The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-26


After recital Of what Mr.. Curtis called an
attempt 20 purchase" be told me that he
Manted the worst way % catch Capt Oreene
in tnis business. He i00lild NOT use as official
position for any such figure, Eliminating that
TIE J0o srns not large enough: that nothing
snort OF suBcieHey to dee "a ease i1a a Ioresgt
country tc01tid satisfy. The use he would make
OF the $500 offer was Cd 70 execute vengeance
upon Capt. Greene for having beaten him out
OF ais Kentucky river contract and ~ 20
throw the captain iato the hands OF one OF the
higner ofncers in the United states engineer
corps, VINO was a pronounced friend OF his cur
tis , and bitter enemy Of Capt. Greene. The
oIlcers name do not remember TO have
known. nor do know the cause OF this of11cer S
hatred toward Capt. Greene
me case upon the Kentucky river was this;
M curtis was assistant engineer upon the
work and had 50 drawn the specifications as TO
have definite and decided advantage over
otner bidders. In what It consisted do not
remember TO have known. but il was so fixed
that Mr. Curtis would have $4,000 or Sl2OJO In
a couple Of years. Mr. Curtis then resigned and
old on the work having put in the only bid
before the bids were opened, his bondSman,
Tue treasurer Of Kentucky, had absconded, thus
destroying his bond Mr.. Curtis offered oY teie-
graph, 20 the proper authorities to substitute
good men on his bond. but through the personal
inference OF Capt Greene. lost the contract.
Curtis claims to know that Capt Greene had
done this. The motive Mr. Curtis did not seem
TO know as remember. Further than this
DO not remember about the Kentucky affair.
While Curtis was in Cincinnati, Capt. Greene
went there with Lieut.. Carter. Lieut.. Carter
went 70 him Curtis and promised him good
place in Savannah; Capt. Greene remaining at
the hotel That they were together he found
out upon inquiry later. | gathered from r
Curtis remarks that he believed Capt. Greene
and Lieut.. Carter went all the way TO Cincin-
natl to get him to come to Savannah. Curtis
was unsuspecting and after much persuasion
and many good promises had been made, he
Mr. Curtis said he thought of laying the mat
ter before Lieut. Carter (Of Can't. Greene's at
tempt at bribery. After he had stated his case
l asked him directly how he was gong to prove
anything. There was Capt Greene's wordsagainst
his own He understood that. but hoped, per-
haps to carry his point against the captain by
clrcumstantii Il evidence with the public and by
personal merit with the engineer officer,
known to me. Then | called his attention to
the fact that in substantiating his statements
he would reflect seriously on Lieut.. Carter.
THAT could not be helped" he said. After see
ing Lieut.. Carter he told me what he had done
and what said, and that Capt. Greene was to
be called in to meet him. He was willing and
anxious. Later. he said that in Lieut.. Car
ter's and Capt. Greene's presence, he had re-
in the presence of Capt Greene. Lieut..
Carter had taken up each item Of the charges and
asked him particularly if it not poss ole
that he had mistaken the idea or intention of
Capt. Greene He had replied that the Ian
guage would admit Of no mistake. In Lieut..
Carters presence and that of Mr.. Curtis. Capt.
Greene had admitted that he had offered to
augment Mr.. Curtis stipend to the extent Of
$500 monthly. That Dir. Curtis was a worthy,
harlworking engineer, not paid as he de-
served, and that he would pay him $500 per
month as an appreciation of merit cat least 1
gathered about that idea) and that he had no
idea to thereby prejudice his judgment in favor
of the contractors. Capt. Greene denied any
offering of a bride, but admitted that he and Mr..
Curtis had been drinking pretty freely and that
perhaps he had said things which he would not
say when sober. Mr.. Curtis, never saw until in
October, 1888, when l came back from the
north. Almost from the first l gathered
that he did not feel it necessary to OBJ
serve due respect toward Lieut.. Carter;
as he expressed it: "0rders one thing
one day and something different the next" did
not suit him. LieGt. Carter was changeable. "
HE (Curtls) was in local charge OF the Savan-
nah harbor, and Lieut.. Carter had no more
right to say ''when'' and "how" than to dictate
IN detail every movement of the man in local
charge at Fernandina.n Lieut.. Carter was to
supervise and not to Interfere" ''f.ient. carter
interfered with his business" My idea was
that ali of this dissatisfaction came out Of
jealousy. He said he was formerly in charge of
the Savannah district and had had experience,
and that Lieut.. Carter was sent from the in
terror, without experience, to replace him.
He knew more about the business than Lieut..
Carter did" Against Mr.. Curtis have nothing
personal.
LIEUT.. CARTER's STATEMENT.
In the afternoon Lieut.. Carter was called
ment made by Mr.. Brown with reference
to the latter's transfer to Fernandina. and
also that of Mr.. Cooper with reference to the
application of the latter for an assistant
who could use an instrument. The greater
part of Lieut.. Carriers statement was in the
line of his letter of June 6 to the chief of
engineers of the United States army, and
published in the MORNING NEWS.
Lieut.. Carter said that it is untrue that
=. -. ~
tides dam. He occasionally measured the
stone himself; sometimes the assistant engi-
neer measured it and he relied on the inspec-
tor and had no reason to doubt Mr.. Coop
er's honesty. No outside influence had
been brought to bear on him to send Mr.
Brown to Fernandina. Whatever changes
had been made he said, had been made for
the good of the service. Lieut.. Carter ex-
planned why he had withdrawn his recon-
mendations from Mr.. Curtis. Col. Craig
hill, at Baltimore, had shown him letter
from Mr. Curtis to Gen. Pope reaffirming
statements about Capt. Greene that
he had withdrawn, in Capt. Greene's
presence about the $500 offer.
Lieut.. Carter explained that the bids
for the Improvement here were not opened
here until Dec "A. 1888; that he had recon-
mended the acceptance of the lowest re-
sponsible bid, made by Mr.. Bangs; that the
COubrdCb was leu Jan. OF, 1905, anu ap-
proved by the chief engineer of the United
Estates army Feb. %, and that Greene &c
Gaynor had no contract at Fernandina at
the time of the conversation between Mr.
Curtis and Capt. Greene.
DEPTH OF WATER IN THE CHANNEL.
Referring to the river improvements,
Lieut.. Carter stated that there are % feet
of water, and more at mean high water, in
the river, except at three places. There is
a shoal on the Garden bank, recently
formed with only 20 feet of water, and a
shoal at Upper fat, with a depth of water
of 20.7 feet. There is also shoal at Tybee
knoll, and only 20 feet of water, With
these EXCEPTIONS there is from % to As feet
of water to the sea. Lieut.. Carter stated
that there had been trouble from time
immemorial at Garden bank. He had dug
out channel there 70 feet deep and 100
feet wide, but a steamer had gone aground
there at low water and in working the
propeller it had cut out a hole forming a
lump which had continued to ellarge. The
dams at the upper fat, he explained, will
have to be connected by a longitudinal
training wall. At the knoll soft material
had filed in lately, reducing the depth to
20 feet He stated that there is from one
! in summer, which he attributed to storm
and wave action, and he estimated that il
will require $685. annually to keep the
| channel open as immense bodies of sand
are washed down the river from above.
DID WHAT WAS NOT RIGHT.
Liant co axr,lni-..,d rr-l,-r