Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1909 — GRAFT CHARGES AGAINST WINAMAG BRIDGE CO., [ARTICLE]

GRAFT CHARGES AGAINST WINAMAG BRIDGE CO.,

President of Lafayette Bridge Co., Says Company Filed False Claim In Milroy Bridge Contract.

TAXPAYERS BEING ROBBED Openly Charges Before Comity Commissioners That Bridges Are Not Built According to Plans and Specifications, and That He Stands Ready to Prove That There Was A Steal of From S3OO to $350 In Bridge Built By Said Company In Milroy Tp.—WUl File the Necessary Affidavit to Prosecute the Guilty Parties and Asks the Support of the Taxpayers of Jasper County In Backing Up the Prosecution.

Charges of a very serious nature were made before the board of county commissioners Monday afternoon, on their re-assembling after the noon hour. Wallace Marshall, president of the Lafayette Engineering Co., or the Lafayette Bridge Co., made the charges, and in making them stated that he was fully aware of the consequences if his charges were untrue; that he was responsible for what he said, and that he dared and defied the Winamac Bridge Co., to “call” him. Several years ago, Mr. Marshall said, his company used to get some bridge contracts in this county, and he invited an inspection of the work done here by his firm. Of late years, he said, he had sent men here to bid on bridge work in response to advertisements for bids, and they had invariably come back with no contracts—had been underbid. Last September, and again in March, he had come here himself and put in the bids, figuring them down to cost or less on purpose to learn where the difficulty was, but 'twas no use. He w r as underbid again. At the March meeting the contract was let for a 70-foot bridge in Milroy township. His own bid was purposely placed away down, (SIOO to $l5O below that of other bidders, as the records show), but the Winamac company was S2OO below him. He could not understand how this could be, he stated, if there was no chicanery. He had had 25 years experience in the bridge business, his company was equipped to handle the work in the most economical manner and could buy the raw material as cheaply as anyone. How a company of so,little experience and so • jjoorly equipped as the Winamac company could underbid him so much w r as a mystery which he determined to solve. After the material for this particular bridge was on the ground he made a visit to the site—and the mystery was a mystery no longer. A plain steal of S3OO to $350 In the substitution of lighter material was shown. Here was the thing in a nut-shell that enabled the Winamac company to underbid legitimate competition. After learning these facts he determined to prosecute the offenders, and now stood ready to file an affidavit against the officers of said company, charging them with having filed a fraudulent claim against Jasper county, and asked for the support of the people and the help of the prosecuting attorney in his efforts to bring to justice the thieves w'ho have been robbing the taxpayers by giving them work worth much less than what they were tfaying for; work that in five years they will have to begin spending money olKin repairs, when it should stand for forty years if put up acup according to the plans which the different companies bid on. While he made no specific charges as to other bridges put In by this company—for he had not investigated them, he said—he believed, he said, that an investigation

would show that in every case the same steal had been indulged in, and that the commissioners as guardians of the taxpayers’ money should see to it that the guilty ones were punished. He would back up his charges with indisputable evidence and was ready and anxious to file an affidavit charging what he had stated. The latter then turned to Charles A. Kelley, engineer for the Winamac company, and said: “This young man is the engineer for the Winamac Bridge Co., and perhaps he can say something of the charges I have made. Ido not charge him with connivance in these frauds; he is simply an employe of the company and does what he is told,” Charles A. Kelley seemed considerably agitated over the matter, but finally got up and said he did not know anything about this particular bridge. Mr. Marshall said, “You made the working plans for it, did you not?” and the young man replied that he did. “If you were put under oath perhaps you would know more about it, Mr. Marshall said. The young man seemed much agitated but said not a word further. And the commissioners did not even question him at all, nor did they ask a solitary question or offer any comment whatever on the charges made. While charges of such a character ought to cause something of a sensation, no member of the board so much as raised an eyebrow, and did not appear in the least surprised at what Mr. Marshall said.