New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-01-17

WHAT THE ENOlNLERS LINE VI pffi--NOh 10
LIKELY TO BELOW YOUNG sUB-IN-
sPECroR DID HIS woRK-THAT
wRETCHED wALLABoUT MUD.
IpY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE.l
washington, Jan. 16.-The Navy Department
tas at last opened communication with Civil
Engineer Menocal. who reached Managua, the
capital OF Nicaragua. yesterday and Will now
no hurried home for court-martial. taking the
o,;jckest method Of reaching the United States.
which may be by San Francisco or by New-Or-
leans. BY either route no should not consume
more than two weeks; SO the Judge Advocate
General will at prepare for the court to
meet about February l. Perhaps Colonel Hams.
the Army member of the Nicaragua Canal Com
mission. will accompany Menocal home, as he
will be wanted before the Carter ccurt-martial
az Savannah as a witness for the Government.
Under these circumstances the Commission on
the Isthmus will be greatly hampered. although
surveys may continue until these two men.
whose presence is considered essential. are
able 10 return.
Mr. Menocal in Managua yesterday when he
first heard OF the serious charges against his
professional ability and personal probity'
struck the keynote Of what the naval admin
istration has all along suspected would be his
line Of defence. and 1t is apparently precisely
what they have been preparing to meet. He Is
reported as saying:
Il have no doubt as to the outcome. I was
supervisor but had several assistants. and
could not personally supervise all the work day
and hight"
II was expected that this would be the scheme
OF attempted generation because 1t was consd-
cred about the only possible loophole; but 1t Is
believed in this particular instance to be an ex-
r,,o1l orA ms X
pressed that the sight of a camel passing
through the needles eye will not be witnessed
by the spectators on this occasion 1t was one
matter 10 place the blame for the former Gals
son wreck Of Drydock No. on Constructor
Bowles who was willing. but II will be another
TO convince q naval court-martial that any or
the young men employed by Menocal TO watch
the dock work were able to hide from their SUI
perior the wholesale frauds that have been I'M
earthed in Drydock No. 3.
1t is general gossip in the Navy Department
that during the progress Of Drydock No. 3 one
OF the young sub-inspectors was discharged from
the works under scandalous circumstances. but
the records in the case have not yet been forth
coming. and some curiosity is evlnced as TO
whether any official account was permitted TO
exist. 1t appears that during the driving of
piles at the mouth Of the dock a young man
employed by Mr.. Menocal to watch closely this
part OF the contract. which has since proved so
outrageously bad, was compelled to turn in daily
reports OF the piles driven. their depth and other
essential remarks as 10 their proper position
These reports were uniformly satisfactory, and
indicated that the contractors were proceeding
with signal success in the construction OF the
radical portions Of the dock. Certain piles were
shown 10 have struck hard bottom at various
distances UP TO and around thirty feet. and all
were accurately directed
one day the report showed a number Of piles
put down in a certain spot 10 the depth OF 10
feet. and these figures attracted the attention
OF another inspector. who knew that no piles
exceeding 80 feet in length had been floating
in the basin that day or for several days pre-
viously that the contractor had been COM
relied TO send off 10 purchase some longer
piles for a soft hole that had been met and
had been disappointed in getting them. So the
sub-inspector quietly investigated and
watched 1t was proved that he not and
had never had been paying strict attention to
his Job. but had made UP his reports at leisure
times TO suit his ideas Of what ought to have
been done He was also discovered to be a near
relative Of some deeply interested In the
contract for the dock. kinsman of man 10
whom the success failure OF finishing the
dock economically and getting the Government
to accept II on time meant much. 1t went hard
with some person, several persons but the
sub-inspector was quietly dropped from the
payroll Of the United States. and for the sake
Of avoiding publicity. and perhaps the resulting
embarrassing investigation. the affair was
hushed up But the piles this sub-inspector had
failed TO inspect were not pulled up. and 1t will
be for a court martial 20 determine why.
At Managua yesterday after the remarks
above attributed TO him. and doubtless with
ouracy, Mr.. Menocal is said to have continued:
The drilling done in very treacherous
land, and the leak resulted probably from this
work II could not have been foreseen. The
contractor is an honest After the work
completed and successfully tested, and he
had been paid and the contract cancelled and
the leak occurred he wrote to the Navy Depart
ent Offering TO repair the damage"
II there is any intimation In the last sentence
that this repair was to have been gratutous
Mr.. Menocal could not have II tended TO con-
vey H. However. IL 1t is impossible TO shift the
blame to a scapegOat Of a sub-inspectOr, Mr..
MenOcal Will be fortunate in thoroughly estab-
fishing the honesty Of the contractor. as well
OF the latters agents. thereby proving that
there never was anything wrong with the dock
its work It's inspe cton, but that the whole
trouble lies with the mud OF the Wallabout.
which was VIGOROUSLY cOntumacious and recall
citrant.