National Republican., 1874-05-19


we have had for the las. two years, and the
rexation of spirit that accompanies the hapless
condition of one who feels that he has to sub
NIT to that which he regards as wrong-I do
not mean that, but so far as the absolute ascer-
tainabie diminution of the value of the small
bit of land held there, would gladly give
much more, perhaps double the amounttoi
this assessment of s425, If could be put where
was, for 1 think my property would be SC
much more valuable TO me.
J. Blickensderfer, jr., recalled.
By Mr.. Jewett: O.. / inquired Of you yester-
day If you had communicated with the engi-
neers in regard to these discrepancies you
spoke of. l also asked you in regard to Mr.
Samo, and what explanation he made. ] did
not ask you what explanation Gen. Babcock
made, although / did inquire of you whether
you had submitted to him your results that he
might explain. 1t is but due to Gen. Babcock,
! If he made an explanation, that that should
be stated. Did he make one? A. When
showed him my results he stated that he had
been called upon to certify to this work by the
law Of Congress without their having made
any appropriation to give him assistance TO do
the work, and he could not do it himself, OF
course, so he availed himself of the assistance
of the only man at his disposal, to wit: Mr.
Samo, in charge of the Washington Aqueduct,
and had requested him TO make the measure
ment and be very careful about It, and to make
|
affidavit, as he haG no doubt an investigation
would probably result.
By the Chairman: Q. Result from his meas
urements do you meant A. should not per-
haps have used the word "result."
Mr.. Wilson. "FollowP'
The Witness. As he had no doubt there
would be an investigation.
By the Chairman: Q. Into the affairs of the
District A. Yes, sir, as ] understood. In re-
n 10 diearpnanpiaa ha al hot
he could seas, for example, in the case of
New Hampshire avenue and Virginia avenue
very readily how q man might be mistaken, or
include one that was reported in the other
And he, think, suggested some explanations
in one or two other instances, but remarked,
81 will take notes of these things" and he did
take notes, "and will call upon my assistant
for the explanation, for" said he, ''it is not my
business to suggest explanations to him, but
for him to find them. Twill communicate with
you again" That is the substance of what he
said.
By Mr.. Stanton Q. This was quite recentlyi
A. 1t was on Monday last; think.
Q. Was it about the same time you advised
Colonel Samo of the results of your examina-
tionl A. 1t was some time afterward, and /
may add that It was after this conversation
with General Babcock that Colonel Samo called
upon me, and that we went over the avenues
together, as, / believe / explained in my pre-
vious testimony, to look at the discrepancies,
at which time he gave me his explanations, as
l stated yesterday, saying that he had seen the
general since he had been with me.
Q. In your intercourse with Mr.. Samo, did
you see any effort or disposition on his part to
suppress any facts or mislead you In any way
in your measurements A. No, sir; cannot
say sew anything like tendency TO suppress
facts or rais!ead me on his part.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. Did you on snybody's
khokF F,,HI A 7 Il
that / can say so directly. / do not think ex-
plantations on the part of some-at least, do
not think explanations were ever volunteered
to me. had to get what wanted by asking.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Give US your statement
in regard to the reservation or space to which
your attention was attracted yesterday, and in
reference TO which you had not your figures
fully completedl A. 1t is the reservation at
the intersection of o and Twentieth streets
and New Hampshire avenue, upon which I
yesterday stated had not quite completed my
figures. have them now completed. =.
Q. Before you begin give US the size of the
spacel A. 1t is represented here on the map
that have Of New Hampshire avenue. have
drawn a diagram Of it of somewhat enlarged
scale. The Size OF it within the curb-lines is
81 4 feet on Twentieth street; 66.4 feet on o
street, and 1897 feet on New Hampshire
avenue, running to a point in each case.
Within the sidewalks ii is S7.4 feet on Twen-
tieth street, 271 on o street, 46.2 on New
Hampshire avenue.
By Mr.. Stanton: Q. You say within the side
walks; do you mean within the building-line!
A. No, sir; mean inside of the sidewalks SIM
ply.
Q. Give us the details of expenditures about
that spacei A. have statement in complete
detail. l suppose all you want are the results
In the same form stated yesterday.
Mr.. Wilson. That is all.
The Witness. The amount of it, calculating
the quantities in the same way they have been
made up by the board in the charges to the
Government, S11-in accordance with nv
measurement, should have said before-is
S11 ,109.27. Deducting from 1t for the intersee-
tion of o and Twentieth streets in the same
manner as i have in the intersection as ex-
planned yesterday, the amount to be deducted
would be s714.67, leaving $40, ,494.61. The
charge as made to the Government, or against
the Government by the Governors answer,
is II $3.50, the excess over my statement,
S95790.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. Taking the same basis
they have, what is the misunderstanding
the same work that they measured A. SS63 %.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. In order to get at the
quantities that they have charged to the Gov
ernment at that space, how are the measure
ments madea A. The measurements included
all the curbing, carriageways and sidewalks on
walton to the building-lines on the opposite
sides of the streets and avenues.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. Deducting one sixthl
A. Yes, sir; from which they deducted one
sixth.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. What carriageway was
measured around the reservation in order to
get at these quantities. A. All the carriage
way opposite to il.
Q. You had better indicate on the map, so
that the committee will understand. Il
Witness did as requested and then said i
The building line on the opposite side of Twen-
ty-irst street from the reservation was pro-
duced across New Hampshire avenue until it
the building line on the opposite
side of New Hampshire avenue, and the build
ing line on the opposite side of D street, from
the reservation, was likewise produced until it
intersected the building line on the opposite
side of New Hampshire avenue and all within
that space was measured.
Q. Has the wood pavement on this avenue
yet been measured to the contractors A. /
presume It has, but do not know that.
Q. Do you know whether the wood pave
ment on that avenue has been yet charged up
to the Government A. / have not been able
to find any charge of that kind.
Q. State whether you have made any exami-
nation to know whether in charging the Gov
ernment for-wood pavement in the avenue they
have charged that in addition to charging the
wood pavement around the reservation thereby
duplicating the charge at that pointl A. /
have not in any case,
In reply to q question by Mr.. Stanton, the
witness said: understand that, although the
avenue has been payed-I mean the wood
pavement is laid-that the account for that
work has never been made up against the
United States Government; that is, for the
avenue at large; mean included in this in
tersection only for this portion of it.
Mr.. Stanton. In explanation of this measure
ment, was ii stated to you that the street ex-
tended from building line to building-line, and
that, therefore, they prolonged the lines in this
wayi A i did not ask them anything in reference
to that except as to what was included in the
measur ement that they made themselves, or
explanation.
Q. You asked them, however, for no ex-
PLANTATION for their reaGons for drawing these
limitsl A. did not. do not know whether
you observed it, but the same process, the same
principle had been applied in all the other
measurements that have made in the P-street
circle and different squares.
@. My question relates not merely to this in
diyidual case, but to all cases, whether you
ascertained from them the reason why they
measured within these hmitsl A. No, sir; /
did not.
Q. May II not have been that it was because
they counted the street as being really from
building line to building line, instead of from