The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-05-17
MIR. DAVENPORT C0RNERED
WHAT HE Calls INDExING THE
RECORDS or HIS OFFICE
An Explanation Of his Enormous Charges
Against the Government-t!ettingh his Pay
for the Foiios In the Matter Indcxcd.


for the Foiios In the Matter Indcxcd.
WASHINGTON, May 1e-The Committee
on Expenditures In tho Department Of Justice
resumed the examination Of John !. Davenport
this morning. Mr.. Cocbrane directed his atten-
ton to the law which nxos the fees OF the Chief
Supervisor Of Elections which Is as follows, so
Tar as indexing the records of his ONCE IL con
cerned For entering and iBdexing the records
OF his ONCE, fifteen cents per folio" This.
Davenport said, was the only provision OF law
authorizing him to charge for indexinR the rec
ords OF his ONCE. His attention was then called
to the account which he rendered In April 1873,
In which he charges for indexing the records OF
his ONCE up to that time, til p99 Is, which would
represent 1854 folios OF one hundred words
each. The witness was next asked to tell tho
committee how many words these folios would
represent, and he figured up 800, 400 words He
was then asked how many words, In the average
handwriting, could be written on page OF FOOLS
cap paper, and he replied about 2CO words. He
was then required to tell the committee how
many pages Of such paper Is 400 words would
oil, and after few minutes figuring ne replied
about 1000 fooscap pages lie was then asked
II he pretended to say that It would require this
sort OF an index to furnish ready reference to
the records OF his ofice, and he replied that his
indexing was In books and not on pages Of fools
cap paper. lie evaded for some time the issue
which be now saw was to he made with him, but
at length he admitted that he called indextng
the records of his Office the entering In hts va
rious books all the data ana information he was
able to collect In regard to the voters Of New
Thus the predictions made In these dispatches
on the 2lst ult. are verified. Ii was then clearly
shown that IN no other way than by counting
the number OF words In the m after iDdexed, in
stead Of the number of words IN the index II self,
could Davenport swell his charges for this WORK
to such enormous amounts. Alter be was cor.
nered TO day on this issue, he squarsly admitted
that that this had been his uniform practice in
80 that from his block books, his lphabetica al
list OF voters, and his dozen and one different
compilations of the registry lists OF New York.
he has charged fifteen cents for every one hum
dted words written. He makes, among other
things, an Alphabetical list OF oil the registered
voters but as there are less than 10000 regis
tered voters In New York citv. II W n be at once
apparen, that byno possible device could an
Alphabetical list OF them swell to noary S0,o,OO0
words.
In rendering his account from 1879. Davenport
included charge for indcNing .S,G6 foos. at
l5 cents per folio, $500 90" THIS attracted the
attention OF the first Comptroller, and he made
the following inquiry Of him In writing: "You
charge for ndexing 2S,Gd6 folios OF record. DO
you mean that indexes-not the records In
This inquiry Davenport carefully avoided an
swerinR, although he entered into a long expla-
nation OF his account, 1t is clear to any honest
man that the law will not admit OF any such
construction as Davenport now claims for II. Ii
clearly means that for the preparation Of a table
WuiSu an easy reference 10 the rec
ords Of his ofiice. hetshall be allowed TO charge
10 cents for every 100 words contaiue IN the ta
bic. Ii any man was to take contract at Is
cents foil for iDdexng the records Of the Re-
corder OF Deeds ofice, would he be paid for the
number OF fohos In the matter indexed1 Ger
t,inly not. And had II been made clear to the
First Comptroller that Davenport was charging
for folios Of records he would not have dared
TO pass bis account. As IL IL. he ought to be
censured for not ascertainiDg definitely what
Davenport was charging for, and thus have saved
the Government large sums Of money.
Mr. Davenport was also exam ined In regard TO
the sums of money he received from private
sources. the Union League and campaign COM
mittees, for the purpose OF carving on his WORK
OF compiling records. His memory WAS very
hazy on this point. flo could not recoliect any
thing certainly about these contributions, but
admitted that tue Committee OF Seventy had
paid him several thousand dollars.