The Portland daily press., 1886-03-09
NORFOLK NAVY YARD.
Commander Truxton's Reply to Mr.
BouteIIe's Resolution.
A General Denial of the Charges
Therein Contained.
Mr. BouteiIe Says the letter Is a
Remarkably Weak Confession

WASHINGTON, March S.--The Secretary
of the Navy, in reply to the reSolutlon OF
Mr. Boutelle adopted January I'D, today
transmitted to the House letter from COM
modore TruXton, ,eommandant OF the Nortolk
navy yard in which the latter says:
In answer to the first statement | respectfully
say that there never were any honorable IN
scriptions upon any cannon captured by the
by my order. In fact no such obllteration has at
any time taken place Exposure from the weather
tions placed thereon but they were renewed by
my order last June and are now plainly visible.
Then follows list of the guns and the in
scriptions on them.
Second-.The dry dock was never destroyed. 1t
was partially damaged by the United States
forces when they evacuated the yard in 1851, and
also by the Confederates when they evacuated
the yard in 1862, but in neither case did the dam
age exceed the destruction OF easson ana 1ne rs
manned intact as it now appears today, and
therefore the dry dock was never rebuilt
The only inscription ever authorized to be
placed on the dry dock or ever was on the dry
Cock is still there. Therefore the tablet REFER ed
to in the resolution. never having been on thesdry
On the pumping engine located in a brick
building $50 feet from the dry dock plate con-
tanning the inscription, 'Built by Messs.; Woodruff
& Beach, machinists and engineers, Hartford,
Ct," was removed and in its place another substi-
tuted inscribed thereon, Destroyed by the rebels
in 1862; rebuilt by the United States government
in 1868. J. w. Livingstone, commandant; w. H.
Lyons suDerintendent of machinery" / searched
the records in this Office in vain for authority for
the removal of the original plate and the SubSltu-
tion of the other, and could not find that the
change was made by any authority whatever and
/ therefore had it removed. Since the removal
of the plate referred to, Mr.. Lyons has applied
for it, stating that as he had erected it on his own
responsibility and bought and PAID for it at his
own expense, therefore it was his own private
property.
Thrd-Mr. Lyons was not superintendent of
machinery at the time of the removal of the
plate; he having been removed by me for cause on
moved some time after in May, hence he was not
removed by me for protesting against the re-
OF the plate referred to.
The letter then proceeds to explain the
causes for Lyons removal, one OF which was
that he was disloyal to his government in its
time of need and one of the evidences of his
dlsloyalty was contained in the following
card which Lyons caused to be published in
June 1861, to citizens of Norfolk in the 'Day
Book
l, Vim. II. Lyons, having been charged with
disloyalty to the Southern Confederacy, proclaim
myself as good a Southerner as any man in the
South and am doing as much to destroy the in
vaders as any man in the field and If any one will
come to the Atlantic Iron Works, l will show
them my works which are more than words and
will do all in my power to promote the indepen-
dence OF the Southern States.
(Signed) VIM. II. LYONS,
Foreman Atlantic Iron Works.
tanned in the foregoing letter does not show
as much faithfulness to the United States
government as the resolutions alege.'
Commodore TruXton then mentions that the
board of officers was selected by Secretary
Whitney to supervise and conduct the exam
ination Of candidates for the position made
vacant by the removal of Lyons, that full
notice of the examination was given, and six
mechanics attended and were examined. The
board reported that Thos. b. Carr of Balti-
Il
was appointed to the position of master
machinist by the Secretary of the Navy. The
commander declares that the efficiency and
superior work now turned out of the shop
juStifies the change made, and denies that
this navy yard is political asylum for de-
cayed politicians. Applicants are appointed.
he says, on their merits alone, and the
''officers in charge of this yard having all
been engaged on the side of the United
States in the war, have in no way diScrim-
mated against sailors and soldiers, but all
their sympathies are with them, and all the
rights and benefits belonging to them by law
and from their service to their country have
been carefully guarded and freely given
them. | think there are more Union sol
diers and sailors employed in this yard to-
day than there were on the day the present
administration came into power"
In conclusion the Commodore vigorously
defends his administration of the yard, and
asserts that to the best of his Judgment he
mas always prevented pOltlcS from DelnS the
controlling element in the yard.
Congressman Boutelle in reply to an in
quiry as to his opinion Of Commodore TruX
toms letter said no one had heard Of it at the
House of Representatives, and it was evil
IDENTIFY the intention to get it before the
public before its fallacies could be exposed.
He also said the letter was a remarkably
weak example of confession and avoidance
but principally aconfession. A very curious
coincidence, adds Mr.. Boutelle, is found in
the fact that Commaneant Truxton seems to
have caused the Inscriptions on the cannon
to be restored and organized an examining
board for appointments after the publication
last June of Congressman Brady's letter
calling attention to what was going ON at
that navy yard. Mr.. Boutelle says of this is
all the reply the secretary has to make it
will be regarded by the country as a complete
vindication of the resolution he (Mr. Bou-
telle) offered and forced through the Demo-
cratic House.