The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1877-05-22

a walk Among the Twmslea stones
where the Treabie Seems 90 Have
Been.

A reporter who has been at the Rock.
ford scene of the fallen Court House,
says Entering At the door just West
Of the main pavilion, upon which the
dome over the front porch and arched
recess was TO have been built, q scene
Of great devastation presented itself.
The two monstrous columns, upon
which rested the wall of the pavilion
above the roof, lay almost buried with
stone. brick. mortar. iren ceilings, raf-
ters, scafioldings, etc. II was in this
room where the bodies OF Hollenbeck
and Hough were discovered this mora
ing. At IL o'clock Saturday night the
workmen discovered the FIRST trace Of
the missing bodies, but il took four
hours to recover the bodies. The mas
sive stone cornish, weighing many
tons, under which the bodies were
found, could not be moved, so drills
were procured, and the corner of the
stone had 10 be taken of. This done,
il was found that the arm OF Hollen-
beck was still under the stone, So the
body had 10 be cut away from the arm
aud mangled terribly, with all the top
part Of the head gone. The body OF
Big Fred Haugh, as he was known
in Springfield. was lying by the side of
Hollenbeok. Fred's face was towards
the ground. but his body was terribly
crushed, and was too horrible for de-
scription.
Leaving the room next the dome
climbed among the debris until / got an
open place in the center of the building.
Here the best view can be had. About
one-third OF the entire building is de-
stroyed. The three walls OF the main
pavilion came down, and as they were
tied by several other walls brought
with them the entire center. The roof
had got along far enough TO have the
roof boards nailed on. The walls of
the center pavilion above the roof had
been built. The cornices and pedi-
ment were on and ready for the super
structure of the dome.
the construction Of the inside supports
OF the main pavilion. The architect
seemed to want large court house, and
q showy dome over the porch. That
he might procure this he had to run
the iron columns through the court
room, instead Of building good. solid
wall to hold the massive masonry at
the top. But this might have been
done with safety bad shs gat 81 lks
piers upon which rested the columns
we're stone in the sub-celler, and would
safely stand a weight of 5000 pounds
to the inch, but above that came O
brick wall 29i inches thich, built with
out bond stones in the entire hight.
These piers or walls were laid in the
basement story with the walls surround
ing the fire proof vaults.
Upon the top Of the wall was q COM
pound box x-girder le inches on top, 24}
inches high, and 35 feet long, which
carried the brick walls supporting the
dome with the heavy cornice. To
show the inconsistency Of this building
il is only necessary to call attention to
the fact that the supports for the out
side walls-the showing walls-would
sustain q weight OF no less than 5000
pounds 10 the inch, while those of the
inner side. ont OF sight. would only
sustain sixty pounds safely, according
TO Governmet tables. And yet both
these walls had to sustain the same
weight-about 800 tons. A brick wall
or pier actually capable Of safely carry
ing a weight OF fifty-four tons had over
100 tons upon it. As q natural conss-
Ten anHESaf brick K cr1am6ies into dust tHd and The the
entire dome comes down, killing out
right eight men, upon whose bodies
the Coroner's jury has already sat, and
perhaps mortally wounding two more,
and badly hurting eleven others, be-
sides the loss OF property.
The contractor says he followed
out the plans to the letter, and there
is no evidence to prove that he has not.
The architect says he has not been on
the work since last February, when he
was sent for by the Board, and the
Board of Supervisors say they are
neither architects, nor builders, nor
Judges of brick, and. that they depend
ed upon what the architect had said.
From the Rockford Journal, Saturday.
1t has been evident TO Mr.. Richard
son, the contractor, that the supports
of the tower were too weak, and he has
repeatedly called the attention Of the
architect, Mr.. Gay and the building
committee 10 that fact. But the deci-
sion OF the committee has always been
to adhere to the plans and specifica-
tions OF the architect, and TO contine
the expenditures in the construction
strictly TO the contract, and 80 far as
known the Board Of Supervisors have
backed the committee in this determin-
alton. IL has evidently been the OBJ
ject of the board and the committee to
avoid the perpetration Of costly job
on the county by the builders, . rock
on which so many public enterprises
OF the kind have split and gone TO
ruin. But in being thus wary OF grabs;
they have probably fallen into the 9TH
er extreme OF parsimony, and where
they have sought to save they have
caused heavy loss 10 the county, and
fearful sacrifice Of life which cannot
be estimated in dollars and cents. The
loss TO the county cannot fall short OF
800. 600. for the entire inside OF the
structure will have to be overhauled