Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-02-29
THE MoDoc ON DUTY.
THE JULIA EXPLOSION.
The Coroner of solano County Investi

The Coroner OF Solano County Jnvesti-
eating the Cause of the Di-aster.
Copyf9it 1883, by he California Associated Press
VALLEJO, February 25th-The Coroner
has an exceedingly intelligent jury sum-
moned. Among them are J. Campbell
for years Foreman Boiler maker on the
Mare Island Navy Yard D. G. Barnes,
proprietor of the planning mills; William
Halford, the United States Navy; Captain
A. w. Starr, of Starts Mills-all versed in
machinery and mechanics, and impartial
judges.
The jury convened in the Frisbie House
at South Vallejo at 10 o'clock to-day. There
had been neglect in summoning witnesses,
and many were not in condition to testify.
William Smith testified: got on board at
North Vallejo and went upstairs. The only
men | saw upstairs were James and man
who, believe, was his brother-in-law. |
was lying on the seat doing. but awoke as
the whistle blew to leave South Vallejo. |
had Just put my head down when the
crash came. 1 heard no explosion. The
first thing knew everything came tum-
bling down on top of me. | tried to
escape, but was perhaps five or ten minutes
in doing so. While creeping out l heard
the men underneath crying for help. | was
not down stairs at all, and did not see the
fireman crawled out backwards, the place
where | was not seeming to have fallen so
much. l had not much difficulty when
freed from the wreck in getting off
James McCudden testified: Ny clerk
thinks he sold eleven tickets on Sunday
morning. Sunday and Monday are keptas
one day, according to the railroad custom
Tickets may be fought at any time, or any
number may be sold to one man. We sell
single-trip tickets only. Eleven tickets
| understand were taken up at the gate by
J. \. Rhorer. 1t would be impossible
to tell how many tickets were sold as
our reports includes from Sunday morning
to Monday night. Ny clerk thinks that
he sold from 80 to 35 tickets. Many men
buy six tickets on Monday morning to last
the week through. / did not see the fire.
men or engineers, as I was in bed when
the first boat left.
Master Mechanic Mckenzie, of the South
ern Pacific Company, was present to re-
quest that the examination of the boilers
be postponed until the arrival of United
States Inspector Hillman. There appeared
to be no objection to this, so long as the
rights of the Jury were not infringed on.
In the afternoon the jury again con-
veDed, and the following evidence was
taken
Manuel Frietas-I never heard anyone
say the boilers were in bad condition;
have Travelled on the boat about year.
Never heard anyone say those boilers had
been condemned lately; can't say how
many passengers were on the steamer
about 35 or 40; was talking TO James Rule
at the time of the explosion.
J. j. Smith, tallyman for the Port Costa
Lumber Company, who was one of the last
to 60 on board, said: l was about to go
inside on the lower deck, when / was hit
by something on the calf of the leg and
knocked down. l got up and was struck
on the back by piece of wood. l then
crawled under the truck. Don't know how
long | was there, bat when | got up | saw
fame under the starboard stairs, and
heard the Captain order boat to be low
cred. l assisted in doing this and after
wards got ashore. When the Captain gave
the order he was standing forward at the
gang plank. The Captain helped TO lower
the boat. | had my senses all the time. !
saw no effort made by the crew to save
passengers. do not think any more lives
could have been saved by extra efforts.
The sliding doors were open when the ex-
plosion occurred.
Timothy Murphy, longshoreman. tes-
titled: | was on board at the time of the
explosion and was going forward to light
my pipe, when | was struck in the face by
something. l looked back, saw a blaze,
and saw parties lowering a boat. Could
not say who they were, as l was dazed
from the shock. Have been going back
and forth for the past eight months. Never
heard anyone say anything about the boil
ers before the explosion.
r. w. Burton, laborer, testified: /
vent aboard the bost about 6 o'clock and