Omaha daily bee., 1885-08-18

supervlse the work daily, and Shelton, fol
some reasons Of his own, made radical de.
pArtures from Mr.. Cooks plans, and pro.
ceeded in this manner until in March, 1881
when proposition was made t. me ~ assume
the engine ering charge of ths construction oil
the works, which l did on March 10.
found the work in very bad condition, and
much Of it in such shape that it had TO be
done over again. 1t seems as II Shelton had
but one policy, and that was 20 build the
works IS shabbily as possible, and to have them
look well on the surface, and as my only de.
g ire was to protect the interests of the other
stockbolders, and secure thebsst possible con-
structiou, there arose immt diasely a consider
able difference between us, and from July,
1881, until severed my connection with the
works, In July, 1882, Shelton did everything
in his power to defeat my efforts and prevent
the work from being properly executed, so
that it was not not long before our feelings
were anything but friendly towaru each other.
AS the work neared completion, Mr.. Shell
ton endeavored to entrap me into public ap-
prevail in one of the most prominent engI-
neering papers of this country, of false and
exaggerated statements concerning the fnan-
cial condition of the company and the cost of
the works. He failed entirely, and exposed
his duplicity, and from that time until the
present, there has been war batween US, and
Shelton has never neglected an opportunity
to do all he could TO defeat me in all my busi-
ness undertakings, but without success.
He has written many mean, insinuating 9
letters, making all manner of false ct arges to
such parties as he thought he could influence
against me, and has, / understand, even
made personal visits to the places where 1
have been employed on engineering work, to
endeavor TO influence public opinion against
me, until the fact that our relations arc not
very friendly and cordial ones is perfectly well
known to every persCn at all prominent as an
engineer or contractor for work connected with
the construction of city water works,
As have said above, it is easy for you or
any ore who cares to inquire into the m after,
to verify my statements, and it is beyond my
comprehension why any person, except for
malicious reasons, could accuse me of being in
collusion with such n man. and under such
circumstances. Neither Shelton nor any
person associated with him, has ever, in any
way, had any direct or indirect connection
with or interest in any engineering OK contract
work intrusted to me since | severed my con-
nection with the Omaha Waterworks Uo, ex.
ceps as / have said above, in mean and under
handed Efforts to defeat my objects, and pre-
vent the success of my work,
The charge in your paper that the cost of
the works was increased, by my mismanage-
ment, come $4,000 more than it should have
been, is false, the fac. being that much uu-
necessary expense was caused by the outrage
oualy bad work which was done under Shell
tons management, and the purchase of
faulty machinery before assumed charge of
the work, but the amount was not 50 great as
you state
Your reference to my connection with the
United States government work of river i'm
provement at Omaha, would indicate a lack
of consistency on your part. You seem to
forget that for several monthF, while Mr..
Boehmer was 10 charge of the work, you eel
dom issued Apaper which did not contain
charges against him, often 30 extensive as to
fill several columns of your paper, and you
took great pride in feeling that you were the
cause of his being removed. You also forgot
that l was sent to superceie Mr.. Boehmer in
the spring of 1879, after having
charge of the work at Atchison
and elsewhere along the Missouri and
Mississippi rivers, and during the three years
that | lived in Omaha you never once med
toned my name in your paper in such man
ner that 1 had any desire or thought of taking
exceptions to it. Iresigned my position as
government engineer solely for the purpose of
engaging in manufacturing in Omaha, and
disposed of my interest in those works nearly
three years ago.
! trust that you will be fair enough to print
this communication in at least as prominent a
place and manner as the one from Lincoln
which you printed on the Sth and 9th insts
Truly yours, CHESTER 3. DAVIS.