The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-03-07

In the court house last night Coroner
j. j. Roberts and his jury made a
searching inquiry into the cause of
the death of John Joyce, of Fellows
street. who was killed by the bursting
Of a ny-wheel in the South mill of the
Lackawanna Iron and Steel company
on the afternoon of Feb. %. The ju"S
consisted of w. f.. Davis. w. II.
WiclSizer, ID. 7. jenkins, Benjamin
Gilbert, d. L. Johnson and Tlomas
Baldwin and they returned a verdict
to the effect that John Joyce came
to his death by the bursting of ily-
wheel in the South steel works, Scran
ton, Pa, and according to the evidence
said accident was unavoidable"
The first witness examined was W.
G.. OMalley, master mechanic OF the
South mill. He was questioned by the
coroner and by the l1rors AMI by eN"
Judge II. A. Knapp, who was present
in the interest of the Lackawanna Iron
and Steel company. Some of the ques-
tions asked and Mr.. O'Malley's answers
were:
"Mr O'Maley what caused the fly
wheel to break"
That / am unable to say"
What caused the neglect"
There was no neglect
was the wheel regularly eXamined|'
1T was examined every day."
Did you examine it on the day Of
the accident?"
No, but our engineer did"
what was the diameter of the
wheel?"
SPEED OF THE WHEEL
Twenty feet" In reply to
other questions Mr.. O'Malley said the
wheel was in service only six months.
was built in sections and keyed together
in the regular way and was run at
the rate of 75 revolutions per minute.
Its speed was controlled by governor.
The engineers of the company esti-
| mated that it was safe to run it at 12I
revolutions per minute.
You have no theory to advance as
to the cause for the breaking of the
wheel?"
NO, i have not"
The construction Of the wheel was
along the lines most highly approved
! by mechanical engineers. He examined
! the broken sections ana saw no eNi-
! dence of flaws. The breaks in the iron
/ We're fresh.
! George Barnard, superintendent o.
| the South mill, was within three hum
/ dred feet of the wheel when it brok a
! He passed by it daily and always cou.
sldered it safe. He never examined it
because it was not part of his duties
In his opinion it was safe, because 6
short time before the accident he stoo!
f,, Il.
motion. After the accident he eXaIh
| ined the wheel and saw that tn,
| breaks were all fresh.
Fred X. Bennett, foreman of tn
, rail mill, was in the mill at the tim,
| of the accident. He passed the whea
a few minutes before it broke. H.
always considered it safe. In respons
to d question by the coroner. Mr.. Ben
nett said it was the duty of the eE
gineer of the mill to examine it rex
ularly and report anything he discover
ed out of order to the proper authori
ties.
FORMED NO OPINION.
G. c. Snyder, draughtsman at th
North mill, said he had seen the ily
wheel which broke. 1t was construct
ed on the commonly accepted and ap
proved plan, the one that is general
used.
What in your opinion caused Ia
wheel to break"
Il have formed no opinion as to th
cause
T. G.. Wolf, superintendent Of I
North mill, said the wheel had bee
in his mill for "a number Of years, Du
had never been used until taken {
the South mill The wheel while &
the North mill was housed and pror
erly protected.
The wheel was properly constructe
and he considered it entirely saf
Wheels of the same size as the on
that broke are in the mills and run fin
revolutions per minute and more tina
the wheel that broke, and never hay
occasioned any apprehension or troubl
The man who had charge of the Ell
gine on the day of the accident wa
the next witness. His name is Chal
les Mcdonald. He examined the whe
an hour before the accident and foun
no evidence of flaws of any kind. !
the time of the accident the wheel Wa
making about seventy-five revolution
a minute. He could assign no Caus
for the accident.
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