The Portland daily press., 1874-05-26

fore 8 o'clock. He went directly out and said
"Cherey, what's the matter?' He could 10
1 speak at first. He was agitated and very pale
| The conversation narrated as then taking place
| did not differ materially from Mr.. Gleason's re
port, only that he said he told Cheney to 60 tt
| Leeds Don't know as he told him to give the
alarm. One can't think of everything IN one
half minute. He went into the house and go
| his hat and when he came out Cheney was
| gone. He (Spell MANI then went into the VII
lage, and with others got the sexton to ring the
| church bells, but the flood was even then pass
| ing through the streets Mr.. Speelman was
then examined as to the dam and his conDec
| lion with it, He stated he had been Secretary
and Treasurer of the Reservoir Company since
/ its existence.
At this point the books of the company were
produced and Mr.. Delano took the books aha
went through the records, including the act OF
Incorporation, constitution and by laws OF the
company from May 1865 to May 1870, without
hndlng any appointment of building com'nlt'
the, though he found a statement that Joe
Hayden was added to (such committee. he
knew of no record on the subject; knew OF
no building committee but believed the dlrec
tors, Messrs. Dimmock, Mr.. Clark and w. "
Clement, acted in such a capacity and Mr.
Hayden was subsequently added The con
tractors did their work on specifications. ne
lSpellman) himself. bought the reservoir land III
his own name.
There were no preparations made for building
| before thai He was up there perhaps not as
often as three or four times q week, but was
| there very often. He had nothing to do with
making contract with Mr.. Bassett and Mr.
Wells, but understood they were bound by the
| specifications He almost always met the con-
tractors there. The work was begun early IN
the summer of 1864 and completed in January
| or February 1866. He thinks he was Secretary
and treasurer and the nearest mill owner, anu
| he had an interest in 1T because he needed the
reservoir so much, for before it was built ne
had no power in the summer. This long roll OF
answers was an attempt to avoid the suspicion
of having any special authority or responsible
ty in the construction of this dam. Then I'M
der another line of questioning he said there
was no complaint of ineffective or insufficient
work made dnring the process Of the dams
building by either himself other proprietors.
He visited it often and had seen several mem
bers of the company there. He recolected no.
ticng that the hard pan where they struck it ir
putting down the foundation was as hard as
stene. The natural stream was about ten feet
wide and shallow. The soil of the reservoir
was black loom, In the bed of the stream the
hard pan was struck almost Immediately.
The dam was not built into the hard pan, at
least he did not recollect to a certainty. The
bottom was almost level for about forty feet in
the centre and then arose on each side. He
thought no difference was made from hitting
the hard pan in the centre on the sides. He
thinks they made it alike all along. Has no
accurate memory on the point. At all events
no fault was found to his recollection. He had
never complained that so puch of the work
was done in cold weather. He had asked if the
cement would hold good in cold weather
The contractors had told him it would be
just as WELL for they covered it up at night
either with salt or hemlock boughs. what they
laid during the day. But little of it anyway
was completed under these conditions. The
wall was two feet thick on the top of the walk.
Mr.. Spellman betrayed strong reluctance TO
fnll
CT not He had nothing to do with it. He
owned share in the company, but so small
one he did not want to press anything, and he
gave way. He had heard Cheney talk of the
gates being hard to open and had told him to
get some oil, and had since then heard of no
difficulty. He (Spellman) explained how the
gate worked and considered, in answer to ques-
tions of the jury, that no change of level, such
as might result from settling of the earth
around it, could affect it,
1t occurred TO him that the dimensions of the
outlet pipe were changed from Is inches diam
eter as originated to 16. He has alwas been on
the ground when repairs have been made.
At this point the jury took an unoommonly
sharp turn at questioning on the subject of the
springs which Cheney had spoken of to account
for which Mr.. Spelman had two theories, one
that water from the overflow race-way percol-
ated nown hill near the DAM another that the
ground in the vicinity is full of living springs.
These springs he said were visible when the
water was entirely out of the reservoir and one
large one was now running on the east slope
near the embankment. There had been less
outside water this season than for the twy years
previous. In obedience to the jury he read
from the records of a meeting where the reser-
voir company instructed A. T. Lilly, agent of
the Nonotuck Slid Co. and a member of the
Reservoir Co., to consult with d. w. Bond of
Northampton as to their legal individual liza
bility for damages in case of breaking away of
the dam, and take such measures as were nee
essary.
He denied that there had been at that time,
May 4, 1867, any talk about danger from the
dam, but he understood 1t was in consequence
OF that meeting that the County Commission
ers visited the dam. This special committee
(Mr. Libby made no report in writing. There
were no reports at all on file He again said
in answer to question that he never knew
what the contract was never had it in his
hand; had no idea as to the width of the wall
at the bottom or at the top; never measured it;
never questioned its strength
The jury of inquest was adjourned till ten
O'Clock this morning.