The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-06-12

Burying the Victims of Fridays
Great Disaster.
TWO MORE DANGEROUS GASES.

Tho Death List May be Increased by tho
Addition of Ono Name from Wisconsin
and Another from nIassachusetts-Fix-
ing the Responsibility for tho Accident.
WASHINGTON, June 12.-The remains Of
The dead victims Of the horrible wreck Of
Ford's theater on Friday last have nearly
all boon disposed Of. Washington was yes
tcrday city OF funerals, and all day long
mourners won't about the streets. Every
one knew what the sad professions meant
and the sympathy Of all was extended, al
belt unexpressed in many cases to the sor-
rowing, stricken ones. Inquiry confirms
the statement that none of the victims
were men of property Most of them lived
on their salaries, which furnished means
OF livelihood, but left little for time like
this. Most Of them were married, and
some had large families, who are now left,
II not entirely dependent upon friends and
relatives, at least lacking in funds for i'm.
mediate use. The list OF the dead is TWEEN
ty-two, not twenty-four, as reported on
Saturday.
Tho injured in Fridays catastrophe now
In the hospitals are, with the exception of
two, In fair way to recover. The serious
cases are those of J. p. Mccormack, OF
Wisconsin, and Frank Metcalf, of Massa-
chusetts. The former receiveda depressed
fracture Of the ribs, and has been in
critical condition. Death is likely to oc-
cur at any moment Mr. Metcalf sus-
tained dislocated hip, and was doing as
well as could be expected under the cir
cumstances until pneumonia developed,
and the physicians are not now able to
predict the result in his case.
Patrick Doyle, contractor for forty
years in Washington, says that five months
ago he was sent for by the officials of the
record and pension division. war depart
ment. -"ghcy wanted me-" said Mr..
Doyle, ITO take the job of undermining
the old structure, for the purpose of put.
tingin an electric plant. I told them that
would not touch the job. had several
reasons for this refusal. The first was that
itwas risky and dangerous undertaking;
secondly, they did not have any plans or
specifications for the work; thirdly, there
was no civil engineer or expert to super
wise the operations, and the contractor
was supposed to go ahead at random, or in
. haphazard manner; fourth they were
niggardly about the amount they wanted
TO pay for the work. and evidently desired
10 nave 1t done in cheap john fashion
For these very good reasons / kept my
hands of the work, and in the light of re-
cent events am glad that did, or today
perhaps i would feel like an assassin
Il examined the pit today into which
She mangled victims were precipitated in
the crash on Friday. / found that no sup.
port had been placed underneath the
center arch where the excavation was
made from the street. he arch should
have been blocked mp from the basement,
and then from floor to floor to the ceiling
LII the front part OF the building. The ac-
cident was caused by undermining the
pillars. The Job was a risky one and there
are evidences of careless undermining"
D., IF the coroner's jury finds verdict in
volving criminality it will be my duty to
report the matter to the grand jury for in
vestigation and action" said District At
torney Birney. indictments will. proba-
bly, follow, unless it is found that the
blame is so much distributed as to make
such a course impossible. This might be
the case il it was the belief of the jury that
congress, for instance, u the blan,cwor.Ay
partY.
Il have taken no action in this unfor-
tunsts matter as yet," continued Mr.. Bir
ney, "and cannot do so until after the in
quest. You may be sure that we shall iol-
low the case closely. / see that the war
department is to have an investigation of
Its own. The result of this, taken with the
findings of the ooroner's inques. will be of
value to me in case of criminality being es-
tablished against any one. Between the
two investigations 1t ought to be possible
10 fix the blame, il there is any"