Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-17
BIG DAMAGE SUITS.
Two Lake Erie Employees Want $780,
900 Each for Being Blown Up.
EXPERTS vs.. CORONER'S JURY,
A Locomotive Boiler That Was in Pretty
Bad Condition.
THE TRIAL ATTRACTING INTEREST

Testimony was taken yesterday in the
office Of Daniel Harrison, Esq, in the suit
of John Mckinney VS.. The Pittsburs and
Lake Erie Railway Company. operating
the Pittsburg, McKeesport and Yough-
iogheny Railway. The case is to be tried
in Youngstown, o. Two men named John
Mckinney and John M. Ludwig were
frightfully mangled by the explosion Of
boiler on the road last winter. They each
sue for $4,000 damages. Ludwig sues in
this county. McKinney's suit comes MP
next week. W. S. Anderson and W. J.
Terrill are the plaintiffs attorneys, and j.
P. Wilson and others represent the defense.
John D. Watson, Esq, yesterday conducted
the examination for Mckinney, and E. w.
Smith, OF Knox & Reed, for the company.
McKinney's injuries were received on the
18th of February at Douglass siding. The
engine that exploded was No. 20, attached
to a gravel train. The brakeman was
killed.
TESTIMONY OF EXPERTS.
George H. Hawksworth, foreman Of the
boiler department of the Pittsburg division
OF the Pennsylvania Railroad and for 80
years an employe Of that company, William
II. Wilmer, of the West Point Boiler
Works and formerly inspector of boilers for
the Pennsylvania Railroad and latterly of
the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railway,
experts, were examined in behalf of McKin-
ney and against the finding Of the Coroner's
jury who found that low water was the cause
OF the explosion. 1t was sworn to with ex
ceeding posltiveness that low water WAS not
the cause and that none of the indications of
low water were present and that all indica-
tions were that the boiler was full of water;
that there were no indications of burnt iron
and that the metal was of good quality, but
not OF sufficient strength to bear the pressure
required; also that the stay-bolts were old
and worn out, and that the heads of many
OF them were missing, and had been for a
considerable time and that from the incrus-
tation of the heads of the bolts they ap-
peared to have been so for a number of
years and that an inspector who knew his
business should have condemned the boiler.
IN VERY POOR CONDITION.
Mr.. Hawksworth testified that in his
opinion the stay-bolts had not been replaced
during the last Is years, and that he had
never before seen boiler in so bad condi-
ton. Both he and Wilmer said they saw
incrustation, or scale, on the crown-sheet up
to the crown bars to the depth of several inches,
and the boiler looked as though 1t had never
been cleaned out The Coroner's jury found
that the explosion was due to Ludwig's negli-
gence, and he also disputes the finding and sues
for damages.
Silas w. Ludwig. a brother of the engineer,
testified to the Identification of engine, and
said he took Hawksworth and John Muller,
the latter a steamboat engineer, to examine
the engine and cause of the explosion when
Mckinney and the engineer were living
at the point of death in the West
Penn Hospital. He said they were now hor-
ribly disHgured and would be for life. He also
testified that the previous witnesses had told
the truth respecting the condition of the
mark the boiler had been built in 1856
IN CONFLICT WITH THE CORONER.
On cross-examination this witness rehearsed
the proceedings during the Coroner's inquest
and the finding of the jury, and said they were
the cause of his individual investigation and
action in the matter.
the effect, and some in exact werds. that the
engine was unsafe and only fit for the scrap
pile.
The trial attracts particular attention from
was obliterated from the plaintiffs by their
mishap. 1t is said the average Mahoning
county, O., jury gives 81 900 damages for the
loss of finger. Drs. McCan and Dickson al
most reconstructed Mckinney when he
was in the hospital, Half of 1.-THE
flesh of his face and all of his nose and con-
siderable portion of his scalp were torn off so
that they fell down onto his shoulders, and his
thigh. leg and arm were broken.
1t might pay railway companies to set aside
o small portion of their earnings for the stimu-
lation of invention and application of some
other motive power than steam.