THIS IS Q & A DICTATION DONE IN TWO PARTS. PART ONE READ SLOWLY FOR ACCURACY AND PART 2 IS READ SLIGHTLY FASTER THAN THE FIRST FOR SOME SPEEDBUILDING. PLEASE READ YOUR NOTES! THANKS FOR SUPPORTING AND DON'T FORGET TO HELP ME HELP YOU BY SUBSCRIBING . PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED BELOW.
FROM THE BOOK OF LEGAL DICATION
Q: [BY THE CHAIRMAIN] Your residence?
A: 625 Ferry St, Boston
Q: What is your age?
A: Forty-one
Q: You were the builder of this bridge?
A: A portion of it
Q: Please describe as fully as you can, your whole connection to it, in your own words.
A: It is so long ago that I don't know whether I can remember all that you would like to hear, but the contract required me to build a truss to be placed upon the east side of the bridge, and I was to furnish the floor system. That was done in the spring or early summer of 1876.
Q: Go on and describe more in detail what you did. Were you in business for yourself or were you representing a company?
A: I was in business for myself.
Q: Go on and tell us about the bridge; where the work was done, how the work was done, the character of the bridge, the nature of its construction. etc. Perhaps you had better begin, and state , in the first place, your experience as a builder.
A: My first experience in building iron bridges was with the Detroit Bridge & Iron Works, Detroit Michigan.
Q: [BY MR. O'BRIEN] What year?
A: I think it was 1863; and my experience has been from then until--I am not sure this bridge wasn't the last I built. Since then I have acted occasionally as a consulting engineer.
Q: [BY THE CHAIRMAIN] Do you have a scientific education?
A: Yes, sir, at the Lawrence Scientific School, at Cambridge.
Q: Full course?
A: No, sir. Partial.
Q: What was your course then?
A: I was there one year only.
Q: What year was that?
A: I'm not sure but I think it was 1862-63. From there I went to St. Louis.
Q: How long were you with St. Louis Bridge & Iron Company?
A: Well, I don't recollect; but several years.
Q: What were you doing there?
A: I designed their bridges, proportioned them, and I made some portions of the drawings.
Q: Did you do that all the time you were there?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Do you remember any bridges you designed at that time?
A: Well, there was one drawbridge across the Mississippi River, where the C.B. & Q railroad crosses, --Clinton on one side and Fulton on the other.
Q: How long did that stand?
A: It is standing now, I suppose. That was at that time the longest drawbridge, I think, in the world. Some have been built longer since. There were a great many on the Illinois Central and the C.B. & Q and other words through the Western states.
Q: Did you build any bridges in Massachusetts when you were with the St. Louis Bridge & Iron Works?
A: No, sir.
Q: Then you left the St. Louis Bridge & Iron Works at what time?
A: I don't recollect the date.
Q: You were there about three years, you say?
A: I said several; but I don't recollect how many years it was; I could not tell even approximately.
Q: What did you do after you left there?
SOURCE: LEGAL DICTATION
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