The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-25
CORONER MIX INVESTIGATES
INTEREST IN THE CROUN STREET
 FIRE NOT ABATED.

Accounts of the Catastrophe as Told by
 Pneghar's Employes Are Listened to by
 an Attentive Audience Witnesses Agree
 That the Flames Came From Below but
 do Not Explain Why Those on the Second
 Floor Heard Nothing of the Explosion
 Which They Do Not Deny Started the
 Blaze.
 The coroner's office was filled With witnesses, insurance men, their attor- neys, and representatives of the press when the investigation as to the cause of the Crown street fire began yesterday afternoon at o'clock.
 The fatality of the catastrophe, the amount of insurance carried, the num- Der of companies that are affected by the losses-all combined to increase the public interest.
 The lapse of time seems not to have abated the interest, and every one, the Acetylene Gas company, the gentlemen who lost their property, the insurance companies and the general public are demanding a full and complete inquisi- tion of the coroner.
 MT. Mix has felt this demonstration and responded to 1t by holding a public enquiry. Another feature that tends to increase the importance of the case is that several moneyed men of this city have been importuned to take stock in the manufacture and the sale of acetylene gas. One of these gentle men attended an exhibition of this com- pound in Hartford a few weeks ago. It Is still claimed by those engaged in the manufacture of the gas that 1t is less explosive than common coal gas.
 The adjusters of the insurance conn., panies who hold policies on the stock of English & Mersick, valued at be- tween $45, ,000 and $50,000, were in town yesterday and held a meeting in the office of the New Haven Fire Under writers association in the Phoenix building yesterday forenoon. The meet ing of the adjusters was entirely pri- vate, not even the New Haven agents of the companies being invited to par ticipate. Several of them were seen after the meeting, and they declared they had simply got together to talk it over informally, that not all the adjust CTS had arrived, and they had taken no action except to adjourn, so that some of them could attend the coroners in- quest yesterday afternoon.
 The companies holding policies on the stock of English & Mersick are Royal, Connecticut, Niagara, German Amerl- can, Springfield Brooklyn, Atlantic, Hartford and Liverpool.
 MT. Goodsell, representing the Pacific and the Broadway, and MT. Holt. rep resentlng the Royal, are here. in the ir- on the building. As yet they have talk en no action and MT. Goodsell said it would take time before anything would be done.
 When the inquiry began yesterday be- fore the coroner there were present:
 The United States Acetylene Gas company of New York was represented by Attorney John w. Alling, Pfleghar & Son by Attorney Edward G. Buck land of Watrous & Buckland. Attorney w. H. Chapman represented the own CTS of the Morley system of making acetylene gas, and Colonel James R. Hosmer of New York represented the Casualty and Fidelity Insurance com pany. Pfeghar & Son carried an enl- ployer liability policy issued by this company.
 A letter was received from Dr. Ballosa. the physician who is attending Frank P. Pleghar and Alexis Krah, in which he stated that his patients were unable to come to the inquest yesterday after noon.
 Frank Richter was not able to be present, and on account of the non-ap- pearance of these important witnesses the inquiry will be continued.
 The gist of the testimony offered yes- terday afternoon was to the effect that the fire originated on the second floor How that such a condition as this could exist and no one upon the second floor be aware of it does not appear. A dia- gram of the room was placed before the witnesses as they appeared before the coroner. The position of the tank, the regulator and the sink were all shown as well as the lathe and the places where the workmen were in the build- ing.
 The testimony was not very clear on many of the important points of the case No one knew whether Hauser was working on the regulator positively or whether he was at the lathe or at the vice filing, as was suggested by one of the men on Tuesday. That he was kill ed instantly and by the first explosion is not denied, however.
 James F. McNeil of Pearl street, a tool maker, was the first witness He had been in the employ of F. P Pfleg- har & Son. The Pfeghars were engag- ed in the making of tools, sewing ma chine attachments and novelties. In reply to questions he stated that they were experimenting on a machine for regulating the pressure of gas, but he could not state for whom it was being done. Two tanks of acetylene gas had been received at the shop. He did not know where they came from. One was received about Christmas ard the sec ond one some time later. There were parts of twenty-five similar regulating machines scattered about the shop and of these four were complete and put to- gether. The witness, with MT Pfieghar Adam Lichtieg, Frank Richter and Haul ser, was engaged in the experimenting with tha machine under the direction of the foreman, MT. KTah.
 He claimed that they were experi-