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

] intimated to him that there was any danger
III taking down the walls. He was willing
| to take the responsibility on his own
shoulders, in case it belonged there, but he
| wanted all the facts to be made public.
| Pardee then spoke. His statement was
| as follows:
| met Mr. Orff on the day Of the cyclone
| When he told me he was going to change walls,
| and told me how. Iobiected on the grounds
! that he could not, according to the ordinance.
| Met him again in the afternoon, and told him
! that to remove wall would be a damage to in
terests OF city and contrary to intention of
ordinance. As was in doubt about the or,
dinance, Irefused to give a permit. Ten days
later L thought the matter over again,
and resolved to do all in my
power to keep the fire wall in. Saw one of
the men and advised them not to remove the
wall. Some days later I saw Mr.. Bracket
and he appeared to feel bad that the notice
that he had been refused a permit had got
into the papers. felt conscientious in re-
fusing the permit, and although felt some
what doubtful whether would be sanctioned
in the matter I determined to hold out.
Mr.. Brackett-What was the cause Of the
accident, what made it fall? 1 attach no
blame to Mr.. Larlzin, who has pulled down
other buildings in the same manner. He
thought the plan Of taking down the wall was
all right and as COED as could be.
Mr.. Orf-My theory Of the falling is that it
!
they removed down to the underside Of the
josts, and that the Vibrations caused by the
battering ram made some upheaval of the
floors, which gave first.
Mr.. Pardee-My opinion is that the fall was
caused by the removal OF some of the stone
foundation Another theory is that the bricks
which were piled at the top of the building
toward the outside wall had something to do
with it.
Mr.. Orff submitted drawing giving the
plann OF the wall, and showing by illustra-
ton that the accident was caused by the
use of the battering ram, which, tearing
the basement wall away, threw the
supports off the perpendicular. and thus
caused the room to strain outward, and
finally break in two. falling with a crash.
Mr.. Bracket assured those present that
he had spared no expense in making the re-
moval of the wall as safe as possible, and
was borne out in his statement. On the
question of rebuilding coming up, Mr.. Par
dee said the old question of allowing the
addition to be built without fire wall
would still remain, and he did not feel as
though he could issue a permit.
AT THE MoRGUE.
Ats o'clock last evening four blood
stained and disfgured corpSeS lay upon the
marble at the mOrgue, the first victims of
the disaster. Red and white contrasted
strongly on their faces, at which vast
crowd gazed curiously and morbidly. The
rush had been so great that officers had
been detailed to guard the front door and
restrain the crowd at the rear. The throng
was formed in single line and permitted to
pass through the door and around the slab
to gaze on the dead. Pity and curiosity
mingled in the expressions an the sea Of
faces, among which were those
of many women, the wives
of men who might every day meet this
fate. Not relative was present. John
Vanish was the only victim who leaves
family. Over in Northeast Minneapolis, in
a loWly house on Marshall street, desolate
wife and six orphan children were bowed
in grief at the loss of the father and pro-
wider who there lay cold in death, The
others were young and unmarried, and SO
far as known have no relatives in the city.
The gas flckered sickly yellow through
the cigar smoke stolid officer pulled out
at intervals, and the crowd passed con-
stantly through, without word, until late
into the night