The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-30
INTERROGATION CLOSED.
Coroner Mix Concluded His Examinations of the Witnesses in the M ersiclz Fire Case He Exdects to Render Verdict Soon.

He Exdects to Render Verdict Soon.
 Coroner Mix visited Frank P. Pfle ghar, the senior member of F. P. Pile ghar & Son, at his house, 116 Olive street, yesterday afternoon and took his statement as to his best knowledge of the Mersick fire. MT. Pheghar told the coroner that the company had been making valves for the regulator of the gas pressure. They had succeeded in making one which met the require ments, but they were experimenting on one which would be less complicated and managed more easily. Hauser was working on the valve which was better than the first kind, but it leaked some what
 MT. Pfeghar did not know just what Hauser was doing at the time of the ex- plosion, but he thought that he was at work on this valve. MT. Pfeghar's opinion is that Hauser had found leak in the valve by lighting match and al- lowing it to burn as it escaped.
 Instead Of blowing it out, as he was instructed, he must have let it continue to burn while he attempted to tighten up the valve. He thinks then that the flame ignited the whole tank, which caused the explosion. He did not say that such were the facts from his own knowledge. The whole thing was his opinion of the matter.
 Dr. Edwin J. Toof was examined in the office of the coroner yesterday morn ing. Dr. Toof is the inventor of the regulator which was first made and which were being manufactured for him by Pfeghar & Son. He described his visit to the Acetylene Gas company. He obtained a contract from this company to make the regulators, and he in turn made contract with Pfeghar & Son.
 MT. Toof did not answer the questions directly, but went into long explana- tion to show his conversation with some members of the Acetylene Gas company He was down in New York and Mr. Iden, representing the company sent a regulator over to his hotel, and he tele- graphed to MT. Pfeghar to come to- New York to meet him and make an esti- mate upon them. He agreed to make them and looked to MT. Iden for his pay. A tank of gas was sent up to make the tests on the regulators, and MT. Grimm and MT. Iden came up with it. The tank was sent up on December 29. while he was in New York.
 He said that the tank of gas had been sent up here in order to test the regula- tors. He did not inquire as to the dan- ger of the gas. He had seen matches applied to joints where the gas was leaking, as is done with ordinary gas.
 The valves were to be made of steel, as it was known that if brass was used there was danger of the formation of a illuminate
 "Mr. Pfeghar constructed a valve and it was tried on the cylinder and it was found defective. Then I constructed a new valve, having many points which had worked successfully in the con- struction of other valves. That valve was tried on the old cylinder Monday afternoon at 3 o'clock, and MT. Hauser lighted match and held it all around it and I had my nose close over the cylinder looking for a leak After re- peated experiments I detected a flame about as big as a grain of wheat, and directed Joe to take it off, and he went back to the bench, took it to pieces and went to work to adjust it. There my connection with it ends, for 1 took the 3:30 train to New York"
 In closing his testimony Dr. Toof said: "Now I want to ask you question. Isn't any gas dangerous? Is there any power of the clements which, if you try to harness it. will not prove dan gerous?''
 Coroner Mix said last evening that he had examined all the witnesses in the case, and that he would soon be able to give his verdict.