St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-16
New Inquest ON the Ford's
Theater Disaster Now
Under Way.
Builders Testify That Altera-
tions Caused the Build
ing's Collapse.
Col. Ainsworth Refused Per-
mission to Cross-Exam.
inc Witnesses.
Secretary Gresham Has An
other Diplomatic Tangle
to Unravel.

WASHINGTON, June l5.-Ihe new IN
quest has started Four days of work
have been wasted, and now the-work of
finding, so far as coroner's Jury can
find. who is responsible for the disaster
at the Ford theater building has COM
menced once more. The decision of
Judge Bingham yesterday, of course,
necessitated an entirely new inquest.
All the testimony which had so far been
given was of no more value, from legal
standpoint, than If it had been delivered
to the winds, instead of to six at
tentive jurors. Through this case,
however, the district has learned some
things, and this morning the inquest
was started in formal way. Col. AIMS
worth's attorney was In the hall few
minutes before the inquest began, but
he withdrew before Coroner Patterson
raped the jury to order. The old jury
was summoned for the new inquest, and
the coroner and the jury went to Glen
wood cemetery and viewed the body of
Frederick p. Lotus, one of the victims.
whose body lies in a receiving vault
there.
The First Witness
was James L.. Parsons, contractor and
builder. who testified that he had exam
med the old theater last month with a
view to submitting bid for making the
proposed alterations. He submitted a
bid for the contemplated work, but
failed 10 get the contract. In a subse-
Quent examination the work he no.
ticed that no snoring, had been done and
there was no evidence of any having
been done. Witness said he would
have shored the floors from the cellar
piers up while the work was being done
if he had gotten the contract. When
the witness examined the building in
May he found no evidence Of unsafe
conditions.
81 would consider the building at that
time as absolutely safe"
Col. Ainsworth addressed a letter to
Coroner Patterson, which was then
read, complaining that the jury were
prejudiced against him by the testimony
proceedings of the previous Illegal in
quiry,and urging his right to be present
by counsel, and to cross-examine the
witnesses. Coroner Patterson refused
the request.
Edward Clark, the architect. told of
the alterations of the theater building
which he made in 1865. The building
was then perfectly safe. In 1883 he
made an examination Of the structure
and
Thought 1t Safe.
Thomas B. Entwistle, inspector of
buildings for the district, said he was
called upon about five years ago to 90
over the building and give his opinion
as to its safety. The RESULT of the ex-
animation was that he found the floors
and walls perfectly safe. Francis Sasse,
the engineer of the old theater building,
said he had made the specifications for
the electric light plant. Cross-examined,
the witness said he considered himself
competent as an engineer to draw the
plans, but did not consider himself
competent to say how the work should
be done. Examined by Attorney Thom-
as, Mr.. Sasse said he did not consider
himself competent man to superin-
tend the work; he relied on the COM
potency Of Mr.. Dant, the contractor.
James Ii. Dony, the compositor who set
up the original text of the specifications
for the electric lighting plant, said he
thought half of them were typewriter
and the rest in Col. Ainsworth's hand
writing.
Mr.. Perkins, builder, David Cissell.
bricklayer, and Columbus Thomas,
builder, were examined. They all
agreed that the collapse was caused by
the unskilled character of the work.
Mr.. CisselI said it was about the worst
he ever saw. Capt. Thorpe, of the war
department. testified that he had moth
ing to do with the specifications which,
he understood, were supervised by Col.
Ainsworth alone. Adjourned until to-
morrow