St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-06

! n the second story. directly above the cut
made in the foundation. There was an
ominous cracking of timber, the fall of a
few brick and then, with deadly crash
down came the heavy floors. each with its
separate weight of brick. All workmen in
the First avenue half of the building were
entombed; the Anderson men in the eXca-
walton heard the noise and escaped The
Larkin men, working at the foundation,
caught the full force of the crash. with the
| result given. Overlooking the floors with
brick and insuffciently bracing the outer
edge were undoubtedly the causes which
combined to produce the horrible result.
The loss on the building is about SIS, coo,
which is nothing in the light CT the terrible
| waste Of human lives
Building inspector Pardee refused to
| issus a permit for the new building, OH the
ground Of the danger from tearing away
| the tire-wall He said yesterday that he
consulted sevalal leading architects before
| making the decision. and that in going on
with the work Mr.. Bracket took the risk
| in his own hands. The latter says Mr..
Pardee never alluded to danger of falling.
but only from fire. f. D. Orff, the archi-
teet, claims the pests were secure
and the danger arose from piling
too much brick on the floors. The
from the battering ram, but this is denied
by August Seeber, in charge Of it, who says
the break occurred above 1t will be a
matter of interest and the duty of the coro-
her to decide the matter and fix the respon-
Sibility. Criminal carelessnesS stands out
boldly in the accident and the guilty party
or parties should suffer. That man may
destroy, without a permit, where he cannot
build. is & matter that should commend
itself to the attention of council.
Where the Blame Belongs.
Public Indignation was exceedingly high
last night when it became known Mr..
Bracket had torn down the party wall in
defiance of the building ordinance without
permit. 1t was said the matter had been
brought to the attention of several alder
men, with the statement that if this We're
passed over the ordinance could never be
enforced, and it was agreed after awhile to
assess nominal fine. 1t was publicly said
that Inspector Pardee failed in his duty in
not at once procuring a warrant against
Brackett. Mr.. Pardee had the advice of
four competent architects when he refused
to issue the permit, and, knowing the
danger, should have acted promptly when
the work was begun. Such course would
have saved this cost of life and money and
would have been the inspectors clear duty.
Why he failed in it will probably be ex-
planned later on.
Mr. Bracket is spoken of, far and wide,
as man of known greatness OF heart. OF
course he had no idea of danger in remov-
ing the WALL in which he was counseled
by Architect Orff. 1t is difficult to under
stand why he should fly in the face of the
ordinance Mr.. Orff admits that too much
brick had been piled on the floor. This
contractors say, should never have been
done, and was only done to save the small
expense of handling the brick in rebuilding
Some idea of the weight of these brick may
be obtained by looking at the pile in the
street in front of the building, which con-
tains the same number as was piled in the
building.
The matter of culpability will be decided |
by jury of inquisition. Coroner Hill said |
last night the inquest would probably be |
held on Friday morning, and that he would !
endeavor to get together very intelligent |
jury.