Superintendent Ottway related how he had received certain information as
to the whereabouts of a man with a limp and a man called Fritz, both of whom were suspected in connexion with the Houndsditch murders. Chief Superintendent Stark described the police raid on Tuesday morning and the wounding and removal of Sergeant Leeson, and stated that for the police to have gone up the narrow stairs would have been certain death. The Scots Guards were sent for to obtain the use of Service rifles. The Fire Brigade was sent for about 1 p.m. on Tuesday, but it was considered undesirable to allow the men to risk their lives. Some conflict of evidence arose between the Fire Brigade officers and the last witness as to whether it was by the orders of the Home Secretary or the police that the Fire Brigade was not allowed to approach the fire until after a long interval; but Mr. Bodkin expressly stated that, "so far as the police were concerned, no one wanted to decline responsibility for preventing the Fire Brigade or any of its officers from being killed."
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