Evening star., 1914-02-13
Charles B. Proctor, Third Bat
talon Chief, Now Says
"Somebody" Is to Blame.
ACCUSED CHIEF SULLIVAN
AT SIDDoNS' SECRET PROBE
Also Testifes He Informed Chief
Wagner That Men Were in Burn
ing 9TH Street Building.

Charles B. Proctor. third battalion
chief. tesufying at the Sullivan trial to
day. declared that in his opinion 1t wa.
| criminal neglect on somebody's part tG
have left the members Of No. engine
company in the American S and 10 cen,
store building after its collapse during
| a fire December "a like a 'lot Of rats
| to perish"
During the secret investigation con
| Quoted by Commissioner siddons Proc.
| tor had directly charged Deputy Fire
Chief Sullivan with criminal neglect ir
sending the men into the building an6
leaving them there.
Questioned today by Corporation
Counsel Syme. the third battalion CHIEF
practically amended his original charge
by limiting 1t to Somebody instead OF
placing the entire blame upon Sullivan
When asked why he stated to Com
missioner Siddons that he had not come
to the secret inquiry with malice u
Proctor stated.
Feeling Among Chiefs Not Pleasant.
Feeling among US chiefs is not par
ticularly pleasant. and I wanted It un-
derstood that l had been sent for and
not offered my testimony Voluntarily"
Another prominent feature of Proctor S
OCStIHOuy was tuat ne lu1OfmeQ C61e1
Frank j. Wagner of the fact that the
men OF No. engine company were i'm
prisoned under the store
On the stand yesterday the chief swore
that he had no knowledge of the presence
Of the men in the building or of the fact
that they had been ordered there until he
accidentally stumbled over the hose line
Of the company several hours after the
collapse
Dyer Tells Of Being Trapped.
Frank N. Dyer. one Of the men Of No.
6 engine company imprisoned when the
building collapsed, was the first witness
to testify. He described the arrival OF
his company at the scene Of the fire and
stated that he and his associates were
ordered into the front of the store by
Deputy Chief Sullivan. Later. he said.
Sullivan came into the building and asked
Private Hellmuth, the third man in COM
mand, if the crew could get up to the
second floor. Hellmuth replied that he
thought it could.
Corporation Counsel Syme asked the
witness. il Sullivan returned after that
to give further orders, and was told that
he did not
Dyer said that his company had diff
Guilty in fighting its way to the second
second attempt succeeded In gaining
the landing.
What warning did you have that the
place was going to fall?" asked the cor
poration counsel.
"No warning at ALL" replied the wit
ness
Dyer estimated that he and the other
four members of No. 6 company were
in the building thirty or forty minutes
before the crash came.
Under Debris Two and a HALF Hours.
How long were you under the debrisr'
asked Corporation Counsel Syme.
"It seemed like two or two and a half
hours"
On cross-examination Attorney O'Don-
oghue asked the witness what officer is
in charge Of fire when the chief en-
gineer arrives on the ground. The re-
ply was that the chief engineer assumes
command.
Dyer testimony was substantiated by
that of William H. Schwerdtseger. an
other of the men of No. engine COM
pany who was trapped under the fallen
walls. and was the second witness to tes-
tffy. This witness said that he was sit
ting on the hose. while buried under the
building, and that the water poured on
him constantly. He testified that he was
imprisoned for about four hours and that
during all that time up until about five
minutes before he heard the voices of
his rescuers he was subjected to a con-
slant drenching.
Attorney Syme asked Schwerdtseger
who has charge of looking after the safe
ty of men while they are in a building
fighting fire.
"The chief
(which one?"
The one in charge"
Chief Is Expected to Give Orders.
During the cross-examiuation of the
witness by Attorney Darr. Joseph c.
sheehy, member of the trial board. asked
Schwerdtseger if it was an unusual thing
for chief to place men in a certain posi-
ton and give them no further orders
No. the witness replied.
Charles F. Nesbtt another member OF
the board. also asked several questions
designed to bring out more information
as to the length of time water was