davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24

that any permit had been granted for the
building which has collapsed. "That set
ties it," said the clerk; "they have got nc
permit"
McCluskey, when asked about the per-
nit, was very much inclined to avade the
issue. at is my duty as Fire Warden,
he said ito examine all the buildings
south OF Market and east of Seventh. !
examined the Fifth-street building all
right Monday morning and it was all safe
and sound. OF course L don't know what
may have happened after that"
ibid you demand to see the permit
under which the work was being done?''
McCiuskev was asked.
"Well," he replied, 'they had permit
from the Street Superintendent. They
had to have that before they could tear up
the sidewalk"
Did you see this permit" he was
asked.
McCiushey admitted he hadn't seen the
permit, but it was the Street Superin-
tendent's duty to see that no sidewalks
were torn up without a permit, and he
supposed the Street Superin ntendent had
done his duty.
Then John McCluskey made most re-
markable statement. He said 1t was not
the custom of Fire Wardens to demand
permits for the mere replacing of a four
datlon, even If it is within the fire limits.
If the foundation is insecure" he said,
we serve notice upon them to repair it.
''lf they repair it without notice, we are
glad OF 1T and say nothing about permits
The Fire Warden seemed to be laboring
under considerable doubt as to just when
permit was necessary. He finally ad-
mitted that if the whole front of building
was TO be torn off a permit would be es-
sentlal, and in such case he thought the
Fire Warden's duty was TO see that the
owner or the contractor had one.
eff you saw such work in course OF con-
struction," be was asked, would you de-
mand to see the permit?
well, if there was permit" he said
''we would honor it. We would see it in
the papers and then we would be mott
fed" So McCluskey must have known
that there was no permit issued for the re-
pairing of the building.
In the General Orders of the Board oi
Supervisors the matter seems to have bee q
lucldly stated, and the befogged condition
of the official minds on the subject seems
rather uncalled for. The following is the
section:
Sec. 40. No wooden building within the
fire limits shall be altered, changed or re-
paired without permission in writing, signed
by majority of the Fire Wardens, approved
by committee on Fire Department and the
Mayor, which permit shall fully express the
of which shall be filed by the grantee, within
two daYs, in the office OF the Chief Engineer
and Fire Marshal; but no permit shall be
given to increase the size of said building, ex.
cept as provided for i'll this order.
Another section provides that it shall
be the duty of the Fire Wardens to see
that the provisions of this order are car
ried out, and in case OF violations they are
instructed to make complaint to Po-
lice Judge.
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
A NARROW ESCAPE.
s. l.. Shields of Sacramento Came
Near Being One of the
Victims.

A dispatch to The CALL from Sacra-
mento states that S. L. Shields OF that city
narrowly escaped being included in the
list of wounded or dead of the building
collapse in San Francisco Monday, having
left the building but few minutes before
the awful catastrophe occurred, after an
interview with Sarah Byrne, one of the
unfortunate victims. In speaking of the
matter Mr. Shields said
had engaged the services of Miss Byrne for
my laundry here in Sacramento. and just be-
fore leaving the City called at the house to as
certain if she would come up on the following
day. As passed into the building noticed that
the floor sank under my weight, and thought
at the time that the building was untitled for
occupancy. The feeling increased, for while
in conversation with Miss Byrne could hear
the tlmbers in the wall creaking and groaning.
! called the matter to the attention OF Miss
Byrne and her relatives, saying: ''Do you
hear those sounds? This building is unsafe
In answer thSX replied that they had also
been alarmed, but that the contractor had
told the landlady that everything was per-
fectly safe.
As passed out OF the building noticed the
same sinking and giving OF the floor, and
being aroused looked under the building on
the south side and found that the stringers OF
the foundation did not rest upon the snoring
by over two inches and seemed to be very in
secure, resting they did a bed of sand
that seemed % be slowly shifting. Shortly
after l left the vicinity the building col
lapsed
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
THEY HAD NO PERMIT.
Repairs to the Fifth Street Build
ing Apparently Without Legal
AuthOrity,

