The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-01-31
ARCHITECT or Pennsylvania
CAPITOL SHOWS HAND.
IS REVEALED.
Exhibits q Furniture Sold ."Hy the
root" and Grossly ovsrestimated at
That, Are shown-sanderson Made
Hsloue Profits. 81

Harrisburg, Jan. 29.-That Architect
Joseph NJ. Hueston means to take care
OF himself at the expense OF his four
co,defendants in the conspiracy cases
now on trial in the Dolphin county
court is apparent from the testimony
today Of his brother, Rev. Samuel G.
Hueston Of Philadelphia. a retired
Presbyterian clergyman. who was call
ed as a witness for the commonwealth.
Stanford B. Lewis, the architects
active assistant while the capitol was
being constructed and furnished, and
who Is under indictment on two
charges Of conspiracy to cheat and
.defraud the state department Of bills
aggregating $92,705 for capitol fur.
nishings, was also q witness for the
commonwealth.
Rev. Mr.. Hueston testified that
when his brother went to Europe ii
the spring Of 1906 on business for the
state he left with him a signed blank
architects certificate and q, power OF
attorney. Soon after the architects
departure Contractor John n. Sander
son, one of the defendants, appeared
with a bill, supported by an affidavit
purporting to be in proper form, for
which he asked and obtained certifca-
ton of the architect by the brothers.
signature.
Claims Bill Was Fraudulent.
The commonwealth expects to prove
that this bill was fraudulent in that
Sanderson was given the contract for
certain furnishings under n item in
the special capitol furnishings sched-
ule and billed these articles to the
state under another item, the amount
Of which Is In excess OF the item I'M
der which he was given the contract.
and also that some Ct these articles
were ~invoiced to the state and paid for
as containing three times as many
feet as they actually contained.
. Following the testimony Of Rev. Mr..
Hueston and that Of Lewis to the Of.
feet that the architect was expected
to certify only to the quality and not
the quantity Of furnishings. the com
he'd brought into court and
exhibited to the jury two Of the sofas,
a table and two clothes trees supplied
by sanderson for the capitol under
the ''per foot" system. One of the
sofas was measured for the informas
ton Of the jury and was shown to be
six feet long. Sanderson billed this
sofa to the state at IS feet and was
paid for it at the rate Of $3.50 per
foot" The other sofa also measured
sig feet and was billed and paid for
as containing 1914 feet. The table had
been billed under item 20 in the sched-
ule at $1s.40 per foot" instead Of I'M
der item "a at 5000, as called for by
Sanderson's contract. The clothes
tree was billed as containing III feet
at $18.40, and should have been fur
nished, the commonwealth claims.
for $3.50.
Former Governor to Testify.
Former Governor Samuel w. Penny
packer, who was president Of the
board Of grounds and buildings while
the capitol was being furnished. is
here to testify for the defense and will
probably be called on Friday.
Pennypacker's colleagues on the
board 8 former Auditor General
William P. Snyder and former State
Treasurer William L. Matthews, de-
PENDANTS in the case % on trial.
James M. Shumaker, former superin-
tendent Of grounds and buildings, also
a defendant, was executive officer of
the board during the time Penny
packer was president.
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