Evening star., 1939-01-29
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

be furnished with some very striking Off
,r, cial reading matter by the
Sou'' ."os court of inquiry that has
luhne' been investigating for many
inquiry weeks the frauds that have
been perpetrated In the construction of
the Washington aqueduct tunnel" reads
news story in The Star Of January g.,
1889. "The testimony has all been taken.
Expert Sounder Sparrow has described
the last hole in the roof, the officers in
volved in the matter have made all their
explanations, and the members of the
court are now formulating their findings
for the purpose Of reporting them to the
Secretary. The court was assembled for
the purpose of investigating and fixing
the lining in the tunnel. There was, in
the order, presupposition of bad work.
but it was left to the court to learn for
themselves just how the work had been
done. They discovered, at the very out
set of their Investigations, that gross
frauds had been perpetrated; that the
inspectors employed by the Government
agents. Maj. Lydecker and 1t Townsend,
were careless in their supervision; that
there was a suspicion of collusion be-
tween some of these inspectors and other
parties interested in the construction of
the lining; that the workmen were Sc
lected without reference to their ability;
that they were pushed ahead by the
foremen of the gangs so that good work
was impossible, and that the contractors
themselves had exercised but little su-
pervision over the work to see that it
was done properly. A personal inspec-
ton of the tunnel revealed immediate
signs of rottenness, which were strength
ened and approved by the recent evi-
dence of Mr.. Sparrow.
ut may be safely said. Judging from
the notes of his work, that fully one
sixth, or perhaps even one-fifth of the
lining of the tunnel above the key of the
arch has no packing above it. Had this
state of things not been discovered in
time, the pressure of the water, when
turned on, would undoubtedly have
blown the light lining out like paste
board, and the tunnel would have choked
Immediately with the debris, bricks and
stones, leaving the rock exposed, soft
and seamy, through which the water
would leak away and be lost.
"The court was ordered to fix the re-
sponsibility for whatever might be
found. 1t has found the worst kind Of
work, useless job, and its duty now is
to fix the responsibility therefor. The
officer in charge of the project is Maj.
1t. Curtis Med. Townsend both of the
Engineer Corps of the Army. The for
mer, of course, is morally and officially
responsible for the natule Of the work
done under his charge. He is also re-
sponsible in the same degree for what
ever may have been done through the
carelessness or neglect Of his assistant
and his subordinates.
1.-THE question which Gen. Ruger, Coils.
Craighill and Hodges are called upon to
decide is whether or not this moral and
official responsibility is such as to JUS
tify a court-martial Of the officers who
are at the head of this undertaking. It
may be that they will report back, in
their opinion, no amount OF care or skill
could possibly have prevented the frauds
perpetrated, owing to the nature of the
work; they may find that the trouble
arose from too small force of inspec-
tors for which the officers were not re-
sponsible; or, they may be Of the opinion
that the work might have been properly
constructed with the means on hand and
that the bad state Of things is the result
Of q lack Of administrative care and
ability on the part Of those In charge"