Evening star., 1896-10-09
James Fitzgerald's Death Being Fur
ther Inquired Into.
TEE COR0NER'S DUTIES DEFINED
Mr.. Albert viii Not Allow Out
siders in the Building.


afternoon at the sixth precinct police sta
ton. In addition to Attorney for the Dis
trict s. T. Thomas, Assistant District At
tcrney c. A. Armes was in attendance.
When the hearing opened Mr.. Charles L.
Beatty announced that Mr.. Stinometz. one
of the experts selected by Mr.. F. H. Fin
ley to make an examination of the Albert
building, had visited the structure this
afternoon. presented a card from the cor
oner and was refused admission.
This he added, was a correct statement
of facts, Notwithstanding the understand
ing reached Wednesday that the experts
agreed upon, and authorized by the cor
oner should be permitted to enter and ex-
anime the structure.
That is right" said Mr.. Albert. II re-
fused Mr.. Stinemetz admission, and shall
so enter my building except by force or
by process of law.
II think the coroner has some say In
that matter said Mr.. Beatty.
II think not" added Mr.. Albert.
"Then you defy the coroner" said Mr..
Beatty.
1t was found tn at the experts summoned
by Mr.. Finley were not present and it was
explained by Mr.. Beatty that the experts
referred to had not been officially notified
Of their selection by the coroner. and there
fore did not think it necessary to attend the
investigation.
Curious Duties.
At the request Of the coroner, Assistant
District Attorney Armes explained the du-
ties Of the coroner. II will state" he said,
that this is an ex-parte proceeding that
should be conducted wholly without inter-
ference by any outside person; that he is
entitled to call in as his legal adviser any
law officer whom he may choose.
1t Is his duty to summon such witnesses
as in his judgment ought to be summoned
been sufficiently investigated the facts
should be submitted to this jury, and they
| should determine, from the evidence, the
cause of this mans death, If they can. If
| negligent. that person should be accused
by them. That should be their verdict.
| No one has any right to be heard here, ex-
| cepting the witnesses who are summoned.
ut Is an ex parte proceeding, as l have
| stated before. wholly, absolutely. It is
| not a trial, either criminal or civil: but it
| Is simply an inquiry as 10 the cause Of this
mans death: and when that has been COM
pleted. AS l have stated, the verdict should
| be rendered,
And 1t does seem to me from the re-
| ports made Of the case in the public press
| that the coroner would now be justified in
| declining to hear any outside parties, SIM
ply summoning such witnesses as he may
| think will throw light upon the proper
| subject of the inquiry"
| AS some further discussion followed, the
|
| clent evidence had been presented to en-
! able them to reach a verdict. The jury de-
| cided to withdraw for he purpose of con-
sidering the matter, and a recess was TAX
| en- in order to permit such consideration.
Examined the Anchor.
| At the request of Mr.. William Stone
| Albert. the proprietor of the Albert build.
| ing. Mr.. Robert Stead, an architect; Mr..
| George W. Cochran, Mr.. Edmonston Of the
reporter this afternoon visited the Albert
| building, In order to witness the opening
| of the east wall about the end of the CEN
| trail supporting beam of the upper floor of
| the structure.
At the coroner's inquest Wednesday Mr..
| hn Holmes. assistant superintendent of
construction at the new city post office
building, declared that he had had the wall
| opened at the point mentioned, and found
| there piece of scrap iron three-eighths of
| an inch in diameter running through a sew
| eE-eighths-inch anchor hole and not a
! wrought iron anchor three-quarters of an
inch in diameter, had been testified by
Mr.. Schneider, the iron contractor had
been placed there. In the presence of wit
nesses, Mr.. Albert wished to determine the
| truth or falsity of Mr.. Holmes statements
The wall was opened and the piece of
| iron referred to by Mr.. Holmes removed.
By measurement it was found to be exact
ly one-half inch in diameter and fifteen
| inches long. At one end 1t was curled and
| ATCHlteCt bFOWn stated tnat the rod had
probably been used before. The other an
chors, he said, were straight rods. The
rod removed, so 1t was stated, was wrought
iron but the fact that 1t had been used
before probably caused Mr.. Holmes to de.
scribe 1t as scrap iron.
( Both Mr.. Albert and Architect Brown
| seemed to think it 1udicrous that becaus,
one anchor was found to be one-fourth O
| an inch less In diameter than the Others
the strength Of the east wall could hav
been affected or the fall Of the west wal
| resulted therefrom.
Other Testimony.
After an absence of ten minutes the Jury
returned, and through Juror Shilling an.
nounced that it desired to have presented
the figures showing the survey Of the north
east and northwest corners of the walls Ct
the Albert building.
Mr.. James Watson, a civil engineer 1,
the employ Of the District, was called, an,
he stated that at the direction of the com
| putting engineer he surveyed the walls q
the building Wednesday morning. Th,
front of the building, said Mr.. Watson, wa
found to be perfectly perpendicular at th
east corner.
The greatest concave in the east wall
. about the center. was So of an inch. A
the top the greatest concave was l.
inches.
At the conclusion of Mr. watson's testi
! mony Juror Kopf asked for the figures OBJ
tair ed by Mr.. Holmes in his survey
was stated that Mr.. Holmes figures ha
been given while that witness was on tn
stand Wednesday,, and, therefore, were fl
| evidence.
Mr.. Watson added that the statemen
1 that .he had compared notes with Nj
Holmes was false. --
e Mr.. Stinemetz, who had by this time al
: | rived at the station, was permitted to tax
a the stand. He explained that he visite
the building armed with a card from tn
| coroner and was refused admittance. Ur
der the circumstances, he could not Civ
). testimony as to the construction of tn
building. ...-. 49, *
"I would like to say a few words in ez
planation,' said Mr.. Albert.
n I'VE do not want to hear any explana
e tion." said Juror Shilling.
n Thanks" said Mr.. Albert. He was pei
a | mitted to explain why he does not propos
to permit any one else to examine tn
: building.
+ When The Stars report closed storm
alteration was in progress between Jurc
= Shilling and Mr.. Albert.
a VIII Aid the Castles.
= Secretly Olney today received cabl
g message from Ambassador Bayard in re