Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-07-06
THAT CROOKED WORK.
: What Has Been Proved by the Armor
Plate Investigation.
Also What the Committee Expects to Prove
When II Goes Higher.


learned as to tho doings Of the Carnegie
company, and there is comparatively little
yet known OF che alleged fraud by the
Penn Steel Casting and Machine company
of Chester, Pa, but 1t has at least been
proved that there is deal of crooked work
and that tho men who ought to have pre-
vented it are extremely unwilling to tes-
tify Tho investigation by Amos Cum
mings' committee progressed rather slow
ly because OF the demand upon the mem
bers for their duties in tho house. and the
testimony was SO largely Of technical
nature that only those who watched mi
nutcly from day to day could form any com
prehensive idea OF tho final summary. Much
was said about heating the plates to a
cherry rcd or dark red, a purple or other
wise; about cooling them in the furnace
or the ashes; about annealing and rctem-
pering and blowholes and tensile tests
and ballistic tests and score of other
processes known only to experts, but In
spite OF ell the tcchnicalities q vast mass
of very ugly facts has been twisted out of
tho unwilling witnesses By processes near
akin to IA surgical operation.
What Has Been Proved.
A very brief history of what has been
proved will give the reader q clear idea Of
what the committee expects to prove when
1t goes higher and the points which Mr..
Erick, Of whom the public heard good
deal JUSTINE years ago, will now he called
on to cxplfin. 1t appears that the Carnegie
company has furnished II sets Of armor
plate, about 800 tons IN set, and the first
information the public got of any trouble
was In the announcement last January
that the president had reinitted part of the
tnc imposed ON tho company for furnish
ing plates slightly less ayrfcct than it
might have furnished. Secretary Herbert
went to the Pacific cOast not long after
ward on what was supposed to be u tour
of pleasure and general inspection, but it
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 II. Smith of Pitts
burg informed Mr.. Herbert that four
clients of his employed by the Carnegie
company could prove fraud if they werc
assured infOrmcrs' fees. They did provo
them and received one fourth of the StlO,-
4s4.g4, which the company had to pay
1t was decided that of the II sets Of armor
there wcro fraud in but two, and tho pres
idcnt expressly stated in his letter that he
accepted the statement of Mr. Fricll that
the faulty construction began on the Sd
OF November, l592, and was corrected on
the 10th day of September, 1898" On the
contract price for ail tho arnor made dur.
ing that period he deducted 10 per cent.
Another attorney Of Pittsburg, Mr. J.
II. Wallace, then appeared upon the scene
with statements that hc had clients who
wanted to reveal something and get some
thing therefor. The house OF representa-
tives had in tho meantime got Interested
and called for the facts, and in duo time
tho investigation began. 1t has been
proved that plates selected for tests were
rctreatcd secretly ut night SO as to make n
better showing; that "blowholcs' were
secretly plugged up; that false reports
about heating and tonI,cring were forged;
that testing machines were jugglcd with
and great variety of tricks of that sort
practiccd by tho three supcrintcndcnts.
Schwab, Clino and Corey, the men next
In rank to the head of the Carnegie com
pany. This defective armor il on tho New
York, tho Cincinnati, the Minneapolis,
tho Monterey and the Terror and prob
ably on four other vessels.
Tho so called .,blowholes" are made by
tho escape of gas in the cooling process,
and it was proved that some OF them were
large enough to set n pint cup in One Of
tho witnesses testified that he put his card
In ono before it was plugged, and he
doubted not that the card could now be
found in the plate. TO complete this part
of the story 1t only remains to add that
the "blowholcs" were found in tho nrmor
on tho vessels in actual service. One of
the witnesses, w, +. Brown, told how he
deceived the government inspector by
smuggling short bolts among those which
had passed muster; how the conspis tors
stole the inspectors stamp and STAMPED
the bad bolts as correct; how he 'swellod''
bolts with grease and dirt, and finally how
the tricky superintendonts were so de-
lighted with his work that they gave him
month"; vacation and raised his salary.
Finally came Professor Algcr and testi-
fed that the frauds began at the very be-
ginning of armor manufacture by the Car
negie company and that in his opinion
tho $500, 600 first assessed by the secretary
against the company was too little. With
this broad foundation laid the committee
called Superintendents Clino and Corey,
and u queen figure they made under the
searching examination of Chairman Cum
mings. 1t was plain enough by their APP
pearancc when the first questions were
\ asked that they saw they were in for. it
and that 1t was no 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 WIS no other written evil
dence, but an employee named Sill had
kept a private record for his own use SUI
perintendent Corey made q much better
appearance He started out by admitting
that hcplatos were 'jockeyed, " but seem
CO to think that they were good enough
anyhow.
The Afterpiece.
The committees next action was to
make arrangement for taking the sus-
rcctcd plates off the vessels and testing
them thoroughly. and now the interesting
question is, Win congress rest content
with the excuse that all this rascality was
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