Evening journal., 1889-06-22
THAT G STREET RIDER.
COUNCILS COMMITTEE PRESENTS
ITS REPORT ON THE FRAUD.
1t Suggests That Council Should Have
the Power to Compel the Attendance
of Witnesses in Important Cases.

committee to investigate the q street |
rider. Mr. Quinn moved that the testi- |
mony heard by the committee be read Mr.
sharkey objected, asking whether the
committee had copy of the bill as
passed. Mr.. Quinn said it had. His
motion was carried and Clerk Messick
read the testimony, portions of which
have been published. The following re-
port of the investigating committee was
then read.
WILMINGTo n. June co. 1889.
To the President and Members of
Council:
GENTLEMEN: The Law Committee to
whom was referred the matter of the in
vestigation of the passage at the late
session of the General Assembly of this
state of the amendment to the so.called
rider" to Senate bill No. 154, entitled
'an act to vacate certain lands in the
city of Wilmington, beg leave to make
the following report:
The committee proceeded to request
the attendance Of certain witnesses
whose testimony was taken under oath
and reduced to writing, which, together
with the letters of certain gentlemen
directed to the clerk of the committee
absolutely refusing to be examined by
this committee touching the subject
matter under Investigation, is herewith
attached, and is the desire of your com.
mittee that the same be taken as part
of this report
1t is the opinion Of the committee, and
which we submit is fully warranted by
the testimony entirely unquestioned, that
the rider attached to the Street bill,
providing for the repeal of chapter 1S9
volume is. Laws of Delaware, which re-
quires the funds of the Street and Sewer
Department to be deposited in the same
bank that the city funds are kept in was,
to say the least, irregularly introduced in
the General Assembly, while there are
very grave reasons for believing that it
was surreptitiouslv Incorporated into the
original bill after the passage of the
measure by the House. As a matter of
fact, the so-called G Street bill was.
upon the request of the president of
the Street and Sewer Department, called
up in the House on the evening p-ior
to the day of adjournment and read
first and second times and referred to the
Committee on Municipal Corporations
On the same evening and during the same
sitting the gentleman in whose charge
the bill was Theodore f. Armstrong, was
requested by the said president Of the
Street and Sewer Department to call the
House. Acting upon this request and
calling upon the clerk of the House and
likewise the chairman of the Committee
on Municipal Corporations he was in
; formed by that gentleman that the bill
was in possession of LewisaC VANDERBILT
Esq, of the city of Wilmington. Calling
upon Mr.. Vandegrift for the bill he was
informed that there was an amendment
to be added. This was reported to the
president of the Street and Sewer De.
partment and the bill went over until the
next day when it was called up for the
third reading and passed the House.
, With respect to the passage of the bill
by the House, Mr.. Armstrong, in testi-
mony before the committee, was very
: clear and positive in his recollections that
no amendment Of any kind was offered tc
the measure by himself or any Other
member Of the body. AS Mr.. Armstrong
! had charge of the bill and it devolved
upon him to explain to the House the
character of its provisions his recollee-
tion upon this point cannot be otherwise
than strictly accurate and reliable That
o an amendment has been prepared at the
dictation Of City Solicitor Turner, ia
meet objections urged against the origi-
nal bill by George g. Lobdell on behalf
of adjacent land owners, was made
, known to your committee by the testi-
mony of Mr.. Turner, but the clear recol-
: lection of Mr.. Armstrong, sup
P ported by the evidence of Mr..
6 George w. Eckels and George w.
Lodge, Esq, members of the House, who
are also positive that no amendments
= were offered to the bill on its final pas
sage through the House, is regarded by
: your committee as proof conclusive that
no attempt whatever was made to amend
the bill in regular form in that body In
4 view of the fact that the bill passed the
: House in precisely the shape in which it
! | came from the Senate this conclusion is
! further strengthened by the endorsement
on the back of the bill BY William A.
Gum, clerk of the House, which simply
. states that the bill was read a third time
I and passed without making a record of
any amendment, as would have been re-
quired had any amendment been offered
and adopted. From these facts which
i we're adduced by documentary evidence
I and the unimpeached testimony of reput-
able witnesses, coupled with the
! positive, almost insolent refusal of
certain parties who are supposed to
have full knowledge of how
: the entire scheme was managed, to sp.
. pear before the committee and give tes-
timony, we feel justified in uniting upon
: the following reasonable Inference That
! after the bill in its original shape had
passed the House. the amendment writ
. ten by Joseph l.. Carpenter, Jr., at Mr..
Turner's dictation, to which amendment
:. the Objectionable rider had subsequently
: been added, was simply enfolded within
: the original bill and the document re
/ turned to the Senate with the informa-
J tion that the House had concurred in the
bill with an amendment, and requested
: the concurrence of the Senate in said
amendment, whereupon the amendment
was read in the Senate and by motion
!. concurred in, this fact being duly re-
!. corded by the clerk of the Senate in his
endorsement upon the back of the bill
It was further testified before your
committee that the proceedings in the
Senate upon the amendment thus fraudu
lently interpolated into the original bill
were very conveniently taken during tn,
enforced absence of Senator John P
!, Donahoe and others who were op
posed to the legislation secured b,
the secret rider and who undoubtedly
! would have defeated its existenc,
! had they heard the bogus amend
! ment read. Cne gentleman, Willard
: Salisbury, Jr., ESQ.,, who was in tn,
Senate for the express purpose of guard
:, ing against the passage of any measure
, accomplishing the purpose of the rider
o.lIoJ ,,,k 1r- ar.~fc n -.