Evening star., 1926-05-18

Commissioner Rudolph was closely
/ questioned regarding contracts under
| which the firm of Rudolph & West
! in which he has a .one-third interest
| sold nearly $4,000 worth of hard
| ware supplies to the District last
year, at the hearing before the Glib
| SON subcommittee investigating mu
nicipal administration in the caucus
room of the House Office Building
| last night.
Justices Mccoy, Hoehling and Iit2
| of the District Supreme Court were
| questioned and criticized for their
action in certain cases which had
previously come up at hearings while
the committee was investigating Com
missioner Frederick A. Fenning.
Felix Copsey, an attendant at st.
E,lizabeth's, was questioned regarding
putting man in cold pack, IN
which he was kept seven hours. in
compliance with a doctors orders.
He died the next morning.
Paul V. Rogers, former law part
ner of Mr.. Fenning and who now
occupies the same law office as Mr..
Fenning in the District Building; Miss
Helen Losano. ii stenographer in Mr..
Jennings Office. and Judge kath-
ryn Sellers of the Juvenile Court,
for last nights hearing, We're not
present. and Chairman Gibson was
instructed TO notify the House of
their refusal and TO ask for authority
10 force their attendance.
In Cold Pack Five Hours.
Copsey. when called as a witness
by Representative Blanton, admitted
that he had placed Joseph NalconS
in a pack under orders from a
physician to let him stay there until
he got tired. This pack consisted OF
two wet sheets, q rubber sheet ana
two blankets. He was in the pack
until CopSey went off duty hve hourS
later. and was never out of the pack
Copsey testified under oath. except
long enough to re-wrap him when ne
had managed to get his arms loose
Mr.. Blanton emphasized that in this
the witness under oath had refuted
a claim by DR.. ". w. Eldridge that
the official report of the hospital
showed Mr.. WalConis had been in
and out Of the pack repeatedly and at
one time for more than an hour.
Capt. William West. who testified
before the committee May 8. was re-
called last night and testified that
Nav he had been locked up at st.
Elizabeth's by order of DR.. Main and
kept locked up for seven days.
Charles II. Pritchard. a World War
veteran who had been in the Navy
for II years and who has been an
inmate of ST. EliZabeth's since Octo-
Der :. 1922, testified that no court
had ever adjudged him lunatlc ana
no jury had ever passed upon him as
men ally deficient. The Veterans
1.pt
permanent total disability and as soon
as he gets his money he hopes 10 get
indefinite leave from st. Elizabeth s.
Mr.. Blanton advised him to let the
Gibson subcommittee know if any or
the authorities at st. EliZabeth's at
tempt to punish him for testifying
Tells of Jennings Fees.
MIR. Blanton put into the record a
certificate from Gen. Hines, director
of the Veterans Bureau, dated May
IA. 1926. bringing up to date the Nv
ing cases of World War veterans Tor
whom Mr.. Fenning is committee or
guardian. He pointed out that TINS
does not cover any cases In Whlch
the wards have been discharged or
died or the Veterans Bureau ceased
TO handle the cases. This new tahula-
tion showed that the bureau had paid
TO Mr.. Fenning a total of $16S,1I4.6 DO
for his wards, and that he had re,
ceiyed as his commissions total OF
S75. S94 AS.
commissioner Rudolph was called
as a witness by Representative Gll-
bert. Democrat, of Kentucky, ana
asked TO explain why his statement
previously made to the committee did
not correspond with the official re-
pOrt on the business between the DIS
trict government and the Rudoipn x
West co. He quoted from the record
to show that the Rudolph & West co.
have received nearly $72. 900 worth OF
business. while the nearest competitor
received only about $4,000, while Mr..
Rudolph had previously testified that
he thought the Barber & Ross Co
got about as much of the hardware
business of this municipality as the
Rudolph & West Co. Mr.. Rudolph
stated that he knew absolutely moth
ing about the business of the Rudolph
& West Co.
Mr.. Gilbert insisted that as District
Commissioner he should have known
about the business done, and forced
Mr.. Rudolph to an admission that he
was grossly mistaken when he
made his previous statement and that
he also knew nothing about the
Commissioners business in this
regard.
Rudolph and BlantOn Tilt.
Mr.. Blanton insisted that Mr.. Ru-
dolph should know where every dollar
Of the $4,000 Of the money appropri-
ated by Congress for the District is ex-
pended. Mr.. Rudolph became some
what nettled and answered that he was
not a superman, and pointed out that
he had been charged with running a
hardware business. a bank, hotels,
zoning. public utilities. etc, stating
that he could not hold six jobs and
know all the details. Mr.. Rudolph
said that the appropriations commit
tee specifies what the money Is to be
spent for. and Mr.. Blanton came back
with the challenge that its up TO you
to see that it's spent according to the
law. All Of your subordinates can be
discharged by you with a scratch of
the pen, so you can't pass the buck. !"
Mr.. Gibson questioned the Commits
sioner about the penal institutions,
and Mr.. Rudolph explained that the
new public welfare board will be d.
rectly under the District Commission
ers, where the Board Of Charities now
is not. He admitted that he knew
about the forms of punishment at the
workhouse, about chains and iron
bands being riveted on ankles of pris-
oners who had attempted to escape
and stir up trouble. Mr.. Rudolph
agreed with Chairman Gibson that il
an attempt to escape was made a
penitentiary offense it might relieve
the officials from being obliged to
chain the prisoners, and said he would
welcome such an improvement. Mr..
Gibson said: "Our purpose in making
this inquiry is to find a way to cor
rect such difficulties" and he paid a
tribute to the humanitarian system es-
tablished at Lorton and Occoquan, the
first institutions of their kind in the
1,-orld 1x,ffho1It walls