The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-06-20
NATIONAL NEWS.
important Testimony in the
Hill Investigation,
Mrs Mary Clemmer Ames Married.
The Captive indians Business
Uncertainties in New York
and Chicago, Etc.

.WAsHINGTuN, June ~. The Hill in.
yeNilga ius committee rtcouyened this
morning and General Nteimmvll wa, cross
examined u, folloSs: III YOU should take
one stone ia dnS cUllr'g and apply 1t 10
standard east which rule. under the con-
trar, through the " mole building, and that
stone should be a very large one with a
great deal Of surface cut ing,, would it not
show, as compared with smaller stone, IN
excessive cost which would be rather appa.
rent than real ~
III would not be possible to compare a
twelvc.ton pi aster wh rh required much
labor to move IT, and cost, five dollar, per
foot, with small stone requiring but H..
tie surface cutting apd costing not half so
much. -
lill-"Bul that is what the contrast cdis
for.
Witness -''Tben all | nave to say is that
there WAS not much sense in such con
tract.
Thomas stated that one element In the
contract iUr cutting and dressing was the
extreme low price lyl which rough stone
was obtained 10y the government. The
defence wished 10 show that thi, wa, one
reason for more liberal contract for cut
ilg.
Coleman said-"Wnilc it may be ,a..s.
faction for the pub ic 70 learn that the gov
Crnment In one instance did not suffer
through contract, II is certainly improper
10 admit that the government could recon-
pense losing contractor By max
| Ing another contract with him through
which the government must be the los.
err.
Thomas put Hypothetical question,
based on the assumption that u certain
number OF days were required under the
! fifteen per cent contract to cut certain stone
and ELECTED tbis reply: II would not take
the word Of any sculptor or stone cutter
who had been working under
| fifteen per cent. contract II would
not be q safe estimate to base a contract
on.
Thomas suppose he couldn't help
Coleman-"Then | would give buildings
away and be done with II. -
The witness insisted that his estimate OF
the cost OF cutting stone for the Phiadel-
! phia building was an exceedingly liberal
! one.
Coleman wished to extend the inquiry to
contracts for the public buildings at Bos-
ton, ST, Louis and Cincinnati, but Thomas
! lfnmtulAlelS oOJeCleu 10 gong
into another branch OF Investigation
until the Philadelphia bui ding was dis
posed Of. Coleman said it would not be
fair TO take the Philadelphia COZ trtct AZ a
criterion for the Others, for they we're total
y different. He had looked over the con-
tracts for the ST, Louis and Cincinnati
buildings, and ~ a lawyer must admit he
had never seen so much cheek displayed
except in the amount Of fees taken BY the
government counsel IN the star
route cases. The prosecution
proposed 10 show not one fraud but
scores, and systematic plundering Of the
government in the erection OF public
buildings. He said in the case OF the ST..
Louis contracts il can be shown the con.
tractors were already getting greater
price for rough stone than its market value
and still in making modified contracts the
same excessive allowances were made for
dressing stone. The pros tion expected
TO prove that $50, 900 were raised AID used
in Washington TO fix these contracts in The
interests Of the contractors. II would be
useless to prove this fact unless the prose
cution be first permitted 10 show that the
government suffered hv the execution Of
these contracts.