The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-05-08

iUII1SelI) IOr Dne DOS1b1Ol uelQ Dy OQpeTlQ-
tendent Carroll?p
''Mr. Kern asked me to-"
stAnd you voted for yourselfsn
81 did. A man don't want to lose a
chance"
Much laughter, which was quieted by
the Court
ANOTHER OF THE -FOUR ON THE STAND.
Commissioner Watt was then called
and he testified that he had not entered
into any conspiracy to defraud the city,
and that he saw Dooley, Smith and Lar
kins at work
q He understood the only trouble
with their pay roll was that it was pre-
sented to q wrong committee. He voted
for Cooks bills because he thought them
correct, and all water bills
to go to the Board of Finance.
He was present at the conference of the
Board of Finance, Mayor Corporation
Counsel and Board of Works, and that
the Mayor thought the bid should be
awarded to the highest bidder.
Do you know a man named SullivanT'
There is no such man as contractor" !"
do you know ShanleyS"
'sNo, sir"
why did not you award the contract
to Mr.. Cook?"
Because, as Mr.. Cook said, I don't
want the contract at such damned
price"
After recess Mr.. Hilliard was recalled,
and he said:-"No such man as Murray
could be foundn
''Do you know why j. H. Keeney was
not awarded the contractp
81 do not"
why was the contract awarded to
Mailley?n
Because he is competent man, and
was foreman for Swift and knew all the
business
THAT CONFERENCE.
''Were you present at the conference Of
the Board of Finance, the Mayor and the
Board of Works?"
II was
'fWhat was saids''
''The Mayor said we could give the con-
tract to the highest as well as to the low
est bidder and we thought the work
would be better done for the higher price
than the lower. The contract was not
given to Cook because he said he did not
give d-n for the contract at any
price,
This ended Mr.. Hilliard's evidence and
Patrick Sheran was called. He was once
a contractor.
What, in your judgment, is fair price
to clean the streets?n
about Sl4.or SIG When l cleaned about
two miles at one time it cost me about
S25."
Francis c. Meehan thought $50 was no
more than fair price to clean the streets
properly.
II bid for the contract s35 when propo-
sails were first wanted" said he. II did
not bid the second time because l could
not do the work for the price of the other
bidders"
Martin Finck, recalled, said the Mayor
at the conference said he would not sign
any contract at S. mile.
Ghiaf I'm uipaa1 R11pOlas tacfifiad IN tho
same, and thought the streets could not
be done for less than $50 mile. The
Mayor said he would not sign any con-
tract for an amount for which the streets
could not be properly cleaned
MR.. GARRETsoN SUMS UP.
That closed the case and ex. Judge Gar
retson began summing up. He said the
Commissioners look upon this charge as
an unjust one.
st effects every one in the community, :"
said he, land if charge has been made
citizens of this city. The Prosecu-
tor, in his opening, said he would
show that fraud had been committed in
pay rolls, but he says not a word about
Cooks bills. If the Grand Jury had
taken a little trouble to look into
this case the Indictment would not have
been found. Some men like to find fault
of the Grand Jury acted on this
impulse. This indictment is defective
and ought to charge some specification,
but in this case this is not done, and
here are six or seven charges that
the men conspired to defraud the
city. This Indictment alleges that the
Board conspired on December 8 to de-
fraud, when the contract was not awarded
until January"
He claimed that they could not be in
dicted for conspiracy, but should have
been indicted for malfeasance and that is
the only charge that would lie.
''These four men could not conspire to
defraud the city without the aid of the
Board of Finance and the Mayor. 1t is
claimed that there was an intent
to defraud the city, but to
convict the defendants you must
find that the Board of Finance and the
Mayor conspired with them, because they
concurred in the actions of these four
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