The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-06-14
FUNERALS OF VICTIMS
OF the Horrible Catastrophe at the
National Capital.
sorrowing Friends Pay Their Last Trib-
utes of Respect-Investigations to
Fix the Responsibility for the
Disaster Condition of
the Injured.

wreck OF tords theater rrluay nave
nearly all been disposed of. Washing.
ton was yesterday city OF funerals
and all day long mourners were seen
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
sorrowing, stricken ones. Inquiry con-
firmed the statement that none Of the
victims were men of property. Most
of them lived on their salaries, which
furnished a means of livelihood, but
left little for day like this. Most of
them were married and some had large
families who are now left, II not en-
tirely dependent upon friends and rela-
tives, at least lacking in funds for i'm
mediate use.
The remains of ]. Boyd Jones were
sent to his home in Evansville, Wis,
where widow and three children
await their arrival. The body of Sam
uel p. Barnes was taken to Bristol, Pa;
that of jeremiah Daley to Romola, Pa;
that of II. S. Miller to Cumberland, o.
What remained of Otto f. W. Mae
der was inferred at Arlington after
services by German Lutheran minis
ter. The body of DR.. Burrows Nelson
was inferred ut Mount Olivet cemetery
and that df Frank NJ, Williams, of Mid
dletown, Wis, was buried in Congress
sional cemetery.
Much of the talk upon the disaster is
now of relief measures and the circula-
tors of subscription papers in the de-
partments and the Washington news
papers in their efforts to gather funds
for the relief of the victims and their
families are meeting with success to
degree that does credit to the benevo-
lence Of the citizens.
One notable fact is the growth of the
feeling of resentment on the part of the
public against the persons responsible
for the wreck. In advance of the ver-
dict of the coroner's jury and of the
findings Of the court Of inquiry ordered
by the war department, there is more
general agreement upon this point, and
the public are rather indiscriminately
condemning everybody who had any
thing TO do with the control of the
wrecked building.
The injured 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 Wiscon-
sin, and Frank Metcalf, of Massachu-
setts. The former received depressed
fracture of the ribs, and is in critical
condition. Death Is likely 10 occur at
any moment. Mr.. Metcalf sustained
dislocated hip and was doing as well as
could be expected under the circum-
stances until pneumonia developed and
the physicians are not now able TO pre-
dict the result in his case.
Deputy Coroner Shaffer was engaged
Sunday in making preparations for the
inquest which will be resumed to-day.
He has subpenaed several witnesses
and II is his intention TO secure oil the
eye-witnesses to the affair that he can.
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 di-
vision, war department. They wanted
me-" said Mr.. Doyle, "to take the Job
Of undermining the old structure for
the purpose of putting in an electric
plant. / told them that / would not
touch the job. had several reasons
for this refusal.
THE first was that IL was a risky and
dangerous undertaking; secondly, that
they did not have any plans or specifi-
cations of the work; thirdly, there was
no civil engineer or expert to supervise
the operations, and the contractor was
supposed TO go ahead at random or in
a haphazard manner; fourthly, they
were niggardly about the amount they
wanted TO pay for the work and evi-
IDENTIFY desired TO have it done in a
cheap John fashion. For these very
good reasons ] kept my hands off the
work, and in the light of recent events
am glad that did, or to-day perhaps
/ would feel like an assassin.
~ examined the pit into which the
mangled victims were precipitated in
the crash on Friday and found that no
support had been placed underneath
the center arch, where the excavation
was made from the street The arch
should have been blocked up from the
basement and then from floor TO floor
TO the tiling in the front Of the build
ing. The accident was caused by un-
dermining the pillars. The Job was n
risky one, and there are evidences Of
careless undermining"
"If the coroner's jury finds verdict
involving criminality 1t will be my
duty TO report the matter TO the grand
jury for investigation and action" said
District Attorney Birney. ''Indict-
ments will probably follow unless 1t is
found that the blame Is so much dis
tributsd as to prevent such n course.
"You may be sure that we shall fol.
low the case closely. see that the war
department is TO have an investigation
Of its own. The result Of the findings
of the coroner's inquest will be Of value
to me in case of criminality being es.
tablished against any one. Between
the two investigations IL ought TO be
possible to fix the blame, II there is
any"
James Gordon Bennett's Condition.