The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-31
DECISION OF CORONER MIX
HIS OPINION AS TO THE CAUSE OF
 THE GROWN STREET FIRE.

He Finds That, From the Evidence Pro- duced, Hauser Was Accustomed to Test the Valve With a lighted Match to Find
 Leaks, That While SO at Work on the Morning of Tuesday, the s1st Instant, an
 Explosion Occurred Killing Kim In
 stantly-The Opinion Attaches No Crimi-
 nal Negligeuce-The Acetylene Gas People
 Satisfied With the Decision-Am Ordin-
 ance Suggested.
 The final chapter of the terrible cat astrophe which has been uppermost in the minds of the citizens of this city ever since the fire alarm rang on the morning of the 21st instant and brought not only the fire department, but thou sands of citizens, to the scene of the Crown street conhagration, closed yes terday with the opinion given by Coro- ner Mix.
 The inquiry has been most thorough and painstaking one. No means have been left unemployed that the coroner thought would throw light on the cause of the explosion which set fire to the Msrsick building and resulted in the death of Joseph c. Hauser, Dr. J. T. Toof and Harbona Stephens. The wit nesses all have shown a willingness that was commendable to give all they knew of the accident.
 The representatives of the Acetylene Gas company invited the fullest inves- tigation, claiming all the time that when this was done their compound would not suffer MT. Devine of Phila- delphia said late yesterday afternoon that he was perfectly satisfied with the Way in which he had fared at the hands of the coroner
 Criminal negligence has not been inn puted to any one by the decision of the coroner He makes an important sug- gestion to the court of common council concerning the enactment of an ordi- nance giving the fire marshal greater power where he has reason to believe such explosive material is used. The opinion reads as follows:
 Joseph c. Hamser resided at No. IS Elliott street, New Haven, Conn.,, and was a machinist in the employ of F. F. Pfeghar & Son, manufacturers of tools and hardware speciaFties, "A Crown street.
 Pfleghar & Son for several weeks pri- or to January 21, 1896, had been makin 8 gas regulators for E. J. Toof, a mech anical inventor who had an office on the same floor of the building i'll which Pfeghar & Sons workshop was located, It was intended to use the regulators to regulate the flow of gas as it came from the cylinders in which 1t was stored to the burners.
 Some of the regulators had been per- fected and We're working satisfactorily, when it was discovered that on aceoun. of not having sufficient gas to enable them to get a high pressure to test these regulators, a new cylinder of gas was required, and tllereupon new cy- finder containing acetylene was receiv- ed into the factory and attached to the regulator and it's connections.
 MT. Toof had previously determined to make a new top valve for the cylin- ders in addition to the regulators which he had perfected. This new valve was being made by Pfleghar & Son, under MT. Toof's direction, and while Pfeghar & Son had the supervision of the same Joseph c. Hauser was doing the actual work. He had been working on this valve for about two weeks, testing it nearly every day for a week or so, and using the old cylinder (which had been set aside on account of it's reduced pres sure) to make his tests.
 His mode of testing the valve to de- termine whether it was leaking was by igniting match and applying it around or about the connections. This he did repeatedly, as did others also who were interested in the work.
 On Monday morning, January 20, '96, the morning prior to the explosion, the new valve was being tested and found to be still leaking, whereupon Hauser again took it off and worked upon it at his lathe. He was told by his foreman, MT. Krah, and also by MT. Pfleghar, ST., to continue at the work of perfect ing this valve, and therefore it seems quite certain that Hauser was working on the valve on Tuesday morning, Jan- uary 21, 1896.
 While he was thus working an explo- sion of the cylinder containing the gas occurred, and the concussion from the explosion killed MT. Hauser instantly, and the gas escaping from the cylinder, becoming ignited, severely burned sev- eral of the workmen, and set fire to the building in which Pfeghar & Sons workshops were located.
 From the evidence I am of the opinion that MT. Hauser was working on the new valve on Tuesday morning prior to and at the time of the explosion. and that he attempted (without the assist ance of any one) to attach the new valve upon the old cylinder for the rea son that a piece of the pipe belonging to the old cylinder is found broken off in the new valve. The new valve was a piece of metal weighing from ten to twelve pounds, and was so constructed that great force could be used with a large wrench if it was desired to force it upon the pipe leading from the old valve.
 In my opinion, Hauser in applying the new valve to the old cylinder on Tues day forenoon, did it alone, and that in forcing the new valve upon the hori- zontal pipe leading from the old valve so that there would be no leak, he rup- tured or broke off the pipe leading from the old valve.
 In my opinion he had put the new valve on the pipe leading from +ba oId