Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-16
TUNNEL DISCLOSURES.
Another Exciting Day I'm the Military
Court of Inquiry.

| SENSATIONAL TESTIMONY OF sUD-coNTRAcToR
PALMER - HE SAYS srHAr INSPECTOR LUCAS
MADE CORRUPT PROPOSALS TO HM-How THEY
MIGHT MAKE MONEY BY FRAUDS IN THE
woRK-LUCAs AND o'BRIEN THE oNIY IN
sPEcToRs PAID By THE CONTRACTORS.
| The investigation, by military court of in
quiry, as to the responsibility for faulty work
at the War department.
TESTIMONY or sUB-coNTRAoToR PALMER.
The first witness was Sub-contractor John F.
Palmer. He said he was fully acquainted with
all the details Of the specifications and he did
his best to carry out the requirements. Twice,
however, he had discovered faulty work, once
at Rock creek and again at Foundry branch.
This he had torn out and reconstructed prop
| erly. Witness said be had placed implicit
confidence in his foremen and never supposed
that they were neglecting their duty. He was
particularly anxious to have the work properly
| done. Mr.. Quackenbush had
WARNED HIM AGAINST ''sHopDY'' WORK,
and on one occasion told witness that he did
not want any New York work on this tunnel"
Witness said he was continually in the tunnel.
Since the time when he was first connected
with the tunnel he had only been absent one
working day. he had not, he confessed, ex-
amined the work very closely, because he
| trusted his foremen. Witness denied most
strenuousy the allegation made by ex-Foreman
Frank B. Thompson to the effect that he Pal-
| ner) compelled the workmen to build three
centers each day. There was no fixed amount
of work for each gang Of men. Witness fire.
quently got on the scaffold where the brick
| layers and packers were at work, but he
NEVER SAW ANY BAD WORK.
Witness was somewhat uncertain as to
whether or not he had given orders to hurry
| the work. He might, he said, have expressed
which he thought ought to be done each day,
but that was all. He gave very strict orders as
to the quality Of the work; it was to be solid
| and good
General Ruger then examined the witness
at considerable length on the subject of en-
ploying government sub-inspectors as foremen
! and tine-keepers. Palmer admitted that he
had recompensed inspectors for work done
| after regular hours The only inspectors SO
| paid were Lucas and O'Brien and the only duty
| they performed was that of time-keeping; they
| were not foremen.
! Witness said that his understanding Of the
specifications was such that he felt at liberty to
engage men who were not practical masons to
| do the packing work. He had discussed the
| matter with Chief Inspector Kerlin, and they
had agreed that skilled masons were neither
| necessary nor were they demanded by the
| specifications. Witness employed men who
had done what was considered to be fair
masonry work, but they were not experts.
DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE SPECIFICATIONS.
Gen. Ruger handed the witness a copy of the
specifications, and after reading them, Palmer
said: "These may be the same az those 1 saw
before our work began, but they read differ
emily now" Witness said he had conversed
with Mr.. Quackenbush on the question Of un-
| skilled men as packers and Mr.. Quackenbush
was Of opinion that skilled labor was not neces-
| sary.
| AS TO THE MOTIVE OF TIE KENDALL BROTHERS.
| In answer to question by Col. Craighill as
to what motive the Kendall Brothers had for
making the af1idavits on which the investiga-
| ton was based, witness said he could not
| understand why they should have acted as
they did. He had always treated the Kendalls
| well: They had, he was satisfied, done as
much as any of the others to conceal from wit
ness the bad work. They knew Of witness
coming and going and said nothing. Witness
inclined to the belief that if there had been an
| orgarized conspiracy to ruin him it could not
A.. ,e been more successfully carried on
Gen. Ruger quieted the witness at this point
and called his attention to the fact that two of
| the Kendall Brothers were in the room at the
| time.
INSPECTOR LUCAS ON THE PACKING QUESTION.
Cross-examined by Capt. Chester, witness
said that Inspector Lucas had told him that the
| packing above the arch was waste of material;
| it was unnecessary. Lucas had told witness at
one time that if he Uucas) was the only in
| spector in the tunnel he would make some
money for him. At the request of Lucas wit
ness employed Lucas grandson as a messenger
! in the tunnel, at 80 cents day. Lucas COM
| planned at the smallness of the boys remuner-
alton, and said that 1t was a very little in view
OF the valuable services which he (Lucas) was
| rendering.
INSPECTOR LUCAS ON THE CEMENT QUESTION.
Witness had q conversation with Lucas as to
the quantity Of cement necessary. About sew
enty barrels day were used and Lucas sug-
gested to witness that he get the cement and
sand contract from Beckwith d Quackenbush.
cement supply he would do the work With
| twenty barrels a day; ''that," said Lucas,
''wOuld be $50 day in your pocket" Witness
| said that was out Of the question. A day or two
| after the conversation on cement witness dis
charged Lucas grandson, and at noon of that
day witness and Lucas met on the surface
| Lucas said to him. ''You have dismissed the
boy?" Witness said, Eyes; he was impudent
and disagreeable." Lucas then said, 'John
I'm
aorNG TO SQUEEZE YOU"
Shortly after that Lucas recommended a
man named Nrenn aS a SOOO packer. Lucas
told me-" said the witness, 'that Wrenn was a
first-rate packer and one of the smartest cheats
| ever in a tunnel, but he will cost You S3 or
SO. SO day."
Witness replied, "If he is good packer
want him. but will pay him no more than
value for me-"
Witness said that Lucas endeavored at one
time to run the arch past close place with
only single ring Of brick Witness refused to
be party to the fraud, but Lucas ordered the
single ring to be put in. Col. Kerlin, however,
discovered it and he
REPRIMANDED LUCAs SEVERELY.
Lucas told witness afterward that if they
could only get Inspector Woodward out of the
way-send him over to Rock creek-he Nucas)
would ''skin" that one ring through anyhow and
thus beat the colonel. Witness reported Lucas
conduct to Col. Kerlin and said then that matters
had arrived at point where he would conceal
them no longer. He wanted Lucas removed
from the tunnel. He never gave any presents
to government inspectors. He was of the opin-
ion that Lucas wanted to make some money out
of him.
Lieut.. Townsend asked witness if he knew
of Lucas being bribed, but the court objected
to the question, it was too broad.
LUCAS PAID FIFTY CENTS AN HOUR.
Capt Chester modified it and the witness re-
piled by stating that Lucas was paid 50 cents
an hour for work done in the tunnel other than
that paid for by the government.
At 1905 the court took q recess until l:3O,
and <horo hair No, nj rvvi&n ~