Gunnison news-champion., 1914-05-22
4slnI8 4 nm


as~n IN sontsas OF AGAR sAs s~sssa
sS..rG - 4 sas ss.d by sas opera
f0r ~ sss,eh Oh the gshts xaaa
Calls Gems az tas aizaf slase y aea
sAe aeesssHt oeesEEss. a. 70 tasssht,
sAas the operator ssas came sa
esHtsot slsh tAis paHaaHse sx4sca
Ehirh carried the sarge and a.
Is eNpialEea as0se. bar body. t0ze b.
sr VltA sae tr.aaaaitteE aaa reeais-
ef. QarHiea the circuit 70 the switch
board Nhieh in this case &C ed enly
a. a EroaRa
An examination of the peRdsnse
switch showed clearly an Indication
% panotgrsng and barninx
Mr. Howard seems 10 be fairy
~all satisfied that this theory en-
plains the accident. Frank keenan,,
superintendent; o. the city light and
water plant SAYS that this offers a
poss. BILE explanation. bat interposes
a question as TO the correctness of
the explanation by calling 20 mind
the faat tha; the surge" condition
lasted FOR a comparatively long per-
iod as is evidenced By the fact that
Agnes Meyers received a shock when
she touched either the transmitter
or receiver, several minutes after
the shock which killed Edith Miller
Mr.. Keenan, also says that he would
think that, II the surge lasted for
as long a period as apparently it
did. IL would make itself known in
the plant and elsewhere on the line
However. he says that with a high
ly oseiiliating current 1t is possible
Tor it to come and go as Il did.
Mr. Howard explains that the live
wire on the roof Of the shed back
sf the Miller meat market has some
thing to do with the condition as an
arching was set up there which was
Transmitted to the ground. One of
the contacts between primary and
secondary lines which is responsible
for the surge, as explained, was
found near the transformer near the
telephone office. The other contact
occurred near the Masonic hail. II
Is explained that the surge caused
by these contacts did not come into
the telephone office through the
telephone wires because, after the
thorough Investigation which was
conducted, no sufficient metallic
contact between the telephone and
light wires was found There were
several places where the telephone
wire sagged down on the light wire
but IL is said that in all of these
cases the insulation vas perfert.
All of those who aided in the
thorough investigation of the light
and telephone system, and all of
whom were men of wide experience,
say that the electric light wiring in
Gunnison is far above the average
The telephone wiring is of the best
and is the same as that found in
all parts of the state. The two con-
taos found is not an unusual thing
Such conditions of contact are bound
to happen on any line, and wires,
it is said, may become badly inter
woven as they do in many cases and
not set up a surge" All Of the
conditions must be present to bring
about such an electrical condition.
The investigation was conducted
by B. f. Howard, an electrical en-
gineer for the Mountain States Tel
ephone and Telegraph company, II.
F. Vail, secretary of the benefit
fund for the phone company, b. f..
Cow, district wire chief F. w. Rit-
chic, who was employed by the city
to aid in the Investigation, J. ..
Whalen, district manager, F. w.
Rector, local manager. and F. f.
Keenan,, superint sndent of the city
light and water plant. Every con-
dition Of the wires was noted in the
Investigation. Where the contacts
between the primary and secondary
wires were found, photographs were
taken, and the wires in contact were
cut down to show the burning and
puncturing of the insulation. On
last Sunday afternoon the investiga-
tors conducted a part Of citizens
over the town and pointed out to
them the conditions which had been
found
The coroner's jury called last
Friday went into the matter very
thoroughly but were unable to re-
turn very definite verdic- due to
the fact that those conducting the
Investigation had not at that time
arrived at definite conclusion.
Their verdict was in substance that
Edith Miller came to her death by