National Republican., 1876-03-07
DISTRICT INVESTIGATION.
Lieut. Hexie on the stand-Explsining the
Contract wofk.

The House Committee on the District OF Co.
lumbia yesterday morning resumed Its investiRs-
tion into the affairs Of the District government
and board Of audit. =
Lieut., HoxIe, whose evidence was unhnished
last week, was recalled and testihsd: wss sp-
pointed engineer by act Of June 20. 1874; CON-
meneed operations when the plstric; Commis-
sioners commenced; the assistant engineers were
appointed on my recommendation; Forsyth was
employed as surveyor Of the District; Osrtley
was retained BY me from my own personal knowl-
edge Of the man, and not on account Of any other
influence. Have not the slightest idea to whom
j am indebted for the place hold. A few days
fss my Gsn; saSeOe1 srl1 -u, ne ne
list Of engineer officers then in the District. I
have no reason to believe that Mr. Shepherd had
be said he was in favor Of my appointment.
when assumed charge believe It would have
been impossible for me to have gotten along with
The Ninthstreet pavement Lewis & 20. laid;
] think Hewett WAS member of.the firm; can't
tell from memory how much It cost to resurfsee
@. Was any money held back by the board for
the Ninth-street contract? A. don't know;
their work, with view OF entering sui: against
them. II any money had been coming TO Hevett
or Lewis the amount would have been deducted
to the extent Of the amount to cover the resurfAc
ing of Ninth street.
STRANGE ALLOWANCE OF THE BOARD OF AUDIT.
Judge Buckner read the report Of the expert to
show that an allowance had been made the firm
for work done on Ninth street.
d Witness. I don't understand how the claim was
paid; certainly not through me, for had pre-
yiouIly disalloved 1t, and would have put my
A letter was read, written by Lieut.. HoIie, re-
fusing to reopen the Nlnth-street claim on an
application from r: Q; Hewett, which was ad-
dressed to the board Of audit. The expert re-
ported the amount allowed for the Ninth.street
work to be for haul. 1900; raising and retop.
patching. The aggregate Of the allowance is
q. If you had known any money coming to
the resurfacins Of his work? A. Yes, sir; never
allowed any claims for old work TO be opened. If
such were reopened it was without my knowledge
and consent.
IN AWARDING CONTRACTS
for contcrete work Judged the merits Of the DIFF
ferent patents from the status OF them when l
took hold as engineer. thought the two patents
selected the best Wines stated that the II 1sa;
the surfacing Of concrete payements for nothing
was on account Of the bad quality Of his patent
was made Crawford & Hoffman and Murdock
were we'll along with the work. Pennsylvania
avenue west, from the Presidents House to
q. Who repsired that? A. Crawford & Hotf.
man and Murdoch; one took one side and the
other the other. The total cost q repairs 10
were made IN bonds. When ] estimated In my
report for repairs for street worR, II was . cash
and not bond estimate.
repair work? A. 1t was usually measured when
o street was completed; such were my orders. l
gave an order that there should be no delay in
surveying Crawford Hotfman's work, because
they were doing very large amount Of II.
CASH CONTRACTS.
Judge Buckner. You speak in your report Of
new contracts. What do you mean by thst-that
new contracts were made, out and out2 A: They
Q. Were they paid in cash q? A. They were to
this extent: ALL in cash except two Contracts
,Ot anG one iT5 otps 0c6 o. sss
in 1874. albert Gleason had q cash contract; he
was paid in cash for the work originally contem-
under an extension Of contract, for which he was
paid in bonds. The work Gleason was to do was
not specific work, but such rs was ordered by the
sioners ordered in 1874 that no further contracts
should be issued without public advertisement
don't know why they reversed the order in 1875.
WHAT CONTRACTORS HAVE BEEN SUED.
Q. Has John Q. Evans been sued for not re-
who has been sued is O. Z. Evans.
Q. Has Bingham, the Philadelphia postmaster,
been sued? A. No, sir.
been brought? A. The attorney is first waiting
TO hear from my Office. ! have not yet made up
the statement Of accounts for him; believe, too,
the attorney is going TO make the Q. E. Evans
case test for all the others.
CONTRACTS PoR SEWER PIPE.
Witness was interrogated at length as 10 the
contractors who furnished sewer pipe. The
81 the Terra Gotta Pipe Company. HIS contract
was q cash one When he was paid in bonds the
rates were at prices fixed by the old Board of
He also explained that he had remeasured work
done by the Board Of Public Works at the re-
quest Of the board OF audit.
At l2:l5 o'clock the committee adjourned until
this morning at 10 O'Clock.