The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-29
SOME WARM WORDS PASSED.
CHAIRMAN DALE THREATENED TO
THROW 4 PAPER WEIGHT.

e~s, Caucus-What COmmi ssioncr
West says of the Occurrence and
The circumstances That Led to II.
The first fun meeting, which the county
commissioners have held in two months
came near resulting in a small-sized row
yesterday afternoon.
The trouble arose over a matter upon
which Chairman Dale and Commissioner
Keboe had a dispute. The lie was passed,
and it looked for a moment as if there
was going to be a flying of paper-weights'
or some other weapons, through the AR
The two commissioners, however were
soon Quoted by the others present, and
the situation became calm again
The commissioners met in caucus short
" after O'Clock. There were present the
full board, Chairman Dale, Commissioners
I,athrop. Kehoe, West and Guckenheimer
besides Capt John r. Dillon, who was
acting as secretary, and Superintendent
of Public Works W. f. Chaplin.
The discussion which led to the difficulty
began with some talk about the matter
of the county engineer. The beginning
of the discussion. 1t seems, concerned the
ability of Superintendent Chaplin to con-
duct the county work Mr.. Kehoe calling
attention to the fact that in such work
scientific knowledge should be brought to
hear while Mr.. Dale did not see the ne
cessity for 1t. When this discussion began
SUPERINTENDENT Chaplin withdrew from
the caucus.
From this the discussion turned upon
certain iron tanks, which were bought re-
Gently for the use of the county convicts
for bathing purposes. As has been stated
in the Morning News, the bids for these
tanks we're advertised for and bids were
submitted by several different parties. 1t
appears that the bids from a Macon firm
were about Is cents lower on each tank
than were the bids submitted by Sayan-
nah concern. The county commissioners
awarded the contract to the Macon firm
on the ground that it was the .owest bid
der. although attention was called to the
fact about that time that the extra cost
of handling the material coming from
Macon would probably make the total cost
greater than it would have been had the
work been done in Savannah.
Commissioner Kehoe made the statement
the wagons which carried them TO the con-
Wet camps. This amount, added to the
original cost of the tanks, as Will be seen,
made the price of them coming from the
Macon firm greater than it would have
been had the contract been awarded IN
Savannah, the tanks having cost originally
about S27 80 apiece. delivered, from Macon
TO Savannah. The Savannah bid was made
by Mr.. John Rourke, and was about Is
cents more on each tank than the bid of
the Macon firm.
Having looked into these facts Mr. Ke-
hoe stated them in the caucus and called
attention to the fact that the total cost
of the tanks coming from Macon was re-
ally more than il would have been had
the tanks been purchased in Savannah
because of the fact that, had they been
bought here, they would have been loaded
and delivered to the convict camps with
out extra charge above the price named
in the bid.
When Mr.. Kehoe made the statement
that the tanks had cost more coming from
Macon than would have been the case had
they been purchased in Savannah intimat-
ing that there had been some serious fault
in the matter on somebody's part, Chair
man Dale who had been listening closely
and taking part in the discussion, arose
suddenly from his seat and, in an excited
manner saidG
II
AT the same time, Chairman Dale, in
arising from his seat, grasped a heavy
paper-weight which was lying on the Ia
BILE and made a motion as if to resent
with it what Commissioner Kehoe had
said. Commissioner Kehoe then arosq
from his seat and stated that everything
he had said was fact, and that he had
the proof of the statements he had made.
Commissioner Kehoe, in remarking upon
the matter, at the same time and in AN
excited manner. intimated that what Mr..
Dale had stated was untrue.
Capt Dillon caught hold Of Chairman
Dale on one side and, as he did so, Chair
man Dale turned slightly, saying:
Turn me loose or by - III
hit YOU" but at the same time Commits
sioner West had grasped him from the
other side, and in a few moments the
two of them had Chairman Dale again in
his seat. This ended the disturbance
within the caucus, aud the commissioners
then proceeded as best they could to
transact the rest Of the business that was
before them.
The trouble. it appears, grew entirely
out of the fact that contract for certain
materials to be used at the convict camps
was awarded TO a Macon firm over Sa-
vannah firm, because the bid of the for
mer happened to be q cents less than
that of the latter. The fact that such a
contract was made by the commissioners
has been spoken of in the Morning News
several times. but no satisfactory expla-
nation of it, it seems, had been made. Aft
or the contract was fulfilled, Commission
er Kehoe. who did not bid upon the ma
terial himself because Of the fact that
he is a county commissioner investigated
the matter and found. so ne stated, that
in the end the materials had really cost
more delivered from Macon to Savannah,
and al the convict camps than would have
been the case had the Savannah bid been
accepted.
One of the commissioners stated after
the meeting. that nothing was said in any
of the b ds about loading the tanks, bat
1t was simply understood thar they
were to be delivered to the wagons in Sa-
vannah. The bid from the Macon firm,
he stated, was made by a Savannah man,
Mr.. w. d. Thomas, and the commissions
did not know whore the work was to be
done.
With reference to the matters which
brought on the difficulty between Chair
man Dale and Commissioner Kehoe, Com
missioner West said;
"Commiss- oner Kehoe is, and has been
for some time, prejudiced against Mr..
Chaplin, and when asked to make specific
charges, he failed 20 put them before the