The inquest on the two men who lost their lives
in the Sidney Street affray was concluded on Wednesday. Evidence having been given by Superintendent Stark, of the City Police, and Superintendent Mulvaney, of the Metropolitan Police, who accepted responsibility for stopping the firemen from ex tin guish- ing the fire at the risk of their lives, the Home Secretary was called. After describing his experiences during his stay in Sidney Street, the Home Secretary denied that he had in any way directed, interfered with, or overridden the arrangements made by the police. The police and plain-clothes officers, he added, were ready to rush the building at any moment; but he was certain that it would have been wrong to throw away valuable lives until all other practicable means had been ex- hausted. As for the Fire Brigade, he thought they were quite right, hearing he was on the spot, to come up and ask if they were justified in watching the fire burn. He accepted full responsibility, not _for interfering with the police, but for supporting them and confirming them in the orders they gave. The jury returned a verdict of justifiable homicide in the case of the man known as Joseph, who, in their opinion, had been shot by some unknown soldier. In the case of the man known as Fritz, they found that death was due to suffocation. The jury added a rider expressing the hope that the occurrence might lead to the framing of stringent laws governing the entry of criminal aliens into this country, and warmly approved of the Home Secretary's commendation of the police and Fire Brigade.
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