The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-06

Rather sensational testimony was
brought out at last nights continued
coroners inquest into the death of
owen Davis, the young man killed on
Tuesday of last week by the bursting
CT the big 14-ton fly wheel at the Green
Ridge Iron works.
Three witnesses testified that on the
day previous to the fatality the assist
ant engineer Ellsworth Price, had eau
toned them against danger from the
wheel which was liable to break and
kill the men about it. Evidence from
two other witnesses was to the effect
that since the accident old cracks or
flaws had been found in the wreckage
of the wheel.
Attorneys John F. Scragg and f. c.
Newcomb, representing the father of
young Davis, and the mill people re-
spectively, energetically piled the wit
nesses with questions as on the pre-
Vious evening. The whole testimony
as to the primary cause of the accident
and in reference to possible criminal
neglect has been so conflicting that the
jury was unable to return a verdict
The jury obtained Coroner Longstreets S
permission to examine the wreckage
| and broken machinery and will visit
the mill for that purpose at noon to-
| day.
Isaac Vought, a machinist and sta
tiOnary engineer at the Suburban Elec-
| tric light plant, and who worked in the
Green Ridge Iron works up to about a
year ago, was called. Two keys driv-
en- from opposite sides, to bind the
wheel to the shaft were used on the
wheel when he was employed at the
works. He was employed there five
years as foreman and thought the
wheel unsafe on account of it's wooden
foundations. The wheel itself was all
| right.
HIGH RATE OF SPEED.
Vought had run the wheel 300 revo-
| lutions per minute in making three
| eighths inch iron. He would not con-
slider it safe to run it at high speed with
only one key in it. While he was fore
man he would not have permitted it to
| lie done. The wheel was on the shaft
| so tight when he was there that it re-
| quired the force of two iack-screw to
| press it off. The keys then used We're
| t. pered
If only one key was in place it might
| raise enc side of the wheel unduly. If,
! however, a new shaft had been put in
| place, the wheel might have been true.
! One key would not, however, be as
| good as two.
Joseph Vought, a machnist, a broth
9r of Isaac Vought and foreman at the
| Paragon Plaster mill, was called He
visited the works out Of curiosity soon
| after the accident Some one had called
| his attention to a break in a "doweIl"
| connecting two of the segments of the
| rim. The break was an old one he
| thought. He said so at the time, and
| supposed his remark accounted for his
| being subpoenaed. 1t would have re-
| quired inspection by an expert to have
| detected it before the wheel broke. The
break might have weakened the wheel.
He would not approve running the
wheel 200 revolutions if the break had
| been known. The break couIu not be
seen until after the rim was broken.
Price, the assistant engineer, was re-
| called and in answer to Mr.. Scragg de-
MED having told Bert Vought the day
| before the accident that the wheel Vas
unsafe, and that it would kill some
| one.
the stand. He is a fireman and en-
| gineer at the Paragon Plaster plant.
He said Pi'ce remarked to him the day
before the accident: "Bertie. you'd bet
ter look ont for that fly wheel; it is
unsafe, and liable to fly out and kill
| some one" Price told him it was loose
on the shaft. Witness had not since
examined the wrcckage to verify what
| Price said.
WHAT PRICE SAID.
Charles Harman, a "strapper," said
that Price, the assistant engineer had
said to the witness on the day before
! the accident. Look at that wheel wob-
BILE; it will come out of there some
| day and XII some one" The witness
| said one OF the VOughts was his uncle.
Thomas w. Davis, the father of the
| young Davis who was killed was ex-
| amined. He was employed as a laborer