Seven hours before the building on Fifth
street came crashing down, burying be-
meath its fatal weight nearly a score OF
inmates and passers-by, John McCluskey,
relief engineer and fire warden, went be-
meath the building, and, as he states, ex-
amined the work carefully. He says he
found it resting upon cIibs, not needles as
has been stated. II would have been
willing 10 sleep there" said John Nc
Cluskey. What the contractors may
have done after l LETT of course don't
know. You never can tell what these
contractors are going to do. OF course, l
couldn't anchor there. l had other duties
to attend to-"
So far McCluskey's statement seems to
be satisfactory, bat there is one clreum-
stance upon which neither McCluskey nor
any one else connected with the Fire De-
partment seemed to be able to throw any
particular light upon. That is, by whose
permission the building was being re-
paired at all. 1t is within the fire limits,
and the ordinance seems clear enough
upon the question OF permits necessary to
be obtained and the manner OF obtaining
them for repairs within the City limits.
Yet among those who should be best
posted the matter seems to be very haZy.
Inquiry of one of the Fire Wardens who
was experimenting the work OF clearing
away the debris elected the information
that the work of reconstructing the build
ing was being regularly prosecuted under
a permit issued by the City Superintend-
ent of Streets. At the headquarters of
that official permit relating to the prem
ises was readily found, but it failed en-
tirely IN serving as warrant for The work
which was being done. The authority OF
the Street Department ends with the street
line. The permits which they issue IN re-
lation to new buildings are uniform and
may be obtained by any one upon deposit
ing $50 as a guarantee of good faith These
permits simply allow the grantee to OBJ
struct one-third of the street with build
ing materials for limited time. Such a
permit was on June 10 granted to Adam
Miller for the Fifth-street building. Per
mits for the reconstruction OF buildings
within the fire limits may be found at the
office of the Fire Department"
At the Office of the Fire Com missloners,
Fire Marshal and Fire Wardens they
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
BURIED IN THE CELLAR.
E. levitt Showed Where the Body
of Dead Man Is
Living,

There is one more man buried in that
pile, said E. levitt of 148 Fifth street to
District Engineer Dougherty and Coroner
Hawkins yesterday afternoon, and he led
the officials 10 the spot where he said he
saw the body a few minutes after the
building went down. The men went down
the rough ladder into the basement,
picked their way among broken timbers
and piles of brick until they reached d
spot on the east side, midway of the
structure.
1t is in there between the side wall and
the street embankment," said levitt.
81 was at work cleaning brick under
the rear of the building. when l heard
the cracking of timbers, and instantly
realized what was happening. l called to
the men to run, and / sprang to the west
wall, which did not come down, and saved
myself After great difficulty | got out on
the street without any injury, but badly
shaken up. Then l thought OF Jesse May,
with whom l had been working, and L
started back, followed by number OF fire.
men. We picked our way TO where L last
saw May and l found him lying there,
bleeding. l caught hold OF him, but he
was fast under some mbers. l got hold
of mans leg and said, j ess, is that your
leg? He said: No; it must be the man
who fell on me. For Gods sake, help me
out
Some one got light and we took May
out, but before l went l saw the man he
spoke about The man had evidently
tried to crawl along the street embank-
ment when big timber caught him
across the middle of the back and he was
crushed to the ground, his legs lying on
Mays body. l saw the man plainly. He
was living face down and his head was
covered with blood. l noticed that he
was bald on the top of his head. am
sure the man was dead. The Sidewalk at
that time was several feet above the base
ment floor, but il has settled since, and in
doing so it come down inside Of where the
man was lying. We carried May ont, and
by that time all my strength was spent, so |
went home to tell my wife that l was not
seriously hurt.
To-day l went down to the Morgue to
see if the mans body was there, but 1t was
not, so it must be here"
Dougherty said that there was plenty OF
room for a mans body in the position de-
scrlbed by levitt, but that 1t would not be
possible to reach the dead man until after
the debris and timbers are all out. The
place indicated by Jewitt is a mass OF
broken timb bers, crushed wall, brick Chin
ney and debris.
This is the second time that levitt has
had a narrow escape from death. -Four
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24

