The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-12-20
INSANE
ASYLUM
CONTINUED from page i.)

was read, contractor present was
ieard to remark:
THE suckers bit, didn't they?"
This remark gave no indication of
the plot concealed at that time against
the contracting company, and the bid
was signed.
Later when Amweg has examined
the specifications more closely, he
found evidences of the alleged fraud,
and 1t was at this time that Beardslee
is charged to have made his damaging
admission. The representative of the
contractors says that he tried, at that
time. to get Beardslee to go to Mr..
Holloway and admit to him as much
as II is claimed he admitted to the con-
tractors, but this the architect re-
fused to do. The admission of Boards
lee, or what Is claimed to be his ad-
mission, the representatives of the con-
tractors say they are willing to make
oath to.
1t is said that Beardslee admitted
that the asylum job was manipulated
so that the contract would go to the
Concrete Construction Company, and t
would have gone to that company If
Amweg had not butted in with his
cheap bid
II had great difficulty" Beardslee is
reported to have said in the documents
in the Governors hands, 'in getting
Mr.. Holloway to get the department
to specify the work as l did. Mr..
Howland could not see why a building
constructed by methods in use ir the
United States was not good enough for
the Territory of Hawaii. So / tad to
run a bluff by telling them thu; it was
very necessary, in a building of this
character to have the blocks dense,
so as to keep out moisture
Mr. Beardslee denies all this, but
that comes later along in the story.
The contractors, discovering that
there was no machine made that would
press and tamp a concrete block at the
same time. appealed to Superintendent
Holloway to tell them what they
should do in the matter. He, it is said,
gave them the names of four compa-
nies who We're making machines to do
this kind of work. and the contracting
company at once proceeded to look up
the machines. 1t was discovered that
no one of the companies was making
machine that would tamp and press
brick at the same time.
But before the case for the contrac-
tors Is closed, it should be noted that
the claim is advanced that, in calling
for plans for the building, Superin-
tendent Holloway asked for plans and
specifications for brick building, like
wise, in the event that it was found
that concrete building was not prac-
ticable, and the claim Is made that
Architect Beardslee so drew up the
specifications for the brick building as
to make it incumbent upon the Super
intendent of Public Works to call for
the bids in the way that he did and for
a building such as the Concrete Con-
struction Company could build.
Here, with the allegation of fraud,
and the further allegation that the
specifications were not drawn SO that
they would be clear, thereby trapping
the contracting company into con-
tract that was impossible of fulflment,
the case as it was laid before the Gov
ernor virtually closed.
HOLLOWAY'S OFFER.
Pursuing his investigations, the al
legation of fraud having been specif-
ically laid aside, according to the un-
derstanding of the Governor, Mr.. Car
ter called upon Superintendent Hollo-
way for a statement of his side of the
case. Mr.. Holloway, as has already
tn tn
arbitrators to be chosen by the con-
tractors the only question that he un-
derstood was at issue, namely, the am
biguity of the specification relative to
the manner of concrete block to be
used in the construction of the build
ing. Incidentally, Mr.. Holloway says
in his statement to Governor Carter
that it Is nowhere, so far as he can
see specified that the concrete blocks
TO be used in the construction of the
asylum building shall be tamped and
pressed at the same time. The specif-
ications call for a tamped and pressed
block-but do not say that the block
shall be tamped and pressed at the
same operation. The blocks to be used
must be dense enough to shut out
water, or they will be useless. In fact,
1t would be better to have brick
building. And he said that 1t was not
W to him to tell the contractors what
to do. They had presumably read the
specifications. 1t was their business to
60 ahead and build the structure. He
was willing to leave the matter Of the
clearness of the specifications to any
expert. Besides, he had seen the kind of
blocks he wanted, and the contractors
had seen them. His sole aim in the
matter was to get the building started.
BEARDsLEE DENIES.
Architect Beardslee, called before the
Governor, said that he had told the
contractors nothing of the kind at
tributed to him.
II would have been either fool, CT
crazy, to have said that" Mr.. Boards
lee remarked. land / am not ready to
go to the insane asylum yet. What 1
did do was to offer the American Ha-
waiian people all the information in
my possession relative to the Pinkham
block. and / drew UP a contract my
self, holding 1t in my possession, that