Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1898 — The Court House Yard Slander. [ARTICLE]

The Court House Yard Slander.

The Democrat, which has understated the amount of the original contract for the court house yard improvement, in order to have opportunity to claim excess pay rnent. has repeatedly stated that the contractors were paid for tearing up the coping and rebuilding the foundations under it, and for rebuilding the defective cement walk. There is not a word of truth in the statement, as they have not received a dollar for any of the work which had to be done over again, and if any of the contractors were put on oath they would say the same thing. There was $250 paid extra on the coping, bnt this was allowed before the necessity of having the coping relaid was discovered. The necessity of paying this $250 extra occurred through a mistake which 99 men out of JOO would no* have noticed. In the original contract for improving the yard, the word “curbing” was used in describing the stone to go around the yard, whereas the word should have been coping. Now curbing is stone dressed only on one side, and flat on top, and used alongside of street gutters; while coping must be dressed on three sides aud have its two top angles beveled off. The sub-contractors insisting on holding to the'letter of the contract, ann to make the change from curbing to coping stone, they were paid $250, which probably was not excessive. Aside from this, Hiram Day has been allowed between SSO and S6O for extra cement used in the foundations. The original contract called for one third cement aud one third lime, in the mortar, and the commissioners changed to all lime, and paid the actual cost of the additional cement used. Aside from these two items no one has been or will be paid anything for extras on the yard and coping contracts.