The record-union., 1897-10-13

asserted that his reason for not having
It insured was that if fire started people
might say he willfully allowed it to
burn. He said the firemen had attached
their hose to the plug at Seventh and l.
street, instead of the plug at the alley
between K and L on Seventh, which
was a direct line, and much nearer to
The fire
The witness finally said he had no
complaint against Chief Guthrie other
than that he was not at the fire as soon
as witness was, and that he did not at
tach two lines of hose to the plug at the
alley on Seventh street, between K and
On redirect examination, the witness
said that had a string of hose been run
from the plug at alley between K and
L, on Seventh street, through the empty
lot behind his stable, and through a shed
INTO the pickle factory where the fire
originated, the flames would never have
extended to the stable
Trustee Devine said he had witnessed
the fire from its inception, and stated
that when the firemen arrived, prop
ably twenty minutes after the flames
were discovered, it was so hot in the vi
cinity of the shed mentioned by Smith
that it would have been physical i'm
possibility for anybody to have ap-
preached it. Devine, however, was
shut off before he had time to go
further.
Mr.. Smiths foreman, Curzon, testified
that when the fire was first discovered
ne had no idea that the stable was in
danger. He said no hose was trained on
the flames until after the horses and
wagons had been removed from the
barn.
Alexander White, hack driver, tes-
titled that in his opinion had hose
been run in in time Smiths barn would
rot have been damaged. He said it was
fully a half hour after the fire started
before a hose was run into the barn. He
thought that had the firemen been prop
erly directed the fire might have been
kept out of the barn, but that much Of
the hay would have been destroyed by
water. The fire, in his opinion, cracked
the glass in one of the upper windows
of the loft and caught the hav.
Captain of Police Michael A. Fisher
testified that he had been unable to
tell where the fire was at. except by the
direction people were running Three
several alarms were turned in, one after
the other, and it was impossible from
the alarms turned in to tell where the
fire was.
John Lyman, who owns several build
ings adjoining the pickle factory, testi-
fed that he had kept the fire from
spreading TO his property by means of
a garden hose. When the firemen ar
rived he asked them to bring a line
of hose from the plug at the alley be-
tween x and L streets on Seventh
street, through his lot and into the
pickle factory, but the Assistant Chief
had told him to mind his own busi-
ness. There was nothing except a thin
partition, which might have been de-
mOlished with an ak, between his
place and the fire. It was fully fifteen
minutes, the witness said, after the
fire was discovered before it broke out
of the pickle factory, commonly desig-
mated as ''the Bergman property" The
witness said from the time he saw
Chief Guthrie at the fire, he had done
everything that a good and efficient
Chief could do in directing his force.
Henry Schwartz and John Adams
testified to have been at the fire, and
thought that had a line of hose been
run through Lyman's yard, the fire
might have been easily controlled.
At this point Attorney Devlin object
ed to the line of questioning, and asked
that they be confined to the charges
that Chief Guthrie was negligent and
careless in his management of the fire.
Attorney Sims started out to argue
the point, and Devlin withdrew his OBJ
lection.
A. G.. Westgate corroborated the
statements made by Schwartz and Ad-
ans.
Attorney Devlin called Chief Guthrie
to the stand. He testified that about
1870 o'clock on the morning of Sep
tember Both he had been awakened.
Two alarms We're being turned in and
he paused for a few minutes to deter
mine where the fire was at or whether
there was any fire at all. He then
went out and started down town, and
had gone but a short distance when he
saw the smoke. He was at the fire ten
minutes after the first tap of the gong.
Chief Guthrie carefully explained his
actions in fighting the flames. He de-
tailed every effort made to subdue the
fire. Electric wires we're thick, and
considerable difficulty was had in get
ting through them. He had run strings
of hose from every available plug in
the vicinity, and had used his best en-
deavors to extingufsh the flames. The
windows in Smiths barn had no shut
ters, and as soon as the fire touched the
glass it crumbled like a clod After
the sparks flew through the window
igniting the hay, he himself had assist
ed to raise a hose and directed a stream
on the flames. The men were soon
driven back by the smoke, and he then
put in a line Of hose at another point.
Smith, the witness said, had asked
him to turn a stream on the girders
of the first floor, and he had told him
he would do So and did so. Subse-
quently Smith had said to him: Chief,
you're all right, but your men drink
whisky. Why didn't you let those old
buildings go and save mine?" That
the witness said, was all the conversa-
ton he had had with Smith respecting
the fire. He had, he said, used his best
ability in managing his force, and if
he had it to do over again, would do
precisely as he had done He had
started to the fire as soon as possible
and had lost no time in getting to it,
On cross examination, Chief Guthrie
said that subsequent TO the fire he had
learned that it had been burning for
fifteen minutes before an alarm was
turned in.
Lyman, the witness said, is a rattle