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.