The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-26
City Engineer and Superin' tendent of Streets Swear They Were offered a Bribe---Mr. Carter SwearS Their
 Statements
 Are False.

| " ~ V A1 - " "
 Are False.
 | The testimony before the select com. mittee of the Montgomery City Council I which investigated reported corruption in connection with the purchase of q gravl pit from John c. Carter, covers eighty closely typewriter pages. Witnesses were examined as follows Thomas H. Carr, Mayor-elect of Mont. gomery; D. w. Ford, City Engineer; A c. Jones, Superintendent of Streets; John c. Carter. c. T. Fitzpatrick, J. J. Sul- livan. E. H. Lewis, R. J. Chambers. E. G. Fowler, A. M. Baldwin, w. W. Graves, Gen. J. W. A. Sanford. Paul w Smith, J. c. Detwiler. Norwood John. son and Aldermen Paul Roeder. J. H. Hartley, W. E. Haywood, D. Fleming and Gaston Gunter.
 Only the testimony of Messrs. Carr Ford, Jones and Carter was regarded as | important | The testimony is supplemented by a letter from MT. Carter to the committed as follows:
 Communication from John c. Carter. presented by his attorney Major R. B. Steiner, and read by Chairman N. Loeb- man, as follows:
 Messrs N. Lobman, Gaston Gunter and c. P. Mcintyre, Committee: Gentlemen-I have had my attention called to the fact that, by g resolution of the City Council, you were appointed | a committee to investigate into the sale of the gravel pit by me to the city, and to ascertain whether or not any methods | of an improper character were adopted to influence any member or members of said Council in said sale. am more than glad to have this investigation pro- ceed and be as thorough as possible, and so far as I am concerned-I invite it. Naturally, should anything unfavorable develop in the progress of the examina- | ton, some people would or might criti- ! else my connection with the affair as own the Dit, and in consequence I desire to be present in person and by counsel and trust you will permit this and hold open sessions. Should you grant my request l shall do all in my power to turn on all the light not only in regard to my pit, but others offered to the city. My counsel will be Graham, and Steiner. Very respectfully, (signed.) John c. Carter. | August s. 1908.
 MAYoR-ELECT CARR. I Mr. Thomas H. Carr, called as a wit- ness, being duly sworn deposed as fol- lows in answer to questions propounded by Mr. Qaston Gunter;
 | O. 1 want to ask you a question, after which, you can answer, and make any statement that you please. Is it true, or is 1t a fact, that as you left this room the other night, that you made the state- ment that every alderman that voted voted for 6 fraud and steal from the city?
 A. No sir.
 O. You made no such statement as that2
 A. I made a statement
 @. Have you made any statement upon the street or elsewhere that every alder man that participated in that. voted fol the purchase of that, knowingly or other wise, voted for a steal?
 A. have not, most positively.
 Mir. Carr (continuing)- Now gentlemen I want to preface my re marks by stating that l have got noth ing personal against Mir. Carter. Or the contrary he has always been a gooC friend of mine. l have got no tnteres in any gravel pit whatsoever. I have go no preference for any gravel pit, but be fore the close of this deal that was being made for this gravel pit, there were certain things that came to my ears and it was that Mir. John Carter oeffret our city engineer $500 to recommend tht sale of his pit. and pass upon the quality of the gravel
 Mir. Mcintyre: Recommend the sale oi the pit and quality of the gravel?
 A. Yes, sir. was also informed bS Campbell Jones, Superintendent oi Streets, that he was offered $500 by MT Carter to pass upon the gravel, anC recommend 1t to the city.
 MT. Gunter; City Council?
 A. City Council I suppose. cant say positively whether it was to the City Council or to the Mayor. After that came to my ears, and knowing that wai to inherit this pit sixty days hence, as a | legacy for the next two years, l thought that 1t would be best to investigate 1t I came up and invited the Mayor to go out with me to look at this pit. He also suggested that we invite the City En- gtneer, and l think the Superintendent | of Streets. 1 took the Mayor in my buggy ,and the Engineer and Superinten- dent of Streets went in theirs. We went out to the pit, examined every test pit that was made on the ground, and the first thing that l had heard, that there was great stress laid upon the cost of d railroad that was lad in there, and that | it would be a great saving to the city. | went over that railroad, measured every-I suppose in walking over 1t, noticed the distance of the ross-ties, | apart, the number of rotten cross-ties from the switch where 1t turned in from the Western Railway. leading to this gravel pit. Some of those cross-ties are simply put there-well if 1 may use the expression, gentlemen, think it looks to me like 1t was salting a mine.
 MT. Carr at some length narrated his investigation of the Carter pit.
 Mir. Carr, continued-Now these are cal ! culations that any man can take up and go over. Everybody knows what a cubic yard is, and on the strength of that, and looking over that and getting these facts, I wanted to appear before you not to stay the progress of the buying of a pit, because I think the city needs one, ought to have one, but as I said in the commencement had no preference as to pits, no interest in any pit, except to see | the city get one hundred cents for her dollar. After these matters came to my attention-I mentioned on the way out that evening to the Mayor, that heard these rumors, without mentioning any names. so that after the proceedings. of the last Council, saw Mayor Joseph and told him that I thought 1t was a duty | that I owed to him and to the city, I was talking to him in private, he was
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