The Saint Paul globe., 1904-12-28
SCORE ALDERMEN
FOR THE DISASTER
Coroner's Jury Holds Them
Responsible for Peck Build
ing Disaster

a. member and president for several years,
is held responsible for the disaster of last
week. when six men were killed in the
collapse of the Crocker hotel on Fifth
street, which was crushed by the faiilng
of the walls of the Peck building, burned
week before.
The verdict of the coroner's jury, which
was returned yesterday, is summarized as
follows:
1.-The remote cause of the deplorable
casualty we have investigated is, in our
opinion, found in the iniquitous practice
of the city council in granting special
permits for the violation of the building
ordinance, even in opposition to the coun-
Gil of the building Inspector. Were 1T not
for this practice, which resulted In tne
construction OF runways between the
Boutell and Peck buildings, the recent nre
would probably have been confined to the
latter building, in which case the wall
which fell would have been protected
from the wind which blew it down. Ihls
practice of granting permits is vicious
and dangerous in the extreme.
In these days when material is so
abundant for the purpose of f1reproof
buildings, no reasons exist for not adopt
Ing ordinances requiring such construction
in the business districts of the city.
Eve believe this should be done, and
that when so, done, the building inspector
should be left absolutely free to enforce
such ordinance, and be held to strict re-
sponsibifit5. for its rigid observance.
Inquest Is Held
The inquest over the remains of James
Hamilton, one of the victims of the dis
aster of a week ago yesterday morning,
was held at the county morgue and jury
of more than, ordinary intelligence was
summoned. Nearly fifteen witnesses were
heard and careful inquiry into the
oft f11o-S ri ic-c for MAJ
In addition to the above comment the
jury reviewed the disaster as follows:
The weight of evidence presented to this
jury through the testimony OF dlslnterest-
ed architects and builders. who exam
ined the walls of the so-ealled Peck and
Bouteil buildings, at different times, be-
tween Dec. 13, the date of the burning
of said building, and Dec. 20, the date OF
the falling Of the east wall of the Peck
building tended to show conclusively that
said wall was safe and that there was
no danger of its falling except from some
extraordinary cause, which could not be
Wind Was Responsible
Furthermore, that portion of said wall
adjoining the Crocker hotel building was
protected to the height OF three stories
the Fifth street front by the=wall Of the
hotel building leaving Of the wall which
fell, two stcr.es extending above the top
of the hotel building, This wall was
twelve inches thick and had not been in
jured to any extent by the fire for the
reason that the movement of air on the
night of the fire. carried the heat away
from said wall, leaving many of the
wooden joists in that corner of the Peck
building and the wooden window frames
unharIned
Evidence presented to this jury showed
concluSively than on the night of the
18th and goth Of December the wind at
II o'clock p. attained a velocity of
thirty-three miles an hour which grad
ually increased until at 1874 a. m, for
a brief time, it reached velocity of fif
ty-four miles an hour. This high wind
upon the unprotected wall was, in our
opinion, the immediate cause of its fall
and the results.
We are OF the opinion that the build
ing inspector was justified in assuming
that the wall in question was safe, and
that he took all the precautions to pre-
vent accident therefrom which he was
authorized to take by the city charter
and building ordinance. The fact that 1t
did fall is another addition to the many
evidences that human judgment is not
In this connection, however, we would
suggest to the city council the advisable
ity of so amending the building ordi-
building inspector to give warning to oc-
cupants of buildings in cases where, in
his judgment their lives may be endan-
gered by continuing in said buildings.
We are convinced, also. that the build
ing inspector should be given greater au-
thority in the matter of tearing down
gerous to the public.
Call the Walls Safe
Little time was lost In the taking of
testimony. Andrew N. Lindquist and
Francis D. Furlong, assistant building in
spectors, and George Cook, of the firm
of Pike & Cook, who erected the Peck
building, testified as to their examina-
tion of the walls, and they agreed that
they We're not menace to life. or prop
erty and there would have been no dam
age done had it not been for the fact that
fifty -six-mile wind was blowing at the
time. This was testified to by T. S.
Outram, the weather observer
1t was also brought out that the walls
of the building corresponded with the re-
quirements of the building ordinance;
that the Crocker building was three
stories high. and the side walls of this
building supported the Peck building to
the height of three stories and only the
two upper stories We're blown down
Architects c. S. Sedgwick, Harry w
Jones and G. L. Sexton examined the
walls, and said they considered them safe
and Harry Hendrickson, foreman OF Pike
& Cook, who was placed in charge OF
the work of tearing down the walls of al
the burned buildings, said he considered
them safe and for this reason did moi
erect a scaffold or string cables about the
walls, a work which would have requir-
ed some days. He said other walls II
the loclity were more dangerous and ht
paid more attention to them.
Agent Makes Inspection
H. H. Thayer, manager of the Hale
Homestead company, had examined the
walls in company with the building in
spector. and said he proposed to use then
in rebuilding, for they showed no sign:
of weakness.
Building Inspector ]. G. Houghton wa:
subjected to a rigid examination and was
asked why he did not order the walls tori
down. He asserted he had no authority
to order them down or to tear them dow
himself All he could do would be to rec.
ommend that the walls be leveled. but HI
saw no evidences of danger and therefor,
did not make such a recommendation.
City Attorney Healy corroborated Mr.
in him and then Mrs. William Crocker
who was one of the persons in the Crock
er hotel at the time of the accident wa.
called. She said the occupants of th
hotel left the place at the time of tn.
fire which destroyed the Peck and Boutel
buildings, but after the fire they re
turned. They did not consider them
selves in any danger.
Fire Chief Talks
Fire Chief J. R. Canterbury was en-
phatic in his statement that he eonsid
cred the walls safe, else he would no
have permitted the fremen to work II
that locality at the time OF the Peel
building fire. He also gave some interest
ing testimony which showed how tn