Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-02-02
THE DISASTER!
What has Been Said and Done
at the corOner's Inquest.
FRIDAY Jan. 26

FFtGIy syuJts 70
At the inquest to-day, DR.. G. Case
was the first witness summoned.
He went to the wreck Immediately
on hearing of the accident, and he
was occupied the entire night IN
caring for the wounded. He did
not see any one who was burned
when he reached the wreck. he
heard cries and screams when he
reached the wreck. This was about
s:S5 o'clock. One of the passengers
told him there were between two
and three hundred persons on the
train.
James Doran was also sworn. He
is employed as track master by the
Lake Shore road at Ashtablla, and
was so employed when the bridge
was built across Ashtabula creek.
He says that a double track was
laid across the bridge at or about
the time it was built, but that one
of them was used for ordinary ira
vel, until the whole road was double
tracked, which was about four or
five years ago. He has never found
the rails on the bridge much out of
line. He examined the track east
of the bridge the morning after the
accident and found no evidence of
the train having left the track. He
could have discovered it easily if it
had done so. He has never known
q car to run off the track on the
bridge. There are guard rails the
whole length of the bridge.
james Z, Stebbins was next sworn:
He is jeweler at Ashtabula and was
at the bridge about forty minutes
after hearing the alarm. When he
first saw the wreck the frames of
cars were standing; he helped some
of the wounded up the hill and then
went to the cars; he heard cries for
help from different parts of the
wreck at the time, and wondered
why water was not being thrown;
he got some buckets and men to use
them, and then went in search of
the steamer and found it lying idle,
and asked why they were not throw
ing water. He told them that peo-
pie were burning alive and could
only be saved by water. They told
him that they could not act without
orders from their Chief. He said:
@Where is he?' "Well have water
down there, or We'll hang him." He
was answered that they did not
know where he was. Being exhaust
ed and discouraged he left the
wreck and went to care for the
wounded.
Tuesday Jan. 80.
Mr.. Job. Abbott, a civil engineer,
of Canton, was examined, and testi-
fed that he is Vice President Of the
Canton Bridge Company, and has
known of several bridges being
built in wrought and cast iron on
the Howe truss plan. He has ex-
amined the wrecked bridge. In his
calculations, he assumed the dead
load of the bridge to be 2,57O pounds
per lineal foot. He finds that the
tension members had ample section,
and, in fact, were considerably heav-
Ter than necessary for safety, and
that the compression members were
deficient in section. Considering
the position in which the train and
bridge fell, and from his investiga-
tions, his theory of the disaster is
that the bridge commenced to give
away by the buckling of the OPP
beams forming the main brace of
the second or third panel from the
west end in the south truss. He is
of the opinion that the bridge had
become gradually weakened by use,
the form of construction being such
that many of the compression mem
bers were strained over their safe
working capacity. He thinks that
an iron bridge should not deterior-
ate by use, provided it be not strain
ed above safe working capacity.
He thinks that the devolvement of
the locomotive might have caused
the destruction of the bridge, but
does not think that such was the
cause. Copies of the testimony of
Nessrs. Amasa Stone and the late
Charles Collins were introduced and
will be used as evidence.
Wednesday,, Jan. 81.