National Republican., 1874-05-16

I Mr.. Wilson. l find &c provided there that they
shall be used for the purposes specified In that
act and no other. -
! Mr.. Stanton. Yes; and that purpose Is Che
reimbursement of the Board Of Public Works.
mfr. Bass. They could not be reimbursed
unless they had paid the money out Of that
work.
Mr., Wilson. Your certificate is no obllga-
| tion-it is simply an evidence Of Indebtedness.
Mr. Bass. If you had merely given them the
auditors certificate for work done. for raising
houses that was not . payment.
Mr.. Stanton. 1t was an indebtedness incurred
by the board, and the object of this act was to
reimburse the board. 1t provides that the
warrant shall be drawn on the treasurer By the
Governor and the comptroller. That was done.
SAMUEL STRONG RECALLED.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Are you the man who
had the contract for underpinning houses in
GeorgetowD-raising and underpinninS the
market-house3 A. / unierpinned the market
house and buildings in Georgetown. Mr.
Coughlan, from Chicago, raised the buildings
Hollingsworth & Coughlan did the raising, and
l did the underpinning and carpenter work and
repairing all through the buildings.
Q. What did that work amount to that you
did, A. In the neighborhood of Sl13 600.
Q. Did you get certificates A. Nothing but
certificates.
Q. Did you ever get any payi A. Not dol
lar in money, and not bond; l have repeatedly
| asked for it, and never could get it.
| Q. To whom did you make application for
the bondsi A. 1 made application to the
board.
|. Q. Did you ever apply to Mr.. Magruder for
bondsl A. Yes, sir; and have written letters
and letters, and got my friends to 90 there and
intercede for me to get money or bonds, and I
! never could get them.
Mr.. Magruder, Ito Mr.. strong.) Whenl
Mr.. Strong. If you will look at your letters
men. never appointed Darneille & Barber
until after / had got about through that
Georgetown work. took this large contract
out here, and / was obliged to have some help.
/ was about closed up in Georgetown on the
work when they gave me this other contract,
and that was TO be paid in bonds. This was to
be paid IN money.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Referring to you, CON
tract find the stipulation is to pay or cause to
be paid to said party of the second part, to bis
heirs, executors or administrators, in lawful
money of the United States, the amount which
may be found from time to time due him ac-
cording to the contract A. Yes, sir; that is &c.
Q. You say they never have paid you any of
thatl A. Not a cent, sir.
Q. If you have any explanation to make in
regard to this Darneille matter, please make
iti A. Dodge, Darneille and Barber ap-
pointed and gave power of attorney. Mr..
Totten drew the papers up; that was when
| took this contract; was cramped, and could
not get through. The certificates that / took
from Mr.. Magruder had to hypothecate, and
put my notes up and these certificates behind
them.
@. That is to say, you gave the certificates
as collateral security for your notes. A. Yes,
sir: and never could get bonds or money to
redeem them, and expect have lost them
that is the amount of it. can bring you to-
morrow papers and copies of letters that
have written TO them over and over again.
Mr.. Wilson. You cando SO, sir. Bring them
in tomorrow morning.
The Witness. ! went with Mr.. Darneille
| and Mr.. Barber, after / had appointed them
my bankers here-I went there and begged for
bonds. Other people got bonds, but could
not. When the appropriation was made :
could not get dollar.
By Mr.. Wilson, TO Mr.. Magruder) Q.
Mr.. Msgruder, / would be glad to have you
bring in tomorrow a statement of all the
bonds issued, and to whom they were issued.
Mr.. Magruder. You have o statement of all
the bonds issued.
Q. / mean the persons to whom you paid
them out. A. will give you what l can.
The committee here adjourned to 10 o'clock
q. m. tomorrow.
FRIDAY, May IS 1874. :.
Inc COiHIllGIcC Iucb dk ~ D. III ocCICb 6cs-
sion, at the conclusion Of which Mr.. Wilson
said:
Q. To avoid the necessity of further troubling
you, will ask you this question: Have you at
any time had any interest in any contracts
under the Board of Public Works7 A. Not In
the least.
Q. Do you know David Keppell A. Yes, sir.
@. Are you interested with him In any con-
tractsl A. Not the least.
Q. What relations exist between you and him
in regard to those contracts A. / was his in
dorser when he first got his contract. loaned
him some four or five hundred dollars, and I
| think let him have as much more aftsrward,
though do not know exactly how much. I
believe indorsed note In the National Me-
| tropolitan Bank for him; / Endorsed two others,
think, perhaps three others and while was
his indorser, in order to make me secure, he
| authorized Mr.. Magruder TO pay me the money
that might apply It to those notes. have
had that much interest In his contract, that IL
all.
Q. That Is all the connection you had with
his contract A. Yes, cir.
Q. IN what way did he pay you for the in
dorsementl A. In no way at all.
Q. Is he man of any means himselfi
The Witness. Pay me for my Endorsement; !;
what do you mean by thatl
Mr.. Wilson. Pay you anything for the use of
your namei
A. No, sir. .
Q. What amount, If any, did you retain out
of the moneys that were paid to you by Ma
gruderi A. None, sir.
Q. Merely made application for these moneys
for the discharge OF those habilitiesa A. That
is all, sir.
Q. You got no percentage or money out of
these contracts, either directly or Indirectly A.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The committee met in open session at Q
p. m.
TESTIMONY OF GEORGE F. EDMUEDs.
Mr.. George F. Edmunds, being duly sworn,
testified as follows:
Mr.. Edmunds. Ny attention has been called,
Mr.. Chairman, to certain testimony which has
been given before your committee on and since
the 9Th Of April, by Mr.. r. B. Clark, and be-
lieye by Mr.. Magruder and Mr.. Shepherd. do
not know whether there was any other touch
ing the subject of the so-called improvement
of Massachusetts, avenue, between Fourteenth
and fifteenth streets northwest, in which the
relation of q little place l own on the north
side of Massachusetts avenue and myself to
the Board of Public Works has been drawn IN
question, and for the sake of having the COM
mlttee know the whole truth upon the subject,
l desire to make this statement:
purchased the property where now re-
side, It then being a vacant lot, some time in
the year 1870, ] thnk-certainly before the
Board of Public Works began any system Of
Improvement, or / think were even created.
purchased it upon inquiry, which entered into
the price that paid for the property, as to
whether the grade of the streets in that yicin-
ity had been established and fixed by law, It
appearing that the property had already been
cut down In front of the whole block about
eight feet, should say; and was informed,
and as | understand the truth to be, that the
grade had been fixed and conformed TO, the
payements and curbirgs laid, the gas, water
and sewer-pipes laid as far west as where
my land was. ! think the water went
further, but / do not know that the
sewer went further west than my place,
probably 1t went a little further. So that l
purch ased the property upon the truthful re-
port that all the expenditures and assessments
and other things touching the subject OF tne
little place that was to build mad already
been provided for and paid, and that lefs my
house which built something like eight or ten
feet above the street and about fifty feet back
from the street, on account Of the whole prop
erty in the angle there having been disposed
of by having a building line run which began
at Fourteenth street and went west, in front
of which nobody could build; so was COM
-.1I.I - b,,;ld ahol,f fftv feat hack from he