The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-29
COL. BARR HAD THE LAST SAY.
CONTINUED from Eighth Pago)

bidders in Jacksonville was told to come
10 Savannah If he wanted additional IN
formation. OF course he would have TO
come to Savannah in order 60 consult with
Greene & Gaynor For all this the accus-
ed Is responsible. The accused knew that
1t was required that advertisements be
published for thirty days, as he wrote 10
the chief of engineers not to require thr-
ty days in the case of the fOrCfications at
Tyhee
The accused graduated with high honors
at West Point; he is brilliant, plausible, an
adept in the art of clubbing. and in STAT
ing a thing different from its real meaning
No wonder his superiors overlooked many
of the things he did the. notifications of
many things in his official reports. Alert,
quick, with the reason of man and the
insinuatiOn Of a woman. it is not wonder
full TO suppose that his superiors would let
him do very much as he pleased. He fore
ed a contractor into bankruptcy-if his
name was Twiggs, and permitted him to
make from 700 to 500 per cent. if his ulti-
mate name was Greene. No more Utoplan
schemes. no more Mulberry Sellers plans
Col Barr said, land was in sight for the
boy.
In speaking of the change of date in the
1896 advertisement. Col Barr said, while he
did not show It. in the testimony. there
was every reason TO believe IL was done by
that accomplished penman, Connolly.
These ideas with regard to advertise
ments and specifications, Col. Barr said,
had been attributed to dead men, Gen GIL
more, Capt. Baylay and Capt Post. The
dead are helpless to defend themselves, ard
IL was strange to nave to accuse them Of
things which in this case seem to have
been done with criminal intent If the ac-
cused initiated Gen. Gilmore in these
things, Col Barr said, why did he not i'm
itate him in the good things he did?
Col. Barr next called attention to ;he
fact that the proposals for work in this
district always came within a few cents
of each other, the difference always being
just sufficient, he said, to give the work to
Greene and Gaynor.
He next went into an argument on The
mattress and stone work, holding that the
specifications were not compiled with, nd
that the cost to the contractors Of the ma
terials used was vastly less than the
charge to the government. Considerable
expert testimony. he. said. had been intro
duced to show that well trimmed" had
only a technical meaning. 1t is noted,
however that not one of the officers who
testified about it ever used the phrase in
writing specifications. In Twiggs' case
the Specifications meant what they said,
as Twisgs had tried methods he saw used
anu tnels suffered Tor II.
Col. Barr said he would present an esti-
mate of the amount out of which the gov
eminent had been robbed in the construc-
tion of mattresses. The cost of the mat
tresses used, to the contractors he said
was shown to be about II cents a square
yard. Thirty per cent. would he faii
profit. he said, or a cost to The government
of Is cents a square yard. This meni. =
loss to the government of 80 cents per
square yard on the Tybee breakwater con-
tract, or a total of $2Oi,66 On sthe Gem
berland sound contract IL meant a loss 10
the government of more than 1924, 600 APP
plying similar reasoning to the 1899 con
tract there being loss to the Government
of so cents square yard, the total loss
under that contract was 81, 090 S57 on 1.3e3
532 square yards of Mattress making he
said, total of about 81, 10000 that was
literally stolen from the government"
Col. Barr devoted considerable attention
TO Florida rock, and specific gravity in that
connection. The defense had erde5vored
10 obscure the issue by taking rock and
specific gravity wholly in the me6oorologi-
cal and scientific sense thus eliminating
the engineering qualities. II the same
way the government had been robbed az
large sums by the putting in OF inferior
qualities of stone. The court here took a
recess of fifteen minutes
The second charge Coz Barr said. after
the recess, causing the payment of false
claims contains ten specifications, but the
court can consider only the last five OF
them, the others being barred by the stat
ute of limitations. No inference should be
drawn against the accused on account of
that plea, Col. Barr said, especially since
other charges against him of the same
kind were being considered. The sixth
specification charged that payments were
made for inferior mattresses and stone.
That, Col. Barr said, had already been
proven.
The next specification concerned 500. 30
pay roll, which was signed by parties fur
nishing materials. The evidence. Col
Barr said. showed that the parties whose
names appeared on the roll were never Ia
borers in this district. Other evidence
showed, he said, that the accused had
guilty knowledge of this pay roll. In one
case fictitious name hade been put in bv
the very useful Connolly" In another
place Col. Barr referred to Connolly as
"Fidus Achates."
The note to Sterly on one paw roll show
ed that he paid close attention to his pev
rolls and vouchers, and knew the methods
pursued In these matters. He cannot shirlx
the responsibility and put 1t upon his SUI
bordinatesi the decisions of courts so state
Other irregular pay rolls and vouchers had
been put in, Col Barr said to prove guilty
knowledge, that being proper and neees-
sary evidence for the court to consider
The evidence listened 70, if true, shows a
Fearful condition of things, and the court
as TO consider 1t in its details and End
whether the accused knew of this false
account.
The accused cannot make a scapeeoat.
Col. Barr said. of the wicked Sterly. the
sef-discredited Sterly. the sycophant Ster-
Iy, sterly the deserter: nor can he Tide
behind the virtuous Connolly: nor the wit
ness Austin. Sterly Is a creation of The
accused; he was dominated by him. Ster-
~ was devoted to his chief and gave him
his affection. His position is crippled to-
day, because he destroyed the proofs
against the accused. because of his deyo-
ton TO him. Everything against him v as
established by his own testimony He
made false affidavit of travel expenses
20 Washington, but he had evidently learn
go that legal irregularity in dealing with
the government was not OF much conse-
ouence. How does this compare with the
charge made by the accused for a trip ta
Boards Bluff. which was not made. and
the voucher for which contains two false
hoods2 Which man stands the most dis
credited before the court? Col. Barr asked.