Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1882-03-01
the FIRE COMMISSION.
Additional Tsstimeuy in Regard %
the Burning OF Hilrs House.


The commission reasssmbltd Of !
o'clock yesterday. and D. O. shsshsn,
the policeman, was again placed on the
stand. He continued his testimony as
follows
When / arrived on the premises, tried
TO open the doors OF the building and
could not; found them all fastened; had
to break open the door OF the room out
OF which I got the mattress; the mat
tress in court is the one; / took the burnt
shirt Zone in oourt) from the rear house
next day after the fire; got 1t in north
east room; took 1t because II smelled
strongly OF coal oil; Mr.. Nslligsn was
with me; also procured . shoe from
there.
Cross.exsmined-Both buildings we're
on ere when I passed the mattress to
the men; there was no connection be-
tween the buildings; must have been two
separate hres; door OF rear house was
unlocked; / only tried one door OF front
building; tried . window and found 1t
nailed down; examined the premises
after the FIRE; found q portion Of o can
Of coal oil in cellar; about same as the
can In court; did not examine the cellar
to see II there was any way OF ingress or
egrsss; could see nc daylight in the Gel.
lar; both buildings were on FIRE when l
reached them; Katie Hill had on q dark
dress; have seen her wear 1t on the
street; 1t was tight fitting; l was only a
few feet away; the mattress had consid.
erabls coal oil on; found considerable
coal oil besides; the fire did not get in
the room where the mattress was; l
tried three doors in all; found chair
against one; Katie Hill had her shoes
on when l saw her.
THOMAS SELLIoAN
Testified to the same effect as his wife
abou. being awakened by Katie Hill and
getting out. He said he had examined
the ruins; had found no evidence OF
coal oil in the front rooms, they were
burned too badly; smelled coal oil In
hallway, In the room in the rear and In
kitchen; don't remember how Katie Hill
was dressed; l did not smell coal oil on
her person; remember that my wife told
me she did; told me as soon a. Katie
LETT the room. He admitted there 81.
listed q bad feeling since the FIRE, but
| claimed he did not allow II to influence
his testimony.
The cross-txamination was but . reit-
| Grafton Of what witness had said. except
that he had told Mentally that he would
see tho fire was investigated.
JOHN MILLIoAS.
A boy thirteen years OF age, was next
called. He was sleeping in the house
on the lounge in tho sitting room. His
testimony agreed with Miss Hills. In
addition. be said he knew nothing Of her
getting up in the night to rub her side
with ~turpentine rs he remained asleep;
had met his mother near Mrs. Kslly's;
| that she went TO the IRE and he went
home; that Katie Hill wore q dark-col.
ored night dress.
ISAAC EVANS,
A colored man, testified: Was occupy.
ing the basement OF the rear building
that was burned; usually wake up every
night about l o'clock; that night some
body came to the door about 2 o'clock
and wrenched ths d%oorknob; l asked:
''Who IL there2" received no answer;
shortly after, / heard somebody stepping
lightly overhead; appeared to be going
backward and forward; think the person
who knocked had time to get upstairs
before / heard footsteps; Katie Hill came
to my door. knocked and told me to get
up. as the house was on fire; this was
about Ave minutes after / heard the foot
steps upstairs; I went to tho door and
saw flames shooting out Of both houses;
did not hear anybody call Fire" before
Katie Hill called me; l was awake when
my door knob was wreDched; Katie Hill
had or u dark dress; it was q dress she
wore around the house. but not on the
street.
Cross-eIsmined Tho party who
wrenchsd my door did not knock; my
room had NO communication with the
rooms above; Katie Hills dress was dark
calico.
II. o. DAUcHY
| Heard some one cry fire aud ran out on
| his porch; the fire bad not then broken
| out; there was o Ere in both houses at
same time; do not believe there was n
minutes difference between the break
ing out OF the fire in the two buildings;
examined house next morning about 0
o'clock; noticed smell Of coal oil oil
through the house. particularly In tho
kitchen; did not examine bedding or
clothing; noticed smell OF coal oil in two
rooms on north side; did not see any
bed clothing in the rooms.
c. C. STEVENSON.
One Of the commission. was asked TO
explain where the members OF the COM
mission procured certain articles sat.
urated with coal oil. He said that in
examining the rear house they found
some boards had fallen in the left hand
corner, aud on removing them. the
waist to o dress shown in court was
found in q pile OF rubbish; there was
plenty OF other stuff saturated with coal
oil. but they only brought one piece
along. believing that sufficient. They
had thoroughly examined the front
building. particularly the %sitting.room
and kitchen; did not look for coal oil in
north rooms; up stairs in front building
they found q great deal Of coal oil; the
papers exhibited had been found there,
with plenty OF others, spread out over
the pillows and saturated with coal oil;
the mattresses had coal oil on them also.
With this the commission adjourned
until 1:30 o'clock today.
The commission assembled OF 1:3O
o'clock and resumed their inquiries.