New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-03-07
COY CEILING WITNESSES,
CONTRACTOR sNArlH AND ARCHITECT
ROWE FOUND TO BE IN PHILADELPHIA
sNAITH's BOOKS THERE, Too-INTEREsTINe
TESTIMONY BEFORE THE. NEW ASSEMBLY
CEILING INVESTIGATING ooMMITrEE
..-sHAITH's COUNSEL ON HIS
CLIENTS ABSENCE.
vBr rELEonArH TO THE rH1BUxz.r

|
i Albany, March 6.-C1amnce A. Seward and John NJ.
Bowers, the counsel Of the Ceiling Investigation
Committee scored great snccess to-day on their rst
appearance as directors Of the ceiling scandal nvcstL
| CATION Through their skIlful questioning the dis
eovery was made that John snaith, the. ceiling
| tractor had removed ghpsack full Of his business
edgers and accountbooks outside the boundaries Of
this State where sergeaut-a-arms Of the Legslat
ure can seize them. These missing books were tafen
| yesterday from Albany to Philadelphia, where Mr.
snah has been quietly abiding for several days past
Naturally It Is expected that the ledgers Mr. snaith has
TINS had conveyed TO him at Philadelphia the very
ONES which contain tho record OF his financial transac
tons while he was engaged in constructing the as
sembly Chamber ceiling. The new Ceiling Investiga
| ing Committee Of course, desires to see all Of Mr.
snaiths books, in order to obey the command OF the
Assembly that they should learn into what channels
] flowed the 100000 which the experts declare MI.
] snaIth made upon the ceiling contract
Once the Legislature had possession for two or three
hours Of Mt sualth's books and the members Of the
Committee on Appropriations then discovered that ths
icdrers had been doctoredp at least to the extent OF
q small item OF So 80 being erased and the enormous
ono OF $04, 900 being put in its place. Mr. snaith's
bookeeper subsequently said that he altered ths book
without Mr. snah'B knowledge The alteration Of the
ledger nevertheless, msdc an unfortunate impression
On The public and II Mr.. Snaith has
/ now eonycyed all his ledgers and accountbooks out
of the State that impression VIII doubtless
/ be deepened. The Ceiling Investigation Commiuee
obtained this interesting information about Mr. snah
only after several hours hard work by Messrs Seward
| and Bowers.
Tho counsel and tho committee met in the morning
NJ the Caplto conscious that their work was seriously
| embarrassed by tho absence from Albany Of re-
| mDrksb, largo number Of important wanesses.
ous of the strangest circumstances wat the absence
from Albany Of every Democratic state oncial whose
| testimony was desired Thus, neither Sonuoner
wempIa state Treasurer Fitzgerald Secretary OF
| state Cook nor AttorneyGenerl Tabor was In
! Albany and their deputies had 70 be summoned. In
the case of the state Treasurer, neither no nor MS
| depay Elliot Danforth, In Albany, aud youth
h clerk had 30 give testimony regarding payments 70
Mr. gnasth IL may be stated that thfs absence rom
| Albany Of the Democratic State OFFICIALS rs onronic'
with tho exception OF the caso OF tho Ahorney-Sen
eral Their work Is done BY deputies, and the people
might Just rs we save the salaries Of these gcnue
| men by dlsrnIssing them from office. Conroher
| yempIe's absence however II Is suspected, was
/ caased by his desire to escape giving bis reasons
for oyorpaying Contractor snnith to the amount Ok
| si4ooo.
Win view of tracing Mr. snalth the counsel
called before them william Young, eoaehman en-
,oyed by snaitb Ho Is youth about eighteen years
q, are ana evidently frared that he would lose mo
,o.,tion n he talked too freely about his employer.
