Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-23
UNDER COVER OF NIGHT.
The Reckless Work I'm the Tunnel-Mr.
Samuel IL. kendall's Statement.

Samuel r. hendaIl. one OF thc Rendall
brothers, who was engaged OH the jriekwork
Of the tunnel, and whose disclosures led to the
present investigation. has been absent from
the city, and his testimony has not been taken
by the court of inquiry. He has written out
and given to STAR reporter an interesting
statement OF his experiences in tin rann /. as
follows:
In the capacity of bricklayer 1 CO commenced
work in the spring Of 1887 at the Howard uni
yersity shaft, where worked about ten weeks.
The packing, so far as could see was built
mostly dry. Very few spaces were left over
the Key OF the arch. / worked in the same
year for few weeks at Champlain avenue
SHAFT west Lucas was both inspector and
foreman The packing done here was 80 per
cent dry, and many cavities we're left over the
arch; IN fact very little stonework was ever
carried to the roof of excavation. ! worked
probably ten weeks afterward at Cham
plain avenue east and Howard uni
Verslty shafts, when the work was sus-
pended, owing to lack of appropriation.
i was re-employed by Sub-contractor Palmer.
and commenced work at Champlain avenue
shaft June IL, of the present year. The stone
masons had the sidewalks advanced beyond the
brickwork 200 feet, and Palmer was anxious to
have the briekwork caught up. He (Palmerl
employed three bricklayers to work by day and
one at night. The day bricklayers' business
was to get as many arches TO the key az posi-
be, while the business Of the solitary brick
layer who worked at night was to key them up.
Lucas was inspector and Michael Mcnamara
was foreman for the day shift. Thos. O'Brien
was foreman and inspector for the night shift.
The day force, exclusive Of the bricklayers,
numbered about twelve laborers, three of whom
did packing. The night force consisted of
about half as many men. This night gang did
some Of the
sHoDDIEsr WORK
dime in the tunnal ratfara1 MT how
many arches the day gang built to the key, or
how much packing there was left to be done,
the night gang would always complete it On
one occasion the night gang keyed up and
packed, or pretended to have done 30, ffty-six
feet Of arch in a single night. Lucas, the
day inspector, insisted upon having good
work done, and Palmer was constantly COM
planning Of the small quantity of work done by
the day gang. He would inform the men in
bantering tones Of the large amount Of work
that the other gangs were doing, and thus in
cite them to greater exerhons. The day shift
could not do enough to please Palmer. It was
impossible to get the material into the tunnel
rapidly enough to do the amount Of work that
Palmer required. In order that the men might
have more opportunity to hurry the work, the
bricklaying force was reduced and was sent
TO Rock creek shaft. ] worked at this shaft
with another bricklayer by the name of Frank
Thompson There was no necessity for q night
gang here as the packing was easily kept up
with the brick work. The inspector was very
indifferent as to how the work should be
done. He appeared to be more satisfied
with large quantity Of shoddy work
than a small quantity Of good work.
When Sub-contractor Palmer presented him
self here he would invariably call the inspector
aside, converse with him. and then leave. Our
working orders came from the government in
spector. Between the inspector and Palmer
there seemingly existed an understanding,
which was not present or observable in the
case of the day inspector at the Champlain ave-
nue. shaft One would allow the work to be
done In a careless, reckless manner, caring
nothing for the quality of the work, having
seemingly nothing at heart excepting the inter-
ests of the sub-contractors, the one aim being
to push the work for all it was worth, let the
consequences be what they might. In this the
inspector and Palmer were great friends while
the day inspector at Champlain avenue could
not get along with Palmer. They frequently
had words about the work. remained but Q
few days at Rock creek, when / returned to
Champlain avenue. The day shift was not get
ting enough arches to the key for the night
gang to slaughter. They
WANTED MORE WORK DONE,
so was sent to assist in getting more arches
to the key. Having worked for about three
weeks, it came my turn to work nights. The
first night we completed work at II o'clock,
after working six hours. The work was done
in a reckless manner, and many places were
left unpacked- At IL O'Clock O'Brien told me
to NIL up the nights work at pointing. The
other hands, excepting two, were laid off.
These two were kept to get material ahead for
petition of this one, except one night,
when O'Brien did not come Inspec-
tor Lucas taking his place. Palmer sent
boss this night, which was the only
the inspector. After six weeks Of labor was
sent to Howard shaft. The packing at this
section was very heavy, being in the neighbor-
hood of six feet. Consequently we were in
structed to build the walls of the arch thicker,
and three rings of brick were laid to support
here, toward night Palmer came along and
informed Mike Mcnamara that it was
a pleasure for him to go to Rock
creek, as they were com pleting about three
arches a day, or AZ feet of arch. Palmer de-
manded that our gang should complete the
same amount of arch, notwithstanding the
three rings Of brick and feet of packing over
the arch Palmer came around several times
day. He knew how the work was going on.
After working few days. O'Brien, the inspec-
tor. put in charge over the day shift. the
night gang being stopped. O'Brien was the
only boss we had: Palmer came every morning
and left his orders with him (who seemed to
take more interest in the sub-contractors than
in the government he represented). Palmer
would come along and il o Brien was ON the
seafold he would call him to one side, and
they would laugh. talk and amuse each other
for hours Chief Inspector Kirlin, who had
been visiting Us about once a day, finally made
ms visits fewer, and we would not see him for
two or three DAYS at a stretch. He must have
had some idea how things were progressing
that there was
No BOSS OUTSIDE THE INSPECTOR.
and yet he left the work to the mercy Of Sub
Contractor Palmer and Inspector O'Brien.
Consequently the work was done in a reckless
manner. Now and then the dry packing was
covered up with few pals of cement and the
top of the arches were left unpacked except
that few bulkhead walls would be built here
and there OBrien was absent one day and
another inspector took his place. Palmer
turned up in the morning and heard him tell
this new inspector when Chief Kirlin would
come. On this particular day he left his orders
with Vim. Coates, a packer, owing to the alb
sence Of D Brien, his foreman. When Palmer
returned in the evening he evidently was not
pleased with the progress Of the work. No
arch had been keyed up, as the packing was
very heavy. One Of the men informed him
that the force was reduced, when Palmer ans
wered in an off-handed manner, saying there
would be less hands at work tomorrow and
much more work done. Inspector O'Brien re-
turned TO duty next day, and Palmers predic-
tlon that there would be more work done was
verified, for several arches were keyed up on
that day. Palmer was frequently present when
sham walls were built over the arches. The work
continually grew worse and things were car
ried on with high hand We had about 200 feet Of
lining to build some distance west of the shaft.
The last days work on this part was rather a