Evening star., 1914-02-18
Attorney O'Donoghue. in Cos
ing His Argument. Arraigns
Proctor and Wagner.
PLACES RESPONSIBILITY
FOR TRAPPED FIREMEN
Corporation Counsel Syme Denounces
What He Called Efforts to Shift
the Responsibility.


cent store following a blaze the night
of December ~ Attorney Daniel W
o Donoghu. closed his argument In the
Sullivan trial this afternoon with an elo-
quent plea that justice b. done the deputy
chief.
Preceding O'Donoghue Corporation
Counsel Conrad II. Syme. who conducted
The trial Tor the District, spoke for NOR.
than an hour. Charles ". Darr will pre-
sent the closing argument for the defense
tbs afternoon
q Donoghue characterized Deputy Chief
Proctor as man consumed w.th sel,ish-
ness, which he declared ''crazed his mind
and stiiied his heart He used the whole
world to promote his selfish ends. charged
the attorney.
Sympathy was expressed bS Attorney
O'Donoghue for chief Wagncr, Wh" he
sale. Was led to MAKE statements At
the secret inquiry conducted by Commits
sioner Siddons which Ii. later retract.d
during the open Investigation
No Criticism OF Commissioners.
ODonoshue stated he had no criticism
of the Commissioners action in the case.
as he presumed they did their duty as
they saw it. In closing he sad:
Where are Sullivans accuscrs today :?
Not man stands here 10 charge him
with inethciency or neglect Of duty What
Capt. Howard said in his testimony there
is none better They must be pure Of
heart to follow him. That man pointing
to the deputy chief, is the idol of the fire
men.
His strength is the strength of ten
men because his heart is pure. ! ann
safe in saying that every fairminded
man in Washington VINO has followed
this testimony only wants his acqut-
tai. 1t is most unfortunate that a man
al thlrtE-EN,.
loyal service should find in the evening
of his life charges such as these pre-
ferred against him. We ask for JUS
tice at your hands
Calls Conditions Alarming.
Summoning up the evidence. Cor
poration Counsel Syme declared that
the trial had disclosed conditions in
the fire department which. to say the
least are alarming. The situation, he
asserted. indicates an almost alb
solute lack of official responsibility
and u desire TO shift responsibility
and avoid censure is painfully IN eri-
dence.
He reviewed what he characterized the
established facts brought out in the
case, laying emphasis on the fact that
Deputy Chief Sullivan was the only Of
tirer who officially knew of the presense e
of five members of No. i engine COM
pany in the burning building. and tn.
he failed to report the facts to Chief
Engineer Wagner upon his arrival at
the scene of the fire.
The questions of responsibility and duts
We're discussed the speaker pointing out
that the matter resolved itself into
whether il is the duty of an officer 10
ask about danger which he does not
know exists. or the duty of one who is
aware of the presence Of danger TO re
port the fact to superior official.
Chief Wagner. said the corporation
counsel. may have been justified when
he saw the third floors OF the building
abaZe in thinking there We're no men IN
the structure.
The speaker repeatedly referred TO the
methods of the defense. which he declared
were aimed toward the shifting of respon-
sibility. and stated that he had no sym
pathy for such methods.
Washington is entitled TO a fire depart
ment that viii be perfect in its co-ordiila-
tion and Will not be interfered with by
politics. he declared. One Of the weak
spots of the department as shown by the
evidence is the fact that men could have
been imprisoned under the floors OF the
burning building for more than an hour
before their presence there was discov-
! cred or reported.
Task Difficult and Delicate.
Corporation Counse Syme spoke in part
as follows:
1T is an undertaking somewhat diff
! cult as well as delicate to examine into
the cause of what appears to be the re-
suit of some serious defect in of our
most important public services-difficult
because of the proneness of human ma
ture to shift responsibility for disa ster-
delicate hy reason OF the fact that any
thing which produces discord in such a
service impairs its present efficiency.
adequate protection Of life and prop
erty from fire is Important obligation
of constituted local authority. This pro
lection cannot be afforded ii the lire de-
partment is wanting in anything that
Sures perfect coordination of its parts in
action. We cannot expect men to risk
their lives in i hazardous undertaking.
unless they are assured that their safety
is conserved as far as possible, consider
ing the danger their duty frequently calls
them 10 face Men usually do not shrink
from the necessary dangers of their call
ing They will surely tinall, avoid nee
essary danger If to If is added official
carelessness of their safety. and disre-
gard of those ordinary precautions which
prudence suggests and discipline de-
naands.
Nobody can consider me eNtravagant
in saving that this trial has disclosed a
condition somewhat alarming. On the
compuson of the clearest evidence and
the firmest proof an uncertainty Of off
parent An alacr u 10 shift the blame
for disaster is painfully in evidence. The
safety of those actually lighting a lire
from the inside seems to be a matter of
very little consideration tn. part of
superior authority.
Exactness and Fairness Sought.
MY whole theory in conducting this
trial has been to ascertain with exact
ness and fairness every Incident OF this
fire | felt that by 50 doing i would
clearly appear how it happened that
practically a whole engine company
could be buried in the ruins of a build ng
and no one in authority know anything
about it for over an hour. One would
have TO search long TO find similar in
cident in the annals OF fire fight ng.
The only method known to human IN
telligence to correct an error is to ascer-
tain the truth. The only way to do ex-
act just to any person or any situa-
ton is to get at the truth about II. The
only way to build up any institution
from a fire department to government
is to CONSTRUCT 1t on true, just and ef-
fective principles.
This is no trite commonplace-no
threadbare moral platitude. 1t is a funda-
,.,I MI pf irfjnite force ana