Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-07-07
FIRST EDITION.
Thc Wntcr InycstIgutIOn.

The second week Of the Water Investigation
was opened last evening by u further inquiry in
| to the second OF Mr., Hawkins speciicationsg Civ
ing away city property with little or no ocompen-
| Baton. The examination of witnesses on this
point wis concluded with tie session, last night,
and this evening the third specification, ''the
| allowance OF iiue to workmeu that waA not
| made but received pay by order of the Chief
Engineer will bo takon mp and completed, as
the chairman expresses determination to com
plete the investigation this week. Messrs. Me-
Menamin and Lynch, Of tho committee were not
| present last evening.
| Tho first Witness called was Potter Tyre. who
| said am u quarryman and furnish stone to
builders, and have been in the business years;
| furnish come building stone but not great
doal was ont in Wcst 2nd Street, the other day,
and obtained from Mr.. Wilson the Dimensions
of the ditch as follows length 113 feet, depth
| ~ feet, and width feet OH the
| average : made n calculation, and according to
my estimate gold perch of rock would make II
perch and II half of stone when broken mp, IL the
rock were lifted out in n block there would be
| about Gl porch of solid rock. or 30 of building
stone il broken of this MIR. Wilson said he
| thought there were about 40 perches of rotten
| and mixed stone AZ the stone was broken up in
| the ditch, would n great deal of waste in my
| judgment there might havo come out OF tho ditch
come 50 or 60 porch of good building Htone; there
was not great deal of waste stone laying around
| probably "A much rs three porch.
I,y Mr.. Adams: building stone i'll the quarry
| il worth about 50 cents and from Tl.O5 to 20
delivered; tho hauling IL the principal yaln,, In
this instance the value of the stone ut tho hitch
/ was between E2j. and $50.
BY Mr.. Pickles TO have got 80 or 60 perches
| of stone delivered thero would havo cost from
| II 05 to ~. per perch, and to person who
| wanted to build there the stono would have cost
/ this much, il these 80 or 60 porch OF stone were
usod thore they wore worth BLOB to sl.2O; If
hauled by the builders own teams they wero
| worth about 50 cButs per perch tho difference
| in value between the stone which came ont OF
| the ditch and the DIRT whicli supplied its place
| would depend upon the distance tho dirt had to
| be hauled; il brought only 70 feet tho stone
| would be worth tho most, or If the dirt was
brought quarter Of mile and tho stone was
| removed only 20 feet tho difference in value be
| tween tho dirt and the stone would DO III favor
/ Of the stone, but not n great deal.
| Cross-eXamined was ut the ditch on Friday
| or Saturday; went at the request of Mr.. Pickels;
| no ono olhe suggested that go there; john W.
| Hawkins did not; Mr.. Pickels asked if could
| measure stone and replying atlirmatively he
asked me to go out; there wore other men at tho
| dtcli-Mr. Wilson, a cul0rcd man named Price,
| and one or two others; did mt hear the name of
| Stewart mentioned; was not at tho ditch when 1t
| was followed out; passed ii once but took no
notice of its Dimensions; all tho information
| which have given as to measurements was told
mo; Of tho measurements and quality OF the
| stone know nothing TO my own knowledge;
i in working stone out OF narrow trench
|
comes out bettor in large excavations much
| also depends upon tho quality OF the rock tho
| fragments in n narrow ditch are usually small
i and relatively there il not much good stone
in oxcavatiiiS ditch throe feet in width, where
| tho width Is confined to that figure there
would be about two-thirds waste ;
| in tho excavation of ditch to a given width the
waste is greatest in solid rock the waste OF
solid rock would not ovcr-run two-thirds If there
| were good quarry men at it, but might como up
| to that proportion began measuring at tho
centre stone and went 113 feet westward beyond
| that point the stone was mixed with dirt three
| carts and five or siX men might possibly remove
| liO percheB of stone short distance, but they
| would have to handle themselves pretty lively
| [the witness said he wouldn't like to bo one OF
the men if ON warm day never saw such work
| performed.
ID. IL. Coyle examined often use stone for
blocking up cnrbng as street commissiouer; did
| once send tho city teams to west End street
| where men were blasting for water pipes Tor
stone; frequently passed the place where the
| mon were ut work. tue stone WAS good and hard
looking; tho teams did not get any of it, gave
the order for tho stone but the driver came back
without it, MIR. Bradford objected to Mr.. Coyle
giving any statement of tho drAor az to why
he did not get the stono That not being ovl,,
dercoj ll,' ~ Hyde afterwards and
told him ! - eont out for some
stone ho aad ho mad gwen them to Mr.
FORD ; then soui TO tho laarry and got them
the stone cost 10 cents perch at the quarry
| the stone taken from the ditch was good Tor the
| purposes for which / wanted it and such .as
paid 30 cents per perch FOR II would cost, tile
way wanted tho stone, at least 5O cents perch
to haul 1t from the quarry to haul the stone
J | from 2nd and VanBuren to where / wanted te
| use them might cost about Is cents per perch
, don't know that l coHld state the amount ol
stone taken out of the ditch AZ did not notice
it particularly didn't notice much stone at the
lower end of the ditch that wasn't fit for block
ing curb-stone; did not go to upper end OF ditch
l NJ AIap I,a.f., Ina az IN "a trn
portion of soft stone taken from tho ditch
when Mr.. Hyde said he bad given the stone tt
Mr.. Ford, he said it WAS in consideration OF th'
filing up of tho ditch.
Cross examined did not closely examine th'
stono to SEQ that it was good for blocking pur
poses tho city teams did not haul away thu
, stone to my Knowledge wanted TO use stone
on Roed, between Harrison and Van Buren,
and on Franklin near Reed the quarry iron
. which tho stone was alternately procured was a
3 llth and Spruce was not aware until to'da.
that was to be q witness before tho committee
anil then received written notice it require
+, as good stone for blocking as for building l'ur
poses.
4 Mr.. Bradford hero stated that on behalf o
Mr. IIyde be admitted the refusal of the ston
to Mr.. Coyle by reason of the arrangement be
tween him and Mr.. Ford. This ended the i'll
0 yestigation of the second charge, and all al
iourliment was made until 7,30 this evening
a Before adjournment, however. it was state
| by tho chairman of tho committee, hlr. Pckels
that the investigation of tie third specilicatio
would be commenced tonight.
Mr. Bradford inquired if tho charge could no
be made n little more specific, so as to name tn
men who did not perform the work and yet re
ceived pay, and also to state tho nature OF tn
i work. He only asked this to assist in getting a
the facts.
Mr.. Underwood of tho committee, suggeste
that it was not competent for the committee {
amend the charges after they had boon give
@ the committee by Council.
Mr. Hawkins, the author of tho charges, an
. who had been asked by Mr.. Bradford If he coul
4 not make this charge a little moro specific tool
tho paper aud read it, replying that it would b
V impossible to word it moro fully or specifically
II than it was done.
y MIR. Bradford then remarked "Well, we'll hav
to take it as it is, then," and adjournment TO
lowed.
Centennial Dresses For Ladies'.
, Bayard Taylcr, who was in Boston doin