The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-09
U1RY TO HEAR WATER CHARGES
,rPCHANTS' ASSOCIATION LAYS
IRIS CASE BEFORE JEROME.
,,,,or and Compt roller Go on an Inspec.
t,on Tour and Sec the Crumblins
Limestone Below the Core Wall-Hear'
ing for AQueduct Commission To-day.


Instruct Attorney Jerome will bring the
.nsrees prepared by tim Merchants Asso-
s,,ion against the AqWeduct Commission
we before the Grand Jury. Mr.. jerome
s,,ended a meeting of the associations
committee on Water Supply yesterday and
he'd laid before him the facts gathered by
The committee in support of its contention
chat the Aoueduct Commissioners have
heen guilty of criminal neglect in inn
rroperlv supervising the work on jerome
Park reservoir.
After listening to the associations engi-
ro.rs he asked that the accusations should
he officially submitted to him. Said the
District Attorney after the conference:
These charges will now he sent to me for
maly and they will then be presented to
the Grand jury
On behalf Of the association this state
ment was made: -The action decided
upon to-day will now bring the matter
which we have been pressing on the atten-
ton of the Mayor for more than year
TO a head, as we are more convinced as time
progresses that the Aquedyct Commits
sioners are not faithfully discharging their
duties to the city and it is unsafe for this
community to rely upon them further for
it's water supply" Expert opinions were
read TO the effect that the proposal to in-
crease the thickness of the concrete flooring
OF the reservoir from three to eight inches
was unnecessary, and besides causing
further delay in the completion OF the
work would mean a waste of public money.
The association charges that the Com
missoners are encourag ug delay.
Mayor Low and Comptroller Grout, under
the wing Of Prof. William Burr. the newly
appointed consulting engineer to the Aque-
duct Commission, accompanied the -FOUR
much Embarrassed Commissioners yesterday
upon a trip of inspection to the CroIon
Dam and the Jerome Park Reservoir. The
Mayor and Comptroller wished to make
themselves personally acquainted with the
condition of the works, IN readiness 1or
the public hearing to be held to-day on
the report made by the commissions engl-
neers and Contractor Mcdonald that inc
water unless the flooring is strengthened.
The association will renew it's charges
against the commission at this meeting.
The Merchants Association engineers
have questioned the wisdom of Chief En-
gineer Hill of the Aqueduct Commission
IN removing the core wall and earth en-.
hankment construction which terminated
the dam at its southern end and in SUD-
sriuting solid masonry. When the core
wall was removed it was found that the lime
stone on which it had been laid ,E could be
shoveled up by the spadeful The con-
tractors have already gone down forty feet
or more through this stuff without striking
a foundation for the masonry,
Yesterday the engineers took the Mayor
and his party down perilous paths into the
cr,lmbling pits to convince them by per-
sona contact with the stuff that the core
wall laid on it would never have held back
the nineteen mile sheet of water which
will extend back of the dam when 1t Is
finished. The visitors prodded wisely with with
umbrella tips and scraped with boot toes
and fingernails and seemed to agree en-
lirely With Engineer Hill and the con-
tractors. Comptroller Grout said;
NO one who has seen what we have be-
fore US can doubt the wisdom OF the re-
Mayor Low refused to commit himself.
The diggers say that the limestone Is I'M
proving in texture as they go down ana they
are confident Of striking sound rock before
the foundations of the masonry dam were
laid. The inquirers scorn the idea that
the same rotten stuff will be found under
that section of the dam which was built
the discovery Of the conditions underlying
the one wall have aroused, test borings
are to be made at intervals along the dam
inside and outside, which will show exactly
what kind of rock lies under the masonry.
Engineer Hill says that even If the borings
show the worst the masonry wall wont
have to come down.
Contractor Mcdonald led the party to
that section of the west wall which the
Merchants Association says leaks and is
full of cracks.
There weren't any cracks to be detected
by the inexperienced eye. Division Eng-
neer Ulrich pointed out the cracks dis
covered by the Merchants Association
engineer. He said they were 4tempera-
ture" cracks and didn't amount to any
thing. Prof Burr agreed with him.
The Mayor wouldn't say what opinion
Of the charges he had arrived at after his
days tour.