Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1905 — ANNUL MARKEL’S CONTRACT. [ARTICLE]

ANNUL MARKEL’S CONTRACT.

Cunal Supplies Will Be Handled Under Commissioner's Order. The last action of the Panama canal commission before sailing from Colon for New York was the annulment of the contract awarded to J. E. Market of Omaha, Neb., for feeding and caring for tho employes of the canal. The reason for this action is that Chief Engineer Stevens, through the department of materials and supplies, under Messrs. Jackson and Smith, is handling the commissaries successfully, rendering unnecessary the arrangement. The contract with Mr. Market was to run five years and It was estimated that it would involve $50,000,000. Hudgins & Dumas, one of the other firms bidding for the contract, protested against the award to Mr. Markel, alleging favoritism and charging that the latter was enabled through a leuk in the office of Chairman Shontz to gain information about the other bidders whiefi aided uiin in bidding successfully. The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society held dedicatory exercises to commemorate the Big Bottom uiussacre and accept the monument and grounds donated by Obadinh Brokaw, who has owned the Big Bottom farm forty years and is 83 years old. Prof. L. Eddy, a teacher at the Kentucky State school for the deaf at Danville dropped dead in the school room. Prof. Eddy was a noted astronomer. Three hundred and twelve structural iron workers employed on four large buildings in Baltimore were ordered out.