The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-24 00:00:00

rs. PI

w deposed, that he was a
John Platt and Co.,

v of Messrs

ceased was twenty.

me years or age

between the hours of- six and seven o'clock, wit

n were working o❑ a stage composed c

the pans with turpentine. The stage was about nine feet
in height from the ground, and over it there was a large
iron tank containing water, which formed a roof over the
place where they were working. The tank was supported
by four brick walls. Whilst they were in the act ot' filling
the pans the north wall gave way ; the tank immediately
fell, and, in falling, knocked down the stage on which
they wt-re working. Witness and his companion effected
their escape as quickly as possible, by scrambling over the
fallen materials. They soon after heard the sound of some
one calling out from underneath the rubbish, and shortly
discovered that it was a man of the name of Rigby. They
then heard some one else calling ant, and at once pro-
ceeded to render him assistance by clearing away the rub-
bish. The latter turned out to be the deceased, who was
taken to the Southern Hospital in a most exhausted state.
Rigby had not been completely covered with the materials.
The walls by which the tank was supported had been erec-
ted about four months ;- and the tank itself was about six
or seven yards in length, the same in breadth, and about
three feet in depth.

John Gibson, who was working with the last witness
gave a similar account of the accident.
Thomas Bolton, engineer at the works of Messrs. Platt,
stated, that, about a quarter of an hour before the acci-
dent, it contained water to the depth of twenty-six in.thes.
When filled it contained water to the depth of nearly
three feet. It was supported by five iron beams let into
the walls.

Wm. Johnson, the engineer, who made the five iron
beams, stated, that each of them was capable of bearing

fifteen tons weight, the weight being laid on the whole
length. The weight of the tank and the water it contained
would be about ninety-five tons, sixty of which would be

on the beams, and the remainder on the walls and other
shorter beams. The whole weight on the beams would be
fifteen tons less than they were capable of beating-. He
had found, on examination since the accident, that the
whole of the beams had been broken, and that the tank
had been completely cut through. This must have been
caused by the tank resting for a moment on one of the
beams. He considered the beams quite suffident to bear
the weight for which they were designed. From the ap-
pearance of the ruins he thought that some part of the
hearings of the beams had shrunk, the consequence of
which would be, that more weight would be thrown on
one beam than on another, and this would have the effect
of throwing the wall out; but he had not examined the
place minutely enough to say that this had been the cause
of the accident.

Mr. Samuel Holate deposed that he was a builder.
About toe latter end of February, he saw an order in his
hook for some bricklayers, who were wanted by the
Messrs. Platt; and, on ascertaining that they had been
sent, he called, as was his custom when new work was to
be done, and saw Mr. Benjamin Platt, who told him that
he wanted him to build a boiler-house. A few bricks had
been set at the time. Mr. Platt bad a plan in his hand,
and, after some general observations, witness left him,
as he was engaged with the men in setting out the work.
In a few days after he called again, and found that the
foundation of the place was being built along with the ex-
ternal walls of the building. He saw that the external
walls were being built in one solid mass with the walls of
the boiler ; and, on examining the plan, he found that the
walls were two bricks in thickness. As the materials
were old, he advised Mr. Platt to have the walls two feet
thick ; but the latter said that he could not spare the
room, and that he did not intend to carry the building to
any great height. Witness told him that he had better
build a square engine chimney, and turn the whole of the
flues into it ; but, to the best of his recollection, Mr.
Plait replied that he could not spare the room : and, in
reply to a question as to how he intended to build the
flues, he replied, by protecting them on brackets. Some
further conversation then occurred as to what would ba
the best draft, after which witness told him that the bricks
were not good ones, as they were made out of the old
Park clay, and advised him strongly to get new ones to
mix with them. Mr. Platt found his own materials.
Witness went there afterwards and found that a vast num-
ber of pieces of brick, which were very wet, were being
used, and he then told him that he disliked the way in which
the building was going on. Mr. Platt replied, in a joking
isnogr to
wasf wa asyn,ltalli
la to
one,
vsa• ansd hi
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awi nd
,atroc htiht eec t t
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etsti a the
oft i
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--
ness's) belief, " We'll risk it, or words to that effect.
As he found that Mr. Platt was with the men every day,
and giving his own instructions, witness did not interfere
much in consequence ; and on referring to his book, to
see if notice had been given to the Building Surveyor, he
found that it had not, and he accordingly served notice
uoon that officer. This was on the 6th of March. He
thought it was upon that occasion that he asked Mr.
Platt what sort of a roof he was going to put, and that
they had some conversation about iron roofs. Mr. Platt
said, that he intended to put a cistern on the top, which
would at once form his roof. Witness beleived that he
was only once there afterwards, when the building was
twelve feet high, but be spoke to Mr. Geoghan, one of his
principal men, and told him, that they were using too
many of the rubbishy bricks. Geoghan's reply was, that
Mr. Platt was a very odd man, and that he had told them
to use the old bricks up. Mr itness thereupon observed to
Geoghan, that, as Mr. Platt gave his own directions, his
going there was of no use; and he never went after that
period. lie had not surveyed the building since the acci•
dent; but he was of opinion, that the walls as built, were
not capable of sustaining a weight of 115 tons. He was
not surprised that morning when he heard of the accident.
His impression was, that the cause of the accident had
been from the expansion of the walls by the heat of so
many furnaces, and in consequence of the flues being in
in the interior of the walls.

