The Washington herald., 1914-02-13
HELPS
CLEAR SULLIVAN
CONTINUED yaoM PAGE oHn

viii appear as witness N the trial Fir
Cnief August Enrich. of BALTIMORE. !
1 expected 70 arrive this afternoon an,
. Aso wili appear al. = witness. Both mel
VII testify as to the te:iinica, point
This is the first time that any one IL
TINS country, an oniciai of the fire depart
ment. is blamed and tried for injuries sus
tained BY fre-fghters." said Mr.. Croker
.ast night. Upon reading about the Sui
ivan case could not help coming tc
washington to get an insight into the cir.
Icumstsnces. I have been asked by Mr.
sr'iiyans counsel to testify at the hear
ins and will gladly do 90 IL It can heip
clear UP matters"
Mr.. Croker was chief Of the New York
hre department for twelve years. and
was connected with that department
twenty-seven years. He IL now president
OF the Croker National Fire Prevention
ana Engineering Company. New York.
1 No Sign Of Danger.
/ Apart from Chief Wagner's change
OF testimony, probably the most sig
nihcant statement made by both Wit
nesses was that at the time Deputy
Chief Sullivan sent the hve men into
the burning building. there was abso-
iutely no indicationor danger Of col
lapse; that they had a safe position
the very place where the fire neces-
sarily had to be tackled. Chief Wag-
ner testified repeatedly. I'VE have to
60 right to the heart Of the fire.
while Private Hellmuth stated that "it
was the very spot where the flames
had to be checked"
Chief Wagner further testified that
the men stationed on the ladder lean
Ing toward the front wall of the burn
ing building were in equally as great
q in l.
lapse. He did not order these men
down from the ladders, he added, until
after the crash.
The chief engineer upon being ques-
TONED stated that he had twice left
the scene of the fire without notifying
any one. Both times he went to No.
IA house and stayed about FIVE or six
minutes, he said. He called the blaze
In question "one of the best fought
fires I have seen in q long time" He
repeated several times that "only in
extraordinary cases reports are made
to him or to other chiefs as to the Do
sition OF companies" The defense at |
tributes much Significance to this. |
holding. as II does. that, as. according |
TO the testimony thus far heard. there |
was no danger for the five men when |
Sullivan met Chief Wagner. the deputy
chief had no reason to report the posi- |
ner's order to Sullivan to go to the
roof Of the Strasburger shoe store. the
responsibility for the front part of the
lire was shifted from Sullivan's shoul-
ders to those of the chief engineer.
Told BY Civilian.
A mysterious civilian who has the right
to go beyond the fire line. was brought
into the case by Attorney O'Donoghue
when he questioned Chief Wagner after
warning him TO '.be careful before you
il was not Q fact that
'ome time before the collapse. a civilian
lad informed the chief Of cries supposed
o have been heard from within the build
ng.
Chief Wagner at first denied having
ieard anything to this effect. but afterl
| few moments reflection said that he
lad heard somebody say that No 81
had gone into the building and
'one out the back way Who this
somebody was the chief said he '
couldn't tell you for the life Of me-"
Commissioner Siddon's secret probe was J
cscribed by Attorney O'Donoghue as
eing based upon assumptions and pre-
umptions, and the Commissioned {
uestions were termed Hypothetical"
A similar assertion was contained in a
emurrer to the charge against Sullivan. n
ltroduced by Attorney Charles W. Darr.
hief OF counsel for the deputy chief. at N
he beginning OF the hearing. This
emurrer contended that the charges and Il
oecifications were conclusions and do y
OF allege facts" Mr.. Darr declared Of
msef willing temporarily to recognize
lie demurrer as overruled, with the un-
that IL could be renewed att
e end OF the trial Chairman Brooke OF
'erruled the demurrer tt
Array of LEGAL Talent, III
Attorneys Darr and ODonoghue were n,
sisted by Julius Peyser, A. A. Alexan- =.
r. and j. j. keenan, Corporation At
rney Conrad Syme represented the -
Sullivan's counsel entered -,
plea Of mot guilty" The trial board
nsister Of Mark Brooke. assistant En-
neer Commissioner, chairman; Joseph
Sheehy. chairman Of the excise board, ="
d Charles f. Nesbit, superintendent of
'urance. sv
sharply at 10 o'clock the hearing h.
n. Attorney Darr asked that all wit wa
sses be excluded from the board room. ch
!ich request was promptly compiled
tn. tn;
he attention of the listeners. who an
mbered about 600. and included sew WI
II women. was tense throughout the lif,
rninS and afternoon hearings
'eputy Chief Sullivan, in full uniform, ho
in the midst Of the half dozen legal -
Impions OF his cause Now and then ..
leaned over to one of them to yo,
'wer whispered questions. The atten- yo,
expression Of his healthy, reddish !"
e. showed that he was following the :.
ceedings closely. a.
Chief Wagner Ner,o.s. -
hief Wagner, during the morning ses-
calm and collected while subjected :,
, rapfd-hre cross examination, later in
day began to show signs Of nervous
and OF the strain under which he
laboring as a consequence of the
tied and at times legally involved mir
stions. Now and then he would cor ne
himself stutteringly and several II
q he said heatedly, You don't know port
to fight fire; I can see that" ad-
sing Attorney O'Donoghue. -
'rporation Attorney Syme did all he han
d to relieve the tenseness of the at Il
phere and inject little ''informaiity" y
the proceedings, so as to make the ner,
less feel at home" He made sew oatf
faint attempts at jokes, such as Sidd
hitting fire like that isn't any pink that
in interrogating Chief Wagner. Sull
ere were a few miniature tits be- OF J
n the legal camps" but the ira IN
nal dove Of peace fiuttered to the "
ne. When Attorney O'Donoghue OF I
some comment on the nature Of curr
missioner Siddons, secret nrobe he that
d that this nature should be ex-
In. g.