The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-12-12
WASSERMiN INQUEST.
Tho Premises Txamiaed by the
Ehmiif's Jary.
TGEF ALL NOTICED A STRONG
SMELL OF KEROSENE.


Did and Saw at the Middle Street Cloth
ing store Fire.
The fire inquest upon the premises of d.
Wasserman Sc Co., No. 1913 Middle street,
damaged by fire last Tuesday night was
held yesterday by Sheriff Cram. The jury
consisting of Stephen Marsh, Loren ID.
Austin and Herbert A. Harmon, were
sworn and proceeded to an examination of
the store and contents which have re-
NAMED practically untouched since the
fire. After viewing the burned place and
the surrounding counters aud shelves. the
examination of witnesses commenced, the
first being Police Officer Norton. Mr.. Nor
ton testified that he was notified of the ex-
istence of the fire by two men whom he did
not know. He went down at once and see-
Ing the smoke pouring out OF the windows
pulled box 45 on the corner of Middle and
Market streets. He stood there till hose
five came down the street, when he notified
the driver of the location of the fire and
went down with him to it. Mr.. Sawyer
broke the hose. and he, Norton held the
nozzle and screwed IL on. They went to
the store door. Officer Phillips broke the
door down and they went in. No water
came for some time. Another line was
brought in and had water first. When
witness went in the store was smoky and
1t grew rapidly worse. There was light In
the back part of the store. After the fire
was out witness. with Deputy Merrill,
George L. Barrows anc others went around
the store to find If they could the
cause of the fire. Witness found the lamp
chimney on a shelf near the stove and Mr..
Barrows found an overturned lamp in the
corner under the partly burned counter.
Witness smelled kerosene about the store
and heard talk Of can of it having been
found in the back room.
Benjamin L. Sawyer, driver of hose five.
said that it was perhaps a minute and a
half after the alarm sounded before they
reached the fire. Capt. Bragg of ladder
one, and Mr.. Littlefield attached the hose
to the hydrant and tried to turn the water
on while witness and Officer Norton went
on to the fire with the nozzle, Witness en-
tered the building, perhaps five feet, after
Officer Phillips burst the door in. AS no
water came through the hose, witness
ran back to the hydrant where
they were still trying to get 1t open. At
the same time engine put stream on the
FIRE. M. @. Marston held the pipe. There
had been an order to engine to back their
line out, but as engine had no water It,
was countermanded. Witness saw the
fire shining through the smoke In the back
part of the room. He saw no other lights
in the room.
George L. Barrows, city editor of the
Argus, reached the fire after it was out.
Went in and asked the Chief Engineer
what the trouble was. Mr.. Cloyes pointed
to the back OF the store and told him to go
and look at it himself. Witness did so, ac-
companied by Deputy Merrill and others.
Saw the table and contents in the rear. all
charred and smoking. The wall was also
blackened. Mr.. Merrill called witnesses
attention to a kerosene can In the back
shop. The smell Of Oil was very notcea-
BILE. Witness saw two places overhead
where the plastering. had been knocked off
In one case, taking lath with It, In
searching around under the burned table
witness found lamp upset and nearly
full Of oil. There was no chimney to be
seen except that one across the room found
by Officer Norton. A small piece of fiat
glass was all that could be found on the
floor. Witness testified to the arrival of
Wasserman at the store and his discovery
of the iron lampstand under another table,
with lath still attached to 1t, showing
where 1t hid been pulled down from the
ceiling. The hole above the lath was
black, and there was a sticky, black
liquid scattered about the clothing and red
covers of tables.
Henry j. Ide, an insurance adjuster from
Boston, testified that he and Mr.. Fred
Lewis looked the stock over and decided
that the value was about $500. Wasser.
man had an insurance of $500 In three
policies, all made out in the name of Wat
erman.
at this point the inquest was adjourned
to the municipal court room.
Deputy Marshal f. T. Merrill! was the
first witness examined In the court room.
Mr.. Merrill was In the police station when
the alarm sounded. After noting the time,
IL II p. NJ. Ne went to the fire at once. Mr..
Merrill corroborated the,testimony Of pre-
vious witnesses, and said that in view Of
the fact that none of the Wassarman fami-
ly were about the place during or just after
the fire, he sent two officers to their house
to bring them over. When they came they
were both much excited and rather inco-
herent in their statements. They said that
the store was closed earlier than usual by
Louis. on account of his child's illness, so
that he could go after the doctor. AS to
the light left, Wasserman could not say.
lie usually left one electric light burning,
and supposed he did so on this night.
Wasserman, while moving around the store
iished out the iron lamp-stand from the
corner and identified the lamp found by
Mr.. Barrows as the one that was on it.
He could not say whether the chimney
was on 1t or not. Witness smelled kero-
sene about the store, and found a can of it
open in the back room. Wasserman went
back to his house after his store key, with
which witness locked up, after securing
the broken windows, and ordered Wasser
man not to 80 into the store again until the
insurance inspector had looked 1t over.