Weekly journal-miner., 1917-03-07
NEGLIGENCE OF COMPANY IS
 ALLEGED
PUTS IN TEST IMONY IN S50,0O0 DAM
 AGE SUIT AGAINST THE
 CON. ARIZONA; DRAMA TIC STORY OF ACCIDENT
(From Tuesdays Daily.)

nc ndd rcpcdtculy warned tnc DOSS or this condition. were two startling declarations of Marshall Stoddard, ex-skip tender in the Blue Bell mine, and one of the principal witnesses in
 the suit of Switcndich's widow for S50,000 against the Consolidated Ari- zora Stoddard described minutcly conditions at the station of the 6OO , foot level, where the accident that caused Switendich's death is alleged to have occurred.
 No less dramatic was the testimony
 of James De Petris. timberman, who rode with Switcndich on top of the ore skip, at the time he is said to have been brushed off and hurled 400 feet down to his death.
 Much of the morning session of the Superior court was taken up with the selection of jury to try the case. :. After the noon recess, the plaintiff, through Attorneys F. L. Haworth and Clark & Clark. placed w. V. De Camp, superintendent of the Blue
 Bell on the stand. He was question cd in such a way that his testimony showed the construction of the skip, the timbering of the shaft, the man ncr in which the skip rode the in- clincd track on the footwall of the shaft and most important of all, the manner in which the chute lip was hung to the shaft sets He told of having inspected the spot shortly after having learned of the accident, and or having found that the bolt that held the south end of the chute lip r-a1 inches into the shaft. He produced the identical chute lip and showed the jury how 1t worked, and also illus trated his remarks with drawing of side elevation of the skip in place and a plan.
 He then told of the discovery of the body about 400 feet below the place where it was said to have been swept off the skip, and of its removal to the surface
 De Pctris followed on the stand He had been timberman in the Blue Bell for a matter of three years, he stated, and on the day Of the acci- dent, was working on the SOO-foOt level Shortly before quitting time, he told the jury, the skip had stopped at his level, and Switendich, who was | riding the cross bar above the orc bucket. invited him to climb aboard.
 De Pctris' testimony was given in very broken English, and at times he spoke with such speed and odd cm- phasis that it was hard for the jury and counsel to follow him.
 As the skip approached the 600 level, the two men had observed a peculiar sound above them. De ] Petris declared both he and Switen- dich had looked up to sec what caus- cd the sound, and about that time, something struck the witness on the l left shoulder The same object had evidently struck Switcndich, also, for, according to the witness, Switendich | looScd his hold or the cable, bent back and dropped from view. At the ] time of the accident, no cmptics were going up, he stated.
 Counsel LcRoy Anderson for the defendant, then assumed the cross ] examination, which proved difficult, ! for the witness appeared to misundcr- i stand several of the questions, and i his answers were quite broken. \ Anderson asked De Pctris if he had received a book of rules, and pro- duccd a copy of that book. De Pciris replied he had never had one in his hand until that moment. Do you not know that 1t is against | the rules to ride on top of loaded | i skips:" asked Anderson. How would l get around 10 my work" the witness qucricd back. If ! I waited for cmptieS, they would tell . me to go up and get my time"
 Suppose you and Switcndich had 1 been inside the skip, could this thing . have hit you:"
 We couldn't get init was full of muck"
 When the witness was finally caus- cd to understand the nature Of this hypothetical question. he replied that had the occupants of the skip been standing in the side next the lootwall, the accident could not have occurred, but ii they had stood in the upper end, near the hanging wall, they could have been hit by the chute lip. He said the lip projected out enough to touch the cable until the skip ncared the level. 4
 With Haworth playing the part of Switcndich, De Petris posed as he had that afternoon on the skip, using an i lS-inch ruler as the cable to show where his and Switcndich's hands had graspcd that object |
 To Nndcrson's questions attempt ing to bring an admission that when , struck on the shoulder he had finch { cd against Switcndich and caused him i to lose his grasp on the cable and fall De PctriS entered strenuous denial He denied counscls SuggcS- tiou that in looking up to sec what caused the noise, he and Switcndich !. had leaned far backward so aS to , bring themselves into the sweep Of ( the chute lip.
 The shirt De Pctris wore on the |, fatal ride, bearing mark on the left { shoulder, where it was alleged the [ chute lip had struck him, and later, the lip, itself, were introduced in cvi- , dcnce a
 What might be termed official evi- (