the moist condition of the ground is likely
to let the building down on the east side,
which would result i'll a crash similar to
that of Monday. He ella ms that the re-
mainder OF the wrecked building is pre-
venting the Kelly building from topping
over acting as brace. Mr.. Kelly set TO
work to comply with the Chiefs order, but
he does so much against his will. He
states that his building is on firm
foundation and that the side walls rest on
a seven-foot brick wall, with two-foot
footing.
He claims further that the collapsed
building is no support whatever to his,
but, on the contrary, that the pressure
caused by the weight is pressing against
the bottom of his building and the brick
wall Of the foundation. He asserts that
there is no danger, as his house stands as
plumb as the day it was put up eighteen
years ago.
1t will take at least another twenty-four
hours 10 put in the required bracing
against the east wall. Until that IS ac-
complished no more rubbish, broken
timbers and debris can be removed from
the cellar of the ill-fated building.
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
STOPPED THE WORK.
Chief Sullivan Says That the Ad-
Joining Building Must Be
Strengthened.

The work of clearing away the debris
was stopped a midnight Monday by order
OF Chief Sullivan, who decided that it
would not be safe to proceed further in
that line When the work was stopped
the top story had been removed and sew
eral holes cut IN the second floor, which
now rests in the basement. This was to
enable the firemen to look for any bodies
that might be between the two floors, but
none were found.
The Chiefs next order was to direct ].
Z. Kelly and Mrs. Charles f. Finney, the
owners OF the four-story frame house adj
joining TO brace up the east wall and
lack up under the east part OF the
building with a long temporary girder in
order to allow a strengthening of the
foundation wall. The Chief says that the
brick foundation Is still! new and the NOR
tar fresh. The soft nature Of the sand and
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24

that was of any value and piled them on
the sidewalk beside the Mint. During the
day those who had lived in the Brighton
inspected the pile to see ii they could re-
cognize anything that belonged to them.
Several took away small articles, but a
garded as not worthy of further trouble.
Upon receiving Chief Sullivan's order
to clear the wood and rubbish from the
street the owners of the Brighton and the
contractors at once set lot of men and
teams to work. The teams were kept on
the move all day, and by night consider
able of the stuff was car:ed away. A large
force of police were kept on the ground,
their duty being to protect the property
from the thieves who flock to such places
and to keep the large crowd Of curious and
sympathetic away from the workmen.
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24

great agony until last night, when, at $3.50
O'Clock, he died.
The last sacraments of the church were
performed shortly before by Rev. Father
Jacquet of St. Ignatius College. The
man died surrounded by his wife, relatives
and friends. He was conscious almost to
the last. His rIos had been crushed and
had pierced his lungs. The body was
taken to the Morgue.
II Shepherd, one of the Iodgers in the
same house, is still in the hospital. His
right foot is crushed.
John Lyons, Simeon Deane and Richard
Bucking were taken to their homes Mon
day evening, and Mrs. Joseph Byrne went
to friends house yesterday. Miss s. A.
Byrne was taken to st. Mary's Hospital,
a. Leuenberger to the French Hospital
and Dennis Griffin to the City and County
Hospital. Griffin is seriously injured.
Besides mis- scalp wounds and internal in
juries his right thigh was smashed and
his kidneys were injured.
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
CHIEF SULLIVAN'S VIEWS.
He Says the Alteration Was Not
Such as Called for
Permit.

Chief Sullivan stated last evening that
no permit had been issued for the work
being done to the building and that none
was needed.
"Putting in foundation" he said, ''is
not such an alteration or repair as TO re-
quire a permit. 1t is only making the
structure more safe, and no one can pre-
vent them from doing that. Raising OF
lowering the building would require a
permit, and in that case it would be the
duty of the Fire Wardens to see that they
had it. The only thing they did in this
case that would call Tor a permit was dig
ging under the sidewalk. To do that they
should have a permit from the Street De-
partment. If they had that they are all
right"
Reverting to the catastrophe the Chief
said: at is hard to say where the blame
lies, but 1t was cheap contract and 1t was
evidently the result OF 'penny-wise-aEd-
poundfoolish' policy. l was reliably in
formed to-day that Gleason came very
near having similar accident on larger
scale some time ago. He was raising the
Langdon, the big fve-story hotel on the
corner of Mason and Ellis streets, when
it commenced to shift slowly. Architect
Frank Shea chanced to come along and
he directed his energies toward saving the
building until far into the night, with
final success. Had the Langdon collapsed
as did this building the loss of life would
have been frightful.
What this City needs is a bureau oi
inspection, such as the large Eastern cities
have. These bureaus are composed OF
men skilled in architecture and construc-
ton. The results are far more satisfac-
tory than can be looked for from men who
have been trained only to put out fires"
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24

