St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-10

1EeJ uStu SCuu IiiS IUuS ~ lliu WHtIt
the south emu of the box was. 1t
box drain ran diagonaliy across under
the fill from one side to the
other. There was from twelve to fiji
teen feet of water at that time
i'm the basin. and after the heavy ram
on July 26 it was 80 to 35 feet in depth.
They then tried to drive a Pkg iron rod
through the drain from the north side,
but the
BOD Became Set,
and that plan had to be abandoned; a
shaft was then sunk and was within SIX
feet OF the box the night of the big ram
Oh July %. The neXtmorniDg the pond
was full of water. 1t was then decided
TO commence on the east end and
put siuice box in on the solid
ground. They put box III there
which started about twelve or fifteen
feet from the water and ran north across
the fill. The box or trench was inclined
from six feet at the starting point to fiji
teen feet On the north side OF the fill.
The north end Of the box leaked and it
was necessary to be repaired and made
water tight. Four or five men were
floating around the pond for four or
five days trying to locate the south end
of the drain box. The mouth of the
box was in the bed of the stream.
there were tour or five men at work
before the big storm, after that there
were ten or twelve men. He had been
ordered To keep the force of men down,
because the work during the month
previous had used up more funds than
were apportiCned for such work. He
did not work the men at night. because
Starkey considered if there was any
dangerlt would be safer To Work III the
daytime. He told three or four resi-
dents that there might be some danger.
and if they heard any alarm to get out
of the way. There was no particular
alarm agreed upon. He didn't receive
orders from Mr. Rundlett to put
watchmen there, but reported the fact
of these teing placed there to MIR.
Rundlett. The watchmen were III
structed. if anything broke. to dump In
the manure which was al hand and
Give the Alarm.
Fire engines could not have pumped
the water out any better than the
syphons. One Of the diseharging hose
used was about twenty feet below the
intake end and an immense amount OF
water was discharged. There was no
evidence of any weakness in the bank
when it broke. The water was running
in good shape when the men left after
Il o'clock. The box culyert was about
Us or l2O feet in length. He did not
know whether there was All angle III
the culvert or not, but some of the
neighbors said there was.
Henry StarkeY. a foreman in the engi-
neer's office. was called. His testimony
cOrroborated Mr.. Shanley's regarding
the time spent in locating the south end
Of the box drain. the sinking of the
shaft before the storm and the work Of
using siphons 10 lower the water. He
had noticed few cracks in the ill. The
al was part clay, gravel and sand. The
bullet of the siphon was about five feet
below the surface of the water. The
water would have been carried much
faster had the siphon hose been longer.
He did not have any more hose or he
would have used it. The hose was
thirty-two feet long. He could not say
whether more hose could have been OBJ
tanned or not. He did not think if the
hose had been larger it would have been
a better way of draining the water off
than by the
Sluice BOX and SEpsaons.
ISadore l.. BroSs. foreman of one of
the street gangs, testified to trying to
lind the south end of the culyert. He
had notified Commissioner Sofranck of
his failure to find the end of the drain.
Dominick Phillips was one of the
party who tried 10 find the south end of
the drain, and afterWard worked DIT the
shaft sunk 10 get at the plugged end of
the culvert. He was told if any indica-
lions of a break occurred to warn the
residents. When this order was
given he was acting as Waterman.
The bank gave WaV at 9
o'clock. He could see no change
in the condition of the embankment
from other days the night of the acct
dent. The siphonS were working when
the bank gave away. AS soon as he
heard the crash he started down the
hill to warn the people living below. 1t
was about Two blocks and a halt to the
houses. When he reached the houses
The flood had passed. He had been
watching six nights. The watchmen
we're all on the west end Of the fill when
it gave away. One of the men had just
crossed from the east end. There had
been no change in the bank; at least
none he could see.
August Horne, a Waterman, and son
Of the man Gotleib Horne who was
killed by the food. said he went to work
at O'Clock. Mr.. Stanley had hired him
that day, and told him to notify the peo
pie If the bank washed or showed any
signs of washing away. He had just
walked from the east side of the fill to
the west side when the break came.
His people knew there was water there,
but did not know there was any danger.
lie had not warned any Of the residents
Of the danger of the
Fiji Washing Away.
+. w. Mccoy, recalled, said: He had
not examined the siphonS nor given any
instructions about their use. He thought
The hose used had been handled all
right, and was not of the opinion that it
would have been better to have used
larger hose in draining the water off.
The time taken in preparing the trench
Or Slulce box would have been saved by
using larger hose, but it was question
whether the draining would have been
done any faster, as the long hose would
naturally fill with air and not discharge
well.
c. j. A. Morris, a civil engeneer who
had been present during the taking of
testimony, was called. He had been
engaged in prac teal engineering for
years, and was familiar with construc-
lion of dams, sewers, railroad bridges,
and had made a study of hydraulics.
The best thing to have been put in fill
sucll DIS liidL dI rage street was stone
culvert. 1t would not necessarily follow
thata stone culvert five or six feet
high would not become stopped up.
The plan adopted to drain the water off
10y siphons and sluice box was very
common way TO drain water. In his
judgment it would have taken about
1ifty-five hours TO drain the pond if the
water was running off as testified to by
the witnesses. In his opinion the re-
suits would not have been greater had
fire engine been used to drain the pond,
rs the hose was liable to become clogged.
In answer to questions of one of the
jurors, he said the time in preparing the
bluice box or trench might
Have Been Saved
by using longer boss to run the water
off. The results, however, would be
doubtful, as the extreme length of the
hose necessary to carry out this plan
would render the discharge very slow.
and possibly no water would have ran
through. The theory of having
the intake end OF the hose, say ten or
twelve feet below the surface. and the