Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-08-13

the purpose of Offering large reward for the |
capture of any grain incendiary; and 80 great |
is the indignation that should that event occur |
we shall certainly have to record a lynching in |
this county.
THE BENTLEYs INDIGNANT.
They Do Not Relish TAei. Treatment by
the Fort Smelling Bridge. Computation
Why T1sey Di1n': Ascans the Contract.
A reporter of the Milwaukee Ne,cs, on the
arrival home of the Messrs. Bentley, the con-
tractors, interviewed them on the trouble they
had here relative to the Fort Smelling bridge
matter. The elder gentleman, after detailing
the facts in the case already familiar to, our
readers, said: The commissioners met and the
contract PREPARED by the city engineer was
presented. Clauses had been inserted prescrib-
ing that the stone should be at least ten inches
thick, that the cit. engineer could stop the
work whenever he deemed the weather unfit,
and imposing forfeit OF 800 a day for every
days delay after Dec. LIST in finishing the work.
The board also: afte- she bids had been made,
passed resolution authorizing the engineer to
require granite instead of limestone where he
saw fit To none of these alterations in the
terms of the contract did we raise any
| serious objection, as they all seemed to be made
in the interest of The prompt execution
of good job, which was just what
we proposed TO give. d uSt here, continued
Mr.. Bentley, 1.-THE kicks on their part became
visible to thu naked eye. The
defeated bidders were present in full
force at this meeting of the commissioners,
and they had got an attorney on hand, q MIR. c.
u. U Brlen. who volunteered to tell them that
the contract drawn by their city engineer
| gdca fol nothing, and finally he asked by
the board to draw up contract according to
his ideas, which he did. presenting it at the
| afternoon session that day. This attorney for
the defeated bidders proposed that in case of
any delay in the work beyond Dec. l. we should
forfeit not only the Is per cent reserve on each
months estimate but all our further interest
| under the contract, that is, everything that we
! should have earned on the last months work.
! Our attorney. Mr. G. L. Otis, at this meeting
/ told the board that any contractors who would
| sign such a contract would, in 80 doing, prove
their unftness to undertake the work. At that
meeting the secretary II the board declared
| that M. Drien (who was nominally acting
for the board in the absence of the city attor-
ney) had not drawn the contract in accordance
with the instructions of the board. and he very
truly said that if that contract was published
With the specifications not q single bid would
| have been made.
Well the matter went over to another day.
That day, August 9Th, two more sessions We're
held. had returned to Milwaukee and my
son. who had been in st. Paul since July 18th,
on this business, represented the house"
At this point Mr.. r. 4. BENTLEY took up the
thread Of the story and said
| AT one OF these meetings, Mr.. Cochran, who
had all along up to that time seemed disposed
| to treat us fairly, acknowledged that he now
saw with the same eyes as Mr.. o. Brien. MIR.
Dawson mentioned that the December bid was
50, 1873 higher than the bid for the longer time,
| whereupon we offered to make that difference
| .lo3. the forfeit in of our delay. Mr..
| Dawson then said that the board were willing
to make contract with the sum SIS, 1873 forfeit
and as much more out of the Is per cent. re-
serve as should amount in all to $4,000. To
this Icorsehted on behalf of our house, MIR.
| O Brien then drew up the same kind of con-
tract as he had made before. cutting off all our
rights in the contract with the $4,000 for
felt clause added to the end. This was not
what had agreed to, and I asked for time
to study their contract and consult my
lawyer. This was reluctantly granted, and
found that the former part of this tricky con-
tract made the latter void. Yesterday morn
ing at the last meeting attended, although
saw what a dead set they were making against
us, offered on our part to make the forfeit
limit $4,000, and the whole Of the Is per cent.
reserve, which was great deal more of a con-
CessiOn than Mr.. Dawson had proposed. We
also offered to hold the board harmless in case
of any damage resulting from our delay. In
fact, every concession we made to demonstrate
our good faith and our determination to COM
plete the work in time only made them pile on
something more. The treatment we received
was shameful from beginning to end. Why
they even allowed a lawyer named Eagan to
address the commission avowedly on behalf of
the defeated bidders, more than two days after
the contract had heen formally and lawfully
awarded to us, and every act of the so-called
attorney to the board was in the interest
of the defeated hidders. The attorney
O'Brien admitted that the contract he drew
was unusual. 1t had several extraordinary
points besides those you have heard about
The first contract made the city engineer the
judge of the work, and the O'Brien cut-throat
affair made the board of commissioners, who
are not experts, placing us wholly at the rner-
, cy of the vote of any one Of them.
we were approached continued Mr.. Bent
t ley, "twice-the night Of the 9Th and the nigh,
of the 9th, by the same parties who have sine,
got the contract, and solicited to throw up ou
contract and go in with them on the long time
contract. But that wasn't our way of doing
! business. If we hadn't supposed we should
receive fair treatment in st. Paul we SHOULD
never have gone there.
'Why, while O'Brien. the lawyer, was doctor
: ing his contract in the presence of the com
S missioners, brother of o. Bren, the contract
D or, handed him slip of paper suggesting tina
! by the 9Th of each month, the boart
: should proceed to do SO out of the Is pc
cent. reserve. This although we were not t.
! be paid ourselves until that date each month
And this amendment, which was incorporated
into the O'Brien contract, was in the hand o
Contractor OBrien on that slip of paper
, Reporter-Do you charge anything NOR
> against the board than local partially?
Mr.. Bentley allege no corruption. 1 hav
q reason to suspect there was one member VIII
: was capable of it, but say nothing on tina
! head. We do, however, think that the Who'll
board were made the instruments of local fee
! ing through sharp lawyer to act with vacilla
: ton and unfairness, and in a manner unworth
! of them.
: but we can stand it. Mr.. Dawson is mayor
and he wants to be mayor again, think. and
. guess he will be- added the senior gentleman