National Republican., 1874-04-02

property taken and 0ivs q certificate of thai
value; and that there ave some s75, 900 Of GER
ti1cates Of that account outstanding unpaid.
| Mr.. Christy. As TO the i>suing OF such cir.
eular, containing such an olaer Of the board,
have no doubt that Is the fact, fnd 1t has been
In proof. As 10 their plan Of adjusting these
matters, &c may be correct and eoUplete state
ment; but as to the manner In which the law
was applied or the rules applied certainly we
do differ, and this case and others viii prove
that. 1t leaves, Of course, q matter Of contro-
vesy that is settled by proof of various facts
| attending each case.
Governor Shepherd. would state for the
information Of the committee that when we
first began the work specific instructions "a cir
cular). were issued to superintendcnts who
were put In charge Of each improvement, in
structtng them what course TO pursue in regard
70 properly ON the street. They went along
and made memorandum Of the improvements
which bad been made. That is fled in the
Office Of the superintendent of property. From
that data the allowance for these drawbacks
comes IN every instance. We have had vast
number Of instances where applications have
been made for drawbacks when the material
was not worth anything, and Il has been so
stated to the party. / suppose that In two
thirds of the instances the material was worth
nothing, and It was so stated to the parties
upon their application; but where the material
was good, IL has always been allowed at the
value fixed upon IL by the superintendent Of
property.
Mr.. Wilson. In ease like this, Governor,
why was not this party allowed whatever was
due to him on account of material before he
was required to pay the amount Of the assess
ment against himf His own ma erial having
| been used on the premises, why was 1t that he
was required to pay his assessment in fulll
Governor Shepherd. Well, Judge, that Is q
question whether his own material was used.
Mr.. Wilson. He says II was.
Governor Shepherd. Well, but that Is capa-
bic Of demonstration. "A great many say their
own material was used, when In point of fact
| 1t was not used. am not speaking about this
particular case. I do not know about It; but
1t Is a matter Of demonstration. In a large
number Of instances people think that the same
material was used. In large number Of in
stances the material was used, but 1t had to be
rejointed and dressed and put in shape before
1t could be used.
| Mr.. Wilson. Very we'll. Now win take It on
| that hypothesis. Suppose 1t had to be rejoined
and dressed why was it that the parties In
that case were required to pay for their own
| material, and then rely on the board for an ex-
PLANTATION Of that afterwardi
Governor Shepherd. We have done our busi-
ness in one way; that is, every purchase has
gone through the auditors office, and in this
use Of material we have stated 1t just as q pur-
chase of old material, and gone through audit
ing just as In any other class of work, and In
order to keep our accounts in shape, so as to
show the exact cost and use of old material, It
has been done in this way.
Mr.. Wilson. Would you regard that as a
purchase Of old material or an appropriation of
old materiall
Governor Shepherd We would regard it and
have treated 1t as purchase of old material.
| Mr.. Wilson. But what right had you to pur-
chase property in that way without consulting
the owner about Il?
Governor Shepherd. We had notified them
to remove their property from the street. We
were placed in charge Of the streets. We noti-
fed them by public advertisement to remove
their property.
| Mr.. Christy. The committee will observe
that one Of our charges relates to this very
matter-the appropriation Of property and the
arbitrary manner in which price was put upon
It without, Of course, allowing the party at
all who owned 1t to make any statement In re-
gard to It or offer any proof as to its value.
Governor Shepherd, Ito Mr.. Jewett.) In
that connection refer you to the instructions
to superintendents, which were to the effect
that every precaution was to be taken in regard
| to old property.
By Mr.. Wilson, Ito the witness:) O. What
kind of material did they put under your foot
way? A. The kind showed you Just now.
Q. l cannot put that bunch of mud, or what
ever you call It, into the evidence. State now
to the committee what kind of material they
put under your brick footwsy-was it sand,
and If 50, what kindl A. will tell you can
| hardly name 1t. 1t Is what would call clay.
cannot swear that 1t is sand.
Q. What do you call that; do you call that
clean sandi Referring to paper in hands of
witness.l A. think If it was put in q bucket
OF water and stirred around, you would never
find any of it.
By Mr.. Jewett: O. Were you served with a
notice before these improvements were made
said notice being given to the owners to remove
their propertyl A. No, sir.
Q. You had no notice of that7 A. No, sir.
l understood that the District here laid old
pavements and charged quarter OF dollar a
yard for relaying. That was all the notice
had, and the contractors all told me the same
that they allowed that money. That material
was worth more to me for building purposes or
anything, should think, than 1t was to put
back there again, very near what 1t was before.
There was sand and gravel when they took 1t
off-all the law required. There was four
inches of good sharp sand on there, too.
Q. What was done with that sand' A.
suppose they hauled 1t away.
BY Mr.. Hubbell: Q. You say you suppose; do
you knowi A. 1t is not there now.
BY Mr.. Stewart: Q. They graded down there
somewhat, did they notl A. Yes sir.
Q. Four or FIVE feetl A. They graded down,
but don't think they graded much where the
pavement was. They left that little bank
sticking up; they graded everywhere else.
There was lot of poor people there, and they
did not touch them. The whole avenue was
graded down where the parking was, with the
exception of right in front of me and Mr.. Hop
kins. All the balance of the whole line Is all
graded down.
@. Well, Hopkins Is not poor man, Is he7
A. understood that everything was to be
done uniformly, but there Is very little uni
formity about that parking.
By Mr.. Christy: Q. would like the witness
to be interrogated as to the character Of the
| sodding and the manner in which 1t has been
done to the extent that he has examined It.
He has not spoken upon that subject, under
! stand.
By Mr.. Jewett: Q. What do you know about
| the soddingi Was IL well donei A. / asked
the gentleman there sodding and told him
would rather for him not to; that intended to
cut it down. He said that he had orders from
the board to go ahead and sod it.
o. Was It sodded, A. Yes, sir; It was sodded
what they call sodding.
Q. What time of the year was itl A. Think
It was last spring some time, about year ago,
think, or nine months, or something like
that. Twas not living up there at the time.
Q. How did they sod III a. 1t Is pretty
roughly done. think can go there and take
my hands and lift the sod right up. I went
there this morning and lifted piece of It.
Q. Did it grow any last yeara A. Well, It
was little grown; It has been very good
winter, all winter.
Q. Did they put any loan under the sodi A.
raised It up this morning and scratched there,
and sodding, and all was about that depth,
(indicating with his hand,) the sodding that
was under It. Ibelieve the sod that they cut is
considered to be four inches thick.
| Q. After laying there year you can raise it
upl A. Yes, sir; that is, pull it up with my
fingers where 1t was laid down. Ipulled that
up.
O., Haven't the different pieces Of sod grown
togetheri A. No, sir.
Q. 1t is laying as It was put therel A. Well,
It has not exactly grown together, but 1t Is lay
ing there so that you can unjoint 1t where It
was put together.
Q. Was II rolled or rammed when It was put
DOWN. A. That I cannot say, as to whether
they rolled It or rammed 1t or not. ! was not
there when 1t was put down.
By Mr.. Mattingiy: @. How long have you
owned this propertyi A. About eight or MAE
years.
Q. What did you pay for III A. Wen. I gave
twelve cents foot for It, aud / think BY the
time the board gels done with me it win cost
me dollar. ,.t-.,-
Q. What is IL worth nowi A. Kilbourn &