Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-29
Capt. Morrow's Statement.

Capt. Morrow's statement follows: "Mr.
| Gibbs statements in this communication
are very largely falsehoods. The facts of
| the matter are that Mr.. Ashford some
time ago patented a device whereby the
| ladder of a fire escape could be drawn
| up under the floor of the platform when
| not in use. that the fire escape. with
| this disappearing step. would present the
| appearance of a tier of balconies. inten-
| tionally designed as balconies rather than
| as fire escape. Mr.. Ashford received
| permission of the former Engineer Com
| missioner and of myself later to sell the
| rights to use his patent to any architect
! for buildings outside of the Dis
trict of Columbia. with the understanding
that no royalty was to be charged for any
escapes erected within the District of Co
lumbia. Four or five fire escaDes of this
class have been erected in the District of
Columbia, one of which can be seen in
the apartment house directly across the
street from the Congressional Library.
and Mr.. Ashford has not received any
emolument for the erection Of any of
these fire escapes.
"Mr. Gibbs is the owner of a patent
hre escape known as the endless chain
escape. and he and the people behind
a similar escape. known as the Lewis
escape, have for more than a year been
| endeavoring to have the Commission
erS allow their fire escape to be used
in lieu Of any of the standard plat
form and ladder escapes where prop
erty owners desire to use them. This
has been recommended against. not
only by Mr.. Ashford, but by Chief Belt,
Capt. Kelly and by myself. Mr.. Gibbs,
| some months ago. proposed an amend
ment to the building regulations prac-
tically prescribing the Gibbs fire es-
| cape for use wherever fire escapes were
| required under recent legislation. His
| communication was given careful con-
SHERATON, but. Of course, could not be
adopted. Some time in August Mr..
| n Ach for
and either signed it himself or had
| Rittenhouse Brothers sign it, request
ing Mr.. Ashford's terms for the use
of his patent for the Baltimore trade
As to Local Business.
| ''To this Mr.. Ashford replied to the ef-
feet given above by Mr.. Gibbs, and as the
Rittenhouse-Gibbs inquiry referred solely
| and explicitly to the use of the Ashford
| patent for the Baltimore trade, it is only
| fair to Mr.. Ashford to construe his refer
ence to the management of the local bust
ness to mean the Baltimore business. To
| this letter Mr.. Gibbs prepared another re-
ply. inclosing check for an option and
| in this letter, for the first time, mentioned
the fact that he intended to pay Mr.. Ash
| ford for fire escapes erected in Washing
ton, but that he could not pay him $40
| per balcony for fire escapes in Baltimore.
| as it was necessary for him to pay to the
| building inspector in Baltimore some
| money for services he expected to get
from Mr.. Ashford on account of his con-
nection with him. To this Mr.. Ashford
| Immediately replied that he was not SELL
| ing any rights to his escape in Washing
ton, where the architects and fire-escape
people knew that his patent could be used
without charge, that he could expect no
assistance from the building inspectors
office, and returned him his remittance in
a registered letter. receiving in due course
the registered recent.
Naturally Mr. Gibbs fails to quote
these letters, as he failed to quote them
in his communication addressed to the
board of Commissioners or in his CONVEX
sation with me. although he admitted to
me that he himself had written the Rit-
tenhOuse letters in an Office in this city
for the purpose of entrapping Mr.. Ash
ford. I have personally carefully investi-
gated this case, as has also Capt. Kelly,
and believe that the only injustice that
has been done to Mr.. Gibbs lies in the
fact that l allowed him to get out Of my
office without personal chastisement."
Citizens Are Interested.
| Officials and citizens are taking a deep
| interest in the charges against Ashford
as it is the first time for many years that
a suggestion of this kind has been heard
| about District official.
Capt MorroW's strenuous defense of
| Ashford caused a good deal of comment,
especially his statement that Ashford's
letter to Rittenhouse Bros. had reference
only to the Baltimore trade" and that it
was only fair to MIR. Ashford to construe
| his reference to the management Of the
| local business to mean the Baltimore
business Some of the commentators on
| the matter say that such a declaration is
hard to read from Ashford's letter to the
Baltimore firm. which. they say. refers
constantly to the favorable conditions
for putting the Ashford escape in opera.
ton in this city. Baltimore or any other
city is not mentioned at all. but the let
ter written from Washington with the
| heading Inspector of Buildings" says in