Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-02-15
THE coRoNER,S INQUEST.

| Oflcial Investigation of tho Fatal Casu-
alty at the Oil Mill-No New Facts De-
yeloped.
The coroner's inquest on the remains
of John Muey and John Petri, whose
death resulted from the oil mill explo-
sion last Thursday, took place at the
scene of the catastrophe at 1890 o'clock
yesterday morning.
The examination was held in the ware
house, frame structure adjoining the
ruins Of the mill. The remains OF the
| unfortunate men were laid out on
stretchers, having been made as pre-
sentable as possible by Leigh q Co., the
| undertakes. AS described in Yesterdays
issue Of the GLOBE, the bodies which
were represented by two black Jumps, pre-
sented horribly mutilated and sicken-
ing appearance.
The jury consisted Of the following
named citizens: Isaac w. Miner, fore
man; VIM. Bircher, Henry Jansen rat
rick MeManus, VIM. O'Gorman and Il. ID.
Athey.
HENRY SCHURME1ER.
Henry Schumacher, the first witness,
was sworn, and testified as follows: Am
one of the firm of Archibald s. Schur-
meier. proprietors of the linseed oil mill;
we had q process of obtaining oil from
| flax; this was effected by means of per-
colating naphtha through large tanks
containing crushed fax; the naphtha re-
| NAMED in the tank thirty hours, after
| which it was drawn off and charged with
oil; following this superheated steam was
| passed through it to extract the naphtha
and purify the meal.
This process was going on at the time
of the explosion, there was no fire in the
mill at the time of the explosion. John
Muey, one of the deceased, actedssas fore
| man; he had been accustomed to that
class of work, and was one of the inven-
| tors of part of the method, having been
employed as an expert by the Chicago
| oil mill, where he had worked three
years. Muey was about 40 years Of age;
Petri, his nephew, was a young man
| about 20 years old; they were the only
ones in the mill by night; in the opinion
| of witness there must have been fire
present before the explosion; either this
or spontaneous combustion caused the &C
cident.
W. C. PETERSON.
W. C. Peterson, the day engineer, was
the next witness Witness had not been
present on the night of the explosion; was
not familiar with the process; he testified
to the recovery of the bodies The body
of Petri was found ten feet from the en-
| trance; he was lying on the ground
with feet towards the building, and head
towards the railroad track; the body was
badly burned.
Muev was found twenty feet from the
entrance; the body was lying in little
hollow. partially covered with water, it
was not badly burned; in the opinion of
witness, both the deceased were escaping
from the building when overtaken by the
explosion: opposite where Muey
was found, there was an opening be-
tween two cars, through which he must
have ran.
| ANDREW LUNDBERG.
Andrew Lundberg, the night fireman,
was next sworn: Witness had been pres
ent the night of the explosion; about
| 1920 O'Clock witness went into the mill
and asked Petri to assist him in getting
wood; Muey was asleep in wheelbarrow;
Petri replied that he would be down as
soon as his uncle awoke; about midnight
| CdulC UOW IL w OAollA1S VIZ 1NFSA
heated steam gauge; witness inquired
where Muey was and Petri replied that
he was asleep on a table. About ten
minutes past o'clock in the morning
witness heard noise like the report of
cannon; he looked around and saw the
wall caving in; this was in the egnine
room, about twenty feet from the main
building; witness ran into the boiler room
and bricks fell at his heels; he then ran
for the door and got out.
THE VERDICT.
The jury returned a verdict to the
effect that John Muey and John Petri
had came to their death from injuries
received by the explosion of the ST. Paul
linseed oil mill; said explosion, in the
opinion of the jury, being caused by fire,
the origin of which is unknown.
The remains were enclosed in an ice
box and removed to the undertaker's es-
Enlistment They will be taken to
Grand Crossing, ILL.,, the former resi-
dence of the deceased, and will be &C
companied thither by Henry Schilato, a
r~;a~I 20 Dafri