The Monmouth inquirer., 1894-12-13
The Bridge investigation.

The investigation OF the Monmouth
County Board of Freeholders was re-
sumed in the Town Hall at Long
Branch, on Monday. S. l.. Webber
and Rutherford Coleman, the two ex
perts appointed by Chief Justice
Beasley to take testimony and re-
port to the Court, opened the investi-
cation at 12 o'clock.
The hearing was held in the City
Council Chamber, Counsellor John
K. IIanning appearing for the pro-
testing taxpayers. G. Ewing Patter-
son and E. w. Arrowsmith represent
ed the Freeholders, who were all
present. Ex-senator Henry s. Ter
hume represented the bridge build
ers, and ex-Asseinblyman William
Pintard appeared for certain Pleasure
Bay property-holders. The room
was filled with representative citi-
zens of Long Branch and surround
ing towns.
F'reeholder George B. Snyder, OF
Shrewsbury Township, was the first
witness. He admitted in answer to
Mr.. Lanning that each member of the
board estimated on his own bridges
The appropriation for Cooper's Red
Bank bridge was 1926, 600 The con
tract called for $24, 100 Before the
contract was given out Snyder con-
suited the Wrought Iron Bridge Com
pany and other bridge companies as
to the cost of the structure.
George Cooper did some figuring
but the Board relied for information
and estimates on the bridge builders.
Mr.. Snyder said he had given orders
that no load exceeding four tons
should be permitted to cross the old
bridge, which he claimed was badly
settled and rotted. The reason for
the new draw at Pleasure Bay was
that the old draw was toonarrow, and
had rotted for want of IL timely coat
of paint. Mr.. Snyder knew what the
was about all. The masonry, he re-
membered, was done by days work.
There was no public notice of the
giving out of contracts. The bridge
builders were merely informed of the
height, weight and carrying capa-
City.
There was no special test of old
Cooper's. Mr. Snyder remembered
that he had refused to allow steam
rollers and threshers to cross it. He
believed the old bridge too narrow
and too low. Row-boats and steam
launches were unable to pass under
it. A wider and higher bridge was
needed. About forty or fifty persons
around Red Bank owned steam
launches and wanted to go under the
bridge. They couldn't hence the new
bridge, the construction of which had
raised the value of the surrounding
property from 5000 an acre to $1,000
an acre.
Freeholder Snyder's idea of the
tension of old Cooper's was apparent
ly not upheld with much enthusi-
asm by some of the other witnesses.
Joseph Applegate, a Middletown
| farmer, carts all his produce oyer the
old bridge. He has testified that he
had driven over it with two ton loads
of brick without the slightest fear.
! He had never heard the farmers COM
plain or characterize the old bridge
as unsafe. He had once heard a
steam launch owner kick because he
was obliged to lower his smokestack.
The witness had never seen the tide
overflow the bridge, and he couldn't
seem to understand why the new
| bridge should so vastly improve the
value of property.
Charles w. Thompson, d Red Bank
tombstone builder, said he had fire.
4 loads over the bridge. The base of
Sheriff Hendrickson's monument,
which weighed five tons, drawn by
six horses weighing 900 pounds, had
gone over the bridge in safety. He
always used this bridge for heavy
carting. Henry Fields, also stone
cutter, had carted similar loads. In
answer to q statement of Freehold
er SNYDER that it had cost large sums
to repair the old bridge, Fields said
he had rebuilt most of the piers at a
cost of 5000 each, the stone being fur
nished by the county. None of the
rebuilt piers had ever settled.
Charles Allen hauled heavy loads
over the bridge, and had perfect con-
| tidence in its tension He had never
heard any complaints against it.
When the bridge was torn up the
piers were in excellent condition.
Mr.. VanDeventer, mechanical en-
gineer. worked on the new Cooper's.
| He testified that most of the piling
| used was pine, oak, black oak and
| chestnut. There were no white oak
piles. The piling tapered off to three
/ inches in diameter at the small end.
| The caissons were filled with marked
stone and cement before the water
was pumped out.
Joseph H. Applegate said the piling
for Cooper's was mostly poplar, pine,
oak and chestnut, and was supplied
! by Freeholder d. Lane Conover. of
Middletown. Conover hauled the
piles from Fielder's woods. The wit
ness said Conover was furnishing pi-
4 ling for nearly all the new county
bridges, and had four or five teams
at work all the time. An attempt to
show that Applegate was biased
against the Board fell to the ground.
John H. Wiley, a Ho!mdel farmer,
who had frequntly Grabbed under
old Cooper's, said the ironwork look
ed almost as good as new. He saw
one of the iron girders, weighing
over 5000 pounds, hauled over the
span. There was no evidence of
| weakness. Edward G. Beekman, a
Middletown farmer, said it was com
mon report in his neighborhood that
old Cooper.s 8 WAS good enough.
A.