New-York tribune., 1882-02-08
THE PARK ROW DISASTER.
CONTINUATION OF THE INQUEST.

The inquest as to the cause OF the loss VI ii0 -
the Potter Building continued yesterday oS
Coroner Herman. Samuel Weir, the carpenter "a
the midnr. was the first witness. In answer TO
questions from the builders and the jury Mr' 'eIi
expained the nature of the two tues IN INC cen'Io
wall There was fracture in the wall oetWeeh
roooas o,d he aue Mr. Weir never smelled gas
escaninr through the building, ana dld n9' Know
that the main from the sIee6 o made af
onJ witn iron rounds 1t was never locked as one
of The wnesses had testified. II was fastened win
chain 10 keep it in place, but could be useu AZ any
.;,ae The semitic was never locked. Several per-
sons escaped fxern the building at the ume OF the
fire by of the ladder TO the roolt Tt i Tn o
there was another ladder. The witness salu tIla nc
had been familiar with the building for Twenty-Five
wears hut he had theory as to now the nre orlEi
SSafed lie knew of no combustible material stored
there He then explained the different oinces on
pied them There were fire eXtlngulshers, he addeo'
Wby didn't Won use one of them when you first
saw the ire o. asked juror
Had no time laconicallv replied the witness
What did you do when you discovered the
fire =" .-,.,.. -. ..-.;,,lo 8,
r. W. Townsend. Mr Potters counsel. then asheh
the witness some Questions n rsga@ ncss rrened hat
the walls were substantial. and that all the mechah-
neal work was well done TO rebuild @ tne sane sane
kind of q structure now would cost T3oO0OO' lhS
oc TO the roof wa done under the direction OF
the Building Department, and II was all 'hat was le-
Charles Wright a coored bootblack, testified as
follows: g was in No "a Park-row the morning ol
the fire. About fifteen inmates after II broke oht
ran TO the spot and saw two or three men III the
windows on R.ekman-st. | saw large wire run
hing from the building TO The EreaiRg Mall building,
and Thought that If could cut II that the men IN
the burning building could shde down II to the
ground. Sol climbed mp telegraph pole the best
could as had no spikes in my shoes, ana when
reached one of the pieces looked at the build
ing and saw cOlOTed women fall 10 the ground
had a spike III my pocket, which used to e
sa dust IRON i'll front OF . door lhen the men IN
The windows who saw that L was gong TO cut the
rlre cried to me to hurry up. The wire was made
very fast to the pole as 1t was used TO hang Han
sock banner on last year guess the wire was as
thick rs a lead pencil. cut II as soon as Could,
aud sa it fall to the ground. One OF the men IN
the windows then caught the part that was attached
TO the burning building, ana before had reached
the ground two of Them had gone down by the wire.
One of them had his hand cut by It, but the ot er
ppe was all right. In climbing down the Telegraph
pole touched lampost, which mStook Tor the
cround | slipped and fell and sprained my ankle
twas aftcrward told that third man used the wire
Frederick &. Beach, of stratford, Conn., testified
that his her the proprietor of the The SieHt-
fC american. About fifty men were employed in
the office. He described the rooms occupied by the
persons engaged on the paper. lie reached the
office at 10 o'clock the morning OF the ire, and
few minutes atterward discovered the smoke.
lie rushed down the stairs ami Z od many men
were behind hIm. There pane and all the men
Oh the stairs got out safely Beach was accustomed
to 90 the roof III order TO have the advantage OF
the suu IN getting photographs When he went to
the roof on Monday he telt an intense heat from
the lue and when he put his hand on the wall he
had TO withdraw 1t instantly. He also said that the
ladder used for going from the roof TO The Times
Building was fifty feet from the latter building II
would have required two men to cary il To its
proper place. lie frequently used the ladder lead
ing from the top story TO the roof, and only iencl-
bercd seelug II fastened once.
William Smith and john H. Russell kept paper
stands at the corners opposite the burned building,
and they testified 10 the progress of the fire and the
escape OF me people IRON o,at ihe wnGoWS Y JoTn @
testimony regarding the time when the alarm was
received. lie said he had been fireman for twen-
tythTco years and that he had been % thlee ilIeS
IN two years tie Potter building. There was
one a year ago Wien the engines worked half an
hour IN eXtuguishing IT. lie uld not know any OF
the detail, uf the ire. Last December there was
another tire III the basement The Inquest was
was then adjourned until to-day
Fire Commissioners PuIrOy and Van Cott were
informed yesterday that the work OF searching Ior
bodies in the runs OF the Potter Building had been
discontinued. As President Gormau was absent
from tle city they went 70 investigate the report
aud found that the search had ceased Chief Ma
hedy of the Second Battalion OF FHemen, who has
watched the ruins since the hle Ola the COillHs-
sOnrrs that It had been stopped by order OF Mr.
Potter \ foreman employed by Mr. Potter sad
that II had been stopped Oh account or complaint
made by the Bureau or membranes, and that MI
Potter believed that there were no more bodies IN
The ruins. Chef Mahedl gave to the Commission
ers the names six persons whom the police think
perisned in the fire. III addition to those WhOs'
bndes have been recovered. There is little proba-
bltv that any OF those persons were III the building
The Commissioners had consultations with Mayor
Grace and with tle Controller and II was decided
not to let the search tOT bodies drop until the list ol
missing persons had been YerhCd. MI. Potter, Oy
request of the commissioners went TO the Ire lead
quarters al + p III. yesterday. lie sald the searCh
had been interrupted through MISUNDERSTANDING
on the part of his foreman, because the Bureau o1
tncumUranceS had made an Objection 10 the h"aP-
ing OF dcprls the streets. The search lie added,
would he resumed immediately, and would be kept
mp until It certain thai no BONES remained In
lie runs Mr. Potter also took a copy oil the list of
missing persons and sad that he would have III
1uIries made about each one.
Despite The vigilance OF tae police petty thefts or
attempted thcts, frequent about ihe runs OF the
are One man. " no Was making of with a bag, was
caught by a policeman yesterday afternoon an
naGc 10 emyty IL contents o heap of rubbish. y
crowd quickly gathered and word went around that
the man was a lahOrer, who had IOund some hOrll-
HE remains OF victim of the ire. 1t proved, how
.ver that he trying to make oil with big lump
of badly damaged rubber.
The body ot Robert f. Treadwav taken to
Tarrytown yesterday and buried in Sleepy Hollow
Cemetery.