National Republican., 1874-05-16


account; another on the 18th of August, 1873,
for $l0, 1000, same account; another on the 22d
of August, 1873, for 1894, same account.
| another on the 22d of August 1873 for s8l6. SO,
same account; another op the nth Of septem..
Der, 1878, for 81 ,S72.SS, same account: another
for S2, ,93S .25, on the 26th of September, 1878,
| same account; another on the 18th Of October,
1873, for $f5, goo, same account; another on
the nth of October, 1873, for $500, same
account; another for 81 400, 7th of January,
| 1874, same account; and another for S225 on
the 9TH of January, 1874, same account. These
vouchers all seem to have been for under
pinning houses, and issued to Samuel Strong.
Did you pay any of those bonds to Samuel
Strong on account of this workl A. Not that
know of; I do not think that he ever asked
/ for any of them.
/ Q. Why did you not do itl A. Because he
did not ask for them. Samuel Strong had
i made an arrangement with party, Dodge and
Darneille or Darneille and Barber, to give them
his certificates. They came to me frequently
to get them cashed. did settle with them for
/ great many OF them. Samuel Strong after
ward came to me and told me not to pay any
OF his vouchers to anybody without his con-
sent
Y. Did you pay any of these bonds to any
| persons on account of Samuel Strong! A.
do not know. That / cannot tell you.
Q. Had Mr.. Strong hypothecated these GER
1
A. lido not know whether he had those or not;
Q. For underpinning houses? A. do not
know what for. They told me that they had
power of attorney to draw all his.
Q. And they applied to youi A. They ap-
piled to me for some payments.
Q. Did they apply to you for payments Of
| those bonds on account of thesel A. No, sir.
Q. And you paid none of these bonds to
| themi A. do not know; may have.
Q. Have you any means of knowing whether
you paid any of these bonds to them! A. No,
/ could not, without asking them.
Q. Have you been a member of the Board Of
Public Works since its organization? A. Yes,
| sir.
Q. We're you aware of the contract made
with Mr.. Strong for the underpinning Of these
houses2 A. knew he was dong the work.
Q. This contract seems to bear date the 18th
Of October, 1872; these certificates, presume,
were issued on account of that contract; am
correct about thati A. suppose so.
@. This act, TO which called your .atten-
tion moment ago, makes an appropriation of
$3.50, 600 for raising and underpinning houses,
and another appropriation of S24, ,7S4.S3 for
raising and underpinning the Georgetown mar
ket-house; and the same section contains this
proviso, "That the money hereby appropriated
shall be paid out by the treasurer of the Dis
trict of Columbia upon warrants drawn by the
Governor and Comptroller of the said District"
and the second section provides ''that, to ena-
BILE the Governor to pay the above appropria-
tions, he is hereby authorized to Issue bonds Of
the District of Columbia bearing interest at the
rate of per centum per annum, not to exceed
the sum of $3.50, 900, which shall be sold by
the Governor, the proceeds thereof to be used
for the purposes above specifieT, and for no
other purposes Whatsoever" ] want to know
! upon what authority you used these bonds for
I Gnapida1 aPtf
A. Well, do not know that ever noticed, or
my attention was called to, that part of the
| law. The treasurer of the District U. S. |
turned the bonds over to me. / paid them out
\ to anybody that came for them, while / had
| them.
Q. Then is II not the fact that you have use
those bonds for the purpose OF paying the obt
legations of the Board of Public Works wirhou-
| applying them to the payment of these certif
Gates that were issued ON account of work
which is specified therel A. We have done q
| good deal more in the way of raising houses
than what Strong did, and settled for it; and
do not know whether II amounts to as much as
those bonds amounted to or not.
Q. Did you take any pains to ascertain A.
No, l did not.
| Q. Did you pay any attention to that pro-
vision Of that actl A. / did not; and do not
think my attention was ever called to that pro-
vision of the act before.
Q. You have been handling great deal of
money, siri A. have, and have accounted
| for It all.
Q. am not calling that In question now, but
/ wanted to know the manner in which you
have been proceeding in this matterl A. Well,
sir, whenever had anything at all, and man
came there with an obligation of the Board of
Public Works, paid It with the best thing l
had. II had money, paid the money; If
had anything else that he was willing to take,
Il al fhar,
auditors paper, and he could use it better, l
gave It. Our effort was to get the work done,
and help 1t along.
Q. Who has had contracts for undcrpinn:ng
houses besides Mr.. Strongi A. Messrs. Hol-
Hngsworth & Coughlan.
Q. Where are they froml A. They come
from Chicago.
@. Have they been paidl A. ! think they
have been settled with.
@. Have they been paid either in these bonds
or otherwisei A. think so, sir; know they
have been paid O good deal. do not know
whether they have been settled with In full.
Q. Do you know what their work amounted
tot A. do not.
Q. If you have any other explanation to give
Of this than you have already given, would
be glad to have you make It, because want
10 give you the fullest opportunity TO explain2
A. have no other explanation, except to say
that matter was not called to my attention,
and that have paid these things out for obli-
cations of the Board of Public Works when
ever parties came who were willing to take
them. / do not think those certificates have
ever been presented to me. know, as stated
before, that In this matter Of Dodge & Barber,
or Dodge & Darneilie, / forget which IL was,
that Mr.. Strong came TO me and requested me
not to pay any more certificates in that case.
He wrote me O letter to that effect and said
that they had broken their obligation TO him
to furnish him money at legal interest and that
they wanted now TO take his certificates and
sell them at Just what they pleased, and that
he did not want that done; and since that
letter of his have never paid any.
Q. Where Is that leiteri A. think it Is
down at the board.
BY Mr.. Stanton: Q. notice that the proviso
of the first section Is in these words: " Pro-
uided: That the money hereby appropriated
shall be paid out by the treasurer Of the Dis
trict of Columbia, upon warrants drawn by
the Governor and Comptroller of said Dis
trict." Did these bonds come into the posses
sion of the Board Of Public Works upon war
rants drawn by the Governor and Comptroller
Of the District on the treasurer A. think so.
Q. That is the way then they came into the
possession Of the board1 A. That is the way
they came into my possession.
Q. And thus they came into possession OF
the board according to the terms OF the Ia wi
a. Yes, sir.
Nr. Stanton. Now, Mr.. Chairman, will call
you attention to the fact that the purpose Of
this act, and of this appropriation, Is to rem
burse the Board of Public Works of the Dis
trict of Columbia. Section second provides "that
to enable the Governor to pay the above appro-
priation, he is hereby authorized to issue bonds
Of the District of Columbia bearing interest at
the rate of seven per cent. per annum not TO
exceed the sum of $3.50, 200, which shall be
sold by the Governor, and the proceeds thereof
used for the purposes above specified and for
no other purpose whatsoever" To the wit
ness.l Were those bonds turned over to you
at part A. Yes, sir.
Q. And were paid out by you at part A.
Yes, sir.
Mr.. Stanton. The proceeding then seems to
have been that the bonds were turned over ac-
cording TO the terms Of the act, and for no
other purpose whatever, and there is nothing
in the provision Of the &C. to prevent the board
from using them In the same manner as they
would any other resources Of the board. They
could use them In the same way as II the
bonds had been sold at par and the money
turned over to the board.
Mr.. Wilson. am not entering into an argu-
ment; am trying to get the facts.
Mr.. Bass. Does 1t appear that the Board OF
Public Works did, in fact, pay for this work. or
inst issr,ed ia eartjficates3 go