National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-16

1ne Chairman. You can 20 81. -
!. The Witness. Mr.. Farwell came to chicago
at nv REQUEST. was not acquainted with him
until the morning saw him and explained to
him tie difficulty was under. He objected
: 20 coming, on the ground that being a member
of Congress IT might be thought he was trying
to make use of personal inenence to help us.
We told him that was precisely what we
wanted him to do; that if be came to Washing
ton he could get a hearing for US before the
Board of Public Works, and to make them do
what they ought to do; they had served an Or
der upon us to stop ironizing wood. We had
our blocks curel, and msny Of them on the
street ready to lay down, and great many
thousand feet already cured in the yard, ready
10 De transported to the street laid down, be-
fore they stopped us, and said we must not lay
any more of L.. Al! We claimed Of the Board
OF Public Works was, that they should let US
go on and lay those blocks, and then If they
wanted the wood burnetized for further paving
we would do il. Mr.. Fsrwell came on rather
reluctantly, at his own expense, and accom-
plished that for us before the Board Of Public
Works. twas simply q kiud-hearted action
on his part, and he ought not to be censured
|, for 1t. 49, --.-.. ..- .... .......... .... s.
Q. think the committee fully understand
that. A. The New York papers published 1t,
(and put It into my poeket0 that he had
come here in the interest of the pavement CON-
pany, which is false, that is in the sense that
he had any interest in 1t, and that Governor
Shepherd had done wrong in letting us go on in
laying pavement which was exploded, which
was also false. Nobody had exploded the pave
ment except the former foreman of Mr.. McClel-
Ian, who stated to Governor Shepherd that
these blocks were worthless.
@. What do you think of this pavement. A.
think it is a good pavement, and think the
treatment is good; as good as any other.
Q. Are you laying It now anywhere No,
sir.
Q. You are not in the business now, A. I
have no contract anywhere. The lumber
which is spoken of in the Tribune as having
been condemned is rotting now on the wharves
instead Of being in the streets. Old
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. You only wanted to put
down the blocks preparedi A. Yes, sir;
those that we had prepared expressly for this
street that we had been ordered to pave with
those block, and we have not put down any
more.
By the Chairman: Q. That is what the
Governor permitted you to do' A. Why, Of
course; certainly he did that.
| By Mr.. Wilson: z. When did you destroy
those lettersl A. Somewhere between the 10th
and 18th of February this year. 1t was soon
after-immediately after-my return from Chi
cago, after having conversation with Mr..
Chittenden, in which he had told me what he
had done with this money and the notes.
Q. Why did you destroy themf A. Because
they were no longer of any importance to US
whatever, and Mr.. Chittenden had stated to
me what he would swear to as a witness here,
and considered it was much better to have
him swear to the facts than to have those letters
go into the Herald, Sun and Tribune, contain
ing imputations against men which were false
according to his own statements.
Q. Did you show any Of those lettersl A. /
showed one or two to the correspondent of the
Sun, and one of them to Judge Thomas Hood,
of this city.
Q. Did you show them to any one elsei A.
No, sir; not to my recollection.
Q. Your purpose then in destroying them
was to prevent them from getting into the
newspapers! A. Yes, sir; that was one Of the
purposes.
O. Was there anything in them that any
body would object to having printed in the
newspapers A. Yes, sir; if your name had
been mentioned there, as the names of other
men were, you would object to it. 1t would have
thrown you, if you will excuse me for making |
such an expression, on the defensive in q mat |
ter where you were entirely guiltless, or might |
be-.
Q. How much is due you or your firm now
from the Board Of Public Works? A. The work |
we did this last year amounted in round num- |
berS to s110, 900 a little less than that.
A. We received IS, 6eo IN Sewer bonds, and the
rest in auditors certificates. All those certif- |
Gates are still unpaid. |
Q. Who has those certificates! A. They are |
distributed around among our creditors as col
lateral security for loans.
Q. Have you made any arrangement with the |
Board of Public Works with reference to a set
tlementl A. None whatever; would explain
that
Q. But as between you and the Board of Pub
lie Works there is no matter of difference noWl
A. None whatever, sir.
Q. They owe you nothingi A. No further
than that they owe US on these auditors GER
tiicates.
Q. Have you disposed of those auditors GER
tiicatcs? A. We have not sold them.
Q. Are they simply hypothecated. A. Yes,
sir.
Q. What want to get at is this Outside of
these certificates does the Board of Public
Works owe you anything or your firm anything!
A. No, sir ; 1 think not-not dollar.
Q. So that there is nothing hereafter to be
settled between you and the Board of Public
Works. A. There are certificates of the year
before, believe, of some $751; or SIT 900,
which remain unpaid, but we have no unaud-
tied
Q. What want to get at is this-because I
want to know whether all your matters are
settled, and there is no further controversy
between you and the board-I want to know
whether you have received certiicatesor sewer
bonds for all that is due to you by the Board
of Public Works. A. Yes, sir; we have. We
NAV have q claim for damages.
Q. Very we'll; want to know what that
claim for damages is, if you have any. A.
Well, have not yet thought that over.
Q. Do you say you have a claim for damages,
or have you noti A. / decline to answer that
question.
@. Why's A. 1t is entirely private matter.
Q. 1t may be regarded so; but we have some
reports to make to Congress as to the indebt-
edness of this District and as to its liabilities.
A. Well, we have lost money, sir, by the pur-
chase of lumber.
@. / simply want to know whether your
matters are all settled or whether you still
have q matter of damages. A can say this:
That l have no claim myself that ever in
tend to push.
@. am speaking of your firm. A. And my
firm also. do not intend to press any claim
whatever. If we have one against this District.
Q. Does your firm claim! A. l represent
the firm. The firm does not, as know of.
Mr.. Wilson. do not speak for the firm of c.
E. jenkins e. Co., of which Ray and Whitney
are partners, because Mr.. Mcclellan and
have sold out our interest in this award and
lumber to them, and of course we cannot pre-
clude them from making any claim for dam
ages.
Q. Have you assigned to them all demands
for damages that your firm has against the
Board Of Public Worksi A. do not know
that we have in terms. l don't know but that
we have. 1t was q point that was not con-
sidered at all in the sale. They can have them
all.
Q. Did your assignment to Mr.. Holmes spe-
city particular things, or was 1t so drawn as to
cover the claim for damages against the boardi
A. presume 1t would cover that. In good
faith i ought to, certainly.
Q. Do you know whether they set up any
claim against this board for dalnagesl A. No,
sir; do not, Of my own knowledge. / have
not seen Mr.. Holmes since we made the sale.
Q. You say that when you purchased, you
got the right to lay LAG, 900 square yards of
pavement A. say this: DeGoiyer g. McClel-
Ian had the award Of 200, 900 square yards of
pavement, 81 900 of which has been laid.
Q. The balance Of that is part of what you
got when you purchased A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you say that when you made that
purchase you took into account this S97 900 |
that had been paidi A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you took your proportion of thatl
A. I did not let those go into the schedule, but |
l told Mr.. Mcclellan that It would probably |
be policy for us to pay those notes, and we
would pay them out of the proceeds of the
contract.
Q. Could you afford to pay that bonus for
laying lac, 600 squars yards OF this pavement
at 80 per square yard. A. Yes, sir.
OWN you be kind enough TO tell the COM
mittee what IL costs nd tn Law that |