The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-01
Taken From the Ruins of the
Hale House Fire.
ONE OF THEM SHEEHAN'S
Identified by His Watch and the Gold
Filling in His Teeth-The Other
Is Supposed to Be the Body
of Kreigbaum.

was also found which is believed to be
that of Frank Kriegbaum, but as yet
IL has not been identified. Both bodies
were burned to cinders, and only frag-
ments of bone and flesh were left to
tell they had been human. The body
of Sheehan was identified by means of
the gold-flled teeth of the upper jaw,
and by a watch found buried in his
charred remains.
The workmen engaged i'm searching
the debris of the ruined building work.
ed all the forenoon and up to about 2
o'clock in the afternoon without uncov-
ering anything to eward their search.
At that time j. w. Mahoney, who was
the Waterman i'm the hotel before the
fire. and who is now employed at the
ruins to take charge of any valuables
found, bent down and took hold of
what appeared to be a bone AS he
drew ii out ii proved to be a rib of a
human being. At the same instant the
men in the opposite side in the outh-
east corner gave a cry and jumped
back from their work.
Everybody now knew that human
bodies had been found in both places.
and the men worked quickly and
carefully. and i'm a few minutes all
that was mortal of the two unfortu-
''%N> IN i'tN NAAtti iiN0S III tti'
fire laid uncovered on the ground. The
smell from the burned flesh was so
overpowering that the hardy workmen
were compelled to draw away and
work was suspended until the coroner
could be notified. an undertaken sum-
moned and the bodies removed.
The limbs of both bodies had been
entirely by the fire with the
exception of the bones from the knees
to the hips of the body which was sub
sequently identified as that of Sheehan.
Three fingers of M body remained,
the skull of Sheehan lying in two parts
and the vertebrae together with a few
ribs and a collarbone of one were all
the bones hat could be found. Only
fragments of flesh were to be found in
either case. The remains. or frag-
ments, of both were picked up and
placed in the undertaker's box and sent
to Duggan's undertaking rooms, where
the bits were carefully washed and laid
in separate piles. When the bones of
the head of the body found in the
southwestern corner had been washed
1t was found the upper jaw was intact
with the teeth still there. Two of the
incisors had been filled, one capped
with gold and the other with a gold
crown. Remembering that it had been
reported in the description of Sheehan
that he had two teeth filled, his son
was sent for, and in the meantime n
watch was found in the remains. When
the boy arrived he identified the teeth
and also the watch, n later an Off
Ger of the A. O.. u. w. lodge to which
Sheehan belonged called at Duggan's
and repeated the Identification.
1t is evident both victims lost their
lives by jumping into the air shaft or
area way in the rear of the building,
When what is known as the new part
of the building was put up il was mere
ly an addition 25 or 30 feet wide, built
clear across the whole rear end of the
building. To prevent making the rooms
on the back end of the older structure
dark. a court, air shaft or
whatever it might properly be termed,
was left six. feet wide from the ground
floor up, between the old and new por-
tons. to give light m air to the
rooms. Sheehan roomed in 81, which
was on the second ioor of the old part,
on the west side, n his room had a
window opening into the court. Frank
K~reigbaum occupied room us, which
was on the third floor in the back tier
of rooms, in the old portion. His was
an inside room, but a hail ran past
his door. at the end of which was a
window opening on the east end.
Both bodies were found in the cellar
underneath where this court had been.
Sheehan's body was found directly I'M
derneath where his window had opened
on the court and the other body was
found Immediately under the window
of the hall referred to. This was deter
mined by the fact that the rear wall of
the old building still stands, showing
the windows. Nothing was left by
which Ii has been possible 10 as yet
identify the second body. but from the
position where his body was found TO
that where his room had happ ~ ;c ha-
heNed II is the body of kreigbaum. 1t
is the theory, based upon what is known
OF the mems actions before the fire and
the positions of the bodies when found.
that they went to bed intoxicated and
awoke to find all means of escape cut
of except the court. Inc hoping to find
an exit there jumped into it. and were
either killed by the fall or so badly in
Jured or sufocated as to be unable to
move. and burned where they fell.
Besides the reasons given for thinking
the second body is that of Kreigbaum,
another is furnished by Richard Ryno.
Kreigbaum's cousin. Ryno was present
when the body was uncovered. and
thought what was left of the frame
was o he right size for his rela-
tive. Soon after the body was found a.
trunk was beside it. from
which a filled case gold watch was
taken and a silver dollar. Ryno
icteh ~ "dlth loohtu Iht the one
carried by his cousin md wired the rel
atives of the deceased. who live in
Utah. to get the number of his watch
in the hope that this might afford a
means of Identification.
IL was at first thought that the body
of Sheehan might be that of Martin
Rooney, as his room was also lust
above where the body was found.
The size of the frame was said TO be
too large, and IL was thought to be that
of Dan j. Sullivan, but the positive
identification of Sheehan dispels both
theories. and IL is now thought Roo
ney's remains will be found this MORN
ing not far from the spot where Shee-
San's were, as the same unpleasant
odor was beginning to be smelled at
the time the men quit work last even
ing, which made the discovery of the
other bodies nauseating. Sullivan oc-
cupied room 81 on the east side of the
IS