Milford chronicle., 1908-02-07
SOME ELASTIC
MEASUREMENTS
9vercharges of Penna Capitol Con-
tractors Shown to Jury.
UNAPPROVED BILLS WERE PAID

Harrisburg. Pa, Feb. 5.-Measured
by the man who manufactured them
neither the number Of cubic feet nor
Surface feet" upon which Contractor
John II. Sanderson bases his defense
in the trial of the conspiracy suit
against Sanderson, former Auditor
General Snyder, former State Treas
urer Mathues and former Public
Buildings Superintendent Shumaker,
could be found in the mahogany ros'
trums in the senate and house caucus
rooms of the capitol to equal the mum.
Der of feet charged against the state
by the contractor.
Sanderson collected from the state
$50, ,74S.S0 for these rostrums, at the
rate of $3.50 per foot" and paid
John F. Wilt, of Philadelphia, the sub
contractor who manufactured them
$1,000, giving the contractor a profit
of $SS,6SS or 43O5 per cent. Photo
graphs of the rostrums were put in
evidence by the commonwealth after
which Mr.. Wilt testified that they con
tanned 20S3 Surface feet" OF 1897
cubic feet or 1890 feet board meas
ure," and that of the 1890 feet board
measure" only 1900 feet were ma
hogany.
The commonwealth then showed
that by the invoice that SandersoE
billed the rostrums to the state as con
tanning 1882 feet" Mr. Rothermel, OF
counsel for the defense, objected to the
introduction of the photographs, insist
ing that if the rostrums were to figure
as exhibits the jury should be taken to
the capitol and permitted to inspect all
the furnishings. Mr.. Cunningham re-
piled that the commonwealth had nc
objection to taking the jury to the
capitol, but Judge Kunkle said this
was unnecessary as the only question
involved was that Of measurement.
By one of the throne" chairs in the
house chamber the commonwealth
showed that the bill for these chairs
was not true to measurement, while
the chair cost the state S761.10, at the
rate Of $3.50 per foot" a small win
dow seat from the lieutenant cover
nor's suite was billed under another
item which allowed charge Of S1S.4C
per foot" and ran up the cost of the
window seat to $321.20.
It was also shown by the common
wealth that many of Sanderson's bills
were paid without having the approval
of the board of grounds and buildings
as required by law; that the bills were
not properly audited and that when
there was not enough money in the
active state repositories to pay the
bills Mathues diverted cash from the
inactive to the active banks to pay
the bills.
The commonwealth put in evidence q
letter dated Jan. 80, 1905 from Sander
sons office to Shumaker saying furni-
ture had been shipped that day. The
states lawyers claimed that when COM
pared with an invoice approved by Shu
maker as received in good condition
it was found that the invoice was ap-
proved and the bill paid twenty days be-
fore the goods were actually shipped.
The purpose was to show fraudulent
by Shumaker. This letter was
found last winter by the accountants
Of the capitol investigation in the letter
file of the department of grounds and
The commonwealth tried
to prove by Stanford B. Lewis, assist
ant of Architect Joseph NJ. Huston,
that the signature to the letter was
that of Sanderson, but Lewis said he
did not think it was.
The commonwealth then tried to
show by Lewis, that the signature was
that of John H. Stevenson, a clerk in
Office. The defense waived
the right to have the signature proved
and the letter was then temporarily
withdrawn to afford the prosecution an
to prove that the furniture
to in it was the same furni-
ture that had been approved by Shu-
maker twenty days before 1t was ship
ped.