The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1879-09-10
GROWERS QUEST.
BANNING EVIDENCE GIVEN,

BANNING EVIDENCE GIVEN.
The Destroyed Buildings Were I'm
properly Constructed, Say the
Expert Witnesses-The
Testimony.
As the testimony in the coroner's in
quest in the cases of the late G.. J.. F.
Van de Sande, esq, and Gussie and
frankie Bell, is most important and
instructive, the LEADER publishes II
in full. The witnesses are reported / N
the order of their appearance on the
stand.
]. T. DUNHAN
Sworn: l am an express messen-
ger on the Union Pacific railroad,
and run between Cheyenne and Ogden.
/ was a boarder in the house of Mrs.
Bell, who kept a boarding house in the
building known as the Delmonlco hotel,
on Sixteenth street, In Cheyenne. and
I had a room in the second story Of said
building. On the evening of the 9th
inst. at about half past eight O'Clock,
/ retired to bed and fell asleep, having
slept, I suppose, an hour or two, when
I was awakened by the sound Of music
in the lower story Of said building,
which was a common occurrence, and
again / fell asleep, and the next thing
l knew was that the ceiling and walls
around me were cracking. 1t appeared
to me that the wall beneath my head
was the first to give. and the partition
wall south Of my bed fell southwardly.
After the crash and wreck of the build
ing / felt myself covered over with
timbers and broken plastering, in the
basement Of the building, SO that 1 was
unable to extricate myself. ! remained
In this position about three hours. when
/ was relieved by the firemen and citi-
zens. The room I occupied was stu
ated about the center of the building
and my head was In the southeast cor
ner of the DON The room occupied
by Mrs. Bells children was immedi-
ately south of mine, adjoining, and the
bed they occupied stood IN the south
west corner of said room. DO not
know the cause of the falling of the
building. My first impression in refer
ence to the accident was, that it was
caused by an earthquake. 1 supposed
that the whole block had fallen. Saw
the children of Mrs. Bell Just before
they retired, and again saw their re-
mains on Sunday at the funeral. / be-
lieve they came to their death by means
Of injuries received by the falling of
said building on the night of the 5th
inst.
The next witness was
L. II. BREsNAHEN. y
Being sworn, he said: L reside N
Cheyenne, and l was the owner of one
Of the buildings on Sixteenth street
which was destroyed on the night OF
the 9th inst. About ten minutes be-
fore the accident, which occurred, l
should think, about 10 O'Clock, p. M, /
had retired and been asleep, but was
awakened by my nephew, John Smith,
who was sleeping with me, and who
arose from the bed, (Which was sit
uated in the real of the building, and
on the ground floor thereof, the head of
the bed being placed near or against
the partition wall dividing my office
and bed room from the store.room east
Of my building, then being used as a
music storey Asked him what he was
dong, and he said there was a fire. l
told him 1 could hear no bells ringing,
and he replied that we could not hear
them on account of the music in the
adjoining building; he then put on his
pants and went to the front door, but
could see or hear nothing that gave the
alarm of fire, and returned to bed. In
about ten or fifteen minutes after l
heard a noise that sounded like a storm
Of wind; the curtains of my room be-
gan to rattle, and 1t appeared that dust
was blowing into the room. / got up
from my bed and started to 60 into the
front room, and had gotten perhaps a
couple OF steps inside the shop, or mar
ket room, when I found the plastering
falling on my head, and 1 called my
nephew by name, Johnny. BY this
time the timbers were falling down
and the floor became slanting, but 1
caught hold of atimber and maintained
an upright position while the building
wal falling, and Immediately thereafter
continued to struggle through the fall
ing and fallen material until l reached
the sidewalk in front Of my building,
Washington market. Have no def
mite ides Of the immediate cause of the
falling of my building. My attention
has been called by parties occupying
the Delmonico hotel, 1.-THE building east
of and adjoining mine) to the fact that
when a FIRE was built in the basement
Of my building, smoke would issue
from the brick wall on the east side
and into the hotel. / had an ice box
or chest, placed in the rear of the room
on the ground floor, with a capacity of
about five tons, but never placed owe a
ton or fifteen hundred pounds therein
at time, and for the last two or
three weeks l had no Ice whatever put
into said box. The drainage from the
ice box was through a tin spout into a
barrel situated in the Ice house, so as