William O'Neale letter on unloading stone

"O'Neale thought much of the shifting around was pointless. He told the commissioners that the wharves should be modified so that the wagons carrying the stone away could be placed so that the crane at the wharf could load the stone directly onto them."

Quote from Slave Labor in the Capital, page 81

The letter William O'Neale wrote to the commissioners in September 1794 is interesting on several levels.  Primarily it's interesting because it is our best description of how the stone was unloaded and hauled away. The letter also gives the impression that working arrangements had not been well thought out. Plus, perhaps there was some confusion about who was in charge. O'Neale wrote to the commissioners who had no experience in such matters, not to James Hoban or Collen Williamson who did. 

Finally, O'Neale came to the city as a young Irish emigrant who knew about quarrying building stone. He wound up many years later as the proprietor of the Franklin House, a favorite inn and boarding house for politicians. He would eventually own 17 slaves. The laborers he bossed as they unloaded stone in 1794 may have been the first time he worked with slaves. The letter gives the impression that he was not impressed with the laborers and how they were employed. He doesn't mention the race of the laborers. They were either slaves or Irish. That O'Neale described them as skulking suggests to me that he was showing his disdain for slaves. He probably would have used a more forgiving word if Irishmen were involved.

As far as I know, the commissioners didn't respond to O'Neale. At the end of the year they insisted that the contractors they bought stone from bear the responsibility of getting the stone to the building sites.