Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

by Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

I have obtained a more comprehensive knowledge of the amount and character of the material and property since put into the hands of the Chicago House Wrecking Company, and am of the opinion that at the time the contract was made with the Chicago House Wrecking Company the property sold represented a value in excess of $1,000,000.

There was present in the office of Mr. Taylor, director of works, at the time the bids were to be opened the following members of the salvage committee: President Francis, Director of Works Taylor, John A. Holmes, Mr. Samuel Kennard, and Mr. John Scullin.

Had I been furnished with a list of all the properties that I have since learned was acquired by the Chicago House Wrecking Company I would have gladly submitted a bid in the amount of $500,000.

C.L. MCDONALD.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 16th day of March, 1905. My commission expires on the 22d day of January, 1909. [SEAL.] IRA C. MONEY, Notary Public, City of St. Louis, Mo.

STATE OF ILLINOIS, County of Cook, ss:

Before me this the 28th day of March, 1905, personally appeared Mr. S.
Krug, who, being duly sworn, on his oath says:

My name is S. Krug. I am a resident of Chicago. Have resided here for the past thirty-seven years. For the past twenty-seven years I have been engaged in the excavating and sand business. During this time I have also been engaged on contracts for wrecking large buildings. I wrecked the First National Bank Building, the Metropolitan Building, the Montauk Block; Hibbard, Spencer & Bartlett store, and numerous other large buildings in Chicago.

In regard to the sale of the World's Fair salvage at St. Louis I will make the following statement:

