Evening journal., 1888-10-01
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
A Member of Council Has His House Lit
up. your Money or Your Life" De-
manded on the Gas Company.

A Member of Council Has His House Lit
up. your Money or Your Life" De-
manded of the Gas Company.
The fight in Council over the awarding
OF the contract for lighting the City Hall,
city auditor, city treasurer and tax Offices
is developing some curious features. Two
years ago the lighting Of the buildings
was taken away from the gas company
and given to the electric light company
for 81, 0O0 The city at that time was
paying the gas company an average Of
about $500 for the service rendered The
amount was made so high by waste, fre
quent meetings Of Council and of com
mttees aud the making of the city offices
the political headquarters. The
contract for lighting the building was
renewed year ago to the Electric Com
pany. Two weeks ago Mr.. Dillin of the
Fourth ward made q motion in Council
that the contract be again awarded to
the Electric Company. Mr. Quinn S
amended motion, namely, that the two
companies be asked for bids for the work
was passed, however. The Electric Light
Company's bill for the past year had been
81, l70 and this amount struck several Of
the members of Council as being very
high. Accordingly bids were asked
The Electric Company handed bids 60
Clerk Messick and the Gas Company gave
theirs 10 Mr.. Quinn. Both Of these gen
tlemen then handed the bids TO the chair
man Of the Building Committee. The
committee met on Wednesday evening
and tho bids were then opened That
same evening both companies learned
what the others bid was. This in itself
is said TO be contrary TO what has been
the custom for years in the city. Bids
for any work that exceed $50 must be
made by contract and when they are re-
ceived they are deposited in the box in
the council. thus preventing the oppor-
tunity Of bidders from securing any ad-
vantage over each other.
Mr. Dillin moved in council that the
bids be opened TO the committee with
power TO act. This was objected to and
after several cross amendments Mr.. Dill
lin discovered that the bids were unac.
companied by bonds and that they had
consequently TO be returned to the com
mittee TO secure the bonds
Now, the officers of the gas company
say that the way they had was Just the
way they had been requested and if there
was any irregularty in il, it was not
their fault. Their bid was ST. 25 per foot
with a guarantee that at that rate it
should not cost the city over $725 year
to light the buildings They further
agreed to place the fixtures in good order,
and place a lamp in front Of the City
Hall, and fixtures not to exceed in
cost $50 in the police headquarters The
company further said that if economy
was used the gas could be furnished at a
much smaller sum. 1t is said by those
in a position to know that the total cost
Of gas should not exceed $400 year
-Four Of the largest buildings in this city
together do not consume more than that
amount of gas, and only the police do
partment uses much gas at night.
Some of the members of Council de-
sire to give the control to the electric
company at any cost, and already their
zeal is giving rise to some very ugly
rumors. II was asserted this morning by
a gentleman in position to know, that
one of the members of Council has his
house Lit from top to bottom with elec
trio light without any cost 10 himself
In the course Of a week or so full devel-
opments are promised.
II is bad thing to be disappointed and
very likely the opposition to the Gas
Company is in a measure due to the re-
buff given to certain gentlemen, among
them member Of the present Council,
by the late George Richardson, president
OF the company.
Two years ago certain men, including
in their number several members Of the
Legislative Committee of City Council
met in George w. Ortlip's saloon in this
city, and decided upon novel method to
raise the wind out Of the Gas Company.
The company's charter was about to
expire and these gentlemen appointed a
committee to wait upon William L.
Elkins of Standard Oil Company fame.
and induce him to apply for charter Of
incorporation for gas company. This
was accordingly done and a bill for such
a charter was presented to the Legisla-
ture. They then appointed another com
mittee to wait upon George Richardson
"to work the.company for money. With
With sublime impudence informed him
that the Standard Company had applied
for a charter and that, if he did not hand
out the cash, they would throw their
powerful @ influence in favor of the new
company.
Mr. Richardson listened quietly to their
N'iN Vt Noo Nllu ulsdhttF tldt WAS W over
come his company, and he bowed them
out Of the door, quietly remarking "Do
your worst, gentlemen. Crestfallen
they left the room and hastened to Dover
and there exerted their powerful influence
with such good effect that the Standard
bill never saw third reading. Since
that time all manner of venganoe has
been threatened and hard things said
about the gas company. The story, how
ever became known about Dover, and it
weakened TO a large extent the city's in
terests at that session.