Evening star., 1896-10-08
The Fitzgerald Inquest Breaks Up
in a Wrangle.
CAUSTIC REMARKS WERE FREQUENT
Charges and Counter Charges Flew
Back and Forth.
S q M M A RY ADJOURNMENT

of James Fitzgerald, who was crushed in
the ruins of the Beatty building, which was
demolished by the collapse of the west wall
of the Albert building during the severe
storm Of last week. AS stated in The Star
the visit of the jury to the Albert building
was made of striking interest because of
the almost continuous interchange of per-
sonalities between Building Inspector Bra
dy and Mr.. John Holmes, assistant super
intendent of construction of the new City
post Office building. The hearing, which
was resumed at the sixth precinct station
shortly after 3 o'clock. began very quietly,
the feature at the opening being the course
followed by Mr. S. T. Thomas, the attorney
for the District, which was diametrically
opposite that of the day before, when Mr..
Thomas practically conducted the inquest
and kept up an almost uninterrupted fus.l-
lade of questions and crosS-queSt.onS. Yes
terday, however, he maintained silence and
left the room after lapse of about twenty
minutes.
The proceedings soon after the start were
far from dull. They gradually grew inter
esting, and then rapidly exciting, until a
scene OF wild disorder, many thought, would
have occurred had not Coroner Hamme;t
summary adjourned the hearing until Fri
cay afternoon at O'Clock.
MIR. Holmes Tes:ifes.
The first witness called yesterday was Mr.
Holmes. He stated that he had examined
the Albert building at the request of Messrs
Beatty and Finley. The east wall was test
ed with instruments and found to be
''buckled in four and quarter inches
Mr.. Holmes described two anchors which
were found at the building and good many
other things which he considered defective
II the building was to be heavily loa led, Mr..
Holmes did not think the remaining por-
tlon OF the west wall safe to build upon
n
Brown to cross-examine the Witness which
caused Mr.. Shilling, one of the jurors, to re-
mark that the jury was able to decide the
case without outside interference, and he
added: we are gong to do it, and dom t
you forget it,
The examination of Mr.. Holmes was
marked by much wransling, and the wit
ness finally requested to he informed wheth-
er the proceedings were held for the pUr-
pose of eXonerating the architect or to IN
vestgate the cause of the death of Mr.
t'itZg erald
More Witnesses.
After Mr.. d. p. Clark, an architect, was
declared TO be rot eligible as a witness by
the coroner. for the reason that ne had not
examined the Albert building Mr. Frank
Finley requested that Mr.. Emmert, who
| had testified the day before, be recalled.
'.Gentlemen of the jury, if you want 10
hear from MIR. Emmert again | will have
him called. said the coroner.
Yes, | want 10 hear from him. replied
Juror Smiling. In my opinion there Is
something wrong about this case
You have no right to speak in that
manner, said Coroner Hammett indig-
| nantly. The members of the jury should
| keep their views to themselves until they
prepare the verdict"
Nothing startling was brought out by
| the examination of Mr.. Emmert. Many
| questions of a technical character were
asked and Building Inspector Brady made
a further explanation OF the building regu-
lations.
Mr.. William G. Steinnetz, who explained
| that ne was an architect, engineer and
! mechanic, took the stand the request
| of Mr.. Finley. Coroner Hammett was
about to rule Mr.. Steinmetz not competent
| as witness because he also had not view
I ed the Albert building, when Juror kopf
interjected an inquiry to whether OF
rot the witness had noticed anything un-
| usual about the construction of the build
| ing. Mr.. SteinmetZ replied very emphati-
| cally that he had observed the lack OF
| anchors in the wall. He viewed the col
| lapsed structure at an early hour the day
following the storm from a point but a
| few yards from the fallen wall.
| Mr. Albert called to the stand William
| Lee, coiored youth, who was in the
| buildiI at the time the wall fell, in the
+ capacity of night watchman.
Mr. Beatty wanted to know if Lee was
| an expert witness, and Mr.. Albert replied
! in the negative, but explained that he
1
| of the building were closed on the night OF
| the storm.
Il must object to this man testifying
said Mr. Beatty. addressing himself to the
| coroner. Half a dozen Of our witnesses
were rejected on the ground that they
| were not experts"
Lee, however. was permitted to testify
Among other things he said that he saw
| irons in the ends of the beams in The
building after the storm.
What time did you see the irons?' aske(
Mr.. Beatty.
About 5 o'clock in the morning"
| Were they bent or straight?"
lone of them was bent"
| "Are you sure Of that?'
Il am
Now, as a matter of fact, don't yo,
| know that it was dark as night at ; o'clocl
in the morning."
well, it wasn't dark that morning"
"Oh, it got lighter than usual for you
benefit that morning, did it?' said Mr.
| Beatty SarcaStically, and the spectator
snickered audibly.
Storm Brewing.
Mr.. Adolph Cluss, well-known architec
Of this city, was called. He also had no
visited the building, and was about to b
excused by the coroner on that ground
when Mr.. Finley jumped to his feet.
This thing has gone just about ia
enough" he said. Il did not summon thes
| gentlemen the suppostion that the,
had visited the building. 1 called them a
experts. No one here will deny that the
are such. What 1 want. Mr.. Coroner, i
your permission to have Mr.. Cluss and MI
Steinmetz to go to the Albert building an
inspect it thoroughly, and then come befor
this jury and say whether or not in thei
opinion as men of experience and ex
perts that structure was properly put uI
And, Mr. Coroner. If they are permitted t
make the visit want you to direct Messrs
Albert and Brown and Brady to stay ava,
| n he inSnepfiOD
At this point Mr.. Hewlett asked perms
sion 10 say a word. You have not per
mitted these gentlemen to testify becaus
they have not examined the Albert build
ing" he said. Then why was it that
was permitted to testify yesterday? ha
never entered that building prior to tn
storm, and have not been within it ye,
Notwithstanding that fact, was called o
the stand and browbeaten and harasse
in a shameful manner by Attorney Thomas
who was assisted by these men. Albert an
Brown, who ought to have been ejecte
from the room. Why cannot We have som
| justice here?'
An Outbreak.
| <ho Nv har