Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-04-14
THE CITY WILL ACT.

Despite "a Refusal of Mr.. ". IL Chapman to
Permit the Tearing Down of the Rear
Portion of His Building.
40 work was done yesterday in the
direction of tearing or throwing down
the rear portions of the Hutchisson
and Chapman buildings, for two rea-
sons. first. because it would have in
terfered with the search for the body
OF NIehal HOran, and second. because
of the REFUSAL i'm writing, OF Mr.. Chap
man. to give his consent to such work,
and his reference Of the city authorl-
ties 20 his contractors. the j. w. BeltZ
a. Son Go. This has only postponed
work. however. which the authorities
claim is absolutely necessary as
A MEASURE OF PRECAUTION
and it viii probably be undertaken to-
morrow.
Upon receipt of the notice sent to the
owners Of the property on Friday even
fne. bv CITY Solicitor BOyce, ON behalf
of the city. the firm of Il. T. Hutchls-
son G Co. ut once gave the required
consent to the demolition of the fraS-
meut of their structure still standing.
lrr. Chapman not only did not give a
like consent buJ addressed a counter
notice TO- Mayor Caldwell and Chief
HeaIy. of which the following is q
COPY.
AT THE CITY'S PERIL.
"Wheeling. w. Va, April 10, 1895.
oB. II. Caldwell. Mayor Of The City Of
Wheeling
"F. j. HeaIy. Chief Fire Department
"Gentlemeu.-The walls mentioned
I iu your notice dated April 18th, but
not delivered 90 me until this morn
ing. are not under my control. The
greater part of them were placed by the
I j. w.. Be,tz G Sons Co., on my ground,
under q contract between that Com
panv and myself. and the remainder
was under their control for the purpose
of work under that contract. The
contract has not been completed, and
the work done under it has not been
accepted from the j. w. Beltz x Sons
Go. These walls are therefore at the
risk of that Company, and you are re-
sDectfulIy referred TO them. l regret
that for these and other reasons l can
not take the action suggested by you,
or agree that the CiJT of Wheeling has
the right TO do what YOU propose. Any
such action by the City Of Wheeling is
without my consent, and of course, Is
at the risk and peril Of the city.
Respectfully,
Wv. II. CHAPMAN"
Upon receipt of this letter by the Off
ciaIs To- whom it was addressed, they
at once placed it i'm the hands of City
Solicitor B0yce, and later in the day
the Solicitor. Mayor Caldwell and
Chief HeaIy
HAD A CONFERENCE.
The firm of j. w. Beltz & Sons Co. was
communicated with, and they not only
reDudlated the idea that they were IN
any manner liable or had anything TO
do with the Chapman premises, but
further said they expected to be paid
I'm full for work done upon the house.
Am of which would appear to form the
foundation for litigation in the imme-
dia-n future.
Still later i'm the day the city author
tiles held another conference, and last
evening City Solicitor Boyce said that
while definite action and actual work
would De deferred until Monday, he
Thought it certain that the city would
insist upon the walls coming down
without delay and would remove them
forthwith if the owners did not. The
recovery of the body of HOran Will
leave the way clear for the demolition
of the remains OF the houses. if the city
deems it wise 10 act.