Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-02-09
What has Been Said and Done
at the Coroner's Inquest.
Saturday, Feb. 8.

DNtofNt Ntt9g cs
The jury met at nine o'clock this
morning and adjourned until two
o'clock this afternoon, when Mr..
George H. Carpenter, of Cleveland,
was called and sworn and testified
as follows:
am now employed by the King
Iron Bridge Company in Cleveland.
At the time the Ashtabula bridge
was built l was employed in the
Lake Shore Shops in Cleveland, but
afterwards had charge of the raising
of the bridge with Mr.. Rogers under
nv directions. Mr.. Joseph Tomlin-
son had charge of the work on the
bridge for a short time, but he and
Mr.. Stone could not agree and he
left. Mr.. Albert Congdon then
took charge of the work and remain
ed until it was completed. The
bridge was built after the Howe
Truss plan. When the braces were
sent down here they had no marks
on them so as to show where they
belonged.
We put the main braces in with
their webs horizontal, but we after
wards altered them so that their
webs were vertical. In erecting the
bridge we experienced considerable
trouble in the top cord, the members
of which were too long. l applied
to Mr.. Congdon to know what L
should do and he came down here
with Mr.. Stone. They did not give
me anv advice while they were here
but afterwards told me to send the
top angle block to Cleveland to have
the lugg planed off. This was done
and we had no further trouble.
After we had completed the erec-
ton of the bridge Mr.. Stone and Mr..
Congdon came down and looked at
it; Mr.. Stone expressed himself well
satisfied with the work and told me
that it was well done. We then laid
the floor beams, but did not remove
the blocking, as Mr.. Stone had given
Mr.. Rogers orders not to do so yet.
Mr.. Congdon told me when the
blocking was removed and the bridge
began to settle that we would have
to change the main braces or the
damned thing would go into the
river.
He then told me that the main
braces must be placed vertical in
stead of horizontal; this was done,
but to do it we were obliged to chip
off the luggs on the angle block. l
do not consider this system of later
al bracing in this bridge good for
anything. I have been a locomotive
engineer and have frequently no
ticed the difference between a deck
and through bridge in regard to
lateral motion. A deck bridge is
more liable to that than a through
bridge. l had had no practical ex-
perience in bridge building until l
worked on this one. I never knew
of their ever building any other
wrought iron bridges at the Lake
Shore shops. never knew that
they made it part of their business
to build bridges. The principle de-
fects were in the main braces, the
lateral braces and diagonal sway
braces. l should think that this
would break at the west end. l
should expect that the main braces
would first buckle.
Monday, Feb. 5.
The coroner's inquest was resumed
this morning.
Harvey Tilden of Cleveland was
called and sworn. He is an hydraul-
ic engineer and has charge of all the
water works of the Lake Shore and
Michigan Southern Railway. He
considers the pump used at Ashtabu-
la as equal to the best in use. There
are five double fire hydrants attach
ed to the pump, three of which are
at the depot. The hydrant at the
pump-house was put in, so that the
officers of the road might see the
pump tested. The test was made
from hydrants at the depot, because
this one was not completed when the
pump was ready for use. The pump
can throw nearly nine hundred gal
Ions per minute; the hydrants at the
depot and round-house were put
there to protect the buildings of the
company from fire. No hose was
provided for these hydrants, because
they had had bad luck with several
kinds of hose and were testing hose
in view of supplying the whole road
at the time of the accident. They
have. placed some rubber hose here
since the accident for the protection
of the wooden bridge.
Jas. A. Manning having been re-
presented by the Associated Press
dispatches as saying that there were
fire hose at the pump-hOuse fitting
the hydrant, and also that he turned
off the cap of the fre-plug on the
hose at the fire engine house and
found they would not fit, and was
afterwards obliged to admit that
they did SO fit, desires to say in ex-
PLANTATION with the approval of the
jury that there was no fire hose at
or in the pump-house, and that the
hose upon which he tried the cap
was a section of rubber hose left
with the Fire Department for trial,
and which did not fit either the cap
or the hose in use by the Fire De
partment at Ashtabula.
Tuesday, Feb. 6.
At the Coroner's inquest Tuesday,
Mr.. B. Morton, a New Haven civil
engineer, was examined as the first
witness. He thinks it would have
added very materially to the
strength of this bridge if the main
braces of each set had been attached
to each other throughout their
length. He thinks that the factor
of safety used in planning this
bridge was amply sufficient. He
has not examined the bridge but
draws his conclusions from examin-
ing the drawings. There is more
tendency to lateral motion in a deck
than in through bridge, and it is a
very important matter to provide
against this motion by sufficient