton had been
Q. I am. not talking about that. When an
engineer and one of his assistants certify that
so much circular curb has been laid around
that P-street circle, and jointed and trimmed,
is not the board justified In assuming that it
was circular curb, and oil right Can you
answer that question: A Yes, sir; they are
right In assuming such to be the fact.
Mr.. Mattingly. So supposed,
The Witness. Since Mr.. MsttinglJ comes up
he reminds me of something. Mr. Mattingly,
the other day, said he could not understand it
that the board was not awsre why should not
know everything of the smallest details. Here
is a letter dated Washington, April Is, 1874:
'MY DEAR SIR: have taken the liberty, In
statement Of measurements. No one else can do
this. hope it will meet with your appreciation.
"Yery respectfully, HENRY A. WILLARD"
And addressed to "Adolf Cluss, engineer"
There is postscript to the effect that the state
ment referred 10 Is for the committee. You
know very well that these Government mat
ters, and things of that kind, come up, and I
had no means Of knowing exactly all the de-
tails, otherwise he could not say nobody else
can do this.
Q. In the statement you put in here this
morning as to Tagging, you take the opportu-
nifty there to say that If, instead of Tagging,
this Neufchatel rock had been used, it would
have cost so much lessl A. Yes, sir; do,
most assuredly.
Q. If bricks had been used, they would have
cost a great deal lessi A. say Neufchatel
rock, without impairing the beauty or stability,
could have been used
Q. That ia your opinion of the Neufchatel
rocki A. Yes sir.
| Q. That is an experiment in this city, is It
| noti A. Il has been no experiment. l has
been used for length of time, and in terraces
it Is the order of the day in the best places
have been introduced here, cheaper concrete
pavements, where they have tried TO improve
i upon the Neufchatel rock, but have always
/ held that you can improve upon nature II you
/ have angels for mechanics; but as long as you
i have to deal with mortals there will, in many
cases, be carelessness and neglect Of one or the
/ other little elements which are necessary to
make o success.
TESTIMONY OF De. ]. B. BLAKE.
Doctor J. B. Blake sworn.
BY the Chairman: Q. may not have under
stood the testimony this morning, but under
stand it as you seem to, that this filing Of lots
OF which you were the agent is charged to
Rhode Island avenuel5 4. Yes, SIR.
Q. And paid for by the boardi A. Yes, sir.
O. Charged to Q street. VIII you explain
whyi A. understood that had been charged
with having the lot, either mine or which
have the custody of as trustee, filed at the eI-
pense of the Board of Public Works. Such
| thing as that has never occurred. am
the trustee of the estate of the late
Jot nson HELEN, of this city, q gentle
man well known In this community.
About q year ago, perhaps little less,
I was notified by the Board OF Health that one
of these lots was in q condition that rendered u
a nuisance, and they requested me to fll It up.
was then confined to bed Of sickness. had
a letter prepared addressed TO the board, re,
/ questing them to defer action until could ges
out of bed to look sfter Il, and, as soon as I
could get out, Iwould employ party to fill up
the lot. They hlled is up, and ! paid them the
/ bill for IL. This was long before ever dreamed
of becoming member Of the Board Of Pubic
Works.
Q. Who did you employ to do thatl A. A
man by the name Of Evans and some one else.
can send him to you.
Q. I did not ask for that purpose. You did
not employ Riley & Clark A. No, sir think
itAyss Evans. Perhaps Il might have been
Ie & Riley. 1 win not be certain about
| ~ But both of them have seen since, and
/ H5.. Lave expressed q desire to explain the
transaction. said If necessary they would be
sent for.
The Chairman. It is not necessary.
Witress. But It was long before had any
idea of being member of the Board of Public
Works, and how It should have ever been
charged to me don't know. have paid sew
eral hundred dollars, and was never notified
of anything of that kind.
Mr.. Wilson. You are laboring under q wrong
impression, Doctor. Nobody has charged here
at all that you did anything Of this kind. There
is no intimstion Of the kind. The only testi-
mony that has been brought before the COM
mittee upon that subject Is that Mr.. Riley, of
the firm Of Riley & Clark, or that Arm, did
deposit the earth on those lots, and were paid
for that by the Board of Public Works; that
earth that was deposited there having been
charged to some other streets. There s no
statement that there was any completely on
your part at all.
Witness. Thank you; am much obliged for
that explanation.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. How long have you been
member of the board Az have been q
memuer Of the board, think, about seven
months. was appointed in Septsmber, and
think qualified as msmber of the board on
the 23d Of September.
O. Have YOU paid attention to the business
since you have been member A. Yes, sir.
After the first four or five weeks gave pretty
general attention to the business. have been
there and endeayored to inform myself thor
oughly in regard to it. was presidents up 10
the LIST of January of the National Mstropoli-
tan Bank; and until closed my connection
with the bank was not as often At the board
as have been since.
Q. About how often do you attend nowl A.
I attend every day.
Q. Is IL necessary, in order to an understand
ing Of the business, TO attend to It pretty much
every dsyi A. always ind plenty Of bust
nessthere every day.
O. You oave mn vorrr privaka huaipese1-
Yes, sir; that y, the banking business-I gave
that up. have none other than my individual
business.
2. And You meet there every day and con-
sulti A. Yes, sir. We consult thus far; when