Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-27

that he heard boy say that he pulled a
fuse partly out OF the mortar and wished
that he had pulled 1t entirely out. and
then the explosion would not have oc-
Cured. Mr.. Bassett stated, for the in
formation OF the coroner, that a contract
or named Shook, in Mott alley. has a
boy in his employ who saw boy pour
powder into mortar.
The coroner thanked Mr.. Bassett for
his information, and at once issued a
subpoena for the boy.
Walter Peck, boy who was employed
by Wilson to assist in shooting off red
lights, testified: There were plenty of
boys there that night; saw some OF
them stalking Wilson's Roman candles
and rockets; we did not use powder out
OF cigar box; saw Wilson when he
loaded the mortar; when he put the
bomb in he turned his back to the NOR
tar and took step forward; the boys
were all around the place when the
bomb was fired; 1 was about 20 feet
away.
Charles Mcdonald, newsboy, testi-
fed: 1 heard some of the boys ask
where the box OF powder was; then
heard some one say get back, but ]
could not get back, because the boys
were firing Gre-rockets at the transpar-
ency which I carried.
Robert Wilson, boy aged about IL
years, con of w. H. Wilson, testified
that he was present during the evening
of the explosion; and that his father
endeavored to keep the crowd back; he
was in front and attempted to get the
boys to keep outside of the rope; he
saw some of the boys steal Roman
candles.
William Wilson, another son of W. H.
Wilson, testified that he saw boys steal
ing Roman candles, and helped to keep
the boys back.
Mr.. Mason, who Is in the iron busi-
ness, testified that good iron will not
break off short, but rather in long
strips. The bombs that burst at the
accident exploded from the middle
downwards, breaking "short off,"
William Henry Wilson was placed up
on the stand, and, after innumerable
questions by some of the jurors on mat
ters that had been previously explained
at length, the witness was aeked by the
coroner to make astatement in reference
to the explosion of the bombs at the re-
cent experimental test. Wilson said:
When left the court room was very
much surprised on being told where !
was to 60; was placed in carriage
and told that j was to experiment. on
firing mortars. wanted to take scales
along to measure powder for charges,
but the mayor would not let me do so.
When we got to the rsvine Mayor
Hazard placed the mortar in position,
and put the bomb in upside down. He
rammed the bomb down with a stick,
and had some little trouble in getting it
into the mortar. The reason l jumped
behind a projection of earth was because
believed it would burst the mortar.
When the bomb is put in right side up,
/ merely turn my back to the mortar.
The mortar burst because the powder
was at the top, instead of at the bottom,
and the powder had downward tend
ency, instead of sending it upward out
of the mortar, which it would have
done had the bomb been placed in right
side up"
The witness then explained the man.
ner in which shell fitted mortar 30
that while it went down when properly
placed, it had to be forced down when
wrongly placed. This was owing to the
fuse, which fitted into the side of the
bomb, and when reversed it doubled the
fuse.
The witness continued:
"After this explosion, 1 fred three
other shells, placing them proper
ly, and there was no mortar
burst. Eight ounces OF powder
was then put in Pinch mortar,
and piece of wood put on top
the major wanted to fill the mortar, but
l told him eight ounces was enough TO
burst the mortar, but he said, Fill her
up, and seemed to want to burst the
mortar; I touched it off, and the mortar
burst; it was overloaded; three ounces
of powder is an ordinary CHARGE"
The witness was then asked in refer
ence to the accident at San Juan. He
stated: ''The shell that burst there
must have been tampered with; have
sold several hundreds of similar shells
since that time, and not one mortar has
burst, where my instructions were car
ried' out. was not at San Juan at the
time"
The inquest was adjourned until 8
O'Clock this morning.