The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-03-03

The Hearing was Farctcal IN the
Extreme at Times-Coroner Was
Late and a Juror Failed to Ap-
pear-was Drunk All Day.
Coroner Roberts last evening began
the investigation Of the Mt. Pleasant
shaft accident Of last Monday, by
which four men, Frank Woodward,
Thomas Williams, William Gilbert and
John Regan, lost their.lives. Two wit
nesses were examined, Inside Foreman
william II. Wilson and Outside Fore
man Alonzo Robinson. but their evil
dence failed to disclose even so much
as what primarily caused the catas-
trophe. Each gave 1t as his theory
that the carriage possibly struck a pro-
jecting fan, but neither threw any
light on how it was possible that u
fan was projecting Another hearing
is to be had next Monday afternoon at
3 o'clock.
The inquest was held in the arbtra-
ton room of the court house. Over
half hundred persons were in attend
ance. including witnesses. friends of
the victims. mine officials, attorneys
ana stenographers. These were kept
waiting nearly forty minutes by tho
coroner's delay in putting in an ap.
pearance, and another half hour wa.s
spent in a futile wait sor juror. It
was finally agreed TO proceed without
him. The coroner declined to give his
name because the poor fellow had
been on a drunk all day" The other
five jurors were S. b. Powell. William
A. Jones, Thomas r. Davis, c. p.
Parry and &. {. Mason.
Joseph O'Brien, of O'Brien & Kelly,
was present as counsel of the Fuller
Coal company. G w. Dawson, of
Vosburg & Dawson, represented Mrs.
Woodward and Mrs. Gilbert was rep.
resented by g.. Comegys and George
w. Peck. Mine Inspector H. o. Pr'yth-
erch was also present ard assisted in
the examination Of the witnesses.
4 LUDICROUs AFFAIR
NeXatious delays resulted from the
fact that some of the questioners We're
sadly ignorant Of the matter on which
they presumed to examine the wit
nesses. The coroner, four attorneys,
five jurors and the mine inspector took
turns at firing questions into the wit
ness box, and the coroner ever and
anon provoked tilt with an attorney
by objecting to question. 1t was
most of the time farcical in the eek
treme. The Dreyfus trial, as described
by Dooley. is only a slight exagger-
alton of it's more ludicrous periods.
Inside Foreman Wilson's material
testimony, in substance. was that he
has been filling that position at the
Mt. Pleasant for seven months and
that during that time no one ever
complained to him Of the carriage be-
ing unsafe; that never TO his knowl-
edge had a second carriage, for hoist
ing rock. been chained to the bottom
of the wrecked carriage; that he occa-
sionally inspected the carriage and
never found anything wrong with it,
and that the fireboss was expected to
inspect it daily.
He examined the broken carriage
when it was dropped to the sump but
did not find any evidence Of an old
break or fracture in any part of 1t.
He also examined the fans at the Clark
vein, where the carriage is supposed tc
have met an obstruction, and found
that the one on the east side of the
shaft leaned out about an inch. which.
in his opinion, would catch the "shoe"
of the carriage.
APPLIANCES WERE MODERN.
Mr.. OBrien, the company's counsel,
cortented himself with asking if the
carriage and appliances at the shaft
were modern and in good repair. AZ
firmative answers We're given.
In answer to a question from one of
the Jurors Foreman Wilson said
there was no ice about the fan that
would interfere with it's proper op-
eraticn, and in answer to a question
from the coroner he stated that the
carriag ge had made several trips up and
down past the Clark vein just previous
to the fatal trip.
He further testified that the Clark
vein is not being worked except for
dumping rock and that no man Is en-
plOyed at the Clark vein landing ex-
cept when rock is being hoisted, which
is usually between II O'Clock p. IN. and
s o'clock a. m. On the morning of the
accident this man quit work at s
o'clock. The accident occurred at
about 6.5s Fully fifteen trips were
made by the carriage past the Clark
vein in the interim.
Inspector Prytherch had the witness
give a detailed description of the con-
struction Of the carriage and the shaft
and interrogated him at length on his
duties in various respects under the
mine laws. The witness did not know
whether or not the law required that
a man be kept permanently at the
opening of an abandoned vein.
1t was possible, the witness admitted
that shaking and jarring could have
caused the fans to swing out a short
distance into the shaft, If the pin hold
ing the lever by which they We're con-
trOlled was not securely set. 1t was
also possible, he said, that something
heavy, large block of ice, for instance,
might have fallen down the shaft,
struck and bent the rod reaching to the
fan from the lever and caused the fan
to be drawn out into the shaft far
enough to catch the cage as 1t de-
scended.
Mr.. Wilson says that seven men got
off the carriage at the Rider vein and
that Regan got on at the Rider vein to
descend to the Dunmore.
ROBINSON's TESTIMONY.
Outside Foreman Robinson's testi-
mony contained nothing relevant that
was not brought out in the examina.
tion of Inside Foreman Wilson. He
said the headman was supposed to ex-
anime the carriage every day and that
men were employed to remove the ice
from the sides of the shaft and the