The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-05
OcCUMENTS AID INFlNlTUM.
continued from Eighth Page.)

-. letter to the chief of engineers mad
NisrtIv. Subsequent portions of the let
Nu he said. showed that the project was
Nt, carried out in accordance with the
w'rort of the board of engineers. 80
ps5in,ilar letters and correspondence, pro-
4 Is etc, relating to the improvement of
ssrannah harbor by the construction of
4 'h,' breakwater at Tybee. were also read
III Introduced as evidence by the Judge
n ,Jvorate The court took recess of nj
4,an minutes to recover from the effects
of all this documentary evidence, after
A which Chief Clerk j. w. .. Sterly was
. ogain called to the stand.
Ss9erivs me G. r. No. 51," said Col. Barr,
~ remark producing a smile around the
,rt room, as it was the signal for the
4 sntroduction of more documentary eVl-
dence ,....,. r,,+t,
rsgard to M. j. Wheeler's inability to
norform a contract in the Kennebec river,
w5ine which had been awarded him. A
I1t+ar from Capt Carter to the chief Of
nngtneers recommending that the contract
~ awarded to Wheelers principal bonds
nan 3. D. Green, was also read ana
introduced in evidence. This was IN 1883.
Tben Col. Barr called attention again to
iii If William H. Walsh on contract
Of 1902 in which w. F. MeCauley and M.
Wheeler we're bondsmen for Walsh. In
+his bond Mr.. Wheeler swore that he was
18th ri. 900 over and above all his la
buities This oath was made before Unit
ed States Commissioner M. A. Connolly,
1rbo certified that both Mr.. McCauley ana
Mr. Wheeler were personally known 10
In, and to the best of his knowledge ana
..Iiaf hoth were worth, as they had stat
- OK 600 over and above all of their la
%ol Barr next produced some papers re-
corning TO a contract of 1889 for work on
Erunswick harbor, which, on capt. Car
tar's recommendation, was awarded 10 u
C. Ely, though he was the hlghest Oh TWO
ladders. the other being d. d. Howell OF
New York. A letter from Mr. Howell,
e,,.ing though he presented an informal
ia he would furnish good security IL ne
mas the lowest bidder was also read. capt.
easter recommended the acceptance II
the bid of Mr.. Ely, though it was the
highest. because Mr.. Howell had failed
on some work he had formerly attempted
in savannah harbor. Mr.. Ely's bondsmen
Cere Messrs Jacob Paulsen and John +.
a check issued by Capt Carter to Mr. Ely
amounting to about $4,000, for work done
under the foregoing contract was lost IN
transmission through the mails, and an
act of Congress was secured empowering
Cant. Carter to issue a duplicate check
10 Mr. Ely. The former check, it was
shown, had been assigned to B. d. Green,
and the duplicate also went to him.
Three proposals for work in rivers and
barbors along the Georgia coast, from
the Atlantic Contracting Company We're
introduced. One of the proposals was writ
len by Mr.. M. A. Connolly and in the
other two, which were in handwritings
unknown to Mr.. Sterly, the prices had
been filed in by John f. Gaynor. Col.
Barr then called attention to paragraph
fourteen of the specifications, which said
that proposals must be prepared without
any assistance from. any person in the mill
itary service of the United States, and
without any assistance from any one con-
nected with the United States engineer 3
office
tabulated statement about the size of
q square yard of mattress, prepared by
Chief Clerk Sterly, showing the bidders,
contractors, amount of material bid on,
amount used and several hundred other
things relating to all the contracts car
Tied out under Capt. Carter, was intro
duced, and Mr. Sterly was questioned at
length upon it, for the purpose of show
ing that comparatively small amounts of
mattresses and stone were used in cam
wasting bids, and that when the Atlantic
Contracting Company got the contract the
amounts were increased in ordinately, pre-
sumably for the benefit of that company.
The increase in the amount of materials
h9Ou vas dAHlyo dpplON6O ny the Cl4lSA
OF engineers and the Secretary of War.
The increase in amount of material was
from Z to 300 per cent. in the different con-
tracts.
Col Barr then had Mr.. Sterly read out
the names of all the successful bidders,
the amounts bid the names of the guaran-
tors and amounts the names of sureties
and amounts and other features. All of
this testimony practically, has been gone
over in connection with other papers re-
lating to the same contracts. The names
of Bangs, Gaynor Green Ely, Hughes,
Ray, Paulsen, McCauley, Wheeler Walsh
and others We're conspicuous throughout
the presentation of this lengthy statistl-
cal report. Though a dry one, 1t seemed
to interest some of the officers of the
court very much. The court adjourned
until II o'clock this morning.