Cortland Evening Standard, Friday,
October 5, 1893.
STILL DRAGGING ON.
No New
Evidence Produced—Sparring Between Attorneys.
The afternoon session of the Chaffee examination
was continued with Mr. Kistler on the stand. He said: "The usual length of
the life of an engine used for switching varies, according to how well the
repairs are kept up." The witness was asked by the defendant's attorney to
produce the throttle and reversing lever. Objected to on the ground of being
immaterial and incompetent. Objection sustained.
Mr. Courtney then ordered the court to serve
a subpoena for them, which was done.
"I do not remember seeing engine No. 7
but once from May 10 till the time of the accident [engineer and fireman killed
in train crash—CC editor] and that was on May 11, when I went around it to see
if there were any check or throttle valves leaking. In opening the valve to the
cylinder one piece of metal rubs on another."
Dist. Attorney Squires objected to the witness
answering this class of questions on the ground of their being immaterial and
incompetent.
"I don't remember how long the valves mentioned
in the book of repairs have been in use."
Re-direct examination. "I gave orders to
James Fennell for hiring Chaffee. At that
time I gave directions to Mr. Fennell as to Chaffee's duties. I gave engine No.
7 an inspection after it had been repaired in January."
This closed the testimony of this witness which
occupied nine hours.
James
Fennell, engineer of engine No. 7 was the next witness called. In addition to
the testimony already published in The STANDARD he said, "The switch leading
from the main track to the yard where the engine is kept is about a quarter of
a mile from where the accident occurred. It is about 200 feet north of the
Cortland station. It is about 225 or 230 feet from the switch to the round house.
The house is south of the turntable and as soon as the engine is coaled up it
is put in the engine house. On the night of June 5 it was run in about 6 o'clock
and left in the care of the watchman. The defendant was there that night. I
have known Chaffee for five or six years. Mr. Kistler gave me no instructions
that I remember about hiring Chaffee. I had directions from Henry Corkendal,
the engineer dispatcher at Syracuse, seven or eight months before the accident.
I had nothing to do about hiring Chaffee, except that I recommended him. I showed
him how to use the injectors and keep water in them and in case the check got
up I showed him how to get it down. I showed him what to do if the injector did
not prime. I don't remember giving him any other instructions then. Later, I
gave him instructions how to wipe the engine and keep it thawed out in
wintertime. I did not hear any one give him instructions about staying nights.
The engine dispatcher told me to put him to work. He remained at work till the
accident."
Mr. Squires asked the witness to repeat the
answer to the last question as he did not understand.
"What's the matter with you,
asleep?" said Mr. Courtney.
"I would rather be asleep than in a
lunatic asylum," said the district attorney.
"Well," replied Mr. Courtney,
"judging by you and your witness and the testimony you have been
endeavoring to put in I think I am in a lunatic asylum now."
"You're riding a yellow horse,
now," answered Mr. Squires, and the witness continued:
"It would take him three or four hours
to perform his duties. After finishing that work he was to keep water in the
engine and the fire all right, so that in case we were called out, until we started
in the morning. There were no specific duties given Chaffee on the night of
June 5 that I know of and as far as I know they were the same as on previous nights.
I did not see Chaffee at the wreck that night. I do not remember whether he was
at the yard when we ran in that night or not, but I think that he was there, as
he generally was. I think Chaffee asked me to assist him to get the place.
Eugene Higgins was night watchman before Chaffee began. Chaffee was around
there with Higgins. Chaffee was hired as water boy and flagman previous to his
becoming night watchman. Never saw him handling an engine till he was hired as
night watchman. As soon as the engine was coaled up, about 10 or 11 o'clock, he
was to run the engine into the engine house."
Cross examination. Chaffee was the best man
I ever had watch the engine. I don't remember giving any further instructions
in regard to his duties unless I would give him a special instruction about
something that occurred during the day like the check leaking. I never
instructed the defendant as to the necessity of blocking the engine. Could not
say whether I ever gave him instructions about leaving the engine or not. If
the three switches leading to the main track were left right, an engine could
have run out to the main track. He worked as water boy three or four years ago,
should think he was 17 or 18 years of age then. I required him to have 80 or 90
pounds pressure of steam on the engine during the night. That was for the
purpose of having the engine go out on the road if necessary. I can't say that
I ever told him to keep 130 pounds pressure. On stormy nights the engine was
wiped in the engine house. I never knew or heard of the engine running away. I never
remember saying to Harry Gray, Mr. Beattie, Eugene or Fred Higgins or the
defendant that the engine would run away. I knew of its running in and taking
the doors off the engine house. During the time that Chaffee had charge of the
engine it would leak at the stay bolts and flues."
Mr. Courtney asked the court to allow him to
prove by this witness that the valve mentioned was defective during all the
time that the defendant had charge of the engine and caused the accident.
