Mr. A. Gottlieb, engineer of the Keystone Bridge Company, at Pittsburg, Pa., was next called. He testified as follows: When the wrecked bridge was constructed, the building of iron truss bridges was in its childhood, compared with the progress made since that time. The first objectionable point in the bridge, therefore, was the unnecessarily great dead weight; the second, the lack of sufficient section in the upper cord; also the manner in which the beams forming said cord were bound together, which brought much more strain on some of them than on others. I have made a careful examination of the wrecked bridge as it lay at the bottom of the river, and also of the map of the bridge as made by Mr. Tomlinson, and I think that I have obtained a very good idea of the construction of the wrecked bridge. I do not think that the Howe truss pattern is very well adapted to a heavy iron bridge. During my examination I did not see anything in the plan or construction of the bridge that would lead me to think that the extremes of heat or cold would injure it. I never knew of any other wrought iron bridge constructed on the Howe truss pattern. Before the committee appointed by the Legislature of Ohio, the following testimony was also given by Mr. Amasa Stone, the former President of the Road: Mr. Stone swore that he designed the bridge, but only superintended the drawing of the plan, while the details of construction were given into the hands of Mr. Albert Congdon, who was supervised by Mr. Joseph Tomlinson. I have never constructed any other Howe truss bridge with wrought-iron braces, and know of no other anywhere in the country. When Mr. Rogers made the mistake of putting in the braces it was not negligence in permitting him to continue the superintendence of the erection of the bridge, for there was no other particular in which he could have made a mistake. It was not even unwise to permit him to continue. When the bridge was changed in correcting the mistake there were no more braces inserted. Chas. Collins, the engineer of the road, testified before the same committee, as follows: About the time the bridge was built, my duties were so heavy I was relieved from looking after the bridge. I never mentioned to any one that the bridge was not mine and that I did not want anything to do with it, since it was placed under the charge of a bridge-man; I thought it out of place for me to say anything about it. I never knew of another bridge being built of wrought iron on this plan. I think the bridge was rather an experiment. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXVIII. LESSONS OF THE EVENT. The narrative of this great disaster is finished; space does not admit of the addition of further material.