Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-03
DUE TO CARELESSNESS
CORoNER's VERDICT REGARDING
DEATH OF MATTHEW THOMPSON.
No One Blamed for the Accident
Evidence Presented Today
at the Inquest.

Mrs. Thompson and her three daughters,
widow and children of Matthew Thompson.
the man who killed In the elevator
shaft at the Mills building wednesday.
were present at the inquest held over the
body of the victim at the morgue today. 1T
was in evidence that the work of construct
ing the annex to the building is being done
by the George A. Fuller Construction Com
pany. Just outside the building there is a
hoistng elevator with two cars cages.
One car moves up when the other descends.
Thompson had some terra Gotta to set
Wednesday, and in order to do So II was
| necessary for him to put temporary scat
folding across the shaft of the elevator. 1t
was while he was working on this board
that one of the cars of the elevator ascend
| ed. struck the board and caused Thompson
to fall from the eighth to the first floor.
The victim received horrible injuries to his
head legs and body, and died three hours
| later
At the inquest the interests of the con-
tractors We're looked after by Attorney Ed
ward S. Duvall. jr.. while Attorney F. 5.
Key Smith represented the family of the
deCea Sed.
After hearing the testimony the jury
reached the conclusion that Thompson
death was the result of carelessness in run
blame to any particular person. After the
case was disposed of Thompson's body was
removed from the morgue to his late home
The Evidence Submitted.
William |. Evans and C. f. Connor, as
sistants to the building inspector. told the
jury that the elevators at the building
where the accident happened are temper
airy for hosting purposes and are not reg
ularly inspected, The former described
the elevator as a very crude affair and the
latter said 1t is not necessary to obtain
permits for their construction. 1t Is mere
ly necessary for those operating such ele
vators to comply with the rules governing
them. description of the elevator was
given by George Prender. superintendent
of construction in the employ of the
George A. Fuller Construction Company
The engineer who was operating the en-
CINE at the time the accident happened
told the jury that there are two elevators
at the building and when one car moves
up the other descends He stopped his
CINE as quickly as possible after he re-
ceived one-bell signal. The lower car
was then from three to five feet from the
bottom of the shaft and the other car
must necessarily have been correspond
ing distance from the roof.
A colored laborer named Richard John
son. VINO was called A witness, said
Thompson, the victim. put board over the
elevator shaft and was ready to put in a
piece of terra Gotta. when the elevator came
up and struck the board. Then Mr.. Thomp-
son fell down the shaft 1t stated by
witnesses connected with the work that
Samuel Hale was the signal man. Johnson
said he heard Hale given an order to go to
the seventh floor and keep the elevator be-
meath there while Thompson was working
on the board Thompson, he said, fell upon
one of the elevators.
Testimony of George Vandenberg.
George Vandenberg. foreman of the brick
layers. also gave testimony. He said that
Samuel Hale was the man who had charge
of the signal rope. and no other person was
supposed to give signals. He gave instruc-
tons that the elevator should not be per-
mitted to go above the eighth floor. Sam
uel Hale. colored. who had charge of the
signal rope. told the jury that he saw the
bricka yers the board. across the shat.
He said he received no orders about hold
ing back the elevator because of Thomp-
sons position The car was moving when
he the bricklayer standing on the
board. and he gave the engineer "A signal
to stop Hale said the elevator did not
stop as soon az he thought il should. and he
gave the engineer "A second signal. Hale
said he did not give the signal for the cle-
vator TO start on the trip that caused the
fatal accident.
Deputy Coroner Glazebrook was the last
witness examined.