The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-26

tive he said: eff it had been gas would
have smelled 1t right off. If it had been
powder / am certain OF some of my family
would have smelled it. The noise sounded
like a cannon, and Immediately the house
went down. remarked to my family that it
was netting blown up The uuilding
was perfectly sound. If the house had
collapsed some portion Of it would have
been standi &, and 1t is all down. There
was no combustible smell, or would have
detected itn
DIR. NoRToS's TESTIMONY.
Dr.. r. G.. Norton was next called. He
SAID: 81 was present at the time the bodies
were removed from tine ruins, and attended
come of the wounded | came across
patient that had some Of his hair burned
off. know now that the name of the man
is Robbins Here the witness handed the
coroner an envelope with a sample Of the
singed hair, and he explained that the eye
lashes, eyebrows and hair on the side Of the
patients face had been scorched. The wit
ness said the scorching was from some
explosive agency, but he couldn't
tell what it was. "Hot water,
explained the witness, would have
caused the hair TO drop out. There was no
! smell Of powder | was sitting at the
window of my residence when the explosion
took place. The whistle Of a steamer had
just blown aud remarked TO my brother
that the report which succeeded the whistle
was an explosion of some kind. l thought
it was the steamer. put on my coat and
wet down in the direction of the explo-
sion.n
The witness was questioned as to the de-
structive agency Of dynamite, and he re-
piled that it ould take only a small amount
of dynamite or nitro-glycerine to have
caused the destruction Of tue building. 1T
was some kind of an explosive" he said,
that blew up that building. | have attended
many cases, and consider 1t safe to say
that an explosion caused this. l heard a
sound first as of an explosive bursting, and
then a rumbling. and in second or two /
heard the rumbing again. 1t sounded like
an earthquake
Dr. Norton was questioned as to the re-
mark made by Rob ms while under treat
ment, and the witness replied that "the
party was not sensible when | took the lock
OF hair off. He came to and drank a tum-
blerful of water and made a remark, That
coward that | will fix The man didn't
seem TO know what his condition was. |
smelled no liquor on his breath" DIR. No
toms testimony was cut short by a profes-
sional call
s. Steinman said it was a considerable
time after he got to the scene of the explo-
sion before he detected a smell of gas. Mr..
Steinman lives In the rear of the house
which was blown up, and he was with DIR.
Norton when Robbins was taken out of the
ruins, and as far as be could tell there was
no part of the first floor to be seen.
FIREMAN HANLEY's STATEMENT.
Mr.. Hanley, foreman of No. fire COM
pany, was next called. He testified that he
was on duty the night of the explosion, and
he said, 81 was about the first fireman who
reached the building. Some said there is
more powder in the house and broke and
ran. As | ran up to the window | heard
a cry. come and help me out of here |
heard a woman scream at the same time.
asked some of the people in the
neighborhood to bring me light
ana could not get one. | turned around
and my engine came round st. Julian street
and stopped it, / stepped no to the engine
and got lantern and went back TO the win
dow and handed the chief the lamp. As
handed him the lamp young man handed
me another lamp, and as | took it the chief
lifted Mrs Everitt out | begged the peo-
pie to go to the rear, as there was no one
up on the ruins heard the
gas blowing out Of the pipe and l
snelled it escaping. | get the young man
to turn the gas Off with the lever or handle.
The pipe had burst 1t extended up
through the bricks about breast high. After
| taking Mrs. Everitt out, found Tate, with
his face exposed. Some one said he was
dead. said, no, he is kicking We re-
lieyed him and carried him out.
THE BURNING GAS.
Referring again to the gas pipe, the wit
ness said it was broken off. Il had detected
the smell of gas" said the witness, land
moved back little, and as l did so the gas
ignited from my lamp. 1t was a globe
lamp-the kind we use on the engine-and
was not broken. The gas burned only few
minutes and was Put out by the chemical
engine playing a stream on it. 1t burned
about ten minutes. Monaghan got
a plug and stopped up the
p pot Shut Off from the house rse but w sm
satisfied it was not shut off from the mains
l think the explosion was before the gas pipe
was broken off. The pipe was just outside
| of the house, and rubbish extended nearly
across Congress street. When | was at the
engine house | heard the explosion. There
was not thirty seconds difference between
the whistling of the steamer and the explo-
sion. / told the firemen that fire would
follow, and to hurry out and never mind the
| chiefs horse. | thought that some one had
| blown open the safe at Haynes mills"
The witness explained that the lever or
| handle of the gas meter was used to turn
Off the gas. He said: 81 smelled the gas
as soon as got there. There is no doubt
that the wreck was caused by an explosion.
| | heard it distinctly while | was lying in
bed. The gas could not have accumulated
in the building sufficient to cause the ex
ploSion with windows open. think the
| place would have taken fire if it had beer
an explosion from gas. l wouldn't know
the smell of dynamite"
Coroner Dixon explained that the only
| object he had in introducing Mr. Hanley
was to show that the statement of the pres
| dent Of the gas company that the gas had
| been turned off from the building was mac
| curate
CITY MARSHAL wADE's STATEMENT.
City Marshal Wade was next heard. L
was after o'clock Thursday morning wher
he got to the ruins. In clearing up th'
debris, he said, pieces Of oilclOth were founC
| in the basement and pieces of Chinese mat
ting in the front room, but no carpeting
| was found. There was no flooring in the
basement said the witness. EVERY thing
was taken out carefully. There was nc
| flooring left on the joists downstairs II
must have been the explosion that caused
| the floor to wholly disappear"
The witness went on to explain at some
length the directions the explosion took
One broke the walls of the Jackson house
on the east and one the basement wall OF
the west side of the Billiard building. Il
it had been collapse and not an explosion
the witness explained, the fl )Oring of the
first floor would have been under the debris
or at least the greater portion Of it. The