Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-21

TRACTOR BEcKwIrH NOT CERTAIN wHErHnu
| HE WILL MAKE ANY PROFIT ON TIVE WORK.
| The tunnel court took some more testimon,
| at the War department to-day and added &c
| the now enormous record that has accumulated
Proceedings we're begun at 1920 o'clock. Gen,
Ruger announced to the court that he had re.
ceived communication from the Adiutant.
General to the affect that Lieut.. Davis would
be absent for some time and that Lieut.. H. r.
Lemly, of the third artillery, would act as re.
corder Of the court temporarily. Lieut.. Lemly
was then sworn and the first witness of the day
Daniel Griffin. was called.
A MORTAR MIXERS TESTIMONY.
He said that he was laborer and lived in
Alexandria, having been engaged at the aque-
duct tunnel extension on top, as a mortar
mixer, at the Champlain avenue shaft. He
worked from November, 1886, to the spring OF
1887. Mr.. Emory employed him and he re-
ceived his orders from him as to how TO mix
the mortar; He had an empty barrel and a
and then spread two sacks of cement over the
top, afterward putting on another barrel OF
sand and then mixing it thoroughly. At first
he put in sixteen shovelfuls of sand for bar
rel but in about week he was
told to use a barrel for measure.
After that he never varied his process. Col.
kirln often stood around and watched him.
From IL to IL carloads OF mortar were used in
a day: Two sacks Of cement would about fill a
barrel, but varied a little each day. Witness
used to report to the foreman the number Of
sacks OF cement received at the shaft in a
wagon. and tailed the number of sacks used by
marking with piece Of chalk. Mr. Lucas was
the foreman.
DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER LUCAS WAS EMPLOYED BY
THE GOVERNMENT OR BY THE CONTRACTORS
Col. Hodges asked the witness how Ike knew
that Mr.. Lucas was the foreman. Griffin said
that he did not know, except that Mr. Lucas
told him to keep tally. He did not know
whether Mr.. Lucas represented the govern
ment or the contractors. Sometimes he gave
the report of how many wagon-loads were re-
ceived to MIR. Lucas and sometimes to Mr.
Emory. When asked by Gen. Ruger who told
HIM to do this the witness hesitated and finally
said that Mr.. Emory told him.
The witness also handled the bricks at the
top of the shaft, and when he came across soft
ones he would throw them out, according to
instructions from Col. Kirlin, who examined
the wagon loads. He has heard few COM
plants from the workmen that the mortar was
not well mixed. This happened when the sand
was wet, In which case the cement could not be
well mixed in. The witness was then dis
charged.
CONTRACTOR BEcKwIrH EXAMINED.
Clinton Beckwith, the senior member of the
firm OF contractors on the tunnel extension,
was next called to the stand. He said that his
firm sunk the shafts and the rest of the work
was sublet. He was not certain as to whether
the contract gave permission to sublet the
work, but had no doubt as to the legality of
the act. The witness said that while he was in
the city he went into the tunnel every day.
General Kruger asked good many questions
about the method Of inspecting the bricks on
top, but discovered about the same state of
things that Griffin had mentioned
The general seemed to be endeavoring to get
Mr.. Beckwlth to tell him to what extent and bv
whom the firm was represented at the work
Frequent Misunderstanding delayed this line
OF investigation somewhat, but the fact finally
appeared that in each shaft there was a man
employed whose duty it was to keep an eye out
for the interests of the main contractors. exer-
cising supervision of the sub-contractors'
workmen. Mr.. Beckwith said that he made q
point OF visiting each heading at least once q
day, but did not have any regular time for his
visits. He had
NEVER SEEN ANY SIGNS OF BAD WORK.
either in the brick lining or the packing.
There were innumerable little matters that at
tracted his attention at times as needing cor
rection, and he always called the shaft superin-
tendents attention to them.
General Ruger asked Mr.. Beckwith if he had
ever paid any OF the inspectors any money and
the reply was promptly given in the negative.
Witness said that he did not know LaniRan,
Once or twice Mr.. Quackenbush would send
word over to the witness in New York that
there was a scarcity of a certain class Of work.
meu, and he then sent over some men, q fore
man and about six drill men.
QUESTIONED AZ TO BAD WORK.
"Are you aware that there has been bad
work done in the tunnel?' asked Gen. Ruger.
Il have heard So" was the reply.
How do you account for it?''
1T must have been done by the men from q
desire to slight their work. II the workman
was honest and wanted to do his duty the work
could be done properly without any Doubt
III the foreman did his duty could any con-
siderable cavity occur?'
Not if he stood over the men all the time
was the answer
If an inspector did his duty could such bad
work be done?" came the question az ain.
No, sir, replied the contractor
when you were relieved of the actual work
IN the tunnel by the sub-contractors, did YOU
consider that you were relieved of the respon-
sibility?' asked Col. Hodges.
No: sir; but felt that was relieved of
good deal of care"
1t was ELECTED that the men sent over from
New York had been employed on the New York
aqueduct. and had been employed by the con-
tractors, but were at the time out of work.
Ihe witness said upon examination by Col
Craighill. that he thought that the sub-con-
tractors received a fair proportion of the
amount paid By the government
Gen. Ringer then spent some time to learn
the extent of Mr.. Beckwith's experience. and
learned that he built about 1GOO feet of similar
work to that in the tunnel here in Boston. In
reply to Capt. Chester, witness said that the
foremen were instructed to see that the work
was done to the satisfaction of the governments
inspectors and engineers.
LETTER IN THE CASE
Capt. Chester handed Mr. Beckwith letter
and asked him if he recognized it. The wit
ness said that he never had seen it, but that
Mr.. Quackepbush may have written it.
Capt. Chester explained that the letter had
no date, and was in reply to letter that had
already been introduced before the court but
that he could find no one to identify it.
DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER HE WOULD MAKE ANY
PROFIT OR NOT.
Gen. Ruger then asked. saying that Mr.. Beck
with could answer or not, as he pleased, whether
there would be a margin of profit to his firm on
this work. Witness replied that he could not
tell now whether there would be margin or not.
III don't look very encouraging now. how
ever, be remarked. ''The work Is being done
on very close figures, and hoped to come out
with margin"
BROKEN ENGLISH.
Theodore Harbeck succeeded Mr. Beckwith
ON the stand. He spoke broken English of q
very poor sort, and said that he could not
swear, SO he affirmed that he would tell the
truth. He confessed to being bricklayer and
TO having worked on the tunnel at Foundry
branch and Rock creek Hia tast;,,nn,, No., "a