The Portland daily press., 1893-08-12
HOW Did IT HAPPEN !?
The Coroner's Jury Hears About the
Reservoir Disaster.
ENGINEER SHEDD'S THEORY AS
TO POSSIBLE CAUSES.

Frost May Have Been Responsible for the
Break-It Is Not Impossible That
Lightning May Have Shattered the
Waste Pipe-AIl the Witnesses Agree
that the Reservoir Was Thoroughly
and Strongly Built-The Inquest Ad-
journed to the 23rd Inst.
The inques on the deaths of the VIC
tins of the bursting of the reservoir was
commenced yesterday in the upper jury
room in the county court house before
Coroner Littlefeld and jury. County
Attorney True conducted the examina-
ton, and Mr.. Franklin G. Payson was
present in the interest of the water COM
pany, although he took no part in the
proceedings.
The witnesses examined in the morn
ing were A. j. Rich and B. E. McDon-
ough, the undertaKers, who took charge
of the bodies of the dead sand prepared
them for burial, and Mrs. A. M. Jones.
Donald z. Barr, Frank w. Smith, Ed
ward Wallace, Fred F. Heller, Michael
j. Lappin, and William j. Lappin, all of
whom saw the flood in it's early stages.
The witnesses all agreed that the water
was first seen at about $50. 1t was then
trickling out of the embankment of the
reservoir, at the angle nearest the corner
of Walnut and Willis street, about two
feet from the bottom, and running
through the fence.
1t rapidly increased, however, the
bank caving in all around the original
hole, which finally extended clear to the
top.
The Conley family, all of the witness
es agreed, came to the door of their
house and were seen to stand there while
the water rose up to the threshold. At
that time, when James Moseley was in
the house, they also went in and closed
the door. In an instant the house fat
tened out and was gone.
Witness HELLER told an interesting sto-
ry of his explorations on the beach down
by the Grand Trunk railroad, under the
impression that the bodies were there.
He dug up considerable of the furniture
of the two houses, and one OF two car
pets that were buried under foot or
more of earth.
In answer to question, William Lap
pin, who is a barber, testified that he
reached home at 12.45 Sunday morning,
and that there was no sign of water on
the reservoir walls. This fixes the time
of the commencement of the flood as be-
tween that hour and $50 a. m.
The afternoon session opened at 2 p.
M, with Mr.. j. Herbert Shedd, the con-
structing engineer, on the stand. MI.
Shedd's examination was long and thor
ough, and nothing was left unturned in
the seeking after truth. Mr.. Shedd, af-
ter giving the list of works on which he
has been engaged, carefully described
the construction of the Portland reser-
voir. The\ first thing done was to clear
the land of all foreign matter. An ex-
cavation was then made through the
loose soil down to hard pan, and even
through that for a considerable distance.
u0 udLCAidI bohCA OuC w 6S uSOu w u
certain extent in the construction of the
walls. These walls were made up when
finished, commencing on the inside, of
paving stones, foot thick, then six
or eight inches of broken stone, then six
feet of clay pudding, then the main
bank of hard pan and clay mixed, vary
ing from 13O feet at the bottom to 10 or
12 feet at the top. and lastly, on the out
side, by a layer of coarse earth, loan
and grass. The material was all rolled
and wet down, being put on in six-inch
layers.
The waste pipe was put in section by
section as the walls rose. That is
stretch of wall twelve feet high would be
built, then hole dug and length Of
pipe put in and joined. Then another
section, and so on. All work was first
class In the opinion of the witness.
Mr.. Shedd being asked his theory of
the break spoke as follows;
To my mind the cause of the accident
can only be conjectural. l have not been
able to formulate in my own ssmind an
explanation that is adequate. Several
things might occur. At the time of the
break, as understand it, the water was
running into the overflow pipe in a sheet
to the thickness of about two inches.
don't know who knows how thick it was