The state chronicle., 1893-06-13
WAS 1T A DEATH TRAP?
The VESEIGATlON OF yEE
WASHINGTON DISASTER
IN PROGRESS.
AesImony OF Clerks Make Col. Aias
worth Appear In a Bad LIGHT
citing Scenes In the Court Room.
BY Southern Associated Press

ny southern Associated Press.
WASHINGTON, June 12-The inoues
over the bodies of the victims @
the f'ord's theatre disaster wac com
menced today in Willard Hail. Aims
worth, Chief of Record and Per-
sion Division, who has been place,
Oh the defensive by implied accuse
tions that he waa responsible for th,
presence of clerks in the old build
lng, was in atten dance without q,
attorney. About one hundred Der
sons were present, most Of then
clerks CT the Record and Pensio,
division. The stateme 1T Of witnesse,
that the clerks held themselves j,
aoJect fear Of Ainsworth was re-
sponded to by a round OF applause
A letter from Secretary Lamont we.
read, giving assurance that no clerl
need fear dismissal on account ol
his testimony.
Benjamin Reiss, clerk class l. re-
cord and pension division Of the
wsr department, employed in the
Old theatre building was the first wit.
ness called. He had been excuse 4
he said at 9 o'clock on the morning
or disaster On account ofbusiness and
wss not present when the buildino
feil. He had for several years heard
rumors that the building was un-
safe. He had eeen Col. Ainswortb
IN the building a day or two pre-.
vious to the disaster while the bro.
greas OF excavation was going on.
Charles Troutman. clerk in tbe
Old theatre, whose desk WAS on the
first floor, described the fall of the
hoors and his escape. He said he
knew instinctively that the excaya-
ton had caused the accident. Wit
ness had been warned not to ap-
proach the roped off space, but to
his knowledge no orders had been
issued about the insecurity of the
building except an unofficial warn.
ing he saw no underpinning of
the hrst floor. lie had heard of the
Ioped-off space called "The dead
line" The day before the accident
ne s." Alnsworth examining the
roped,of space minutely, and he
thought he went down stairs to see
the excavation. Ainsworth came
nearly everyday while the excava-
ton was going On. The old EN-.
ployees OF the building had told
nm 1t was a shell and "a death
trap"
Smith Thompson, clerk in TIE
theatre building, VINO made bitter
speech denouncjng Ainsworth at
the q relief meeting on Friday. testi.
ned that when the accident occurred
ne was ct his desk at work on tie sec.
ond floor to the rear of the light
weii' the part of the building which
did not fall. Ia describing his ex-
peilence he said there was no fire
escape on the building and only ore
door for entrance and exit.
clad you ever heard warning
about the stairway % asked the
deputy coroner.
"F'requently, frequently" said the
The servants or messen-
gers OF Ainsworth who were sta
tlcned On the stairway notified us
With bated breath that it was Aims.
~ortb,s orders that the employees
.horld go easily, on tip toe, up and
down stairs. [ do not know the
names OF these servants or massen-
gers. One was called Henry" q
'oiored msn. The building was
Known to all the clerks a. a death
rap, bat our bread and butter de-
pended on working there, SO what
could we do? Only this morning
received letter from a friend. q
ady, in which she said she recol-
ected distinctly that I said two
7ears ago [ was going into a death
rap. Witness said that he hsd
oeen civil engineer. Every day
le went below stairs and watched
he progress of the excavation. He
aw no pillars or props used in
loidlng up the first floor while the
excavation was going ON. It was a
natter OF common talk that this
YORK was dangerous, and a fellow
lerk had warned him not to go
here. He had heard that Mr..
rage, one OF the victims, had applied |
or leave of absence during the pro-
.ress OF the work in the basement,but
hat 1t had been refused. Mr.. Gage,
o understood, was apprehensive of
anger. Concerning the one stair
'sy III the theatre building, Mr..
thompson said it was not sufficient
or the rapid exit of one-half the
Jerks with safety. Ia going down
ne stairway he heard the clerks call
ut, "Take csre; the stairs are an
afe."
Just at this stage in Thompson's
sstimony there was a strange scene
iustratin g the bitter feeling against
lnsworth. A majority Of the spec
stors present at the inquest were !
erks who were employed in the
Id theatre building. Mr.. Warner,
ne OF the jurors, asked the witness
hat was the feeling of the clerks
the theatre building towards their
'perior officer, Col. Ainsworth.
That of abject fear," answered Mr..
thompson, imp1 essively. A slight
lzz and shifting chairs followed,
en- a slight clapping of hands.