St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-12-15
Engineer TWeedie thorough
ly Investigated for the
Second Time.
Hennepin Avenue Methodists
Refuse the Offers OF the
CentenarianS.
End of Grand Jury Work.
Interment of Mart Will
Jams Yesterday.

and Capt. Tarr interrOgatlng him. Capt.
Tarr questioned the witness closely as
to his experience with engines and ma
chinery, and obtained from him the in
formation that while he had worked
for many years with various kinds of
machinery. he had never had any eX
perience with pumping engines until
he went to the North side. Capt. Tarr
then addressed himself to the committee
somewhat as follows:
al do not subpoena this witness as an eX-
pert. but simply TO tell what be knows of his
own knowledge. OF course the committee
may do as it chooses but don't want his
OPINIONS. Simply to find out what he
knows"
Then taking the stenographer's re-
port of Mr.. TWeedie'S former testimony.
Capt. Farr proceeded to question him
on some of his statements. Mr.. Tweedie
reiterated the assertion that he had dis
covered that the No. pump was 5-32
of an inch out of line about one year
ago and stated that he had made this
discovery by running line through the
engine.
Capt. Tarr then inquired:
Mr.: Tweedie, do you not know that an en-
CINE that far ont of line cannot run without
ultimately coming to harm?'
Certainly do
Then why did you not put the pump IN
liner
because that was not my business
Here Capt. Tarr produced a copy of
the contract between the city and the
WOrthingtOn company, and asked Mr..
Tweedie if he had seen the contract.
lie replied that he had not, and Capt.
Tarr said:
well, want to read you section from it
so that you can understand my next ques-
tons"
Here Aid. Hunter, who had kept I'M
usually quiet UP TO this point. peremp-
tOrily objected to the reading of the con-
tract, saying:
Mr.. Tweedie himself states that he knows
nothing about the contract, and | object to
his being asked any questions concerning it,"
Il do not propose to question him upon
the contract" said Capt. Tarr, put simply
TO read portion of it i'll order that he may
understand my questions"
1t don't make any difference. / object to
having the contract introduced at this stage
OF the game" angrily retorted Aid. Hunter.
We'll, now, here said Capt Tarr, half
rising i'll his chair, ''t was understood wnen
| came here that should have the privilege
of examining these witnesses for the purpose
of finding out the truth, and nothing but the
truth, and now you take every opportunity
of hRmpering me with objections. If you
are going to haggie in this manner. / may
Just at well quit now. What l want is TO get
asking questions for the past two weeks and
did not object to your questions, no was 1
even represented. l am willing to aid in
every possible way to get at the facts of this
case, but would like to have fair show.
AID. Hunter asked him if he would go
on the witness stand and he promptly
replied that he would if so desired. He
came here for that purpose and had SO
notified the chairman upon his arrival.
Aid. Hunter then withdrew his objec-
ton to the reading of the contract, and
Capt Tarr read that section which pro-
Vides that the pumps shall be capable
of delivering 100000 gallons in twen-
ty-four hours with piston speed of not
to exceed 125 feet per minute, and a
total load on the plunger of not to eX-
coed seventy-fiVe pounds per square
inch.
Capt. Tarr then questioned Mr..
Tweedie closely as to the speed at
which the pumps had been operated,
and obtained from him the admission
that the pumps had repeatedly been
run at more than the required piston
speed. He stated that the total load on
the plunger had often been as high as
eighty pounds, sometimes even ninety
pounds, and from that up to 100 pounds.
Witness then stated that he had been
on duty when a compromising cylinder
had broken during the night, and that
he was in the habit of running the
pumps at night at the same speed as
they had been running during the day,
unless otherwise ordered by the chief
engineer.
Capt. Tarr introduced in evidence an
enlarged copy of the record kept at the
pump house on the night of the acct
| dent, and after some controversy the
original was produced and given to the
IN.
nifying glass and made a critical exam
| ination of the record to verify state
ment by Capt. Tarr that the pressure
had been raised from 80 to 100 pounds
between midnight and 1880.
After some time spent in study, Aid.
! Hunter sententiouSly remarked that it
looked to him very much as though the
record had been tempered with. You
will have to make that as a separate
allegation" said Capt. Tarr. I'VE must
stand by the record"
The witness then said that the record
showed, as stated, that the pressure had
! increased from 90 pounds at IL to 100 at
| 1880. The water record showed that at
II o'clock the pressure was OH the guage
which, in the opinion of witness, was
| equal to 81 pounds on the plunger. At
| 1915 the record showed 80 pounds on
the guage, or 102 pounds on the plunger
Capt. Tarr inquired the reason of this
increase. and Tweedie replied that that
was lone of the beauties of the Worth
iDgtOn pump" The smallest particle
of sand on the plunger would hold it
! and Keep the damper open until the
| pressure was strong enough to remove
the particle.
mfr Tweedie'' said Capt. Tarr do YOU
think you were doing your whole duty TO the
| city when you found that the pump was out
| of line. in simply reporting the matter to the
| chief engineer
DO you not feel that the pump would be
| equally free from responsibility by being run
! IN SO unnatural a Manner
The pump was not responsible for any
| thing. 1t was the man who was running it
| who was responsible
Capt. Tarr then produced a newspa-
| per clipping which, he SAID purported
to be letter from Tweedie published
| in the Times of Dec. 4, and asked that
| gentleman if he would acknowledge its
! authorship.
Before he could reply, however.
Collector" Hunter had declared posi-
| lively that the letter would not be re-
cognized in any way by the committee,
Notwithstanding that only a few days
since he had carefully questioned the
| engineer upon the contents of the same
i letter before the committee himself.
| After short discussion Capt. Tarr
dropped the letter and stated that he
was through with the witness.
City Engineer Rinker then stepped in
and said he would like to question Mr.
| Tweedie.
He began: 'Mr. Tweedie, want to
ask you If you wrote that letter." but
here he was stopped by Aid. Hun
ter, who declared that the letter could
not be brought before the committee in
any form. Messrs. Tweedie and Rinker
must fight their battle out in the papers
where they had started it.
Mr.. Rinker then said:
II simply wanted to ask Mr.. Tweedie if he
wrote that letter and was willing to swear to
the assertions made therein, and to bring
proof TO contradict him."
MI. Tweedie stated that he had writ