Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-10-14

Mr., Hoffman Has Been Called Upon
to Preside Over 54,2eS lnauisitions
Gives Graphic Description OF East
land Disaster.
With a record attendance of l65 for
supper and more than that for the lee
ture that followed, the Searchlisht
Club of the Y. NJ. c. A. opened its sea-
son as the association building
Wednesday night. Coroner Peter NJ
Hoffman, of Chicago was the speaker
and his subject was safety First"
The club stopped fer a few minutes
to pay respect to the momory OF Albert
Higgin, secretary and treasurer of the
Marshalltown Trowel Company, who
died recently. Mr.. Higgin was one Of
the largest subscribers 10 the building
fund and a member of the committee
of ten which solicited most of the large
subscriptions. He was also member
of the building committee. The reso-
luton that was prepared by com
rnittee, of which J. L. Carney was chair
man, was adopted, and a copy Will De
sent to the family.
For the first time in the history Of
the club in its new quarters, the
CAPACITY of the assembly room, when
used as dining hall, was fairy Wei
taxed
Glimpse Of Chamber Of Horrors.
With his coroner's keys TO the causes
and the results, Coroner Hoffman
opened some OF the doors and gave
the audience a glimpse OF the tragic
skeletons Of sudden deaths and crimes
and let them look for moment into
Cook county's chamber Of horrors.
What they saw was gruesome, even
horrible, but interesting, almost fasci-
mating. With sudden, unexplained.
and tragic deaths by the thousands,
many of them the toll Of carelessness
as the harvest the Chicago coroner
pointed TO representatives. and gave re-
suits Of campaigning for safety first.
In order that his audience might
fully understand the vast amount OF
tragic deaths his office investigates
during his term of ten years and eight
months in Office. Hoffman said his
officers had conducted 54.29S inquests.
I'VE are a thoughtless, needless and
a careless people," he said. Greed for
money" he gave as one Of the chief
causes for accidental deaths. And from
records of the dead" he drew lessons
for the living"
Legislation Great Help.
Some specific classes Of tragic deaths
and remedial measures IL which he as
coroner had had influence he described,
Among these were asphyxiauon by
bath room gas water heaters, and
death from fumes of ammonia from
bursting pipes in the big packing
plants. The preventative in both cases
were ordinances. One compelled that
water heaters IN bath rooms be con-
nected with the outside. The other
was inspection Of ammonia-ca
pipes and condemnation Of the unsafe
pipes In both cases the death rates
from these causes fell off several hun
dred per cent.
With good deal Of feeling which
drew very close attention he de-
scribed deaths Of the Eastland disaster
of last July, and the heroic measures
taken for the recovery of the bodies
and the Identification of the dead. An
other big Chicago disaster of a few
years ago that came directly under his
official notice was the explosion in the
crib at the water intake off South Chi
cago in which 100 men were killed and
mangled beyond recognition.
Automobile Factor For Death.
His statistics of deaths of the
streets" in auto accidents carry a
warning to pedestrians. He said 20
per cent of those killed by automobiles
were killed in the block and not at
street intersections. He predicted
however that laws must be revised to
curb, control and punish the reckless
drivers whom he divided into three
classes. the intoxicated, the speed
maniac, and the carless rich. Both
fine and Jail sentence instead of only
fine was the cure, he thought.
Public Safety Work.
He described briefly the work OF the
Public Safety Commission Of Chicago
organized by his efforts, and some Of
the things it had accomplished. He
told of the lessening death roll taken by
trains at grade crossings because the
commission, the township supervisors,
the railroad officers co-operated to
make the crossing more safe.
He spoke briefly of Chicago's social
evil, it's efforts to segregate and
stamp it out, and OF the frightful in
crease of criminal operations. Very
few of them, he was convinced, were
ever reported to the coroner.
The Searchlight Club will probably
remember Coroner Hoffman's visit for
a long time, for from him they got
some first hand knowledge of the I'M
happy and tragic side of life in the big
city.
Ralph w. Scott, president Of the club,
presided, and introduced the speaker
kroser Funeral Saturday.
The body of George Kroger, of Chi
cago, who died Monday at Boonville
Ind, was brought to the city this
morning for burial in the family LOT