Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-07-26
SLOWLY DRAGGING.
Another Day Of the Scioto Investi-
, cation.

The Women in the Pilot House-A SINAI
Boys Idea Of "Sheeringp-lnter-
esting Testimony Of Capt
" Clint. Thomas.
All day yesterday the testimony in the
scioto investigation was continued, The
court room held but comparatively few
people and interest was very slack The
| reformation elected was Of no vital impog'
lance for either side.
e5[ ~ YREDRIcK HOFFMAN,, !
who had been encamped on the Ohio shore,
was recalled for the second time and testified
| as follows, the questions being put by Mr..
| Cracraft: ~.
The guards of the Scioto are very low and
lower than the bow of the Tomas. had Q
conversation with q man named James
Dixon, who claimed to be friend OF Keller.
Capt. Doyener objected to further testt-
mony on this point, and after little sharp
argument, Capt. Young decided TO admit 1t.
The witness then continued:
was standing over there in this ROOM
and Dixon asked me il was going to testi-
Nv
was going to tell what knew. BE said
Keller found out he was brother in-law OF
mine, and told me not to say any more
than could help against Keller. replied
| that would tell all knew. do not know
| whether Keller was in this room then or
not. The Tomas was at the blast furnace
| when she first whistled and the Scioto was
above the rocks when she was ntte OH
| above Devinney's war ehouse, about nifty
feet. did not have any conversation with
Keller. Keller was talking with another
/ narty anu he said he had TO meet her bow
| to bow.
To Doyener-I have been to Pittsburgh
and other places. Mr.. Kennedy came after
me last night at Steubenville. / do MOI
know who sent him. Craeraft was with
him. Kennedy said he wanted me down
here to-day. / said the bow of the Tomas
was higher than the guards OF the scioto; l
did not say where the coal box was on the
Scioto The guards Of the Lomas went
under the Scioto Dixon is q brother-in-
law Of mine and lives in North Wheeling.
No sir he did not influence my testimony,
that know of. kennedy told me they
wanted me TO come, and / came. Isaid to
Keller that he had to meet the Lomas bow
| to bow.
JOHN ZIMMERMAN
was the next witness, and testified as fol-
lows: l am about 81 years old; live at
Steubenville and work at the Flint Glass
Works. l was in a skiff when the accident
happened and was below the boats. We
had started for the waves, and the Scioto
nearly ran over US, and Hoffman hallooed,
There comes another boat coming down."
|. / heard the Scioto blow two blasts, and we
started up the river. The first whistle
heard was the Scioto giving two blasts. 1
did not notice the other boat until the boats
had struck, and saw the fire flying. l do
not know how far the boats were apart
1t was not dark, as we could see from one
shore to the other. cannot tell how much
time elapsed between the time the Scloto !
blew and the collision. The Scioto was on
the Virginia side of the river, when she
whistled, and was angling toward the Ohio !
shore. do not know what were their po-
sitions, as it was half hour before got to |
the boats. The Scioto was on the bottom
when We arrived. l do do not know how
close the boats were to the Ohio shore when |
they struck, but closer than to the Virginia
shore.
To Cracraft-Yes sir, there was plenty of !
room between the Scioto and the shore for |
boat to pass We always go out in the
boat waves. We were eamped on the ONO
shore land a man could throw stone off |
the Scioto to the Virginia shore when we
went to her waves.
/ am % years old, live at East Liverpool !
and am foreman of the ware room of a |
pottery there. was on the Scioto on the !
4th of July. got on at East Liverpool and !
made the full trip. 1 heard blowing bat |
did not notice the signals. | was not in the |
pilot house, but was close enough to see, as |
Ii was more comfortable on the hurricane |
deck / went up in the morning. The |
pilot house was not crowded, and ntained
about five or six persons, none OF whom / |
knew. l could not tell how many men or |
women there were In the evening l had
been sitting down in the cabin with my |
wife, near the smoke stack. proposed to
her to go on the hurricane deck, as it was
so warm We went up and walked around
a little and moved right in behind the
smoke stacks, as it was very damp. Turn
ed around and looked at the pilot |
house to see who was the pilot.
There was
ALADY At THE WHEEL,
when looked around she appeared to have |
a hard time moving the wheel, as she did |
il very slowly, as if she was not able to do |
it. | watched her few moments, and the
others around her were laughing at her |
actions. thought they were amused at it
mot laughing loudly; only smiling The |
man that thought was the pilot was
young man, and he was leaning on the win
dow at the right side OF the pilot house. |
could not say what time. 1t was after sun |
down. No man took hold Of the wheel while |
! stood there. l then went down stairs |
and was in the cabin when the boats struck. |
| could not give the time as to how long |
after l went down until they struck. The I
lady did not have hold of anything except !
the wheel. I
To Cracraft-This was after we left Wells. |
burg. We did not get off the Wharf at
.t.A., l.v. kal frntNh 10
getting off, Twas in the cabin when the
whistle tlew. did not take notice Of the
vessels positions. !
49, J.. II. BURGESS !
was sworn and depoSed: am SO years old. !
Live st East Liverpool and AM grocer. i
was on the Scioto on the 4th of July with
my family having got on at East Liverpool. |
We bad state room No. l on the Scioto,
which is we'll forward, and put two of my
children in bed and the oldest went back to
its mother, who was in the ladies' cabin. l |
went out on the guards on the Vir- !
ginia shore. told niece to
look out for the children |
in the berths, and she remarked "Lets |
there, and remarked to my niece that"that !
boat was long time whistling, as 10 what
water she would take" 1t then whistled !
and could not tell what was the signal.
Our boat replied, but could not tell what
the reply was. l did not hear any other
signals, as was alarmed at the position the
boats were holding for each other, and l re-
marked to young man that boat would
run US down and for him to get my chill
dren out of the berth and would get my
wife and other child and get onto the huri-
cane deck" as saw the boats would hit
went down the out side TO the little door.
as the cabin was very full of people. / got
in the pantry, when l heard the
bells ringing and then the crash came, and
when got to where my wife was was up
to my waist in water. could not say how
long after the whistling the bells rang.
The Seioto was about straight up the river.
/ did not pay any intention to what part OF
the river they were in at the time of the
signals. They hardly had time after the
signals to pass, as they were close. Before
the Tomas blew her first signal they were
about 500 yards apart did not notice
what the signals were.
To Cracraft-I am Mayor of East Liver