The offer was refused till he could bring
him in as his own witness. Exception taken.
Re-direct examination. "At the time it
ran through the doors the defendant had charge of the engine. Chaffee told me
that Rose was on the engine at that time."
Re-cross examination. "The amount of steam
kept on was sufficient to move the engine. I don't remember any instructions but
what I have stated that I gave to the defendant."
The case was then adjourned till 10 o'clock
this morning.
The
case was called at 10 o'clock this morning but, owing to the absence of the
defendant's attorney, it was held open till 3 o'clock this afternoon.
A picturesque effect is given to the finale
of the first act of that popular comic opera "The Little Tycoon," by
the use of a panorama which gives an abbreviated, but nevertheless highly
effective, idea of the view which passengers on the deck of an incoming ocean
steamer obtain of the approach to and the upper and lower bays of New York harbor.
The panorama is supposed to begin opposite Fire Island light, at which point
there is a signal station in telegraphic communication with the New York News
Bureau which announces the arrival of all large vessels. From then on, the view
shows Coney Island, Bay Ridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Battery and several of the
high buildings immediately adjoining, the termination being at the steamship wharf.
Although the picture is one in miniature, it
is really entertaining and will no doubt be liked when the opera is sung at the
Cortland Opera House on the night of Saturday, October 7.
The
Golden Wedding.
Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of
the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Horace P. Goodrich, and the event was celebrated quietly
during the day by the bride and groom of fifty years ago who had with them as
guests their niece, Mrs. Robert E. Hill of Brooklyn, and their nephew with his
wife, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Mills, formerly of Omaha. In the evening the spacious
and elegantly furnished parlors were thrown open and Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich
received about a hundred of their friends who came to congratulate them upon
the joyous occasion which falls to the lot of so few people, and to wish them a
long continuance of their present good health and prosperity. It was a most enjoyable
gathering.
There were present those who had known Mr.
Goodrich when he first came to Cortland and Mrs. Goodrich when she was Miss
Mary E. Mills, and who remembered them when their hair was not of the snowy
whiteness of the present, and there were also present the younger Jones whose
earliest recollections of the bride and groom of the evening did not differ
much from their appearance upon this occasion. Many were the reminiscences
indulged in, and while these were enjoyable to the older ones as bringing so
vividly before them the days long past, they were equally delightful to the
more youthful, revealing the customs and events of an earlier day.
Mr. Goodrich told to a few eager listeners
of his boy life on a sheep farm in Pittsfield, Mass., where his father kept a
flock of 1,500 sheep. Here he gained his knowledge of wool which was to serve
him so well later when his business became that of a wool buyer. It was in the
fall of 1840 that he came to Cortland. The old Cortlandville academy had just
been founded. The next year Mr. Goodrich was elected a trustee of this. Hon. Henry
S. Randall was the president of the board. One of the places where the young
bachelor found it pleasant to call was at the home of Mr. James C. Pomeroy, and
it was particularly pleasant after the young, beautiful and accomplished Miss
Mary E. Mills came there from her home at Marcellus to visit her sister, Mrs.
Pomeroy. The trustees wanted to introduce the study of music into the academy,
and were fully convinced that Miss Mills, who was a skilled musician, was just
the one to be the first teacher. Trustee Goodrich was certain of it because it
would keep her in Cortland, but three years later he was just as certain that
she wasn't the one for that place, for he was assured that she was in every way
qualified to preside over a class of one in a private school, and Miss Mills
agreed with him, and so the academy lost a teacher and Mr. Goodrich won a wife.
All of their married life has been spent in
Cortland, except part of one year, 1853-54, when Mr. Goodrich went to South
America to buy wool. Mrs. Goodrich did not accompany him. Mr. Goodrich became
associated with Mr. J. C. Pomeroy in the buying of wool, butter, and produce
and continued the same for many years. One son was born to them, who died of
scarlet fever at the age of five years. They adopted a son when an infant, but
he too died at the age of eighteen years of consumption. Their years have been
very pleasant ones, and they have acquired a fortune sufficiently large to
furnish them with every comfort and luxury in their last days.
Very dainty refreshments were served last
night in the dining room by Mr. George D.
Griffith. Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich were kindly remembered with several little
keepsakes by their friends who came to call. Toward the close of the evening
Mrs. Frederick Hyde brought from her home a little poem written by Miss Mary E.
Mudge, afterward Mrs. Charles W. Collins, upon the occasion of the golden
wedding of Mrs. Hyde's parents, Dr. and Mrs. Goodyear in 1867, and as this poem
was in so many ways appropriate to this gathering also, it was read in a most
graceful and pleading manner by Miss M. F. Hendrick. With the best wishes for
continued health and long life the guests withdrew at an early hour.
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