St. Paul daily globe., 1889-12-03
THE JURY STIRRED UP
Over the Death of the Two
Men in the Washington
Hotel.
Somebody Is Severely Cen
Sured for the Unnecessary
Loss of Life.
Curious Freaks Played by
Electric Wires Weighed
Down by Snow.
The Court House Commission
Ready TO lake a Final
Goodbye.

The Minneapolis holocaust and the
Washington hotel disaster in ST. Paul,
have aroused the public 10 realization
of the dangerous condition of scores of
buildings in the Twin Cities. The fate
fui structures were but two of the many
deathtrapS, and repetition of the hor-
rible scenes may occur to-day or to-
morrow. The eOroner's jury summoned
To hold an inquest upon the bodies OF
Christopher rult and Lorenzo Renaldi,
the Washington house victims. was of
unusual intelligence, and seemed TO APP
preciate the situation. They fully in
veStigated the case before them,
located the blame for loss of
life, and returned a report that
furnished food for much reflection. The
jury was composed of the following
prominent and well-knoWn business
men: John G. Blake, Richard Gordon.
William &. Eoyes, Claiming Seabury,
Jerome Plat and L. II. Stevens. They
assembled at the city mOrgue at l
O'Clock yesterday afternoon, and shortly
afterwards were led by Coroner Quinn
tU the scene OF the fire to inspect the
burned building. 1t was clearly shown
that from many rooms OF the house
there WAS no avenue of escape, except
through a single door leading int a
narrow hallway. and that the ire there
cut Oft all possible chance of escape.
Had the other rOOmS on the upper floor
been occupied the loss of life would an
dOubtedly have been much greater.
Landlord TuSSner testified that he had
comparatively few guests Oh Saturday
en-, fTo., tl, ,,,aA
but that on almost any other night that
the rooms would probably have been
occupied. The other witnesses exam
ined were John Pult, of ST West Sev-
enth street, father of one of the victims;
Andrew DeiOTa, ID. COralla and Police
uan McCart. The evidence brought
out was practically in confederation of
the reports previously published. After
a few minutes deliberatiou the jury re-
turned
THE FOLLOWING VERDICT:
We have examined the building in
which the men were found, which was
used as a hotel OF lodging house, for the
accommodation. largely. OF strangers
and transient guests, aud find that it
was wholly unfit for such USE, having
frontage of seyenty-five feet on Sibley
street, with only one narrow w0,'den
Sihll nAN do a uNCdilS VI (ltC
upper stories. which we're used mainly
as sleeping apartments; these in turn
being reached by narrow and tprtunuS
passages; poorly Lighted and badly
ventilated rooms, each crowded to its
full capacity with beds. We regard it
As simply fortunate circumstance that
this house contained only these guests
on the night of the fire, instead of forty
or fifty. as the testimony submitted to
us shows has frequently happened
previously. The room in which these
two unfortunate men lost their lives was
almost ten by SIXTEEN feet in di-
mensiOnS, without an opening of any
description except wooden door ana
small hole in the ceiling. opening iHtO a
skylight (aiOut ten by tWPnty-fOur
inches), but impossible of access, and in
remote corner of the building. The
fire having entered the small hallway,
these men were as effectually impriS-
Oned therein as if in jail.
We consider that the permission by
public authorities. whose duty il may
be to take cogniZance of such matters,
of the use of such death-trapS in our
midst, merits the most emphatic con-
domination, and we recommend an inn
mediate inspection of all similar build
ings in use III our city. together with
prompt measures to prevent repeti-
ton of the sad calamity.
THE BUILDING INSPECTOR TALKS.
Building Inspector Johnson was seen
by GLOBE reporter, after the verdict
was returned and was acquainted with
its contents, He said:
There was no necessity of q Teflec-
ton on city officials in this connection.
No one of US could be blamed. The law
provides for ire-eScapeS for buildings
over three stories III height. but that has
no bearing on the Washington house. l
cannot order the diSuSe of building
erected before building ordinance eX-
listed. All | cOulti do in matter of that
kind would be to refuse a permit to
erect such fire-trap now. There are
certainly other cheap hotels just as
dangerous as the Washington, but they
are beyond my jurisd cli0n, except in
the matter Of fire-eSeapeS.'
There is. presume, great deal of
talk now about fire escapes"
''Of course there is. but it will all pass
away. l am seeing that escapes are
placed upon all buildings and where
there could be any danger. There are
now sDme very tall buildings without
them, but not one but which is so nearly
firep0of that there is abundant oppOr-
tunity for all tenants and employees to
escape without danger. When | order
an escape il must be good, seryiceabie
one, and not one merely to eVade law
and sell somebody's escape. 1t must
have balconies at every story. If the
Tribune fire escape had had balconies,
as it should have, four OF the victims
would now be alive"