/ ar seward at once took him In hand ana oy per.
sister. effort learned from him that As snai1h h~u
left his homo on wednesday last, and had not since
| returned. Then too, Mrs. snaih had ion Aipsas
1 4, S.ran, isso< eAiiafent ths
|. Witness thought they had gone 20 Ithaca by
ltie further questioning the Interesting Information
! ,vas extracted from him that on the night OF MT
snaih's disappearance Arthur Hugh kowc tho iSsnis
architect of tho ceiling had visited Dir. snaitn ana
had had long conference with nm' Inc NI'no's
| had found gnaith and Rowc together IN room OF
snab,s house and had been told 10 take gripsaok
| 10 Rowe,s lodgings on Chestnutst 1t Is suspece0
| that this grfpsack contained some missing books
The ooaehman also gave the interesting testimony
that Charles b. Andrews. the superintendent OF Aaia
| tags who superintendent snaiths ceiling work. and
| Mrs. Andrews, aud Timothy J. Sullivan, the sub
| eontraetor for tho ceiling work and Mrs Sullivan
had been frequent visitors at tho house OF Mr. snatn
and that Mr. and Mrs. Snaih frequently visited tho
ho,rsos OF Mr. and Mrs. Andrews and OF M ana MIS-
Sullivan In fact the committee learned all about an
interesting family circle here in Albany. Mr. snsith
and Mr. sullivan were tho two lowest bidders for the
ealing work which was 10 DO supervised by Mr.
Aodvs,p. doubtless Andrews highly pleased
| whom the bids opened, that two such
intimate friends Of had tho best chance Of getting
| tbs contract
While tho committee had been taking this test-
mony there had been standing among tho spectators
n tail tntelligentlooking man, listening intenty to
tho evidence In closing his testimony, tho coach
| man said that man named J. T. Mcguire now
IN charge OF snats house, and appeared to have the
caro- Of snaitls interests In Albany. The committee
werv lust preparing 20 issue subpoena for Magure
| when Mr. Pish was informed quietly that the tall
| Young man referred to above as watching the pro
ceedings was the man.
GMagures shouted Mr.. Fish, almost leaping out of
his seat AZ this pleasing news Mcguire, showing not
the sghtcst perturbation. at once came forward and
Mr. Fish Immediately swore him witness Ma
eriire proved TO be highly intelligent candid and
valuable witness, and he told where snaith was. He
stated that he was born In Chsteaugay, n. r., and
several years ago, while student In Cornell Uni
varsity M Ithaca became acquainted with John
snalth and his family. The witness had
studied architecture, and had been en-
! ployed by Mr. snaith 10 superintend tho
erection Of buildings Two years ago he went to
California About three weeks ago he returned to
Albany and made call at Mr. snaith's house. He
had come to Albany hoping to receive employment by
the aid Of Mr. snath.
Gwhen did you last see Mr. snaith1S said Mr..
Bowers, who was conducting the examination Of this
witness
81 saw Mr.. snaith yesterday, at the Continental
Hotel in philadelphia said the witness coolly.
This information OF course made sensation This
was the htst definite news about Mr.. snaith tho Com
mlttee had heard In weok. Then, In response TO
other questions, Mcguire said that Mr.. snath Loft
Albany last Thursday. Tho witness received tele
gram from him on Friday giving slssnro en suuress
In PhlIadophia @Br. snalth told mo, when he left
Albany said Mcguire, that he was going to New
York. and might 20 further south The fact Is, Mrs.
snalth has been made very nervous by this ceiling
Investigation. Moreover, Mr. snaiths eldest daughter
is not we'll. Mr. snaish talked TO me about takins
Mrs snaith and this eldest daughter to Old Point Com
fort, Va; and perhaps he and they arc thero now.'
Tho testimony at this point was not especially
sensational, and slr snaiths absence seemed natural
But now MFR. snaith's journey appeared to have an
otsor ob,ert me following interesting chat took
place between Mr.. Bowers and the witnessi
Mr. .BOwors-what have you done for Mr.. snath In
AibaDyf
Mr. Maguiro-pemlt mo 70 say that have made two
visits To Phladephla 10 see Mr. snaith ono last sater
dav and sca,r xeaterday When In Philadelphia last
saturday, Mr. snsh told mo that he wished me 70 got
for him. IN Albany some Of his books one pacxaso
Of books. hs said done up In Drown pap. pseA,
aRe which would ind IN the small saie. Inc othef
-. - !. 49, " - ,...a aafa Mr CuYler. bis L