I was told by a friend of mine that bids had been requested for wrecking and removal of certain World's Fair buildings at St. Louis, and that specifications and instructions could be obtained from Mr. Isaac S. Taylor, director of works. For business reasons I did not wish the Exposition Company to know that I wanted to figure on the contract. I asked a friend of mine to procure a copy of the specifications for me. It was necessary for him to deposit $10 for the specifications. He sent the specifications to me. Mr. John M. Dunphy, who is in my employ, and I went over the specifications at length and studied them pretty thoroughly. The specifications only referred to exhibit buildings, band stands, fire-department houses, live-stock barns, dairy barns, Festival Hall, fuel building, terrace of States, and toilet-room buildings. On October 24, 1904, some ten days after we read over the specifications and instructions, Mr. Dunphy, Mr. Powers, and myself went to St. Louis to look over the plans to see the nature of the material and the construction of the various buildings. We went to Mr. Taylor's office and were informed that Mr. Taylor was busy and could not see us. Mr. Taylor's secretary, Mr. Carl Hoblitzelle, took us into an adjoining room. He did not ask our names, and we did not tell him who we were. While we were waiting in this room—I presume we were there about five minutes—Mr. Frank Harris, a member of the Chicago House Wrecking Company, came into the room. It looked to me as if he had been posted as to our, being there and came to see who we were. Mr. Harris remained there three or four minutes and then left. We asked the clerk in charge of the office there for the plans of the various buildings to be wrecked. He handed us two sets of plans—one for the Agricultural and one for the Horticultural Building. We requested more plans of him, but he said he was too busy to take them down and immediately left the room and remained out all the time we were in there. We went to the shelves and took out the plans ourselves and looked them over. After we had looked over the plans for a couple of hours we went out on the exposition grounds, and spent the rest of that day and the next on the grounds, and on the following day we returned to Chicago. The bids were to be in Mr. Taylor's office by 12 o'clock noon Thursday, November 10, 1904. Mr. Schmitt, my bookkeeper, and myself went to St. Louis on November 9 and were present at Mr. Taylor's office in the Administration Building before the hour of 12 o'clock noon, November 10. I had prepared my bid. At this time I only bid on the stock barns, live-stock forum, Congress Hall, Agricultural and Horticultural buildings. I also had a separate bid prepared for the Transportation Building, which I submitted. I took my bids and handed them to Mr. Carl Hoblitzelle, Mr. Taylor's private secretary. He placed them in his desk and said he would bring them to the attention of the committee when the time came to open the bids. Mr. Schmitt and I then went into an anteroom, where the other bidders were gathered. There were present at the time Mr. H.S. Albrecht, of the firm of Schoellhorn & Albrecht, St. Louis; Mr. Charles McDonald, of the St. Louis Steam Forge Company, St. Louis; Mr. W. Ware, of the Columbia Wrecking Company, St. Louis; a Mr. Schaeffer and son, of St. Louis, and Mr. Frank and Abraham Harris, who represented the Chicago House Wrecking Company. There were one or two other gentlemen present, but I can not now recall their names. Some middle-aged man came in with the Harris Brothers. He seemed to have free access to the room where the salvage committee was in session, and ran back and forth two or three times and held a conversation with the Harris Brothers in the hall. We expected the bids to be opened at 1 o'clock. It was now some time after 1 o'clock. We were all waiting there when President Francis came in and announced that they were going to lunch, and for us to come back later on. We all left the room and I with several other gentlemen went to get a little lunch. We were back in the anteroom of Mr. Taylor's office by 2.30 p. in. We waited there until 4 o'clock when Mr. Taylor's secretary came into the room and requested all the bidders to go into the room where the salvage committee was in session. The committee met in Mr. Taylor's office. President Francis, Mr. Taylor, Samuel Kennard, Mr. Holmes, and some other gentleman, I can not call his name now. President Francis arose and said: "Gentlemen, the bids are all there on the table and we will open them shortly." He asked how we wished the bids handled—that is, whether we wanted them opened in our presence or in a secret session of the Committee. Mr. H.S. Albrecht, of St. Louis, immediately arose and stated that he wanted the bids opened in the presence of the bidders present, as he wanted everything to be open and above board. All the other bidders present requested that the bids be opened in their presence, except Mr. Abraham Harris, president of the Chicago House Wrecking Company, who arose and offered an objection to the bids being opened in public, and stated that he did not want his bid to be opened in public, but wanted it opened in private, for the reason that he did not want everybody to know what his bid was; that if he was the successful bidder his bid would be published and everybody would know what it was, but if he was not the successful bidder he did not want it known what amount he bid. President Francis held a whispered conversation with several members of the committee and then turned to the bidders and said: "Gentlemen, we have decided to open the bids in secret session." He thus favored Mr. Harris and ignored the demand of the other bidders. Mr. Albrecht again demanded that the bids be opened in our presence. We were then told to repair to the anteroom and wait until called for. While we were waiting in the anteroom Mr. Taylor's secretary called Mr. Abe Harris into the committee room, where the salvage committee was opening the bids. He remained in there some little time. As soon as Mr. Harris came out Mr. H.S. Albrecht was called in. He told me when he came out that he had entered a vigorous protest as to the way the bids were being handled, and that he as a stockholder and a bidder had again demanded that the bids be opened in the presence of the bidders. Mr. Schmitt and myself were next called into the room where the salvage committee was in session. Mr. Taylor asked me if I knew a Mr. Schluetter, of Chicago. I told him that I was well acquainted with the gentleman, that I had done considerable work for him in Chicago, and that he had always paid me for it. When I made this remark President Francis looked at Mr. Taylor and laughed in rather a sneering way. I presumed from his actions that the Exposition Company had had some trouble with Mr. Schluetter. President Francis said to me, "Mr. Krug, you have some excellent recommendations here from prominent people and banks of Chicago." I told him that I was well able to carry out any contract I undertook, as I had good financial backing and understood my business. He said to me, "Mr. Krug, your bid is very satisfactory, but why have you not submitted a bid on all the buildings shown in the specifications?" I told him I had taken into consideration the insurance on the various buildings and that I was afraid I might have trouble in getting insurance on all the buildings, and therefore submitted a bid on buildings that were quite a distance apart and less liable to fire. I told President Francis at this time that I was willing to submit a bid for $76,600 on all the buildings shown in the specifications prepared by Mr. Taylor. My first bid did not include all the buildings shown in the specifications. I made this offer offhand. He asked me if I wanted to figure on wrecking the buildings for the Exposition Company on a percentage basis, they to own all the material and sell it and I to get a per cent for doing the work. I told him I would take it by contract for an agreed figure or would do the work for him on a percentage basis, and that I would be glad to do anything for him I could. President Francis said to me, "Mr. Krug, you put in your bid for $76,600 in writing and have it in this office to-morrow morning." We were then asked to wait out in the anteroom. We waited there until about 6 o'clock. At about 6 o'clock Mr. Taylor's secretary came in and announced that the meeting had adjourned until the next day. We all left the room then. At 10 o'clock the next morning, November 11, 1904, Mr. Schmitt and myself went to Mr. Taylor's office, where I filed my bid in writing for $76,600 to cover all the buildings shown in the specifications. We waited there until about 4 o'clock, expecting some decision from the salvage committee. About 4 o'clock Mr. Taylor's secretary came in and announced that the meeting of the salvage committee had adjourned until the following Monday.