Department made a long investigation
yesterday to determine who was respon-
sible for the accident and the attending
fatalities. 1t is needless to say that each
one interested tried to throw the blame
upon some one else. 1t will no doubt fall
upon either Sibley, Gleason or Davis, the
sub-coutractors, or perhaps upon all three.
Coroner Hawkins interviewed several of
the workmen. One was Mike Howard, a
laborer, who lives on Twenty-sixth street,
near San Jose avenue. He said that early
Monday morning he noticed that the large
fore-and-aft timber under the floor was on
a slant. The jackscrews and cribs were
also out of place; that they were not
squared up as they should be. Howard
called the attention of Foreman Davis to it,
but the latter said that they were all
right, and that the timber was just little
warped. The jackscrews in particular
were "off, f" and he did not think they
were safe, but he could not do anything.
Here District Engineer Dougherty inter
posed the statement that Fire Warden
McCluskey mad made an inspection OF the
building early in the morning and found
everything all right.
William Lenahan, laborer employed
in building the foundation, declared that
he saw nothing out of the way with the
underpinniug.
E. D. Davis, Sibley's colored fore man,
stated that at $3.50 P. NJ. he was in the base
ment and saw that everything was all
right.
An inspection of the wrecked premises
by District Engineer Shaughnessy, Fire
Marshal Towe and Mr.. Pierson, a we'll
known architect, will probably do much
toward fixing the responsibility where it
belongs.
They spent considerable time yesterday
afternoon in the basement and found
plenty of evidence of either criminal care
lessness or ignorance. Even with the
sim bers cribs and jackscrews twisted and
displaced by the collapse very grave evil
dence of lax methods were discovered. In
the first place, those excavating the sand
had next to undermined cribs and sup
porting blocks. The street en- bankment,
after being planked up, had been braced
by large pieces of timber placed agains t
the cribs, the intermediate clocks and the
fore and aft timber under the floor. The
street bank naturally settled and the bu!g
ing sand pressed against the braces, which
in uurn pressed In the cribs and other tenn
porary supports.
With the immense weight of the build
ing pressing downward, the lateral pres
sure from the street embankment oper-
ating upon the cribs, the cribs undermined
by the eXcavators, it would have been sur
prising to Mr. Shaughnessy If the building
had been able TO stand.
Considerable has been said about the
water in the basement Several claim
that the basement is really quicksand
and that the foundations under the cribs
were washed out by the water tnat flows
through the sand.
Coroner Hawkins said that when the in
quests are held on the bodies he will have
all of the evidence he can get and if there
is sufficient to warrant a criminal prosecu-
ton he will cause the arrest OF the guilty
parties
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
MONTEREY SALMON CANNERY
Big Catches of the SpoTtire Fish Interest
Capitalists.

MONTEREY, CAL, June 23.-Owing to
the large catch of salmon in Monterey
Bay the Sacramento River Packers Asso-
citation has decided to start a cannery in
Monterey. Last week J. P. Haller, the
manager of the company. arrived in Mon
terey and made all necessary arrange
ments for the immediate placing of the
plant. 1t is now in position and ready for
operation. Mr.. Haller says that he
can handle about 1900 salmon per day, and
will employ quite number of boys and
girls. He expects to pay the fishermen
about ~ or cents per pound for their
fish, which is a great deal better than they
can do on an average by shipping to San
Francisco.
The company will also handle fruit, and
thus the orch ardists will find home
market. The Sacramento River Packers
Association is a strong financial concern
and owns two large cannerles-one at
Black Diamond, in Contra Costa County,
and the other at Chipps Island, Solano
County. The establishment of this enter
prise is of great importance to the people
of Monterey, as it Will furnish work during
the packing season to quite nun Der of
unem ployed people.
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24

