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Q.

Did the stone cost that much more than the work-you mean if it had been made according to the specifications it would have been that much less?

A. Yes sir.

Q. Do you regard that as a good foundation up to the base line? A. Yes sir.

Q. You spoke awhile ago about your tying together the brick work with bars of iron?

A. Yes sir; tie the brick work to the stone work.

Q. You were a partner of Mr. Cochrane's at the time those plans were made out and submitted?

A. The original design; yes sir.

Q You say there was an estimate as to what the building would cost-what was it? $2,700,000, didn't you say?

A. Yes sir.

Q. You were a partner-did you tell the Commissioners that would be the cost of the building?

A. No, sir; my partner did-so I understood-I wasn't there. Q. Did you believe they were correct estimates?

A. I didn't make the estimates-I believe nothing about it, for I knew nothing about it; Mr. Cochrane made the estimate and put his own name to it.

Q. Didn't you say you believed at the time it would cost $5,000,000 ?

A. No, Mr. Robinson.

Q. You did.

A. What I meant to say was, what the building would cost now -I didn't mean to say that was the original estimate.

Q. I recollect there was the same trouble before with your testimony; you were then a partner with Mr. Cochrane?

A. Our partnership has been dissolved.

Q. Didn't you and he have a good deal of difficulty?

A. I think he swindled me a little.

Q. Did you and he have a good deal of ill-feeling?

A. I have just the feeling towards him I have towards the man that robs me.

Q. You are an enemy to him?

A. I have got over all that; two years have passed.

Q. You were down here, and testified two years ago
A. Yes, sir; about that time.

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Q. Yon testified the books would show about $2,700 paid for getting the plans adopted?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you recollect what Cochrane said-to v hom he paid it? A. Commissioners and other parties.

Q You didn't swear that then?

A. I swear it now; he told me so.

Q. Don't you remember you said, in your former testimony, he paid Beckwith $1,000, for the purpose of controlling me? A. I said that at the time. Yes, sir.

Q. Now you say that Cochrane paid it to the Commissioners ? A. Yes, sir; $2,700.

Q. You said he paid $1,000 to get Beckwith to buy me.

A. I said so, two years ago.

Q. Did you say what he had done with the balance of the money before?

A. Ile paid it to the Commissioners and others.

Q. Did he tell you generally Commissioners ?

A. He wouldn't tell me who.

Q. Did he say he had bought them all?

A. He didn't tell me. I thought it was a cheap buy.

Q.

Didn't you state he paid Beck with $1,000 ?

A. Our books show that.

Q That would leave $1,700 outside; did you swear two years he had bought the Commissioners ?

ago

A. I think I did.

Q. Where are those books now? In possession of Mr. Cochrane?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Are they in your control now?

A. I have not seen them for some years; Mr. Cochrane took charge of them.

ANTHONY EITNER sworn and examined by MR. ROBINSON, on behalf of the Commissioners.

Q. Where do you reside?

A. In St. Louis.

Q. What is your business?
A. Brick mason.

Q. How long have you worked at the business?

A. About sixteen or seventeen years.

Q. You may state to the committee whether or not you have done a large amount of work, or how large experience or small; give them some idea of your experience in building.

A. I have carried on business in St. Louis for twelve or thirteen years past. I have been continually in the business.

Q. Have you worked quite a number of hands?

A. Yes, sir; according to the amount of work being done in the city, I have worked more or less hands.

Q. Have you erected any large heavy buildings, with heavy brick walls?

A. I have never put up any very heavy public buildings. I put up large warehouses.

Q. You have seen large brick buildings built, with heavy brick walls?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you consider yourself a judge of brick work and brick masonry ?

A. Yes, sir; I think I am qualified to judge of the quality of a brick wall.

Q. I will ask you if you have examined the work upon the new State House here?

A. J. was over there to-day.

Q. How much were you over it, and what means did you have to look at it?

A. The means I had was, by walking around the different parts. of the wall; I saw several holes in the walls and places where bricks had been pulled out, and where brick had been taken off the upper portion of the wall.

Q. Did you go into the sub-basement and examine it there? A. No, sir; I did not.

Q. Give your judgment of the character of—

A. The character of the work I saw I would pronounce good. Q. You may state to the committee if you looked at all the wall-that is, upon the basement there.

A. I did not examine it minutely. I just walked around the different places, and examined it as I passed round.

Q. Did you examine at those holes in the wall?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did you examine that carefully?

A. Yes, sir; then I took my pen knife and picked into the wall, into the crevices and joints. The walls are all well put up, the brick well embedded, and the mortar I consider was good.

Q. Do you regard those walls as safe, to go ahead and build on ?

A. I do. some parts of the wall, where it has been frozenwhich does not extend far into the walls-but where it has been frozen I think it would be well enough to pull off the several cour ses of brick there, and put it up again—that is, upon the top of the wall.

Q. The top ought to be taken off so far as the frost extends? A. Yes, sir; I don't think it would go more than three or four courses of brick at any place, and it don't exist in all parts of the wall.

Q. When those holes were cut into the wall you could look at the character of the work and the character of the mortar to better advantage, could you not?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did you or not observe a large hole in the west or southwest part of the building, to the right as you go into the corridor from the north?

A. I presume that is the portion of the building; there is one hole larger than the other, which is upon the west side, I think. Q. Did Did you look carefully at that?

A. Yes, sir; quite carefully.

Q. You say the work was good there?

A. The work, at that point, was not quite as good as at the smaller hole; it had not been filled up thoroughly; there were one or two little places there, but that happens in the very best of work frequently.

Q. About how long would it take the mortar to dry, in those heaviest walls?

A. I could not answer that question, positively; but the thicker the wall, the longer it takes the mortar to set in the center; it takes much longer to set in mortar than in cement. I should judge that in some of those walls, unless it was very dry weather, if there were rains every once in a while, keeping the outside of

the walls wet, with frequent rains, it might take the walls a year or a couple of years to become thoroughly hardened.

Q. If the brick were wet before they were laid up, would it take a longer or shorter time for them to harden?

A. It would take longer to harden; that is why we wet bricks to make a better job. The slower the mortar hardens, the better work it makes; when brick are not wet in hot weather, sometimes in a few minutes after the brick touches the mortar it will dry out, and then it never sets well.

Q. Suppose those walls were laid along in August, September tand on until Christmas, last year, will they not continue to harden, it may be for some years to come?

A. Yes, sir.

By Mr. MOMILLAN :

Q. What length of time is required to thoroughly season and harden those walls?

A. I could not answer that, positively. It might possibly be a year and it might take two years. I have never taken the pains to investigate that; I have never been called upon to investigate how long it would take mortar to harden in a thick wall of that kind,

Examination by MR. ROBERTS, Chairman of the committee. Q. Did you examine the mortar, particularly, in those wails, particularly in the west wall, which had the large hole in it?

A. As I stated before, I did not examine the mortar very minutely. I first gave it a look as I passed around the wall, penetrating the joints with my pen knife; I was careful to examine the mortar at those holes.

Q. Did you examine the sand there?

A. No, sir, I didn't examine the sand; I saw by the character of the mortar that it is a finer sand than we have at St. Louis. It is something like the sand used in the erection of the Gover nor's mansion, at Jefferson City.

Q. In the other parts of the wall how did you find the mortar? A. Some of it was done with cement; I think that is harder than the other. Down at the bottom of the work, down at the floor, some of the joints are frozen slightly, but which only goes in about a half inch, not deeper than that; I examined some places where the outside was hard, but as I would penetrate into it it would get softer.

Vol. I.-109

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