Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-27
CONTRACTOR QUAcKENBUsH.
He Testifies as to His Work upon the
Washington Tunnel.

Washington Tunnel.
At 1 O'Clock to-day the Lydecker court
martial reassembled and Mr.. John B. Quacken-
bush was called to the stand q a witness for
the prosecution. Within the last six years he
has, as a member Of the firm of Beckwith &
Quackenbush, had a contract with the govern
ment to construct the Washington aqueduct
tunnel. The original calculation was that
the tunnel was merely to be cut,
with lining where necessary with con-
crete. The work Of excavation was done
by the firm itself. and the other work was done
by sub-contractors. The latter contracted to
do all brick work and packing. At first the
packing was dry, and afterward with mortar.
Witness did not obtain consent or approval Of
Major Lydecker to the sub-letting, which was
done because it was thought that the work
would be done better.
Had you any knowledge of the character Of
the sub-contractors before you let them the
contract" asked Major Davis.
.'Of the character?' repeated the witness.
"Mr. Brennan had previously done some brick
work for us in Boston,
Previous to Brennan's employment by wit
ness he was engaged at Cambridge, Mass, on
sewer work. He was employed on the New
York aqueduct while the work was suspended
here. Witness said that he could not give an
opinion as to Brennan's work on the New York
tunnel.
PAYMENTS TO GOVERNMENT INSPECTORS.
The witness said that his firm made payments
for the work done by paymaster to the men
who rendered services.
"Did the name of any inspectors for the gov
eminent receive pay thus?
Il understand that some of them did receive
pay for overtime. l only understood this after
the investigation. When heard how some OF
the men testified, / went to find out
al %hzA ..f
the inspectors had been entered on the check
roll under fictitious names. l inquired why
this was done. and was told that the inspectors
did not want their names to appear on our
check-rolls.'
He had been told by Senator Edmunds that
some 200 had thus been paid Neither he nor
his partner were aware of these payments. He
became aware of the bad work in September,
1888, through the investigation.
THE CAUSE OF THE BAD WORK.
ITO what do you attribute this bad work?'
II should say that it was due to the indiffer-
ence of the working class of people"
Il want to get at the cause of the bad work?'
at was due somewhat to the carlessness of
snperintendence. l suppose that l am some
what to blame myself"
Mr.. Swift asked:
Your firm received whatever benefit there
came from the bad work, did it not?"
No, sir; we did not get any benefit from the
bad work. 1t was to our interest to have good
work DONE and the only saving that would have
come to us would be from cement" We tried
to have good work done"
Mr.. Swift referred to the connection of the
firm with the New York frauds. and asked if
they had received any benefit from the bad
work there.
mo, sir; we had to repair our work there"
This caused a general laugh.
HOW FAR HE IS WILLING TO CORRECT BAD WORK
Mr. nno hnoh oto tal had ~, H.
Senator Edmunds to make good the bad work
here was done in good faith, and that the firm
was now ready to make good the bad work
done in 1888, but that as for that done
in 1887, which had been accepted and
paid for in full they would
make repairs under protest. He was not aware
that Mr.. Brennan had been discharged from
the New York tunnel for bad work. The fact
that Brennan, Emery and Palmer, the sub-con-
tractors, were such had not been communicated
to any one. They were paid by the paymasters
of the firm.
One of the officers asked if the firm had ever
taken steps to superintend the work of the sub
inspectors to require good work, or left it to
the government inspectors. The answer was
that orders were given to all the firms men to
watch and see that no fraudulent work was
done.
BAD WORK WAS REPORTED.
"Did you receive any reports from any of
your people that bad work was being done?''
Eyes. on one or two occasions
'Did they report to you originally of bad
work Of which they themselves had gained
knowledge"
Never"
Mr.. Quackenbush explained the manner in
which the filling was paid for. 1t was paid for
by the amount excavated, and not for the
amount put in.
How. then. would it be to your advantage
to fill the space instead of leaving it open?'
Because we had to excavate the rock. and If
we did not put it in as filling it would have to
be carted out of the tunnel. 1t was much cas-
Ter to drop 1t right into the packing"
Major Davis presented the voucher for the
payment OF the $4,000 by Major Lydecker
to the firm.
ANDREW DORSEY WAS NEXT CALLED
and sworn. He said that he was
bricklayer by trade, and did
not know Major Lydecker by sight
He had done work on the Rock Creek
tunnel" He had nothing to do with the pack
ing, but saw it done. He knew the man who
did it.
what was his trade!''
"He had no trade"
He explained that this man had done pretty
well. Some work was laid dry some in cement
and some was not laid at all.
Sometimes when the inspector was not there
the men would not lay the stones at all.
-. - 81 10
Col. Robert askedif Col. Kirnn ever saw this
bad work being done. The witness said that
Kirlin had seen it, but had always had it pulled
out and done over again.
To Col Whittemore the witness said that he
got 20 cents an hour. and it did not matter
whether he worked fast or slow.
col" KIRLIN WAS NEXT CALLED.
He was appointed November 16, 1886, as prin-
cipal Inspector on the tunnel by Maj. Lydecker.
The instructions to Col. Kirln were read.
Since March IA. 1887 the work in the tunnel
consisted of tunneling lining, and packing.
The witness detailed the system of inspec-
tiOns and his daily work. His route was gener-
ally invariable entering the tunnel at about 1880
in the morning. No reports were required
from the sub-inspectors unless there was bad
work done. This had occurred about half
dozen times. Upon this the masons were al
ways discharged, and Kirlin reported the
facts to Lieut.. Townsend. There were
no checks on the sub-nspectors
except one night when he had received a re-
port that gang was doing too much work
A question was asked whether the packers
were Americans. Italians, colored menu"
The colonel replied that they were Amer
cans and colored.'
THE COURTS.
CIRCUIT CoURr-DIvIsIoN No. 2-Judqe Mont-