The evening world., 1893-05-20
Old Board OF Supervisors Said to BE
Concerned in Questionable
Transa ctions.

Improve thirty miles OF country roads
at a cost of about $4,000 a mile.
BY q provision Of a special statute the
ONCE Of County Engineer OF Roads was
created, and the Board Of Supervisors
selected william s. Bacot to fill the Of
fee.
Shortly after the appointment CT En-
gineer Bacot, David Marsh. u brother
Of the Chairman OF the Board of Super
visors: H. Bacot. Of the law frm OF
Bacot & Record. OF Jersey city. snd
william d. L'Huillier. son OF Washing
ton Park Commissioner LHuillier. or
ganized the New Jersey Trap-Rock Com
stone. at Snake Hill. N. J.
Engineer Bacot had in the mean time
made his estimate Of the cost OF the i'm
provements proposed. and submitted his
figures. which were $c34, ,643.4S.
The work was ordered to proceed, and
II vas found that broken stone would be
needed In large quantities, and. by a
peculiar coincidence. the new Engineer
picked out the New Jersey Trap-Rock
Company to supply II. Several ton-
tractors were put to work on the seven
divisions Of the work in hand. all under
the supervision Of Engineer Bacot.
1t was not long before It was common
talk that there was trouble between Ba-
cot and some OF the contractors because
the latter saw 1T to buy their stone from
. hrm In Fort Lee. Rumors OF -hort
BY the Trap-Rock Company We're rretiy
well authenticated, and soon the con-
tractors who bought ston. from the Pal
impossible 10 satisfy Bacot with their
work. They claimed they were. min:
dsred BY his sroundless disapproyal. and
sxtrs burdens were were put upon them by
general that the Board OF Supervisors
Tho. talk OF an investigation was
relationship existing between the Super
yisors' Ch iirman and the Trap-Rock
Company: and It was openly charged
nsa tns 1s ssef i
was about how It turned out. However,
the work, progressed as usual. and the
Trap.Rock Company continued to fur
One of the contractors was James
Kelly. who undertook the Improvement
Of Bay and Grimm streets. In Middle
sineer saeos for aa some %1 rqHn,e 9%e W.T. Finally
Kelly became satisfied that he was not
getting full measui ements from the Trap
Rock Company. and accordingly trans
fsr5sS sl1sser. ms Of ort to Carpenter
From that time out Kelly was in hot
water all the time.
Over half the work done by him, for
some reason best known to Engineer
Bacot. was not mentioned In the plans
and specifications for the Improvement
OF Bay and Griffin streets. as furnished
Kelly was ordered to do extra" work
almost Immediately upon his beginning
his contract; All the figures for this
County Engineer, and thus Kelly was
practically at Bacot's mercy. When
Kelly stopped buying from the Trap.
allowing him the monthly estimates FOR
such extras.
Litigation ensued between Kelly and
the Trap-Rock COMPANY. Kelly dis.
David Wilcox. OF 20 Nassau street.
The testimony brought out in this
In Keliy's suit is now before Referee
wilcox. end decision is daily expected.
Then S,S came the Spring elections, and
Middletown. took the places of Bscot's
friends in the Board. Nathaniel Marsh
was the only member who inclined
Soon after the new Board sat the old
charges against Bacot we're revived. All
the testimony in the Kelly case were
turned over 70 pr: Feeny, the new mem
Feeny who moved the resolution at the
meeting Tuesday last dismissing En-
gineer Bacot from office,
have come out about the Questionable
transactions carried on in the work OF
improving, Richmond County roads.
tract for m part % OF the the Work NOR sas was vs. cor" !"
Island. How he, ,liyirs in a1o' her Sat.
got in on the deal, has never been salts.
impossible to procure bondsmen In
Staten Island, and offered the names OF
some alleged Rhode Island capitalists
as while h,i Sesns''s the Supervisors were said to
be Investigating the standing OF Cas-
wells bondsmen. Caswell was negoti-
sttns win n Lawyer sbar Ta,vin n ID b aIn Name
Supervisors from Northfield. for the pur-
chase Of a stone quarry owned by one OF
Van Names clients In Sorthneld, S. l..
ment for some days. and Richmond
County residents were In the mean time
wondering why the Supervisors did not
would make a contract with Casweii.
The latter pressed Lawyer Van Name
for an answer to his proposition, and
we'll was to come to Van Names office
at 80 Nassau street.
TN the uaN SET, 'dsWtll appeared IN
company with David Marsh and VIII
lam d. l.. Hullier. whom Lawyer Van
Name recognized as officers OF the New
Jersev Trap Rock Company. Caswell
led his companions into one OF Van
Names suit OF offices and closed the
aoor on them. He then came to Van
Name and asked for a final answer.
The lawyer informed him that his clients
''efused to accept his proposition. Cas-
we'll returned to his friends and re-
mained In consultation with them for
some time behind closed doors.
When they came out II was evident
from what Lawyer Van Name over,
head. that some sort OF an understan nd
Ing had been arrived at between the
three. A few days later the Supervis.
ors accepted Caswell's bondsmen and
signed u contract with him.
Csswelrs work is still unfinished. He
abandoned II for some reason or other
and left over hundred OF his laborers
In the lurch for their wages. II Is said
that the Supervisors have found OH
now that the county cannot recover
from caswells bodsmen. who are alleged
TO be irresponsible.
Another little incident Of Bacots ad.
mtnistration will serve to show how
things were run. A large quantity OF
crushed stone for temporary repairs
on Bay street was paid for by tht
county and dumped at the required
point. When the street was perma
nsptly repaired this same stone was
carted away and used by other con.
tractors, and this with the consent nj