The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1908-02-20
SANDERSON'S GIFT
Gould Have Charged $i50,000
More For Furniture.
HIS BARGAIN" PRICES

anthropist In Selling His Wares to
the State - Acknowledges Some
overeharges-
Harrisburg, Pa. Feb. 1S.-The dc.
fense In the state capitol conspiracy
suit against Contractor Sanderson and
the former state officers. Snyder.
Mathues and Shumaker. on trial in the
Dauphin county court. showed through
the testimony OF experts who hal
made measurements for Sanderson,
that the contractor had charged In the
aggregate for less square feet OF fur.
niture in the senate and house cham.
bers than the measurements would
have allowed.
These experts testified that the
measurements of furniture in the sen.
ate totalled 20.325k square feet and
the measurements in the house "a.
7S2h square feet. an aggregate Of
45.10s square feet.
In his bill for this furniture San.
derson charged for 23.5S0 square feet
for the house. and for 20. 1856 square
for the senate. making a total OF a..
016 square feet. BY these figures II was
shown that Sanderson had not collected
from the state on 1892 square feet OF
furniture for the senate and house
Whereas Sanderson charged the state
$i6l9.20 for the famous bootblack stand
in the senate lavatcry, which was sup.
piled TO him by sub-contractor for
SIPS. one expert testified that the actual
measurement OF the stand and the
chairs on It was 64k square feet. which
at $3.50 per foot. the price paid by the
state. makes a total OF s11s6.sO.
John Kaufman. of Philadelphia, tes-
tiled that he measured all the furnl-
ture by the Surface" rule.
For instance. according TO Kauf-
mans testimony. sofa for which San
derson charged s3S0.40. as containing
twenty-one feet. actually measured s4Ik
surface feet and could have been
billed at slls220
An oblong table said the witness. Q
feet inches long and 2 feet inches
wide. for which Sanderson charged the
state S64.40. actually measured 23 sur
face feet According TO the latter
measurement. Sanderson was entitled
under his contract to have charged the
state $i23.2O for the table. The same
ratio Of generosity. according to the
witness. was displayed by the con-
tractor In regard to the clothes trees
which Sanderson had billed at IL feet
and for which he had collected $3.50
each. These trees. Kaufman said, each
measured SO surface feet. On that
basis they would have cost sl56.4o a
piece.
M. Kaufman was asked what the
total cost 10 the state would have been
had these articles been billed under
items 4. 25. q. and at the prices named
under these items.
They would have cost $1s0.e14.55."
According to the bill OF indictment
Sanderson collected S49. .417SO for these
articles. and 1t would. therefore, ap-
pear. according to the testimony OF this
witness. that Sanderson, on this partic.
ular bill. made the state a present Of
$s1. 1865.
For the rostrums OF the senate and
mouse caucus rooms that Sanderson
sold to the state for 500, 1850 and paid
the sub-contractor $1,000, the expert tes-
tilted totalled 14s4% square feet. which
at $lS.4O per foot, should have made the
bill $27.S19.40. making a difference of
$63.429.40 in favor of the contractor.
The defense contends that, though San
derson charged more for these articles
OF furniture than the actual measure
ment allowed, he billed other furniture
TO the state at less than the actual
measurement. making the difference In
the total number of feet 1892 square
feet in favor OF Sanderson.
The commonwealth's lawyers had tho
experts measure certain furniture ex-
hibits in the court room to ascertain
their method OF arriving at their COM
putations. and will call them later for
cross-examiration.
The trial was resumed after a recess
since last Thursday. Charles II. Berg
ner, OF counsel for Shumaker. in his
opening to the Jury. said Shumaker
trusted to Architect Huston in certify
ing to the quality and quantity Of the
Mr.. Bergner also said the
defense would prove that Huston's as
sistant, Stanford B. Lewis, had deliber-
ately mis-stated facts In his testimony
relative TO Snyder and Mathues.