The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-25

was In MS room, ana mad retired-
suppose he heard me cUms
upstairs, as he spoke TO me as / was
going into my room. While l Yves
getting ready 20 20 to bed l called to him
and asked him to come in and talk awhile.
DE came in, in his night clothes, and we
talked for about half an hour. was lying
on the bed, not yet having taken of my
pantaloons. After about half an hour l
| said believed | would turn in, and he said
he would do the same, and leaving the room
went back to bed. Robbins. Tate and
Robe were sitting down in chairs on the
sidewalk talking when / came in for the
night. After Lockline left the room 1 fell
asleep, but awOke about ten minutes before
the explosion and got up.
SAW THE FLASH OF THE EXPLOSIVE.
II lay down and was barely in a doze
when l was reused by the sound OF the ex-
plosion, and saw a fash apparently shoot
ing up through tde flor near the door TO
Tate's room. | was lying on the Congress
street side of the bed, Robbins in front, and
Immediately after the explosion felt the
bed turning with me and | reached out to
catch hold of the window fronting on Con-
gress street near Lockline's room thinking
II caught the window could support my
self. As reached out my hand the window
and wall left me, and l went
down in the ruins. | landed on the
first floor, in the parlor. near where the
organ had stood, where | was hemmed in.
A piece OF timber was across my breast and
shoulders, and was bet ween the roof and
third floor. When the latter settled it re-
leased me from the timbers and gave me
room to turn around, but the lime and heat
almost stified me. The heat frightened me.
and thought the building was on fire and
l was sure to be burned up, when Mr..
Grower and Chief Puder sawed an opening
in the roof and took me out"
THE NEGRO COOKS THREAT.
Mr.. Rmes says he had been boarding
with the Billiards since the third week in
June, and gas had not been used in the
house during that time He had bean told
before the accident that the discharged
cook, George Maxwell, had visited the
housed Wednesday or Thursday of last
week, and when Mrs. Billiard refused to
apologize for having said Maxwell was "a
nasty cook" he had been profane and abusive
to Mrs. Billiard, and she asked Mr.. Robbins TO
put him out of the yard, which Robbins
did, and Maxwell told Robbins that he
would go off and get his gun and come back
and have revenge.
II heard nothing more of il until last
> turday night at about o'clock, when
Maxwell came to the house. Mr.. Billiard
and were sitting on the front door SILL
Robbins was sitting in the hall, and Mrs.
Billiard was standing in the parlor door.
Maxwell had an open pocket knife in his
fob pocket. Mr.. Billiard asked him what
he had the knife for, and Maxwell said,
Never mind about that knife | use it to
cut roasting ears with Mr. Billiard told
him to go away, or he would call a police
man and have him arrested.
MAxwELL's UGLY LANGUAGE.
Maxwell replied, you had better get
- good one or | will beat - out of
him. Mr.. Billiard went off after an officer
and Maxwell went uD st. Julian street in
the direction Of the market That night
Mr. Billiard told me that he had Maxwell
arrested, and while he was being taken to
the barracks Maxwell said he would have
revenge on Billiard"
Mr.. Rimes said there was no quarreling
in the house, no dancing, and the only loud
talking the night of the disaster was that
OF Mrs. Billiard calling her husband to
come upstairs and go to bed
Francis Hart, of Hart Bros, who lives
but two blocks off from the ruins heard the
sound OF an explosion, followed by the
crash OF the building as it went down, and
directly after he heard the fire alarm
strike, and his wife, who had heard the
same sounds. asked her husband il he had
any gunpowder in the grocery, as she was
| satisfied that there had been an explosion,
and as box had rung Immediately there
| after she feared it was Hart Bros grocery.
All those who were awake within two or
| three squares Of the Bullard house are posi-
| tive that the first sound was that of an ex-
plosion, and the crash of falling timbers
| succeeded the explosion.
MRS PAGES ESCAPE.
Mrs. J. 8. Page, wife of John 8. Page,
and sister of Mr.. Billiard, who miraculously
| escaped with her months infant in her
arms, says that if she had been informed
that Maxwell had been seen about the
premises that night, as the colored
boy Haywood has since stated, she
would not have roomed in the house that
night as she bad heard his threats of re-
venge. Mrs. Page says that Mrs. Billiard
seemed restless, as if she had a premonition
of impending trouble, and that her sister
in-law got out of bed and came into Mrs.
Pages room and said she feared something
had happened, or was about to happen to
MIR. Page, who is employed at the new
quarantine station. Mrs. Page tried to dis
abuse her mind of the impression and
shortly after Mrs. Bullard returned to her
room.
A MORNING NEWS reporter took down a
statement, signed by Mrs. Page, to be read
by the coroner to the jury, as Coroner
Dixon did not feel like bringing Mrs. Page
down town so soon after the shock of the
| disaster. The statement, which clearly es-
tablishes the theory of an explosion, appears
in the report of the inquest.
| THE CoRONER'S INVESTIGATION.
Coroner Dixon visited all the survivors
who were in the building, and. after gen.
eral investigation, preliminary to an inquest
| on the body of Matthew Lockline, q jury
was impa neled and an inquest was begun
at Justice Naughtin's office at 8 30 o'clock
in the afternoon. At O'Clock the jury
| adjourned to meet at 3 o'clock this after
noon at the ruins, after which the testimony
of Mr.. Rimes will be taken. The coroner
and jury in a body visited the ruins last
night and examined that part of the founda-
ton from which the debris had been cleared
away, and there was no dissenting opinion as
to the theory of an explosion.
Edward L. Eyeritt was the first witness
before the jury. He testified that he was
asleep when the accident occurred, and
could give no clear account of it, as when
he was awakened he and his wife were
going down in the ruins He said he had
never noticed any defect in the house or
any unusual shaking of the building from
passing trucks or other vehicles
MIR. BILLIARDS STATEMENT.
W. J. Billiards. statement was that he had
retired about 10 o'clock, but later in the
night had occasion to get up. On his return
TO his bedroom, Mrs. Page, who occupied
the adjoining room, asked his wife if she
did not hear some one downstairs Mrs.
Page said she heard some one below.