Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-10-30
BAD TUNNEL WORK.
The Military Court Of Inquiry Taking
Testimony,


THOMAS LUCAS THE FIRST wrrxrss-ms sus-
PIGEONS AROUSED n FAST woRK-roo MUCH
DONE TO BR WELL poxH-How uu pEuox-
STRANGE WAS Hrr-rHRKATs TO THROW HIN
OUT.
The fifth days work Of the military court Of
inquiry, in session at the War Department, to
investigate the squeduct-tunnel frauds, was
begun promptly at 10 o'clock this morning.
All the members Of the court were present.
and the sofa on the side Of the room was filed
with witnesses who had been summoned to sp-
pear.
THOMAS LUCAS THE FIRST WITNESS.
Thomas Lucas was first sworn by the re-
corder and took a seat at the end Of the long
table, opposite the president of the court.
George and William Kendall and Super
intendent Clark were asked to retire
into the room beyond the Office of
the chief clerk during the examination
of the other witnesses. Before Lucas exami-
nation was begun Lawyer Perry arrived with a
notebook. but explained to the recorder that
in view of the courts decision on his motion of
Friday he wss present only as q spectator.
Lucas affidavit was produced, and at the same
time Lieut. Townsend in full uniform entered
and took a seat with the other witnesses. Luz
cas- then acknowledged that he was the author
of the affidavit that had been read before the
court
LUCAS TELLS WHAT HE KNOWS OF THE TUNNEL
LINING.
Gen. Ruger asked the witness to give an ac-
count Of the method of the construction of the
lining Of the tunnel. He said he began work
in November, 1887, on the lining Of the shaft at
the east end under the first contract After
that he was set TO work on the lining of the
tunnel, which was to be lined only in places
w hara had Ia h,o r. l,-xx
packing was used without cement. All the
work under the first contract was dry packing
except In the shaft.
THE WORK UNDER THE FIRST TWO CONTRACTS.
Lucas testimony did not develop any bad
conditions in the work under either Of the first
two contracts. In some places the work under
theeecond contract, under his inspection was
neglected He made stir about it among the
workmen, and they began to use more mortar
He made no reports to Kirlin, the chief in
spector under the second contract, as the work
seemed to be going on smoothly. As far as he
saw the work about the keying was done WELL
He did not know Of any cavities in his work,
but it had been said that there were SUCH
although he had never seen any of them.
WORK UNDER THE LAST CONTRACT.
General Ruger then brought the witness
down to the time to which his affidavit refers,
the work under the last contract Lucas testi-
fed that he began work may Is, 1888, in sec
ton about LOO feet east Of the Rock Creek
shaft, remaining there until the retaining walls
were under way. On the 10Th of May being
relieved by Inspector Mcnamara, he was sent
to the Champlain avenue heading. The work
in this portion was done entirely according to
specifications. The bricks, mortar; and work.
manship were all good; the stone packing was
in cement and properly done. He found that
the work under the night inspector, O'Brien,
was greater than under him (Lucas) although
OBrien had a smaller force and less time.
O'Brien was put on because not enough work
was being done under Lucas. O'Brien in
spected the packing from the launches up
The brick-work was driven much faster than
the packing. The keying and packing over the
key was done at night. Lucas work finally be-
came so pressing that he had an additional in
spector (Woodward) appointed. Finally
HE BEGAN TO SUSPECT
that the work was being pushed faster than it
should, and got man at the cement house to
drop brick every time barrel of cement
went down the shaft. In the morning there
were six bricks, and he found by measurement
that 40 yards of masonry had been laid. 1t had
the appearance of being good solid work. On
discovering this Lucas made an open protest
and when Palmer, the sub-contractor, came up
the workmen told him and he became very
angry. When kirlin came around Palmer
went to meet him and told him what had hap
pened. Kirlin then took Lucas up the tunnel
and had long conversation about the matter,
Lucas telling him that he was satisfied that the
work was being badly DONE Kirlin then told
him that all he had to do was to look after his
own work. On the Saturday night following
kirlin asked him to 60 down into the tunnel to
look at U Brlens work. He did so and saw two
men standing on the bay and throwing stones
into the space above the keying. He made a
remonstrance and the workmen said that they
would do the same thing if Kirlin were there.
o'BRIEN THREATENED TO THROW LUCAS OUT OF
THE TUNNEL
by the neck, and Lucas left the place. The
next morning he found the work all keyed up.
On Monday he told Kirlin about it, and the lat
ter ignored it. Palmer told Lucas that Kirlin
had sent him down that night to let him see
that the work was good. To do the work prop
erly man could do cubic yards in night.
Two men could work at one time, so that IA