The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-03-19
Side Errs.

Side Errs.
Testimony from sixteen witnesses,
given last night in the court house.
before the coroner's jury, only height
| ened the mystery as to the primal
| cause OF the death of William Ordt
the boy who fell ninety-five feet down
the Hyde Park shaft IL week ago yes
terday
Ordt was working as footman,
with two others in the middle vein of
the three veins that are operated. He
was tugging at car that did not set
squarely on the carriage, while the
| other two footmen were adjusting the
blocks. which hold it in place. Sud-
denly the carriage started up. Ordt
clung to an iron rail, which one of his
hands was clasping, and was drawn up
with the carriage about six feet, when
he let go and fell to the bottom of the
shaft, sustaining fatal injuries.
The two men who were woking with
him declare that they did not give
the signal to hoist and that 1t was not
given by anyone else in the shaft, at
any of the landings, because there was
no disturbance of the wire, which is
pulled to convey the signal to the
head"
Those working in the vicinity of the
foot" in each of the other two veins,
likewise declare that the signal was
not given by them or by anyone else
in their respective veins.
SIGNAL WAS GIVEN.
The three headmen and the docking
the mine gave the signal. 1t is the
duty of one of the headmen to receive
the signals and transmit them to the
engineer. One of the three, who trans
lnitted the signal in question, says he
not only heard the "rapper,' but saw
the indicator point out the signal The
other three men at the head corrobor-
ate him in this.
Frank Evans and John Leonard, the
two men who We're working with Ordt
in the middle vein, state, as tending
to support their claim that they did
not give the signal, that as soon as the
carriage started up, Evans jumped for
the signal wire and signalled to stop
the carriage for fear the unblocked car
would run off and catch in the bunt-
ing.
The carriage was stopped. The
headmen and engineer corroborate the
story of the sudden signal for the
stoppage of the carriage. Evans,
whose duty it was to give the signals,
because the wire was on his side of the
shaft, told that he was working at the
lever, which adjusts the blocks, when
the carriage made a sudden start.
From the position he was in, it was
impossible. both he and Leonard testi-
fed to reach the signal wire.
John II. Jones, company hand who
was sitting about thirty feet away,
corroborated Evans and Leonard.
Elmer Carlson. John H. Jeffreys and
Daniel Coleman, the footmen in the
lowest vein, testified that they were
the only persons about the foot when
Ordt's body came tumbling down the
shaft, and that at this particular time
all three of them were at a point be-
tween forty-tlve and fifty feet from the
foot ''slackening" a trip that had be-
come "Stretched' on a branch.
McGINTY'S TESTIMONY.
John McGinty, a driver boy, whose
testimony was given in manner that
carried conviction of it's accuracy, told
that he was the only person in the top
vein in the vicinity of the shaft at any
time within an hour or more of the ac-
cident. From the chambers to which
he was delivering empties he could see
light at the foot. There was no
light seen there or thereabouts. He
did not go to the foot and did not
know of the accident until the signal
sounded for "all over"
Andrew Huko, Andrew Bendorick
and Mike Chivida, the three headmen,
agreed that signals We're never given
by them until they received them from
down the shaft, and it was impossible
for them to make a mistake, because,
in addition to hearing the ''rapper,"
they could see the indicator, and in
variably verified the 'rapper" by look
ing at the indicator. They remem-
bered this particular signal because of
the fact that 1t was followed almost
Immediately by another calling for the
stopping of the carriage.
John Lukaz, the docking boss, whose
station is also at the head" was only
ten feet away from the headmen when
the signal in question was received
and transmitted, and he swore posi-
per" sound the signal TO hoist, but
saw the indicator point to the same
thing.
Engineer John Merchant said he
could hear the ''rapper" at the head,
and received his signals from it when
there We're no men working up in the
head house. He could not remember
that he had heard the ''rapper" on this
occasion. He was not paying any at
tention to it, as he was receiving his
signals from the men in the head
house.
Attorneys Reese and Oliver, repre-
senting the company and the Ordt
family respectively, and Mine Inspec-
tor Prytherich. who ordered the in
quest to be held, asked some few ques-
ton of the witnesses, when Coroner
Salry concluded his examinations.
The jury rendered a verdict to the
effect that it was impossible for them
to figure out where the signal had
come from, under the conflicting tes-
timony
The jurors were w. 4. Simpson, John
]. Coyne, Patrick Boland, James Ma
loney, Thomas Cosgrove and Joseph
MurDhy