The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-04-18
ARCHITECT HILL.
Statement of the Charges Against
Him.
The Committee Ready to begin the In
yestigati0n.

WASHINGTON, April 1.-THE charges pre-
ferred by ex-Congressman Murch we're made
public today for the first time. The papers are
drawn up In legal form and are quite voinmih-
Gus, The charges are classed under hve amer
ent heads.
First-General charges OF corruption, fraud
and extravaganza against ring IN the5 ar
ohitect's office, composed OF assistant secretary
French, architect Hill, assistant architect
Jacobs A. @. Thomson, NJ. II. Powers, u; I.
Little, Cannon, Church, Jordan, Bartlett hoI-
bins y Co., aud others.
second-That Hill corruptly administers the
patronage of his office against the interest OF
the United States.
Third-That contractors known to bo guilty
OF fraud are especially favored BY the super.
yising architect having been largely over paid
by many thousands OF dollars and otherwise
oorruptly benefited.
Fourth--That unskilled aud incompetent
persons are knowingly employed in inc aren't
tects office and paid at rates due competent
persons and were paid who hold sinecafss ana
do other work for which they are paid,
Fifth-That contracts have been let ~ viola
uon OF the law TO percons not the lowest Did
ders, and that price3 have been paid Tor labor
and material known to have been extortionate
and excessive, that vouchers have been paid
for labor and materials never furnished, and
thMt vouchers, bids and contracts have been
unlawfnlly and eorruptly altered 10 the advan-
tage and benefit Of contractors.
Among the contractors alleged to have been
improperly favored are Cape Ann Granite CO..
Dix Island Granite Co., Bodwell Granite Co..
Hurricane Island Granite Co., Old Dominion
Co.. the Wesham Granite Co., Collins Gran
ite Co., Clarke Island Granite Co., and Bart
lett Robbins u Co.
One OF the specifications alleges that persons
named in the ''Ring" and their associates ex-
acted fees, commissions, percentages, presents,
shares etc, from contractors. Another speci-
cation is that employees In the office used the
hgovernment time aud materials in the design
ing and construction OF private dwellings
Among the witnesses named are Secretary
Folger, Senator Dawes. A. B.sMullett, w. q.
Steinmetz, i. III. oaksholt. j. NJ Wilbur, Jos
eph Worms, j. w. Barton, Michael Giblin, T.
L. James and I. H. Murch
The charges preferred by Whitall, Talnm II
Co, Of Philadelphia, relate to the contract for
furnishing iron shutters for the custom house
nc Cincinnati. They allege that bids for this
work were opened December lith, 1882 There
we're four bidders. The lowest bid was S124,-
COB, made by Manley Il Cooper Of Philadel-
phia; the next lowestiwas. . lag $40 made by the
United States Fire Proof Shutter Co. of Bos-
ton. The agent of the latter company demand
cd fire test which was thereupon ordered by tho
supervising architect. Pending the test the
Philadelphia company were approached by the
agent OF the Boston company and offered
brihe of S45C0 TO withdraw tffsir bid, being as
sured they would not lose standing in the sur
eryising architects Office by SO doing. The
supervising architect was subsequently otiicial-
~ notified OF this transaction. a contract was
however awarded to the Boston company not
withstanding their bid was S2i 600 in excess Of
that ofthe Philadelphia company. The Phil
adelphia company further state they have cred
ible information that no fire test OF any kind
was actually made OF the shutters, and that
the shutters submitted by the Boston company
did not answer the description Of the specfica-
tions or supervising architects requirements
subsequently determined upon. Eleven charges
preferred against Hill by A. d. Millett, forih-
erly supervising architect have also been refer
red to the special committee. These charges
alleged general mismanagcment ON the part OF
Hill in connection with the post office ut Phila-
deiphia and custom house at Chicago. Mul-
let's allegations cover period OF time dating
back to his own administration.
The special committee which was APP
pointed to investigate the charges
against Supervising Architect Hill met In the
Treasury Department this morning and
mapped out plan OF procedure. IL was de-
cided to conduct the investigation with open
doors daily between 10 q. m. and p. m