The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-04-13
CHARGES INVESTIGATED.
But the Andrewses Failed to Sustain
Their Complaint.

But the AndrewSes Failed to Sustain
Their Complaint.
A special meeting of the street COM
mittee was held yesterday at noon in the
mayors officc.
1t was called by Mr.. Drewry, chair
man. at the request of Messrs Melvin
and Ed. Andrews who present u com
plaint setting forth that they had been
emnloved as tool sharpeners at the city
rock quarry: that unjust complaints were
made against them by Mr.. johnson, the
boss of the quarry; that Johnson Sc
cured their discharge through unjust
methods and then employed non-resi-
dent of Raleigh and negro eX-convict
in their places.
For these reasons the petitioners ask
ed an investigation of the matter, and
said that the paper and affidavits read
was their case.
The first witness put on the stand was
Mr.. Wallen. the foreman of the quar-
ry. He said while the Andrewses were
employed the tools were not kept in or
der even for the small force now en-
ployed He thought they simply did not
L
were paid 50 each per day. The new
blacksmith and his helper. a negro who
has been with him for six years, only get
So together and yet they do more and
better work than the Andrewses. In
addition to this the men in the quarry
are doing more work Tor the reason mat
they have better tools.
Mr.. Johnson, the quarry boss, said
Andrews never kept the quarry supplied
with tools. The quarrymen wasted their
time waiting for tools Besides this the
tools were improperly heated and often
broke.
eve been IN the quarry business nearly
fifty years and I've never seen such tools
in my life. | never saw tools break that
way before
The broken tools were shown. and
johnson stated that the men could not
do half as much work with poor tools
as they can with good ones. A good
tool sharpener. Mr. Johnson stated,
ought TO be able to sharpen many more
tools than are new required.
Pat. Ryan was next put on the stand.
His affidavit was read to him stating
that while the Andrewses were in the
show the stone-cutters were always well
supplied with tools. This, he said, was
not true, though he acknowledged sign
ing the statement. He said the paper
was brought to him by Melvin Andrews,
who asked him to sign it to help him
get a position in Portsmouth. He said
while Andrews was in the blacksmith
shop he neither had properly sharpened
tools nor enough of them. Since the
employment of Meade, the witness said
they had had plenty of tools and al
ways well sharpened. Ryan stated that
he had been in the quarry business some
eighteen years.
w. III. Jones' name was also signed
to the affidavit along with Ryan's. He
said he was supplied with tools by An
drews and he had no fault to find with
them. He got all the tools he wanted and
they were well sharpened. The tools
now in use. he said, are as good as those
given him by Andrews. As to the state
ment signed by himself and Ryan, Jones
said it was written by Andrews and it
was not stated for what purpose it
would be used when he and Ryan sign
ed it.
The next witness was Willie Jones.
who carries tools TO and from the black
smith shop. He said he never saw the
men stop for tools, while Andrews was
there. Some of the tools broke then and
some break now. Meade, he said, keeps
the tools i'm as good order as Andrews
did.
William Clark. who has charge of the
steam drill. said while Andrews was
employed he had trouble with his drills;
also that at times he had had to wait to
get the drills sharpened, though there
were about dozen of the drills. Since
Meade had been sharpening the tools he
had had 10 trouble-only one drill hay-
ing broken or crumbled.
William Dupree, Il blacksmith, testified
that the tools he used We're now much
better sharpened than when Andrews
sharpened. He said, however, that An
drews was improving very much when
he was discharged.
Frank Montgomery (col). also a black
maker, said that the trouble was simply
that Andrews didn't understand his bus
mess, and so the tools were not proper
~ sharpened. Andrews sharpened Mont
gomery's tools once or twice, a day and
Meade had sharpened them only once in
two weeks.
Street Commissioner Blake testified
that once or twice he went into An
drew's shop Unexpectedly and found
very few dull tools in the shut but heard
no complaints from the qnarrymen.
Lucius Thomas (col), said his tools
would not stand when Andrews shar-
pened them but they are all right since
Meade has been sharpening them.
William Davids (col.), block-maker,
said Andrews did not know how to shar-
pen a block-maker's tools. He com
planned TO Andrews several times and
one afternoon he took his hammer to the
shop six times and he made only forty
blocks in half a day. Since Meade has
been there his tools have been worked
on only once.
Jack Bing (col), another block-maker,
said he couldn't do a thing with An
drews' tools His tools are now all right
and he can do Il great deal more work
Nlile Andrews as there the block-mak-