Bisbee daily review., 1903-10-20
'O.sfRMUi RtxnONfRATtD

7 The coroner's jury empanelled to inquire into the cause of death of Bert Mcfarland, the shift boss who died from a knife wound sustained in an encounter with Frank Obermuller. hoist engineer at the Lake Superior ! anc Pittsburg mine. yesterday return ed a verdict to the effect that McFar- land died from a knife wound. the in- strument which caused death being in the harCs of party unknown They fui ther recommended the release of Obermuller f om custody. Al the cor oner's inquest much testimony was in- troduced. none of which tended to in- criminate Obermuller in any way. Last evening Obermuller was discharged from custody and exonerated from any blame in the affair. The verdict was received with much favor through out the city. and Obermuller was the recipient of congratulations from many who attended the hearing.
 MT Obe-muller was seen immedi- ately after his release by Review representative and asked for full statement of the cause of the trouble between himself and Mcfarland. and Lad the following to say:
 "I was hoist engineer at the Lake Superior at the time, and worked cn the o'clock shift. On the 16th of this month our engine broke down and was not repaired until the even- ilg oG the 17th. It was ' o'clock on that evening before it was again in good running order.
 owing to the fact that We were obliged to change the cable from the large to a smaller engine. we then had to change back again. McFar- land was at work putting the cage back into the guides at the top of the shaft. and ordered me to raise her up 9 little I answered tha& I would do SO as soon as the engine heated up erough to make it safe to do so. This ma ked that I was slow. and became very abusive toward me. I explain ed that it would not be safe to turn steam into the cold cylinder. and as anyone who has ever haG anything to do with an engine knows. it might cause a serious breakdown to "o bis. A soon as got the engine heated. We lowered the cage and run it up and down to make sure that every thing was all right, and I then sent the cage down and hoisted 9 car of muck. NcFa lard went down on the second cage as far as the 900 lever. The cage tender was with him. s'oDred at the 900. and soon got two bells. the signal to lower, and on ac- count of the fact that hOth Mcfarland n~d the cage tender were down the~e never thought fer a moment hut what everything was all rieh'. I naturally supposed under the circumstances that the chairs had been taken out from beneath the cage, anG lowereu about a hundred feet.
 'I got a bell to stop. and did 50. There was about hundred feet of the cable out then. Then I got three hells, which meant to raise very slow ly I raised about a hundred feet. and this took all the slack cut of the cable. knew that something was wrong. and surmised what it night have been. but didn't know for certain. Then I got three bells, which was the signal to hoist to the surface.
 'twhen the cage anpeared at the collar of the shaft McFariard was on it. He came over to me and said "You want to he d-d careful about that 900: you let down 2 hundred fec O. cah'e oD ton of the cage"
 ''I replied that had -ereived the sig
 nal to lower. and he fev into a rage saving: Don't call me a liar. you l.,