San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-12-21
ghe Daily Eight.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 81. 80
COURTHOUSE TRIAG.
The Investigation Still BEING Made
by the County Commission
er's - Evidence.


Yesterday afternoon the commissioner
court met at > O'Clock and the inyeStiga
ton into the courthouse matter was again
taken up. George II. KaIteyer was the
first witness placed on the stand. He
said:
II do not know what the cement
weighed per cubic foot. Regarding the
Shrinkage, Will say it depends upon the
size of stones. Eight parts will shrink,
according TO my experience, to about 81
parts. If the rock is fine it will make six.
There is great deal of work connected
with this stone laying. 1t ought to be
turned at least three times. The greater
the labor the greater the cost. / eX-
amined the work and it is as tine con-
crete job as there is in the state. The
work should cost s. yard. | would not
do work of that kind for % cents per cubic
foot. A contractor could not make any
money at that price"
Charles Baum berge was then called.
His testimony was about the same as that
given in by Mr., kalteyer.
George Bennack was the next witness
placed on the stand. He said: II do not
know much about concrete work. was
simply taking time on the lahorers. The
amount charged in the pay rolls was
81, l6S 95. The men worked 9 hours per
day. | attend to all accounts. | received
ali Guc CtIleuJ lHdu lu we COul-
pared accounts and the cement company'S
accounts were not approved, unless they
correspondent with mine. | saw consider
BILE OF the work, that is, thu mixing OF &C.
ment. 1t was turned three or four
times"
Joe L. Dryer, foreman of the rock
quarry, was next placed on the stand. His
testimony was of not much Importance,
referring only to the hauling of rock. etc.
Richard a. Spnt than pH nd
gave in his evidence again. Court ad-
journed until $50 this morning.
MORNING SESSION.
1t was twenty minutes after ten this
morning when Commissioner Dwyer,
acting Judge, raped for order, and pro-
claimed that the court house inveStga
ton should proceed. The cold weather
had the effect of keeping out nearly all of
the spectators.
Mr. Geo Dugan, one of the contractors
on the superstructure. was the first
witness sworn, and testified as to the con-
crete work His evidence was as follows:
Il have had considerable experience in
building, especially on large buildings.
ranging in price from 100000 to S600,0OO
/ have had fifteen years experience. |
haVe seen and examined the concrete
work of the new court house and pro-
nOunce it to be good work. We laid our
rock on it and necessarily had to exam
inc carefully. There would not be much
Shrinkage If the sand was put in
heaping to the even measurement of &C.
ment. In mixing cement, the sand is phi
in first. in a layer; then the cement is
spread over that: then the sand and
cement is mixed. They usually turn ii
over twice before the rock is put in. The
more it is mixed the better it is. Then
rock aid water are added. Then it Is
turned over twice The more the cement
and sand is turned the better is the rRcep-
ton of the rock, and the better the whole
is turned, the better the concrete. | am
one of the contractors for the SuperStruC.
ton. We placed sand stone on the con-
crete. and granite on that. There were
10 have been five courses of granite. The
bigger the stone the greaGer the strength
and the better the looks. Every course
is banded over the other and holds as
well as II the stone were only six
inches. We try to make as large a
lap as possible. In one of those bed
here are |, 3, II feet of surface. In FIVE
courses it would be five times as much, or
$3.50 feet. 1t costs 20 cents per foot for
the Surfacing. II would cost less to put
in the five courses, quarrying and alt.
The difference of cost in QuaTrying, hand
ling and setting the five courses aud the
three courses, is 1916 go in favor OF the
county. 1t costs 10 cents per foot for
QuarryiDg dimension stone. The small
stone could be picked up at the quarry
ing when the stone used i'm the state
capital and Austin dam was Quarried, as
quite good deal is left over, where it
has been found too small for their use
In my calculations | am not taking into
count that this is the case. | could set
five courses work for 20 cents per foot
while | could not set three course
work for less than three course work. II
costs 800 to put the derrick up. The
freight alone costs $1,000. The dcrricks
cost about 5000 apiece. The deTrckS fOl
five course work cost 500 each. II The
small dCrriCkS were used the rock would
in great measure be handled by hand
With these dCTriCkS the stone can b.
transported in the air from the street t.
any portion Of the building. The Iarg
stone was to have been placed on DWyc
avenue. We have stone there that is owe
sixty cubic feet They are placed in diff
fCrpnt parts Of the building. in the cor
ners. We could put in one or two stone
with another derrick, which we call
house derrick. Some stones are "jackC
up The change in the courses cost m
S276 more. Everyone Of the other con
tractors agreed to make the change
and as my bid was the low
est ! felt that the change shOul
be made There was no objection by tn
court to the change. In a conversation
between Judge McAiiSter, Mr. Gordon
the attorneys and himself it was agree
that the courses should be changed j
the addenda, if agreea HE to the architect
That was done because Mr. Gordon di
not at first know whether it would wOrI
according to his plans. The larger tn
Stone the better the bed should be. Tn
reason so many stones 10 this city hav
cracked is on account of the imDrOpa
bedding. The joints are supposed to b
three -eighths. Sometimes it is a littl
more and sometimes a little less, w
have 70 humOr the thing. The reason
that,the WORK done by other parties is nc
correct, a in this case the concrete wa
three inches out of level. The level wa
given us by the county surveyor, Nj
Ii cke. Wien we came TO lower places W
nut In smaller stone. and vice Nnrss