The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-28
HARRISON IS DISCHARGED
CHICAGo;S MAYOR NOT HELD
 FOR IRoQUoIS FIRE.

Order Issued by Judge Richard w.
 TuthiII-nIayor i'm No Way Respon-
 sibis-coroner Put an Unjust stigma
 Upon Him.
 Chicago, Jan. 27.-Mayor Carter H. Harrison was this afternoon ordered by Judge Richard w. Tuthill to be iInme- diately discharged from custody in connection with any responsibility for the wholesale loss of life in the Iro- quois theater fire.
 The judge declared that the mayor
 was in no way whatever guilty or lia-
 ble, and that the coroner's jury in or
 dering Mayor Harrison held for the
 grand jury had put an unjust stigma
 upon the mayor, who had failed in no
 particular whatever, either in omission or commission.
 Following his release Mayor Harrison made the following statement to The Associated Press:
 ''The only possible feature which the jury was able to find connecting me with the Iroquois fire disaster, was the alleged negligence and incompetency of
 my appointees, Fire Chief Musham and Building Inspector Williams. I want to call attention to the fact that Chief Musham has been connected with the Chicago fire department for forty years, beginning at the bottom of the ladder and winning his way to the position of assistant chief, by the gallant and he roic conduct Of life time. Upon the retirement of Chief Sweenie, appoint ed Musham chief The appointment was strictly on merit and met with unanimous approval. When the posi- ton of building commissioner became vacant last summer I invited the Build CTS club, the association of architects and other non-partisan professional or ganizations to nominate the best avail
 able man for the vacancy. They named, | in nominating, MT. Williams, a repub- lican, and gave me the strongest testi- monilas to his character and efficiency. I appointed him and he entered most earnestly upon his duties Both men were considered ideal appointments. The imputation of guilt upon these two men is entirely tinjustifiable, but to strike at me over their shoulder, is lit- tie short of infamy."
 1 Tn delivering his opinion Judge Tut hill said: 1T have gone over the testi- mony of Fire Marshal Musham and
 Building Commissioner Williams and the mayor particularly, and can say without qualification or hesitation that find not one word in the evidence so far as I have examined 1t, which tends even remotely in my judgment to show that the mayor had any knowledge of 1 this matter or that he was in any re- spect negligent of any duty imposed up- on him by the laws orby the rules that commonly apply to persons who are re- sponsible for the safety of others. T find that there were gross viola l tions, not only of the city ordinances, 1 but of sommon rules of safety, and that anybody without expert knowledge
 would have said were absolutely essen I tial at the Iroquois theater. But how
 the mayor, who is simply at the head of the city government, could be held
 responsible for any misconduct on his part, in view of this evidence, I can-
 not coneede It seems to me that 4 would have been just as reasonable to say that because an insane asylum was burned the governor could be held over by a coroner's Jury for being party
 a criminal party, to such loss of life i and held over crirninally to grand I jury because, forsooth, an insane asy-
 lum under the charge of one of his
 appointees, the warden, had been burned.
 Tt seems to me that it would be just
 as logical to say that because there
 should be a destruction of a building 1 at West Point or Annapolis, and lives
 should be lost there, the president of
 the United States should be held over
 by coroner's jury to answer for ar l indictment by a grand jury for crimi-
 nal complicity."
 Judge TuthiIl concluded: Tt seems l to me that it is a very great wrong tc
 place upon the mayor of the city this undeserved stigma, as I find it to bs
 without basis in the law or in the facts
 as they have been testified to before 1 the coroners jury"
 l Corporation Counsel Tolmann said o1 I the mayors side of the case: ''In many l respects this petition differed from the l usual form. Waiving all technicalities l it submitted to the court this singlC and simple question:: Does this record l thus completely presented for judicia l review, contain scintilla of evidence warranting the conclusion that the
 mayor is guilty of any offense against 1 the law? If not, is asks his release"