National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-09
DISTRICT INVESTIGATION
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ferred to the engineer, to make an estimate {
.de excavation under the railroad. stg.
Q. What did you say, sin A. have had
refe ,-ence made to the engineer for the amour
of earth under the road.
Q. HW there been any report made upo
that A. No, sir.
D. Whes was that reference madei A
During the Measurement. IL was to knoa
what TO charge to the railroad.
Q. Can you state 4r,out what time that wa
donea A. No, sir; cannot. can furnish yo
the date, II you want Il,
O. Did yoI allow these contracts, or one o
these contracts, with. Taylor 81 Hilbert, as tn
executive Officer Of the Board7 A. No, SIR.
q. When did you become the executive OH
CERT A. About the ga Of September.
Q. You say you directed. an extra allowance
% them for grading under the tTacki A. Thee
were allowed an extra allowance for grading
under the track.
Q. By whose directioni A. By mine.
Q. Did that extra allowance extend to any
grading except that which was'done under the
track A. The engineer made q: calculation Of
what additional cost 1t would come to, taking
out the earth from under this track, and they
were allowed this upon the whole grading, It ID
my impression. The grading was carefully
considered at the time.
Mr.. Wilson have this voucher. Lwant 10
ask you one or two questions. Look at that
out to give the amount of grading that was
originally placed In that voucher-look down
the marginl
The Witness. What referencel
Mr.. Wilson. With regard to the gradingl
You VIII find one amount is scratched out and
another amount inserted.
The Witness. Yes sir; I see 1t Is altered.
Q. How was that voucher originally made
out on the subject of gradinga A. That could
not answer. It was made at the engineers
Office.
Mr.. Wilson. Let me have Il q moment.
Voucher handed to Mr.. wilson,
By MI. Merrick: Q. Who was the engineer
who made the measurement A. Mr.. Barney.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. 1 will ask you if this
voucher was not originally made out for IL, III
cubic yards of grading at 40 cents, and after
A. could not answer that. .
Q. Then l would ask you if the haul was not
originally made out for l., III cubic yards OF
haul at so much, and afterward changed to
g, AT, corresponding with the number of cubic
yards of grading as changed A. should pre-
fere that you would have the engineer who
made the measurement to answer those ques-
tons.
@. You say that an extra allowance for the
difficulty in digging out the earth from under
the tracks A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did that make any difference in the
amount Of haulsl A. I should think not. -
Q. Then how would it happen that the
change in the amount of grading and the
amount of hauling should be made to cores
pond with the increased amount of gradingl
A. If there is mistake in the engineers calcu-
lations he can explain that, Of course.
By Mr.. Merrick: Q. Is that bill approved by
YOU'D A. 1t was sent to the auditor.
Q. Approved by you'll A. If that is supposed
to be an approval. 1t passed through our
hands.
Mr.. Wilson This seems to be final settle
ment; on the back of it is indorsed:
Received, January 81, 1874, certificates
number 524, 525, for S., 553 3d." which is the
balance in full, as appears on the face Of this
paperl
Mr.. Harrington here made an explanation as
to the proposed agreement between Mr.. Strong
and the Board of Public Works, he being in
strumentsl in having it signed by the Governor
for reference to the board. At the conclusion,
the witness said:
AS stated when this paper was presented
to me, it was presented by Mr.. johnson, and
the words that he used were: "The Governor
requests you will examine this paper and pre-.
sent It to the other members"
By Mr.. Stanton: @. There was no effort
made to procure your consent? A. Not the
slightest.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. Did you have any con.
versaGion with the Governor about it, A.
never had, at that time or since.
Governor Shepherd. will state to the CON-
mittee that Mr.. Harrington handed me paper
in which he said there was q proposition to
arbitrate some matter In controversy, and he
thought that 1t was a good thing for the board
to do. signed It without noticing really what
it was, and handed 1t to Mr.. johnson, the clerk
to take down to the board to have the matter
looked into.
Witness. That is what understood at thu
time.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. Who had particular
charge of this work in disputed
Mr.. Wilson. The clerk tells me that tina.
paper is not here.
The Chairman. will state that Mr. Magru
der brought it to me on the following day. He
handed me the paper some days ago, and
handed it back to him without reading it, Of
noticing what it was. There did not seem tt
be any occasion then for using it. 1t was no
before the committee.
By Mr.. Stewart: Who was executive Office
of the board at that time, and who had chsrg
of such mattersi A. was.
Mr.. Stewart. This work-under whose eharg
was it donel
The Witness. Which was set forth In thi
paper, do you meant
Mr. Stewart. Yes, sir; that which is in dis
pute.
The Witness. That included large amount
and it opened the whole matter of Mr.. Strong
work from the time he commenced the con
tract.
O. That which had all been settled A. Yes
sir; and that was one ground upon which Oh
jected to having anything to do with the paper
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. But this sewer upon I
street, who had charge of the work at the TINT
it was done? A.. The superintendent.
Q. Who was the executive officer Of thu
boardl A. Twas.
Q. Was that one of the disputed points, A
Yes, sir.
Q. VIVA. other disputed point was there
where was the work? A. We believed that tn
bill was too large. Iwould not allow 1t. !,
Q. What other bills were too larger A
None. They passed from me. understand
there are some other matters.
Q. Was there any other bill that you de
clined to allow3 A. Not to my recollection, a
passing from me. There may have been, bu
they included work that had already been set
tied for, and which did not think It proper Il
open again.
q. You had special knowledge of the who'll
subjectF A. Yes, sir.
d. You knew more about 1t than Mr.. Shep
herd, because 1t fell under your charge: A
Yes, sir; did not get the idea that Mr.: Shep
herd had sent that paper over as an executed
paper, but as merely reference to us.
D. That it was referred to you because It wa
in your department. A. Yes, sir. ..-.-.-
o. And that you were perfectly free, withou
ANYBODY asking you to do it, to reject 1t! l
was referred to you for your Judgment A
Yes, sir. . ~.
o. You knowing about this particular trans
action, you Fought it ought not to be acte
uponl A. Yes, sir.
o. And so decided A. Yes, sir.
The Hon. Chas. Farwell, House of Repre-
sentatives, having entered the committee-roor
the examination of Mr.. Willard was suspende
for the purpose of allowing him to do so.
TESTIMONY OF CHAs. B. FARwELL.
Charles B. Farwell sworn:
BY the Chairman: @. I. understand you d.
sire to make some explanation In reference to
matter alluded to by Mr.. Quinby this morning
in relation to De Golyer 81 McClellan's cor
tract for psvinga A. Yes, sir. In the fore par
| of September last / was called upon at m
place of business in Chicago by Mr.. Mcclellan
| Mr.. Raw, Mr. jenkins, and ex-senator Doolittle
their attorney. They informed me that the
| had been interrupted in their operations here
| and that It worked great damage to then
They desired me to come on to this city to sc
4 n could not do something for them. At thei
1 reouest did come on. They informed me tbs
thew had prepared large quantity of block
ready to put down, which were treated; anG
that If they could get permission to put thos
down, they would ask for nothing more fror
/ the Board of Public Works, but would ahando