National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-25
that you would givei A. No, sir; have no.


done 50.
o. You did not communicate, then, whs
your evidence would be, in advance 90 tina
they could know beforehand what 1t was tina
you intended to testify tot A. No, sir; dit
not.
Q. Did you furnish such paper as that, AM
such Information as that to anybody A.
did not.
Q. Never, to anybody A. No, sir. Paper
Of mine, private papers, possibly, may hay'
been got hold of surreptitiously, and thel
| might be in somebody's hands.
Q. Then nobody talked to you at all abou
the testimony you were to give before It wa
given. There was no precognitioni a. NO
body at all talked to met talked with grea
many folks about this whole investigation.
answered questions fairly. l talked with
great many folks about them; but / was par
ticular not TO talk to any one whom knew Il
| be memorialist, for the fear that what SAID
might be misconstrued.
b. You kept yourself cleari A. mean t.
say took particular pains not to speak to AM
one whom knew to be q memorialist, or any
one in sympathy with them. tried to steel
clear of them altogether, and think havt
actually kept this very punctually.
Mr.. Hamilton. You have now got q full an
swer.
Mr.. Black. I want the committee to under
stand that In the question ssked Mr.. Cluss
did not want to throw any imputation on any
body else.
The Chairman. We understand that.
Mr.. Black. do not desire that anybody shall
be affected by his testimony in anything
Whether he answers the question one way OIL
the other 10 matter of perfect Indifference &c
the reputation of-eyerybody else In the world
except himself.
Mr.. Hamilton. Have you any further ques,
tionsI
Mr. Black. Nothing further.
Mr.. Msttingly. In this same connection
would like to ask you a little more definitely
than did the other day. At the time that
Works did not ask you then to come up here
and testifyl A. l told you that my testimony
would not be suitable to you most likely.
Mr.. Mattingly. No, sir; you did not.
The Witness. Let me relate to you the cir
cumstances.
By Mr.. Hubbell: Q. VIII you be kind enough
to answer the questions put to you by coun-
SELF
Mr.. Mattingly. Did not state to you that
you, as the head of the engineer department,
was the very man to come up and testifyi
The Witness. In favor of the price of the
Cotton fences -
Mr.. Mattingly. No; not in favor or against
anything. Did not tell you wanted you to
come up here and testifyl Who were present
therei A. / think there were present Mr..
Clephane. He was the principal actor. Then
besides Mr.. Clephane, indeed 1 do not re-
collect.
Q. Was not Mr.. Shepherd therel A. Yes,
sir.
Q. Mr.. Stantoni A. Yes, sir.
Q. Mr.. Meedsl A. Yes, sir; think he was
there.
Q. And part of the time Mr.. Oertlyi A.
Mr.. Oertly 1 do not recollect to have seen
there. spoke TO Mr.. Barney at the time, Mr..
Barney was about, but not in the room. r
Q. mean in the room, in the presence of
these gentlemen, didn't ask you to come up
here and testify A. In favor of the wooden
fences.
Q. No, not in favor of anything. Didn't /
ask you to come up here and testify A. In
favor of the Cotton fence.
Q. Did not ask you to come up here and
testify in regard to grsdingl A. About mat
ter of hauling. Not about a matter of grad
ing.
Q: Then asked you about the matter of
haulingi A. Yes, sir.
Q. You went on to explain about how many
miles horse could walk in q dayl A. Yes,
sir. ...
Q. And the price fixed was all right A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Did not state then that you were the
very man to come up and explain itl A. Yes,
sir. 1
9. What did you sayi A. said begged to
be excused.
Q. Did not you say you did not want to tes-
.ifyl A Yes, sir.
Q. Did not you say you could not articulatei
A. The reporter has found that out. told
you that had the misfortune of wearing false
,eeth, and 1t makes me little difficult to un-
lerstand.
Q. And you assigned that as the reason you
lid not want to comet A. Yes, sir.
Q. see the difficulty and appreciate It. But
what wanted to know was whether did not
ask you TO come up here and testify, and
whether you did not express reluctance to do
I, and assigned that as one of the reasons you
Lid not want to comet A. One of the reasons
vas that you wanted to bring up the Cotton
ence matter as one side of the matter.
Q. You insisted upon that fence matter.
There was on the back of that voucher, Mr..
Jluss, pen and ink sketch Of panel Of the
ence made by youi A. Yes, sir.
Q. With items going to show the cost of each
tenn of material or labor that entered into the
construction of 1T A. Yes, sir.
Q. With the aggregate of the cost of the
panel so many feet long, was not It an esti-
nate of how much It cost footi Yes, sir; but
t was wire fence.
Q. Then you undertook to explain to me
CHAT would be the difference in cost between
hat wire fence and the wooden fence as ac.u-
ally constructed, did you notl A. Yes, sir.
Q. You made the figures on It'll A. Yes, sir
Q. Did not tell you to explain that up herel
A. did not care about doing it, because l
,hink If such a fence was given out by q fair
competition after advertisement, that It could
have been done much less than under the ar
,hitect's estimate and superintendent.
Q. Did not-I ask you to come up here and
NJ a{p hav avTlo nod N
Yes, sir. you did that; but you wanted to leave
,ut all other pieces Of fence under the adver-
,isement.
Mr.. Mattingly. No, sir. And to show that I
lid not want TO leave 1t out would like TO
nave you look yourself for the documents Of
he Board of Public Works relating to that
natter that has been put in here in evidence,
md you will find everything there.
The Witness. No; the paper which contains
he bids received under the advertisement for
ence is not here.
o. But all the papers, including the paper
IN which was your sketch; they have not got
hat in print because they could not print it;
out all the papers relating to this Cotton fence
ire in evidence.
The Witness. A part of 1t is-this paper
the bids for wooden fence received
Inder the advertisements, If you have got that
hat will settle the case; where the lowest
,rice was much lower than those we paid.
Q. Did not you average those bidsl A. Yes.
fir, did; and showed you that the lowest bid
vas much lower than that p4id for the Cotton
ence.
Q. And some of the lower hids were from
very irresponsible persons, were they not; or
lid not you tell me sol Why did not you
bring the papers here7 A. did not like to
come here, because did not want to defend
0ne side OF the case.
Q. Did you assign any such reason as that
Mr.. Christy. desire those papers to be pro-
iuced If the gentlemen are going to proceed to
prove the contents of them.
Mr.. Mattingly. Oh, 1 am not proceeding to
prove any contents.
Mr.. Christy. You are stating the contents.
Mr.. Mattingly. No; am getting at Mr..
Cluss' animus and motives in testifying. That
Is all. see It stated that Mr.. Cluss informed
Mr. Shepherd ind ourselves that he had given
to the committee, or TO some men,
Der of the committee, and was coming up here,
1t his instance, to testify.
The Witness. Whatever the newspapers say
I am In no way responsible for. did not talk
with any newspaper man. have never said
one word to any of them.
Mr.. Wilson. What newspaper did you refer
tor
Mr.: Mattingly. To the statement in yester-
days New York Sun.
The Witness. l have not read the New York
Sun, more than one or two copies, In years
perhaps three copies. have seen the New
York Sun which contains my testimony OF day