The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-07-07
ABOUT "BL0WHOLES"
What TIE ArmOr Plate Investi-
CATION Has Proved.
Much Talk About Cherry Red"
and purple"
ADISGRACEFUL THING
The Frauds Have Been Practiced
All Along.

WASHINGTON, July p Especial =
Ono investigation into fraud on the navy
draws to an end. and another IS about to be-
gin. of course there IS much to be learned
as to the doings Of the Carnegie company.
and there is comparatively little yet known
Of the alleged fraud by the Penn Steel Cast
ing and Machine company of Chester, Pa.
but it has at least been proved that there
IS deal of crooked work and that the
men who ought TO have prevented it arc
extremely unwilling to testify. The in
vcstigation BY Amos Cummings commit
tee progressed rather slowly because OF the
demand upon the members for their duties
in the house, and the testimony was
largely OF a technical nature that only
those who watched infinitely from day t.
day could form any comprehensive idea Of
tho final summary Much was said about
heating the plates to a cherry red or q dark
red, a purple or otherwise; about cooling
them in tie furnace or the ashes; about
auncaling and rctcEsraring and blowAJles
and tensile tests and bailistic tests and
score Of other processes known only to ex-
perts, but in spite Of all the technicaliLies
a vast mass Of very ugly facts has been
twisted out Of the unwilling witnesses by
processes near akin to a surgical operation
what Las Been Proved.
A very brief history Of what has been
proved Will give the reader a clear idea Of
what the committee expects to prove when
it goes higher and the points which Mr..
Frick, Of whom the public heard good
deal just two years ago, will now be called
on to explain. 1T appears that the Carnegie
company has furnished l. sets of arlnOr
plate, about 800 tons III set, and the first
Information the public got of any trouble
was in the announcement last January
that the president had renitted part OF the
fine imposed on the company for furnish
ing plates slightly lessp perfect than it might
have furnished Secretary Herbert went to
the Pacific coast not long afterward on
what was SUPPOSED to be a tour Of pleasure
and general Inspection but il is now known
that his principal object was to look into
charges of fraud in the materials used
there.
The beginning was in September last,
when Attorney James H. Smith Of Pitts
burg informed Mr.. Herbert that four
clients Of his employed by the Carnegie
company could prove fraud if they were
assured informers' fees. They cid prove
them and received one-fourth of the $l4O,-
asa. o. which the company had to pay.
1t was decided that Of the IL sets of ar1nor
there were fraud in but two, and the pres
ident expressly stated in his letter that he
accepted the Statements Of Mr.. Frick that
the faulty construction began on the Sd of
November, 1892 and was corrected Oh the
10Th day Of September, 1898 On the
contract price for all the ar1nor made dur
ing that period he deducted 10 per cent
Another attorney of Pittsburg, Mr.. J.
K Wallace, then appeared upon the scene
with statements that he had clients who
wanted to reveal something and get some
thing therefor The house of representa-
tives had in the meantime got interested
and called for the facts, and in due time
the investi cation began 1t has been
proved that plates selected for tests were
retreated secretly at night so as to make a
better showing; that blowholes'' were
secretly plugged up; that false reports
about heating and temperIng were forged;
that testing machines were juggled with
and a great variety of tricks OF that sort
practiced bv tho three superintendent,
Schwab, Cline and Corey, the men next
in rank to the head Of the Carnegie COM
pany- This defective armor is on the New
York, the Cincinnati, the Minneapolis,
the Monterey and the Terror and prob
ably on four other vessels
BIowhoIes In the Arxnor.
The so called blowholes'' are made by
tho escape Of gas in the cooling process,
and it was proved that some of them were
-arge enough to set pint cup in One of
the witnesses testified that he put his card
in one before it was plugged, and he
doubted not that the card could now be
found in tho plate To complete this part
of the story it only remains to add that
the -blowhOlesN were found in the ar1nor
on the vessels in actual service. One of
the witnesses w. f. Brown, told how he
deceived the government inspector by
smuggling shorI bolts among those which
had passed muster; how the conspiratOrs
stole tho Inspectors stamp and stamped
the bad bolts as correct; how he '-swelled''
bolts with grease and dirt, and finally
how the tricky superintendents were SO
delighted with his work that they gave
him months vacation and raised his
salary.
Finally came Professor Alger and tes-
titled that the frauds began at the very
beginning Of armor manufacture BY the
Carnegie com pany and that in his opinion
the $500, 600 1lrst assessed by the secretary
against the company was too little With
this broad foundation laid the committee
called Superintendents Cline and Corey,
and queer figure they made under the
searching examination Of Chairman Cum
nlings- 1t was plain enough by their APP
pearance when the first questions were
asked that they saw they were in for il
and that it was use to dodge Mr..
Cline squirmed all over the end of the
committee room pretty nearly, but finally
owned up TO having made bogus returns
and burned the real records He had sup
posed that there was no other written evil
dence, but an employee named Sill had
kept a private record for his own USE SUI
perinrendenb Corey made a much better
appearance Ho started out by admitting
that the plates were -jOckeyed, - but seem
ed TO think that they were good enough
anyhow
The committees next action was to
make arrangement for taking the sus-
pected places OF the vessels and testing
llem thoroughly, and now the interesting
question is, Win congress rest content with
the excuse that all this rascality was the
fault of tho superintendents, or will at
tempt be made to prove the company Of
dcials responsihle2 Mr. Corey somewhat