The Portland daily press., 1897-09-14
ROUNDS and REFORM.
George s. Staples's Terrific Swearing
Further Investigated.
A LONG STORY ABOUT DUMP CARTS
AND SALT.PETRE.

"spit Her Out" Says Mr.. Rounds When
Diffident Witnesses Hesitate to Tell
How Staples Swore-A Wandering
Dump Cart and What Came of It.
Mondays Hearing on the Doings of
Street Workers.
The committee to investigate the doings
of the Commission of Public Works was
in session for about an hour and half
yesterday afternoon, and in that time
heard good deal more about the kind OF
language used by Superintendent Staples.
With this they were favored with another
installlnent of the stories of the dosing
of the city horses with salt-petre, the
hauling of material to the land adjoining
the Portland Beef company's office and
other places, including Mr.. Staples's
property and the fortunes of the cele-
DRAFTED cart which Superintendent Staples
lent to the Portland Sanitary company.
1t was in connection with the cart that
one of the interesting incidents Of the
afternoon occurred, the testimony of the
officers of the company to the effect that
they had received no promise Of preference
in city work il. they bought certain pair
of horses Of Mr.. Staples being fatty con-
Charles S. Fairfield, who related a con-
versation which he said that he had held
with Mr.. Francis Sargent of the sanitary
company in which Mr.. Sargent had said
that such statement had been made by
Mr.. Staples at the time Of the sale of
the horses. Alderman Leighton dealt a
blow at one phase of the case by showing
that the land adjoining the beef com
pany's building is in reality street.
Alderman Rounds persisted in the
declaration that the Brown estate is pay
ing taxes on this land, which drew from
Mr.. Leighton the retort that in that case
the city was to be congratulated. The ap-
pearance of General Mattocks lead to re-
newal of the discussion as to where his
pay is to come from. Alderman leighton
raised the question in the course of some
remarks with Alderman Rounds and was
promptly answered by that gentleman to
the effect that as he had said at the
previous hearing that would be all right.
Mr.. Leighton reiterated his statement to
the effect that unless Mr.. Rounds had
some way of paying General Mattocks it
might not be all right. Mr.. Leighton
spoke quietly, but with evident meaning.
The meeting was held in the common
council chamber after the meeting of the
city government. 1t was called for the
aldermen's room, but there were SO many
spectators that the smaller apartment
would have been uncomfortably crowded.
The onlookers seemed to get good deal
of enjoyment out of the proceedings, and
made their delight apparent by good
deal of laughter. They got the must en-
joyment out of remarks which the wit
nesses said that Mr.. Staples had made
and the conversation between Mr.. Leigh
ton and Mr.. Rounds also served to pro-
woke evidences of the interest of the
spectators.
The
FIRST WITNESS WAS MR.. THMOAS
A. BOWEN,
who was a time keeper in the street de-
partment in the first year that it was I'M
der the charge of the commission. The
examination of Mr.. Bowen and the fol-
| lowing witnesses was conducted by Gen
eral Mattccks and the questions quoted
unless otherwise specified are those asked
| by him. Mr.. Bowen was first examined as
to cases in which it is alleged that city
employees and teams were sent away from
their work to engage in labor for private
parties. He replied that he could not tell
about teams being sent away, but men
were taken from their work and sent
away. When the witness asked what had
become of these men Mr.. Staples would
make various answers, such as "what in
hell are you here for if you can't keep
run Of the men, The witness had a
record of teams owned by Mr.. Staples do
ing work for the lofty to the amount OF
1881 in three months. These teams were
entered by Mr.. Bowen on his book as be.
longing to Mr.. Staples, but the slips
made out by other persons gave the teams
| as the property of John D. Murray. AT
the request of General Mattocks the wit
ness produced the little red covered book
in which he had kept the time. This lead
to the asking of questions by MIR.
Leighton as to how the book came to be
in the possession of the witness three years
after he had ceased to be connected with
the street department. Mr.. Bowen ex.
planned that the book did not properly be.
long to him, but had been retained by
accident and found when he was repair
ingthis house.
The witness recalled the building of a
house by Mr.. Staples's son. Grout and
rough stone were hauled by teams to this
house. 1t is not customary to do this. Nc
explanation was made, and no charge was
made. The teams used belonged tc
Staples. The witness would not say that
they were then working for the city. The
material was taken from the city crusher
The witness did not know whether the
material was paid for or not. 1t was moi
his business to keep account of the
material
/ General MattOcks then turned his at