Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-01-26


understand, were supened to appear
in Columbus. The attempt to get
the wrecked engine up the hill, from
the creek, proved a failure on Thurs
day. 1t had been brought to near
the top of the hill, when, by the
parting of the cable it slid back to
the bottom.
FUNERAL SERVICES.
The inquest adjourned over on ac-
count of the funeral services.
Saturday, Jan. 20.
An important witness was put up-
on the stand before the inquest, on |
Saturday last, in the person of Mr.. |
Albert Congdon, master mechanic
OF the Lake Shore company, and |
who succeeded Mr.. Tomlinson in the
management of the construction Of
the bridge. His testimony was as
follows: l was employed by the
Lake Shore Railway Company as
master mechanic during the year
lS6S-4-5; was subject to orders from
the President and Superintendent of |
the road; Mr.. Stone was President |
at that time; witness had charge of |
fitting up the different members of |
the Ashtabula bridge; was furnished |
with working drawings for some of |
the members, viz: the angle blocks
and clamps: he found
LACK OF MATERIAL
in the webs of the double T beams
used for the braces; there were lugs
attached to the angle blocks for re-
tanning these braces in position; the
space between these lugs was about
half an inch too wide for the fange |
of the braces; he also found that the
beams which were to form the top
cord, were from lie of an inch to
Il inches too short; he called the
attention of Mr.. Tomlinson to this
mistake; Tomlinson asked him if it
was
BEST TO TELL MR.. STONE
about it; he told him he should, by !
all means; he don't know whether
Tomlinson told Stone or not; soon
after this occurred, he got orders
from Tomlinson to take the whole |
charge of the work; a day or two |
after that, he saw Mr.. Stone who
told him to take the plans of the
bridge, and go on and finish it as it
should be done; he understood that
it was Mr.. Stone, who planned the
bridge; he saw Mr.. Tomlinson at
work on the drawings of the bridge,
and never saw any one else at work
at them; he understood that Mr..
Tomlinson gave the orders to the
mill for material; after he Gong
dom took charge of the work he or
dered some pieces to replace parts
that were not made correctly that
were spoiled under Mr.. Tomlinson's
management; he thinks he
TOOK ENTIRE CHARGE
of the work, at least month before
the pieces were ready to be shipped,
but cannot tell the exact time; he
did not notice any ragged edges on
any of the beams which he thought
would materially damage them; the
beams were nearly all of the same
pattern; there was a difference in
the thickness of the webs of the
beams forming the top cord; he
thinks that the beams with thickest
webs, were intended for the central
portion of the cords; when the
bridge was first put up, the main
braces were set with their webs in
horizontal position; the lugs were
put on the angle blocks to accommo-
date the braces in this position; the
braces were all of the same pattern,
and any one would fit in any place;
he did not have strain sheet during
the construction of the bridge, and
did not see one; he
NEVER CALCULATED
strength of its tension or compress
sion members; he thinks that Mr..
Tomlinson told him something about
his calculations concerning the
strength of the bridge; be did not
know that he computed it from
strain sheet; he supposed that Mr..
Tomlinson considered it a strong
bridge; he never said anything to
the contrary; Mr.. Tomlinson never
said anything to him about strength
ening any of It's members, and never
intimated to him that he was restric-
ted in any of his designs by Mr..
Stone; Mr.. Tomlinson made the
drawings of the angle blocks to
guide the pattern maker; he Gong
don) told the pattern-maker not to
send the patterns to the moulders
until Mr.. Tomlinson had seen them,
as it was very important that they
SHOULD BE JUST RIGHT;
Mr.. Tomlinson examined them when
finished, and pronounced them salts
factory; when they were cast they
warped out of shape; this happened
because they were not correctly pro-
portioned; the attention of Mr. Tom
linson was
CALLED TO THIS DEFECT;
he said it would do no harm to use
them as they were, but told the wit
ness that he might straighten them
with the palmer; this he did; the
beams forming the top cord were
made too short; this defect was rem
edied by welding them out with the
same material that the beams were
composed Of; shortly after the bridge
was shipped to Ashtabula, Mr.. A.
L. Rogers came to him and said that
MIR. Stone had given him orders to
raise it, and that he
DIDN'T KNOW HOW
to do it, and wanted some instruc-
tions about it; he asked Rogers why
he didn't 90 to Stone about it, and
he said he didn't want to; so he
(Congdon) gave him what instruc-
ton he could concerning it; after a
short time he received word from
Rogers that he
WAS HAVING TROUBLE
with the top cord, and reqested him |
to come to Ashtabula to give him
advice; when he got there MIR. Rog- !
ers told him that the top cord was ,
too lOno and he cOuld not c,a+ - =;