The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1850-08-12

numerous 10 alarm the public for their safety
while they walk the streets In almost every in- |
stance the cause of the calamity has been traced to
The carelessness and Incompetence of the persons
taking down buildings, or To the unsuhstantia man.
n.r in which those structures have b:en up
The house which lately fell al the of Fourth
siIee, and Broadway is a sample but more ter !
Tiblc one is the Water street catastrophe, that oc
cured in the case OF The government bonded ware !
house. Yesterday We published an account of a
horrible affair al Philadelphia, where SIX were
buried beneath the rnins OF two of the public stores
IN Granite street, and number of others had a
very narrow escape. The accident is solely attr !
buted 10 he trumpeiy manner in which the build (
ing erected. II was new five story brick
double store, rented to The government for the sto
rage of bonded goods. The Buhetrn says:-
" The accident is attributed to the imperfect con-
s,rueton Of The building The foundations were !
insecure. and the walls for warehouse purposes
entirely TOO hin; while there were fasenings 10
guard The structure from the dagger of the pressure
Of weighty goods This building was the last ed-
flee ci The extensive business Granite street I'M |
provemt ut, projected by Nj. Cooley We under |
stand that il was erected without any responsible
contractor, the PROPRIETOR, with The view of saving
expense, sups rinendiDg its construction himself.
Ght disaster lays fearful responsibility at the
door of some one"
We fear shall have many other disasters of
this kind TO record in our own city, and it is
high time that something were done by our
city government, or if they have not the
power, by the legislature at Albany, to provide
for the safety Of human life 1t is well known that
the vast minority Of the houses now being erected
III New York are mere speculatons not intended
as permanent dwellings,, but to make money by
selling them when finished or letting them in cot
tier terements Houses are built for sums of mo.
ney for which it would be utterly impo ssible to
erect the m with a due regard TO the lives of the
people. The walls not only run up too thin,
but rotten bricks used, and cheap substitute
for mortar, that has little Rdhesiveress. Add
to this, that a very large number of these buildings
are erected under sham architects, aad some OF
them without any architects at all; while the work
itself is done in the msst slovenly and bunglisg
manner The trade OF N lsons and brcklayers has
been ruined by thrustng hoy into il, and men from
other trades, who never served day 10 the busl-
ness. All this is done 10 expense, at the loss
Of human life and limb Some OF the houses that
look beautiful to the eye, having nice gng. rored d
work, and the whole exterior elegantly painted,
have no s-undness in the walls, and are every mo-
msnt in danger of falling-remnding one OF the
"whlted sepulchres" spoken Of ia the Bible, whose
outside 20 far, while the interior was full of
all manner Of corruption
Some stringent law is called for and the man
who erects or TO be erected what takes away
human life, endangers H. is morally guilty in
! higher degree than he who carelessly fires a
pistol, by which some person is shot. The latter
is tried Tor manslaugher and there be no rea-
son assigned why the former should not cone I'M
der the same category. The laundering or corrupt
architect and the fraudulent contractor, the propr-
etor himself, and, above all, the man who gives
flse certificate of the stability Of dangerous
building ought to be brought under the provisions
of the criminal law. But there seems to be a
strange reluctance the part Of the law authori-
ties, and of coroners' juIes and grand jures, TO
follow up the matter, so TO make two or three
signal examples The manner in which the
Hague street and Water street catas,rophcs were
dealt with gives but little hope Of energetic
action in cases OF less terrible importance. The
Grand jury, the reader will perceive, by refer
ring to yesterdays Herald, have adverted to "thc
repeated and increasing number of disasters attend
| ing the erection and demolition Of buildings in this
city" We are glad they have sgitaied tn. ques-
ton; for even that will do good; but if they had
gone step further, and indicted for manslaushter
some Of the parties alluded TO, they would not have
exceeded the limits of their duty, while they would
have done something that would have better
effect than any amount of mere talk. They justly
observe, that in those it so happens that no.
body is TIC blame," and they make some palpab.c
hits at ccroners and their juries. But when the
Coroner's jury manfally did its duty ia the Hague
street affair, what did the Grand Jury OF that time
Just nothing To save themselves trouble, the
present Grand Jury have indeed suggested civil
remedy, and thrown out the idea of few suits being
/ .,.l al kyt
widows Of Il ose killed. which would be sure to re-
suit in exemplary damages. This, no doubt, ought
to be done, but that is no reason why the duty Of
the Grand Jury should be left undone. Perhaps,
however, a civil remedy would be the most eiiec-
tual; but il ought TO be Of the following kind:-
Any new house bull, in an unsubstantiil manner,
TO be taken down instantly by public officer az
pointed for that purpose, and heavy penalty in
flicied on the owner besides. All old buildings in
n dangerous condition to be Frustrated Instantly.
II this duty cannot be conveniently thrown on some
Of the welLpad officials in the departments Of the
city government, let a new Office be created. Al
any expense let the lives cf the people be safe from
J the impending perils that daily and hoarly hang
| over their heads, like the sword Of Damocles,
pended by a single hair. As for architects, we
have n faith in their certificates. They can be
60, TO certify anything, and the same remark APP
plies to scientific men in other branches. The
bonded ware house in Water street was pronounced
perfectly safe by the architects and builders. yet il
crushed seven men TO death. A few years ego
Joscphs' banking establishment in Wall stree; was
I observed to be in a very dangerous state. and
alarm was excited. Certificates from architects.
ofts perf.ct stability, were procured and appeared
in the morning papers. On the same night the
building fell, with awful crash. Fortunately, no
person was injured. Had it fallen in the day
time, when there so many brokers, and others,
doing business, in that street, many lives would in
evitably have been lost. Citizens look to ".
What you hold most dear is at stake.