The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-20
ID. B. Lester. Chairman
Henry kolshorn.


ID. B. Lester, Chairman.
Henry kolshOru.
Thomas Screven.
BRIEF OF EVIDENCE.
Savannah. June 4. ls96-Pursuant %
resolution oi council adopted Stay j., 1870
the special committee appointed by his
honor. the mayor. for the purpose OF in
vestiEauug alleged sales Of scrap iron.
manure etc, hy city employees. met this
day az ) O'Clock p. m
Com mittce. Alderman d. y. Lester,
Chairman; Alderman Thomas Screveu, Al
herman Henry Kolshorn; John Fleming
Jr.. official stenographer.
Dr. r. b. Harris mot swOrul testified as
follows. When I WAS in council the crem-
atory department. and the %. z. NJ. le-
parimcnt were separate departments. One
man bad charge 81 the crema tory and one
man had charge OF the o. +. II. dcpart-
ment Both departments Were managed
by the same chairman. but the dcpart-
ments We're under separate mauaEement.
l remember that Mr.. Wheeler. down az
The crematory. had some of these Old
Iron pipe piled up there, and he asked
me- what hc should DO with them. and
told him ! didn't know, that Il would
probably be the best thing to get them
out OF the way. 10 hc could. and before I
Went away from there 1 said. Wheeler.
You nave been doing great deal Of exc
ira work out here, and u you want tbs
old iron, pick u up and sc.l il and put tbs
proceeds in your pocket" There was only
small lot Of iron there al that time. H8s
took 10 up also for the purpose Of clearing
the man that built tho crematory, and
he has bcun there ever since 90 was built
until discharged some time ago. He
took ont the fire brick OF the crematory
and replaced them with new brick. We
had good many new fire brick there
which We're left over after the crematOry
was finished, and Whce,er did an Of this
work for which he received nothing from
the city. In 1894 or 1895 20 the best OF
my recollection. DE took The fire brick out
on mo other furnace and replaced them
Win new brick for this he never
received anything. and IN giving him
.hls old stun 1 was only pay
ing Wheeler for his services ln that way,
and also in this way / got this old stuff
out Of the way.
@. (By Alderman Kolshorm: That Is
the only lot you authorized him TO takeI
a. Hes,s sir Now, about that manure.
There was some manure there that was
dumped over into the field / told him 10
move that. I told him he could do what
ever he pleased with 10. ] don't know
how many lots Of manure there were on
the place. / know there was some COM
plant made about 10, and / told Wheeler
TO have 10 removed, and TO do whatever
he pleased with IL.
.. No bids were ever asked during your
time for the sale Of this stum2 A. No.
sir. Now, in reference to the manure at
| the scavenger department lot. I can tell
you something about that. In 1892. think
1t was about that time, we sold that ma
| nure to Bebee IL was either IN 1892, 1893
or 1894 or both 92 and '93. We sold It 10
him for $l00 In 1894 or 1895 we couldn't
| get any sale for IL, and ] gave the ma
nure TO Cheatham, who had "a small farm
planted out there. lie ran a farm there
and the scavenger department used his
horse and teams for nearly two years.
at one time the department used his horse
eight or nine months steady: he didn'E
make any contract with the city at all.
/ but whenever a mule would get lame or
something or that kind occur. he would
put his horse IN the wagons Instead %
horse
partinent would use Cheatham's horse
and teams. IL had two horses and had
them broke into the service and I told
Cheatham Qs his horses had been work.
ing there for the city for such a long
time that ne might take that manure
and do whatever he wanted with II.
think that was the two last years was
there.
Q. It Is stated here that he sold over
500 or $500 worth OF manure, which h0
claims you gave hfm2 A. / don't think
he lad any privileges IN 1892 The Ghly
| privilege 1 gave him was this one lOt'Cr
manure have no Idea who got ma
nure from the lot ! don't know who IL
was sold TO. I don't know 70 whom IL
was hauled had no idea there was 30
much manure there. ! didn't know there
was that much money In this manure.
could not go around town making con-
tracts for manure. | told Cheatham to
take this particular lot of manure and TO
do whatever he pleased with II. Willis
we could not dispose Of H. l didn't know
there was so much money In IL. Theirs
was no scrap iron sold from there during
my time.
O. According to your knowledge. there
was none sold during your term of Of
fice2 a. No. there was none sold.
c. (By Alderman Lester. You don't
know TO whom Wheeler sold this iron that
you gave him? A. ! don't know whether
ne sold it or not. l don't think there was
any iron sold from the crematory up to-
the time | left Up to January. 1895,
don't think there was any iron sold; my
impression Is that there was not.
O. But If there had been you would
have known of 1t? A. No. sir; knew MOTH
ing about It, and SO far as this sale OF
manure Is concerned, knew nothing
about ii being sold. / really thought tbs
manure was being used In the back part
OF the lot there, but presume that Cheat
ham thought he had a right to all Of ic
from what / said to him. 1 had no idea
there was money In II.
William Kehoe sworn We only bought
cast scrap from the crematory. The
wrought iron, | suppose you know, was
sold TO Mr. Fox of Philadelphia. That in
formation can be gotten from G. A. Will
hanson. We only bought the scrap iron-
Williamson told me that he bought this
other iron from the crematory and other
departments. Williamson attended to ths
Weighing and loaded 1T on the cars.
don't know who did the shipping; l don't
know who the skipper was. / don't know
whether 1t was the city OF Savannah
think IL was some Of the city depart
merits. / heard that it was shipped by
the crematory and some other Depart
ments, but, OF course, that is only hear
say. The first iron that / bought, the
first iron that / paid for, was on March
I 20, 1885; that Is the first iron that we ever
/ got from the crenatory that we paid for.
q. (By Alderman Lester)-Did you buy
| any before that IN any shape2 A. No.
sir, that is our first payment The iron
was delivered little before payment was
made. Now / viii read out these checks
which we gave in payment for irons
April 1, 1895. S10973 June Is, $40; Sep
TENDER p, $6.Ss; Sept. p. 1885: Nov. Is.
| $3.50. We paid 1894 for some iron, but I
can't find the check, and we also had an
amount outstanding, Sl9.75. which we re-
fused to take, as VIE notified Mr.. Willink
that they were loading so much Of this
stuff in our yards, and that 1t was SUBJ
ject to his order. That last lot we never
bought. We refused to take It because
we were satisfied that Mr.. Peck did not
intend to give US any of the work, and as
the price of the iron was based on our
getting work from the crematory, we did
not feel like taking any more scrap. We
made arrangements with Rogers to make
castings so much pound less than they
could get elsewhere, and we guaranteed