The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-30
COLEMAN EXPLAINS
 CONNECTION WITH CASE

At the close of the session MT. Cole
 man made a very impressive statement to
 the effect that his connection with the
 case had been merely accidental, having been member of the audience when he was called upon by the commissioners to
 question witnesses in the effort to bring out testimony which would discover the responsibility for the fall of the wall. We have tried to do that to the best
 of our ability he said. But what want to say is that I believe and I be- lieve that the public believes that this investigation has been full and complete, fair and impartial The three commis- sioners we have to thank for it. They
 have seen to it that we have had an open and fair trial of the case and believe that every scrap of evidence has been brought out on all sides of the ques- tion."
 MT. Bowie then arose and said he want ed to indorse everything MT. Coleman had said and explained that he was present at the hearing merely through the courtesy of the commission and as a representative of Mrs. Lucy Hudglns, owner of the building, and that his only purpose had been to elicit the facts and not to keep anything concealed
 l A complete stenographic record of the probe was made by Jack Stallings oi the firm of Stallings & Brazelton, court reporters, and the commissioners will LOOK over this official evidence in it's entirety, it is said before they render their yer dict.
 l. E. Spencer, assistant building lh- spector, stated he inspected steele- Smith building a few days after the l. ,;,lxr tractor before going into building ln- spector's office; that he examined east wall and judged it to be safe to he used; that he had been in building every day or two since then and never had any reason to doubt it's safety; that to his knowledge Mrs. Hudgins or her agents had never come to his office asking that walls be left standing longer that to 1 his knowledge no one had ever tele- phoned building inspectors office com plaining of wall being dangerous Wit ness avoided saying how long he would have allowed wall to stand. but said 1 that up until time wall fell he did moi consider it had stood too long; he diu l say that he had understood from MT Matthews and others in office that wall I had been passed on by Matthews 1 Wheelock, Allen and others and consid- cred safe. and he had every confidence | III these ReHtltIlcI' tiiot iiC iONOA " VI
 on top of wall and never plumbed II
 with plumb bob.
 | Jn answer to question whether or not l he would have left walls standing un- 1 less he thought they were to be re- built, witness stated he ealways con
 sidered wall safe" l Witness stated that mere fact thai
 place was to be rebuilt would not and
 had not infiuneced him in declaring wal safe, and having it torn down if 1t was
 not safe; that he had been brickmasor
 25 or 30 years before going into in' spector's office.
 l R. M. Johnson, assistant building in spector, stated he had not examined Steele-S Smith building; that no com plaints were ever made to him regard
 ing walls being dangerous; that h.
 never heard anyone in office having
 received complaints regarding wall; tha
 he had been contractor and builder fol
 about 20 years. Attorney Martin tried tt