Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-07-18

Indications That There Were Two BIund-
ers, One Caused the Fire, the Other the
Loss of Life-The Firemen Warned of the
Danger, but Took No Heed-A Curious
Issue of Neutrality-suspicious. of the Testi-
mony So Far Given.
CHICAGO, July 1s.-"Who was at fault?"
That is the question to which the coroner is
now trying to find reply in relation to
the fire at the cold storage warehouse on
the fair grounds. And the reply is likely 80
far as the testimony taken shows, to some,
what scatter the responsibility. That the
primary fault was in not completing the
tower according to the plans by supply
ing the "collar" at the end of the
boiler iron smoke pipe that would have
carried it to the top of the cupola seems
to be something that cannot be denied, for
it never was finished and it is almost GER
tain that the fire first caught at the top
OF the cupola
Regarding the Sacrifice of Life.
That was the cause of the fire. The ques-
tlon of who was responsible for the loss of
life IS a more difficult one. A building
may be constructed so as to lie easy to
catch fire, may burn to the ground, and
no one may lose his life. Certainly no one
| would have lost his life in the cold storage
fire if he had not put it in jeopardy; and
that is what seems to have been done in
this case. Marshal Murphy swears that
when he reached the fire the men were al
| ready in the tower seventy feet above the
| roof of the main building. How they got
: there he does not say-he did not see
Neither does he say how he got on the
| main roof himself
Means of Escape Absent.
| Bat it seems clear that there was no
means OF escape provided from the tower
to the roof of the main building, thing
| that good management would have re-
| quired as first consideration, especially
as the fremen themselves believed the
| tower to be trap. When Murphy reached
the roof Fitzpatrick, the captain who led
his men up in>o the tower, asked for a
| twenty -fve-foot ladder, its purpose being
TO enable tie firemen 20 climb to the blaze
which they saw at the top of the cupola.
| The ladder was raised by means of ropLs
| Shortly after this, according to Murphy's
| story, there was an explosion and the fire
burst ont below the men. Then began
that terrible series of jumps, each one of
which was to a fearful death
| a Curious Clash of a Statements.
| Fitzpatrick was terribly wounded by his
| jump and lay on the roof partly covered by
| falling timbers from the tower, when some
body re: cued him and lowered him to the
ground only to die shortly afterward.
| Who did this? 1t was brave deed that is
certain. Blts Chief Swenie and others de
clare that Lieutenants Barker and Mille-,
both of the city department, made the
rescue. On the other hand Marshal
Murphy swears that he and two of the fair
| fire department did it, Thus a very strange
| issue of veracity is established as to the
one unqnestionably heroic deed Of the dis
aster.
| What Mr.. Burnham Says.
Murphy swore he did not order the men
into the tower, and presumes that poor
| Fitzpatrick did, rs the latter had charge
of the matter before Murphy arrived on
the ground. Director of Works Burnham
saw little of the fire. He did not examine
| the plans of the building. as he could not
attend to such details. They were, how
ever, examined by competent men and
approved. Alsopp, superintendent of the
warehouse, had notified the proprietors
that the plan of the smoke funnel should
be completed-bad done so repeatedly
The company had been forced to burn hard
instead of soft coal by the exposition
authorities threatening to pull their fires
if they did not do So