The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-19
Butte Department.

| for him. He knew, however. that h
was required to call for the powde
during the hours the warehouse wa
| open.
Con Sheehan. a 13-year-old boy, wa
the next witness. and testified that h
was familiar with the Kenyon Connel
warehouse on the Saturday before tn.
explosion. He went In there with an
other boy to get some iron. and talket
with the man in charge. The boy saw
stack of powder boxes and stopped
to count them.
How many boxes of powder did
YOU see there?"
II counted 25. but there were more
yet"
The boy said there were several
tiers of boxes and that he only counted
the first tier. He saw the word
Powder" on the boxes and said he
was familiar with powder boxes, hav-
Ing seen many before. He was sure
that he counted 20 boxes. He re-
manned In the warehouse for some time
until the man in charge had cut the
iron for him. The word Powder was
painted in red letters. The boy had
also testified before the coroner's Jury.
Pete Larson. warehouse man at the
Montana Central. testified that he had
been in the Kenyon Cornell warehouse
about a year before the explosion. Mr..
Forbis objected to the testimony on
the ground that IL was too remote, but
the court overruled the objection, and
the witness said that he saw at least
five boxes in the warehouse and how
many more he could not say. He knew,
by the height of the tier, that there
were no less than five boxes. The
boxes were marked "Explosive-Dan-
gerous." and the name Hercules" was
also on the boxes. Mr.. Nolan asked
Larson If he did not testify before the
coroner that there were at least 10
boxes. and Mr.. Forbis objected to the
question on the ground that Mr. Nolan
could not imDeach his own witness, but
the court said the new code gave a
party the right to show that witness
had made contradictory statements.
Larson then admitted saying at the
coroner's inquest that there were 10
boxes but added that he was not sure
of that number.
James Graham, the next witness,
said he had frequently visited the
Kenyon-Connell warehouse, sometimes
several times a day, and at least as
often as three or four times a week.
He is a blacksmith by trade and went
to the warehouse for iron. The last
time he was there was on the day
before the explosion and at that time
saw seven boxes OF powder in the
southwest portion of the building and
near a rack of iron. There We're a lot
of long bars of iron standing near by
and he made the remark that IL the
iron should fall on the boxes there
would be trouble. On cross-examina-
ton IL was brought out that the wit
ness had. on other visits, seen powder
at the other end of the building also
sometimes 10. 20 or 80 boxes. He saw
that number most any week."
William e. Phillips, a life insurance
agent of Helena, was called to testify
as to the expectancy of life of a man
29 years old. the age of Albert e. God
dard. husband of the plaintiff in the
case on trial. who was killed by the
explosion. The witness said that by
the American table of mortality. based
on an average of 1000 lives, the ex-
pectancy OF life in a 29-year-old man
was SO and a fraction years, or that
he was expected to live to the age
of 65 years. In the experience of in
surance companies. however, the aver
age is higher as only about so per
cent. of the deaths averaged by the
American table occur.
James McElroy. a railroad man, who
was injured In the explosion, was the
next witness and testified that he was
on his way to the Montana Central
depot when he saw the fire and ap-
preached IL. but heard that there was
powder in the building and stopped
when he reached the raise near the
Butte Hardware building. The Ken
yon-Connell warehouse was burning
He did not go nearer to the fire but
went further north and watched the
fire. The Butte Hardware building
was not on fire. The witness saw the
firemen at work on the Kenyon-Con-
nell building and saw the explosion
come from that building. Something
struck him on the left knee and broke
II. A man who had been standing
by his side was killed. After the ex-
plosion there was nothing left of the
Kenyon-Connell building but the Butte
Hardware building remained unin-
iured After the explosion he saw a
lot of debris scattered all around him.
but he did not notice any particular
thing except some burning waste and
some pieces of iron that looked like
fish plates" He was getting away
from the scene when the second ex-
plosion occurred, but he did not see
where IL came from, but IL sounded
as IL IL came from the same place as
the first.
Thomas j. Riley, another victim of
the explosion, testified that he was up
town when the first explosion occurred
and then ran down to the fire. He
passed the Butte Hardware building
and IL was not then on fire, but the
end of IL was shattered and
covered with debris The fire hose.
which was lying along the building,
was also covered with debris east OF
the Butte Hardware building. He saw
a lot of dead and wounded lying
around. When the second explosion
occurred he was struck by a heavy
piece of iron. about Is feet long. and
four inches square. The iron fell on
his leg and he could not extricate him
self and called for help. A man came
along and tried to remove the iron
but could not lift IL and another came
and helped him and the two lifted one
end OF IL while he pulled his leg out.
The leg was so badly crushed that am
putation was necessary The witness
did not state where he thought the
second explosion came from, but at the
coroner's inquest IL was shown that
the piece of iron described had been
kept In stock by the Kenyon Connell
The deposition of William f. Hall
was read. Mr. Hall said he bad g.