The Topeka state journal., 1909-01-20

that the law was being violated in
that there were no ropes with chain
anchors as provided by law. There
were, he said, no notices posted in
forming the guests the whereabouts of
fire escapes. He also testified that at
no time during his connection with
the building had the fire department
made any inspection. to learn whether
condition or not, nor had any one in
vestigated to see that they were in
dividual ropes in each room
Annie Gordon Hunt, the house
carpet found beneath the body of Mr..
Lambert as the one which was in
room 341.
Identifying Mr.. Lamberfs Body.
Much of the time was utilized in
Identifying Mr.. Lambert's body which
was removed from the ruins last
Thursday evening. w. w. Wiley, the
night clerk of the hotel was called as
a witness for this purpose. He told
of Mr.. Lambert's coming to the desk
after the key to his room, between IL
and 1 o'clock. He then consulted
Santa Fe time card and decided to
take the plug to Kansas City. He
left his call for 6 o'clock and then re-
tired to his room, which was No. 341.
This room according to Mr. Wiley was
one room removed from the fire es-
cape. Mr.. Wiley testified to having
checked UP the guests and finding Mr..
Lambert was the only one missing.
David Upton, the colored man in
charge of the work of locating the body
in the ruins gave some interesting
testimony He had known Mr.. Lam
bert intimately for twenty-five years.
He happened to be in Topeka at the
time. With a gang of eight or ten
men he was engaged in searching the
ruins and found Mr.. Lambert's body
The body was found eight feet from
the north wall and six feet from the
east wall, in the basement directly
| ho lambert
occupied Mr.. Upton introduced
diagram of the basement in evidence
He found a piece of carpet under the
body which was about five feet square
and also a board and some carpet
paper which was found Immediately
under the carpet. This indicated that
the entire floor had fallen. Mr.. Tip
ton also described the finding of the
watch of Mr.. Lambert. He had a
chart of room 341 as a guide and
searched for the valuables as they
would have been lying in the room.
according to the chart. The watch
was found in some cinders and dirt
which he had thrown into the base
ment room under the room east or
the one in which Mr.. Lambert slept,
while he had been searching for the
body.
An interesting witness was John E.
Martin of Emporia, former mayor or
that town. Mr.. Martin identified the
watch which was found as belonging to
purchased. by Mrs. Lambert for her
husband while they were in Italy last
summer, and which she intended should
be a Christmas present for him. The
watch which belonged to Mr.. Lambert
was engraved with the initials II. E.
l." and on the inside case was the IN
scription From Mellicent to l. E. Lam
bert" The watch which was found in
the ruins was identified as the same
watch Mr.. Martin, who had known Mr..
Lambert for over 25 years, also testi-
fed that the body found in the ruins
was in his Judgment that of Mr.. Lam
bert. He told of peculiar curvature
in the upper part of Mr.. Lambert's legs,
which resembled a curvature such as
might be caused by child sitting in
a chair that was too high for the legs
to reach the floor.
William F. Rick the chief clerk of
the hotel testified that Mr.. Lambert
had arrived in Topeka on late. train
Wednesday afternoon preceding the
fire and that he had registered and i'm
mediately set out to find Senator c. A.
Stannard of Emporia. Mr.. Rick saw
him again in the evening sitting in the
corridors. He identified the signature in
the hotel register Mr.. Lambert's S
handwriting. He was closely question
ed regarding the safety of the other
guests and hotel employees. Mr.. Rick
said he had personally seen every guest
with the exception of Mr.. Lambert,
and that the help had all appeared Sat
urday for the regular weekly pay. The
witness identified the brass plate found
as the one attached to the key given
Mr. Lambert.
w L. Higgins of Emporia, who had
been for ten years and until about
year ago, a law partner of Mr.. Lam
bert. helped in the identification. The
two had been together in court in En-
poria a week ago this morning and Mr.
Lambert at that time made some re-
mark about coming to Topeka. Hug
gins had never seen the watch belonging
to Mr. Lambert but had seen the charm
which was found with 1t and this he
pronounced as the identical one worn
by Mr. Lambert. He was in Topeka
last week, and saw the body of Mr..
Lambert, which he accompanied to
Emporia. He stated that in his mind
there was not the slightest doubt that
this was the body of his former part
ner.
At this point the jurors announced
that they were satisfied that the body
which was found was that of Mr..
Lambert, and the testimony was di-
rected to the inquest proper.
There are in the neighborhood of ff-
teen or twenty more witnesses to ex-
anime before the work will be COM
pIeted It is doubtful whether verdict
will be reached before Thursday morn