National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-03
DISTRICT INVESTIGATION


Z The Chairman. He can be called II desired.
Il seems misapp-ehended the testimony of
Mr.. Fowler, and was misled in relation to 1t.
The entry OF July 81, 1873, Is an entry Of q
return Of the money to Mr.. Fowler, the first
being a deposit.
I Mr.. johnson, (secretsry of the Board of Pub
lie Works.) | find Mr.. Fowler deposited, Sep
TENDER 81, 81 900, and that it was returned Sep
TENDER 81, as shown by this book that hold In
my hand. There is but one deposit.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. With whom was the de-
post made?
Mr.. johnson. With the collector, I presume;
cannot tell you anything about that.
TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM T. MOTT.
William r. Mott sworn.
By the Chairman, Cat the suggestion of
counsel for the memorialists;) Q. Are YOU in
the employ of the Board of Public Works. A.
Yes, sir.
Q. What capacityi A. Contract clerk.
Q. What are your dutiesl A. Ny duties
under the board are to draw up contracts and to
superintend the execution by the contractors
and the board.
Q. When did this service begin on your parti
A. The date of my appointments as contract
clerk is January L. 1879. / was there as sssis-
tant superintendent prior to that, from August
81, 1871.
Q. Have you had supervision Of the drawing
the Board Of Public Works! A. have; all
that were drawn, with the exception of one or
two, which believe the attorney of the Dis
trict drew. They are all in those printed
forms, for work on the street.
Q. Were these contracts drawn and signed at
or about the time they bear date, and If any of
them were not so signed, please state? A. As
general rule they were promptly signed. kept
no record Of the date of their signing but there
W. nj ha rf1y 81
contractor to the Office to sign the contract.
He could get no pay unless he got statement
from me that the contract was signed and
bonded. The usual inquiry from the auditors
Office is, Has such and such a contract been
signed and bondedl If not signed, the auditor
would, as ruie-I can only state what was
the rule in reference to my own Office.
Q. State TO the committee the method. A.
That was the method. l presume in every case
he declined to pay unless the contract was
signed and bonded.
Q. Were those contractors generally present
when you drew this contract! A. No, sir.
Q. At whose orders were they drawnl At
the order of the board, when the board awarded
q contract to particular person9 A. The rule
was to send them to me through the engineers
Office. The details were settled in the engineers
office, and then the matter referred to me for
the purpose Of drafting the contract into these
be present, clamoring for his contract, but at
other times he would not be present. Some
times he would not act until he wanted money,
and the rule of the board would compel him to
come to the contract-room to sign and bond on
the contract.
Q. Do you know of any contracts having
been executed recently A. Certainly; the
list furnished you shows some that were only
two or three weeks old, and some not so old as
hat whan the iDvpstiOa was ordern6
O. mean dated back to a remote periodl
A. No, sir; the report which you have here and
from my Office is a correct report.
The Chairman. You state in one of your
charges, Mr.. Christy, that contracts have been
signed recently. Give me the number of those
contractsl
Witness. They may have been signed recently,
but none of them have been dated back.
Mr.. Merrick. Executed recently, independent
of their date if they have not been signed re-
centlyi
A. Some of them were signed recently.
The Chairman. Please refer to that charge,
Mr.. Merrick. Icannot refer to it at the instant.
Mr.. Christy. desire to examine the witness
generally, as you have done, and also particu-
larry with reference to particular contracts.
The Chairman. That is precisely what de-
sire counsel to call my attention to. They make
o charge that certain contracts were signed.
want to call attention to these charges.
Mr.. Merrick. 1t is the fifth charge, found on
page SO of the current report, marked para
graph s.
The Chairman. Just interrogate him in ref,
erence to those particular contracts, Il you
please, Mr.. Merrick.
Mr.. Merrick. Do you know anything about a
contract made with Williams & Co. for Tiber
creek sewera When was that contract signedl
The Witness. He has more than one.
n IA nala wit
which was done about nearly two years agol
A. You had better show me the contract, and
can then give you more definite answer. "
Q. He had q large contract for the Tiber
creek sewer, had he not2 A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was not that contract signed in the month
of February of the current year! A. Let me
set it, and will give you a more definite an
swer.
By Mr.: Jewett: Q. Cannot you answer thatl
A. No, sir, 1 cannot; because he has several
contracts.
Q. The one Judge Merrick refers TOT A.
No, sir; cannot tell from memory.
The Chairman. l have sent for the con-
tract.
Mr.. Jewett 1t seems to me that the witness
ought to reeollect about the contract.
The Witness. Refer me to it here in this
printed book, and perhaps l can remember
about It.
Q. Just 90 over those that are numbered on
page SO. A. think know what Mr.. Merlick
refers to; but would rather see the contract
before give my answer.
Q. Take contract 1874.
The Witness. What is the question:
Q. When was that contract executed by the
partiesa A. l could EoS give definite answer
to that; but my impression is, it was signed not
o very long time subsequent to the other date
1t certainly was not signed in the month Of
February.
Q. Was II signed since the month of Decem-
berl A. The date of 1t here is May %.
Q. know the date. You have already stated
that the contracts bore the date of the time
when they were entered into. A. No, sir; not
that; did not state that. -
Q. You stated in the general. A. No,
sir; stated that they bore the date of the
award-the date at which they came to me.
Q. Then the date as apparent upon the face
of the contract is no criterion rs to the time
when the contract was signedl A. Not always,
because for the reason stated. There were two
or more classes of contractors. Some would be
clamoring for their contracts, and some thought
all that they had to do was to secure the con.
tract and then Immediately go to work. But
the very moment they wanted the money, then
the rule Of the Office brought them to the con.
tract room.
Q. Were there not number of Contracts fol-
work long since done awarded that have been
signed since this investigation was orderedi
A. think can answer that pretty clearly.
do not think there were more than thirty OF
forty LEFT In the office at the time that we
signed, subsequent to this report. Fortunately
the manner in which we made our reports cor
roborate what say; that Is, If understand
the question. I have heard great deal about
&, but did not hear Of 1t at all until this in.
vestigstion began. I suppose the committee
will remember how the report was made.
The Chairman. Yes, we know how It wa
made.
The Witness. We took up merely the report
which had been made in November last. Il
was made up to November l and printed. We
simply took the report as It Is printed there
and added to 1t all those that were added sub
sequently, and here 1t Is, lhanding said report
to Mr.. Jewett.l That contains every transac
ton thst has taken place in the Office since thai
time. By looking over the list you can ascer
tair whether any Of them have been made fol-
any purpose such as you have heard spoken of
By Mr.. Merrick: Q. As I understand you
then, none of those which were numbered ant
which appear In the report of Move nber, 1873
sesso6 Of ccSsrsssi <. No, sir; 1 do MOI
mean anything Of that kind; psan p say
some thirty or forty Of thess eofffaets. Their
was a memorandum List kept which wish
could put my hand on, but have looked for Il
ever since this investigation has been going OF
and have been unable to find It. / suppose Il
is lost somewhere. II may have been sweep
out and put into the waste basket.