Omaha daily bee., 1893-05-14
n WEAK GROUND
|Jrts Of Impeached officials to Explain
Their Position.
kCTICAlLY PLEADING FOR MERCY
HE Attempt to Shift the Responsibility for
Their Negligence.
TRACTS FROM DEFENDANTS ANSWER
ought Bill Dorgan Entirely Too Honest to
Require Watching.
HERS WHO HANDLED THE STATES CASH
n Ciincher They Request the Court Not
to Conde mn Them to suffer the In
fanny Incident to being Re-
moved from once.

moved from once.
LINCOLN, Neb May 13.-[Special Telegram
The BEE During the sittings of the
Ipreme court held last week, the people of
lis city gave but little thought to the i'm
R,achment but since the adjournment they
ave been giving the matter some serious
bnsidera ton until the testimony adduced
as become the talk of the town.
Today there is a pretty general opinion
'eyailing that there were several large
zed Africans in the cell house and the asy-
im -four and coal deals and tnat there will
p a smoking-out before the end of another
eek The defense that the respondents
o. fave made has become the laughing stock in
3Hll circles were people think in a cool and
manner. The first article of
f3he answer even brings smiles to the faces
:3f men who long ago declared that they
H1gould never smile again, for in broad and
Ezweeping terms it says:
IA Think Their Work Honestly Performed.
al For answer to article we say that the du-
81 les of the respective departments required
KY nc performance of large amount of work
ESand great responsibility, and in addition to
work the respondents were mem-
Beers OF n large number OF boards, holding fire.
2luent meetings which they were required to
ky,ttend, @ ach having important and varied
cSlutles. The Board of Public Lands and Build
Snps during 1891 and 1892, were
"a harged with the construction OF ten
W3w buildings, costing over S225,OOO
Hind current expenditures of over SSso,OoO 50
R9that it was impossible to do more than eNcr-
Ucise n Legislative and judicial control over
I8these public interests; that in the constru;-
3tion of the cell house they have performed
Il tl,,,iy fnit Full
gently and honestly, without negligence o.
Hcorrupt or unlawful acts or intents. and to
|3thIir best ability that the work was nccessa-
n rtly done through n superintendent, selected
n 81 good faith, and placed under bond Tor tho
n faithful performance of the business which lie
Hconductcd; that the work has been well
done, and is worth all that IL has cost.
Their Good and Faithful servant.
Regarding this declaration there are
several explanations that are offered to
show that the statement must be taken
with considerable allowance, for it is well
known that in the construction of the cell
house William fl. Dorgan, who was the
iagent for Mosher the prison contractor, was
employed as the superintendent to look
after the states interest an interest that
was not in harmony with that of Mosher's
in any part cular Not only did the board
! members gave him full and unlimited swing,
knowing full well that he had never before
built so much as "A chicken coop.
In doing this they put him on salary of
II $50 per month, but little more than was paid
to the conyicts who were serving the state.
In addition to all this they allowed him
s, 900 of the state funds before he had
4 struck lick or laid a stone upon the founda-
q ticu of the building for which the taxpayers
Of the state were paying their good and
hfsd earned dollars.
"a The broad statement that the work was
"A Yel. done and was worth all that it cost is
ln assertion that makes many an honest
k3.nan blush with shame and have a feeling of
p2pity for the men who would father the aver
I,nent, as they know full well that the appro
t1'riation of $4,000 has been expended and
that there is nothing to show for the money
II the bare walls Of the building ana
of. Whether or not the money was hon
kX Xatiy expended is a question best answered
oby the testimony of the experts who were on
kfhe witness stand last week.
What the Testimony Shows.
n That testimony shows that Architect
3Gray would have constructed the building
complete for the sum of $26 ~ and would
nave done the work with free labor, employ.
fing masons and helpers, paying them the
highest wages and buying the stone in this
market; Architect Bullock would have COM
pleted the building for the sum OF SIS, ,S27 30
Architect Jensen for $40, ,574, 20; Architect
FislSe for SCI ,2i050 and Architect Latcnsei
of Omaha would have been glad to have
taken the contract for S24 4S4 turning ovel
10 the state a completed building
Touching upon Dorgan's honesty in the
question of this construction, the records il
the ONCE of the Eoard of Public Lands anC
Buildings place the lie upon the statement
aud show that the members never made any
attempt to ascertain whether or not he wa:
honest Those records show that when h,
presented his estimates everything wa!
Jumped as material and labor" and tina
there was never an itemized voucher pre-
scented for consideration. The same records
kept by the members of the board alsC
show that many of these estimates were al
lowed before the work was performed and
even before the material was purchased.
Bnl Dorgsn's Great Economy.
Another fact that has started the peopl
10 thinking is the deal in connection witt
the grated windows which found their wa
into the new cell house. Shortly afte
& Westover, asking them to submit bids o.
this work, They made their figures, est
mating the cost at Sl,S00, but Dorgan ncve
went back TO tell these gentlemen whethe
or not their bid WAS satisfactory. Instea
OF doing this it is well known that he tool
the old CRATES from one of the old buildings
used them In the new cell house and the
charged them 10 the state, Notwithstanding
the fact that they were already the state
= property and had been paid for long year
ago, and AT tho time when the old buildn
was constructed.
In the matter of the statement that TIA
members Of the board were oyerworied an
did not have time to attend to ,he busines
of the state and in the Offices which the
were elected 10 fill, this is aquestion tina
will be settled when the attorneys for tn
managers submit their testimony in rebutta
Public opinion, however, At this time u /