Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-30
MAJOR LYDECKER A WITNESS.
What He Knows and Doesn't Know
About Bad Tunnel Work.

What He Knows and Doesn't Know
About Bad Tunnel Work.
HIS EXAMINATION By THK MILITIA COURT OF
INQUIRY ro-DAY-HIs CONNECTION WITH TIL
ruNSKL-Too BUSY TO VISIT IT orrHN--HAD NC
OFFICIAL KNOWLEDGE OF sub-coxrRAcrs.
Major Garrett J. Lydecker, having taken ad-
vantage Of Thanksgiving to recuperate from
the fatigue resulting from his examination BY
the congressional joint committee, appeared
to-day before the military court Of inquiry
meeting at the War department, to investigate
the bad work in the aqueduct tunnel He wal
somewhat late in arriving, and the court was
forced to wait for about ten minutes. He
| entered the room at 20 minutes before II
O'Clock in full uniform, carrying his sword in
his hand, and was Immediately sworn by the
recorder.
In reply to Gen. Ruger the major said tina,
his assignment to the aqueduct work was dated
sometime during the summer Of 1882. At thii
tlme ne was Engineer Commissioner Of the Dis
trict. His duty as Commissioner had no con-
nection with the aqueduct, and he was relieved
from this duty May l, 1885. The two duties
monopolized the entire time at his disposal
but in his opinion the work Of each would dc
the same.
AS TO SUPERVISION OF THE AQuKDUCr WORK.
As general manager Of the project Of in
creasing the water supply, Major Lydecker
said he had constantly under consideration
certain plans to advance the work, and among
other things took the best means in his power
to secure an intelligent supervision of the
work. Under the first contract, fall of 1888
he Immediately applied for an assistant on the
squeduct operations. and Capt. Symons was Or
darpd n for hot dntv 10 ANTI "a
once into consultation with Capt. Hoxie,
then Major Lydecker's assistant in the
District Offices. He was soon afterward given
charge Of the work as supervising engineer.
witness gave no written orders to Capt. Sy-
mons. All Of his instructions have been the
result Of personal observation and consulta-
tons. Capt. Symons forwarded the daily re-
ports from the work to him, and he made il q
point to examine them personally.
Mr.. Coryell was on the work about q year
before Lieut. Townsend came as assistant
When the latter reported he was given SUBJ
ssantially the same instructions those given
to Capt. Symons.
THE CHANGE IN THE SPECIFICATIONS
calling for 'stonemasons" as packers was made
because Major Lydecker thought they should
be such, and was not prompted by any suspi-
cion that bad work was being done. Capt.
Symons never reported any bad work, al
though he complained two or three times of
small matters Of no consequence. Mr.. Coryell
once reported a bad joint between two sec
tions OF brick work, and upon examination the
witness came to the conclusion that it was not
bad job and that the complaint was the re-
suit of
BAD FEELING BETWEEN CoRYELL AND KERLIN.
In the latter part Of June, this year, Lieut..
Townsend reported finding hole about 40
feet long in the packing and complaint was
made to the contractors, who caused the hole
TO be filled up. The inspector was discharged.
Lieut.. Townsend from time to time recon-
mended various increases in the force, looking
to more efficient supervision, which were APP
proved and followed.
THE DUTIES OF INSPECTORS.
When o new inspector reported he would be
instructed by Lieut.. Townsend to report to the
supervising inspector, who instructed him and
gave him work. The supervising inspectors
duty was to exercise a general supervision Of
the work and to instruct and to oversee the
work Of the inspectors under him. There
were three grades Of inspectors: One super
wishing inspector, two inspectors, and number
Of sub-inspectors. The details for the
method of laying the stone in the pack
the instructions were that the stone should be
packed as solidly as possible by hand. There
has never been any complaint made that the
working parties in the tunnel were improperly
organized, the major said. There was but one
rule adopted to be followed in making the ex-
cavations-that just enough rock should be re-
moved to allow the construction of the brick
arch. The major said that he had no knowl-
edge or recollection of any recommendation
by MIR. Coryeli for the discharge of men from
the work He then explained, at Gen. Ruger's
request, the difficulty that had been encoun-
tered.
AT THE "cBow NEST"
and the means adopted to cure the evil. As
this story had been told several times, it
seemed as though the court were endeavoring to
obtain test of Major Lydecker's familiarity
with the work.
Gen. Ruger then called for the record, aud
spent some time reading over Coryells testi-
mony. asking Major Lydecker about his recol-
lection as to the statement by Coryel that he had
TO which he received no reply. The witness
said that he had no remembrance Of any such
event. 1t was a rule to reply to all reports
either verbally or by letter The major said
that he could not tell how often he had been
down in the tunnel; he descended the shaft
whenever there was any feature of the work
that seemed TO require personal inspection.
MAJOR LYDEcKKR FAVORED DAY LABOR INSTEAD OF
THE CONTRACT SYSTEM.
II think that one Of the strongest troubles
about the whole work, ;" said the major. was
that it was done by contract instead Of day la
Dor. made recommendation to the chief Of
engineers that the latter method should be en-
ployed. / think it would have been much bet
ter to concentrate the responsibility for the
work upon one set Of men,"
WAS it ever question with you that you
had a sufficient assstsnce?" asked Gen. Ruger
mo, always considered that had q suffi-
cient assistance in the work.
.What'were the general qualifications Of the
sub-inspectOrs?"
I'VE usually inquired around for men who
would make vigilant inspectors, without special
regard TO whether or not they we're stone
masons. We had to seek out these men"
The major said that he fixed the pay Of sub
inspectors himself, and no question was ever
raised, to him, that the pay was too small He
considered that all of the working time of the
inspectors belonged to the government. In ex-
amlning the work lately, said the major, he
had discovered that the mortar used was gen.
orally good. In places too little mortar was
used, but in other places there was too much
mortar. In his opinion the bad work could
have been done even with the greatest vigil
lance of the inspection force. He did not re-
collect the circumstances under which Mr.
OBrien was employed. The continuance of
this man on the work after the first bad work
had been discovered had been do ne with his
approval. Such an occurrence should have
appeared in Col. Kerlin's daily report
WHY HE DID NOT VISIT THE WORK oFrKNKR
II could not have made frequent visits to the
tunnel" said the major to Capt. Chester,
without seriously neglecting my other work. +"
KNEW NOTHING OFFICIALLY ABOUT sUB-coN-
TRACTORS.
To General Ruger he said that he knew abso-