searching in the ruins for the body OK
bodies, should there happen to be more
than one. In this, as in many matters
where public officials are concerned, the
work is progressing very slowly, and yes
terday was consumed in an effort to fasten
the blame and responsibility for the affair
upon some one. Meanwhile thousands of
people stood around the ruins and won
dered why something had not been and
was not being done besides officially in
vestigatin
They wondered why no efforts were be-
ing made toward recovering the body OF
the Door workingman that was lying
cru shed under heavy timbers in the debris
and ooZe of the basement.
Chief Engineer Sullivan, Assistant
Doughertv and the other officials of the
Fire Department gave their explanations
as to why the work had been stopped, say
ing that the foundation OF the adjoining
building was not firm enough 10 warrant
the removal of the wreckage. The Chlef
ordered the owner of the building IN cues
ton to brace up the walls and foundation
to prevent it from topping over into the
ruins OF the lodging-house.
In the afternoon z. levitt took District
Engineer Dougherty and several others to
a spot in the basement and showed them
where he had seen the body OF dead man
soon after the crash took place. he says
that since the side wall had settled the
body is now jammed against the street
embankment.
Coroner Hawkins made an inspection OF
the premises IN order to be informed as to
the situation when holding the lnquests
on the bodies at the Morgue.
The question OF responsibility caused
much discussion, each party directly or
indirectly interested claiming that he IS
not to blame. 1t is likely that some one
will be called to task for the accident.
From all accounts neither the architect
nor the sub-contractor took the trouble to
secure a permit from the proper authorities
for the alterations of the building, and the
Fire Wardens did not take the trouble to
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
The Proprietor of the Inflated
Brighton House Sue
cumbS.
SOME ONE IS SADLY TO BLAME.
All Work on the Ruins Suspended
for Fear That the Adjoining Build.
ing Will Share the Same Fate

Under mass of debris and heavy tim
bers of the wrecked lodging-house on
Mint avenue and Fifth street lies the body
of an unfortunate and unknown laborer.
Such is the statement of E. levitt, a
laborer at 14S Fifth street, who says that
he saw the body at the time that he as
sisted in removing poor Jesse May from
the basement a few minutes after the
Brighton lodginghouse toppled over into
Mint avenue on Monday afternoon.
From midnight Monday unit il the pres
ent time nothing has been done toward
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
ANOTHER VICTIM DEAD.
Patrick McKeoWn Dies From Being
Crushed Between TWO Large
Tip0harS

Patrick McKeown, who, with his wife,
conducted the Brighton House, died of his
injuries last evening in the Receiving
Hospital. He was in one of the middle
rooms on the second story when the house
went down. As the structure toppled over
McKeown was caught between two large
beams, which pressed upon him SO hard
that he could hardly breathe. 1t was ne
cessary to cut the timbers to remove the
sufferer. He was sent at once to the Re-
ceiving Hospital, where the doctors said
that the mans injuries, which were inter
nal, were of such character that his re-
covery would be doubtful. He fingered in
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24

either had no record of the permit to
Miller or refused to show it. The clerk
said the place to get the information was
from the clerk of the Board OF Supervisors.
Here the search practically ended. Clerk
J. d. Russell said that all applications for
permits to repair buildings within the fire
limits should come before the Fire Com
mittee of the Board of Supervisors. He
had records of all permits granted, and
search for six months back failed to show
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
Heat Kills a Petaaun.a Ranch Hand.

PETALUMA. CAL, June 23.-Coroner
Young will hold an inquest on the re-
mains of an Italian, Tranquil Gubbi by
name, who had resided here with his
family. He was sick and out of work, but
found employment on the Soldate ranch
four days ago. The heat overcame him
while in the field Monday and he was
brought to his home, where he was at
tended by his wife, but died before the
doctor arrived. There being some rumors
afioat that he was poisoned the funeral
was delayed and an autopsy will be held.
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
The D aad Victims.

The bodies of Mrs. Ernestine Silverstein
and Jesse May. the two victims of the
Fifth-street disaster whose injuries re-
suited fatally, were yesterday conveyed
from the Morgue to an undertaking estab-
lishment at 122 Eddy street. where ar
rangements will be made for their funeral.
The San Francisco call., 1896-06-24
AROUND The RUINS.
But Little Property of Value Left
After Passing Through the

The wrecked lodging-house looked yes
terday as though it had been struck by a
tornado. Broken timbers, smashed furni-
ture, scraps of clothing and bric-a- brac
were scattered over the adjacent streets
The firemen gathered up all of the latter