National Republican., 1874-04-01

Q. Were certificates issued to you on account
of that severi A. Yes, SIR; SHINE; but it Is not
q Anal settlement. Isl
j q. How mnch have you already received IN
the way Of certificates on account 81 that seYeri
A. Somewhere IN the 'neiehbofhood Of "a 900.
n 9. The balance h Jet unadjaztedi A. Yes,
Q. When Gid you sign the contract for that
@. DID you sign that contract quite recentlyI
4 A. No, sir; not 10 my knowledge. think
signed h the dsy that made the Arrangement
TO 90 on by the day. / think did.
Q. What do you ssyi A. think signed 1t
/ O. That yoti made the arrangement to 20 on
By the dayi A. Yes, sir; think did; wont
to be positive.
O. What was your original contract for the
construction Of the sewerf A. Insver had any
contract. 1.---s> ~ 80 a.
Q. Did you never have any contract about 1t
at am A. No, sir.
Q. Did you 20 to work there without any
understanding as to what you were to receive
for ~ A. i was told by the engineer to 70
up there and 90 TO work; and went up there
and found the place full Of wster. got two
pumps and went To work there, Sundays and
night and day to get the water out.
| 2. am not asking you what you did. You
went there by the direction Of the engineer,
Il
is that truei A. Yes, sir.
| @. Had you any conversation with any
member of the Board of Public Works prior to
the time that you went there to work. A.
Not one of them, sir. never spoke to any Of
them but Mr.. Cluss, to my recollection.
Q. How long had you been at work there,
and how much of the work had you done be-
fore there was an understanding In regard to
itl A. should judge in the neighborhood of
four weeks-three or four weeks.
O. How much of the work had you then
donel A. -Four hundred and three feet-linear
| feet. ......L... ...-.. .-.- ~
O. -Four hundred and three linear feet had
been been constructed A. Yes, sir.
| Q. Then understand you 10 say you made
| an arrangement by virtue ofwhich time was to
be kept, and the whole sewer was to be paid
for upon the basis Of its cost, as shown by the
time that was kept A. Yes, exactly.
Q. With whom did you make that arrange
mentl A. received letter from the vice
president, Mr. Willard, that If would take 1t
at Is per cent. over and above the cost, and
complete 1t in such length oftime, they would
make q contract. went and saw Mr.. Willard.
He put in clause that l should pay 800, /
think it was, day If did not get 1t done at
such time, but I told him wouldn't stand
that, and If he would take that of would do
it as soon as could. said 1t was very diff
cult spot. Said he, 4" Do the best you can; get
1t through quick" They wanted to get 1t
paved, It was getting late In the season. Then
went and told Mr.. Cluss that If l signed the
coutract-it said from Ninth street up. said,
| az have done four hundred and three feet.
will put two good men, Mr.. Hall and Wiley, to
keep tie time, and whatever that costs sha0be
criterion" Says he, "That Is as fair as we
can get;" and went on under that arrange
ment. .- -. --. .-..
Q. And that arrangement was made between
yourself and Mr.. Clussi A. Yes, sir. -.
@. And Mr.. Willard A. No, did not
Q. The proposition came from Mr.. Willard,
and you finally consummated it with Mr.. Clussi
A. Yes, sir. 3D..
Q. Was It at the time you made that ar
rangement that you entered into the written
contract with reference to it7 A. If my men,
ory serves me right, 1t was that time; 1t might
have been later. / might have told the men
to 60 on, and It might have been a few days
later; l cannot tell; the work is done and no
body has been hurt.
Q. find the contract contains this provision:
''For the building and completing of this sewer,
as aforesaid, Is per cent. additional to the net
cost of material and labor used and employed
thereon" that was to be your compensation
for the construction of the workf A. Yes, sir.
Q. In other words, you would furnish the
materiall A. Yes, SIR ...
Q. You were to furnish the labori A. Yes,
sir. ..- ..... .....
Q. And do the work; and In addition to the
net cost of the material and labor used and
employed you were to receive Is per cent? A.
was, sir. ......
By Mr.. Merrick: Q. Was that after you had
made the four hundred and odd feet and had
stopped A. Yes.
Mr.. Wilson. This Is what he said.
The Witness. Yes, sir.
Mr.. Hubbell. He stated that he had left that,
and had refused to go on with the work.
The Witness. Yes, sir; took my men away
from there.
By Mr.. Harrington: O. VIII you explain
why that Is per centum, in addition to the |
cost of material and labor, was given youf A.
do not know how to explain that in any other |
way than to say that there was water which |
had to be bsled continually. The ground was |
caying IN. You might put braces up close to- |
gether, and the quickssnd would come up |
from underneath, the width Of this table, and |
it would drop right down and slide In under |
meath and come up. We had to put plank at |
the bottom to keep the brick from settling |
down. 1t was the most miserable work ever |
had to do.
Q. That was allowed, then, on account of |
the extraordinary difficulties under which you |
had to labori A. Oh, yes; You could not make |
any estimate
Q. Was not that the most economical man. |
ner to do the work. A. That is the only way |
to get along with those kind Of jobs. You can't |
make an estimate. r. .- ......
Q. Do you not know, for instance, that the |
most Of the work on this Capitol building was |
done in that manneri A. Yes, sir; / did the |
whole of this work, almost. was the general |
superintendent of this building.
Q. believe you are in some difficulty with |
the board nowi A. Yes, sir. 1 have COM
menced three suits against the board.
Q. You spoke about building some intercept
ing sewer; name TT a. B-street sewer from
Fifteenth street down to Seventeenth-the
street that runs down from the War Depart
ment.
Q. While you were at work on that intercept
ing sewer did you observe the nature and the
kind Of bricks that were being used In the
building of B-street sewer properi A. Yes, SIR;
l went there every morning, and passed right
along the line Of evenings, whenI got through.
had from eighty TO ninety men at work
there; I worked thirty brieklayers. There
were q great many bricks laid on the line
there; ard when they were excavating they
commen. : In different sections-skipped
places w."fS the water came down-jumped
over, as It were, and let 1t come down In the
old canal. 1t was not filled up.
Q. What kind of brick were used in that B.
street sewerf A. have heard sDme men say
that some Of the brick were rather light. /
went there and examined them. have made
one hundred thousand brick q day myself. I
was the first man who ever brought machinery
here to make brick.
Q. You are bricklayer by tradei A. lam
q mason by trade; have worked forty -four
years at It. As say, have made 100, 900
brick day, and know as much about brick
as any other man, believe.
Q. State what kind Of brick these were
salmon brick or hard brickl A. They were
good sewer brick; some were good enough to
put into front. Now and then load would
come and there would be few nghtish brick.
But you take q brick and knock Il that way,
indicating, and when 1t rings 1t viii stand the
weather. have put up fronts In New York
and Albany lighter than those, and they
stand, and have stood for forty years.
Q. WIN salmon brick ringi A No, sir.
Q. Did you clap these bricks together and
did they ringl A. Yes, sir.
Q. Then they were good bricki A. Yes, sir;
good, sure brick as any man would want. II |
they had been salmon brick they would have
been dissolved. ,
Q. Has the kind of soil out Of which brick is
made anything TO do with the colorl A. Yes,
sir. have not spoken to Mr.. Appleman, but
/ am here to tell the truth. say they were as
good, sure brick as any man would want to use.
Q. understand that, but you do not under
stand my question. VIII the soil out of which
brick is made make any difference In it's colori
A o. yes Il had a briek-vaFd hare when /