Mr. 'William Metcalfe, house-surgeon at the Southern
Hospital, stated, that the deceased had been brought
there on Friday evening, with a compound fracture of the
skull on the right side, of which injury he died in about
as hour after his admittance.
The inquest was then adjourned.

ADJOURNED INQUEST YESTERDAY

Mr. Samuel Holme being again called, said he had made
a survey of the building in company with Mr. Welsh the
architect and Mr. Benjamin Platt. They measured the
building, and found it 38 feet 3 inches long, and 24 feet
6 inches broad, inside measurement ; a large cistern had
been placed on the roof of the building, supported par-
tially by the wall, and partly by 5 iron girder beams, the
depth of which was in the shape of the Roman letter 1'
inverted. The depth of the beams was 11 inches, the
breadth of the bottom part 71 inches, and the sectional
thickness an inch. The bearing of the beams being 21
feet 6 inches in the clear. He found also that the beams
had been laid on bond timber, which in one place appeared
to have shrunk a little where the beams rested upon it.
The bottom of the cistern did not cover the whole breadth
of the walls as appeared by the line of mortar on the bot-
tom, but appeared to have varied from 6 to 7 inches on
the two ends. This would cause an inequality of bearing
on the wall, and the pressure would be on the internal
breadth, instead of being on the centre of the wall. Wit-
ness thought from the scantling of the beams, that it was
highly probable that when the cistern was filled with wa-
ter a sinking hod taken place. If a slight expansion had
taken place in the walls from the heat of the furnaces,
the natural tendency would be an inequality of bearing on
some one or more of the beams, which would cause a
rush of water to the lowest point of the cistern, and an
accident would be the result. The beams would break,
which had been the case of all of them. He was of opinion
that the beams were not calculated to support that weight
of water in such a position, and had no doubt if there had
been a row of iron pillars beneath them, the accident
would not have occurred. He was at that moment using
nearly double the quantity of metal in warehouse floors of
14 feet bearing, and he thought a combination of the
causes he had named had been the probable reason of the
accident occurring. He could not describe the original
construction of the tipper part of the building, and he had
not been in it since it was about 12 feet high, until that
(yesterday) morning. Mr. Platt was not a professional
architect. Witness and partner found the mortar, which
was mill mortar, and of the strongest description. It was
usual to use old bricks in buildings when they were on
the premises, and were good. He was not aware whether
improper bricks had been rejected—nor aware that they
were put in. Witness objected to so many pieces of old
bricks, and requested Mr. Platt to get new bricks and
use them with the old. He afterwards saw new bricks
on the premises. He advised Mr. Platt to turn all the
flues into one general stack, but he declined doing so, and
gave his own directions respecting them. The expansion
of the wall would be above the furnace, and not below
it, but it was impossible to say now whether that had been
the case or not. It is not usual for a person not an ar-
chitect to erect buildings without employing an architect.
The men sent by him to 1\ Ir. Platt's were as good work-
men as any they had. It was not what is called a cheap
job. They were not restricted in cost, as it was done by
day work. On his survey this morning he found a centre
wall, which would make the building stronger. An iron
tank was heavy, and such an accident might have oc-
curred in the best of buildings where a water tank is used.

Mr. William Rishton said he was one of the surveyors
appointed by the Corporation under the building act. Mr.
James Woods was the other, and they divided the town,
witness taking the south district. Witness received a
notice to survey from Mr. Holme, and frequently visited
them. On the first occasion they were about two feet
high. The walls were built conformably to the act of
parliament, and were half a brick thicker. He was not
aware what was to be put on the top. The walls were of
the usual kind, and he thought them of sufficient strength
to bear the weight of the tank, provided the girders had
been sufficient: . .

Mr. Holme explained that cases arose in which
beams, from a knot or an air hole, might bear a great
weight for a long time, and yet might afterwards from the
swaying or bending of the beams, break with a com-
paratively small weight.
Mr. Rishton—re-examined—said that he had no doubt
but there were warehouses 60 feet in height that bore with
the same thickness of walls only, that carried a greater
weight on each floor, than the tank in question.
Thorne Bolton being recalled, said that during the time
the building was erected, and since the works have been
in operation, Mr. Platt was in the habit of having been
fdoatTiiiryhtioncu
otrhsmeanbdeuraiyi:iffin gmaenddupabout itq.uo
tHe
4e
mwaans
ytahuetrheoari about
as to the law of the case—expressing his own opinion, as
derived from the evidence, that there was no incaution on
the part of Mr. Platt to render him amenable to a verdict