Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-09-22

called attention Friday morning to certain al
legged defects in the construction OF the west
wing extension of the capitol. These detects
were claimed to exist both in the material en-
ployed and in the mode of construction. Inc
nature of these dangerous shortcomings were
sneci6cally set forth, and the remedy was easily
inferred. 1t was in no spirit or the alarmls'
that public attention was directed to matter
of 40 much importance, but for the sole pur-
nose of securing safe building, true in all
particulars to the plans and specifications, and
fully up to all contract requirements IN ma
teral.
Fast upon this public invitation to look
into the work done on this
public building came the retort;
ut is SAFE" and the architect "rldlcnies
any assertion to the contrary.
HOW PROFESSIONALS MAY ERR.
This professional assurance to the unpro-
fegsional public had scarcely reached the few,
through the obscure medium employed, before
the news was current that the west wing OF the
The old story took this phase, lit can't fall
down.. But it has fallen down.
THE EXTENT OF THE ACCIDENT.
A GLOBE pedestrian heard of it, and hurried
to the scene of disaster, to learn the extent OF
the damage and the nature of the disaster.
Reaching the ground, it was
found that the vault arch on
the first floor had fallen in, and carried with
it portion of the wall, and had damaged :.
great portion of the rest. The stay rods OF
iron underneath the arch had been bent be-
meath the weight of the falling mass OF brick
and rubbish The arch was sprung
from tho new ' man (interior Wam, not exterior
wall of the new building. The new wall was
the one damaged by the descent; the ola wall
stood the shock with no symptom OF budga.
THE DOCTORS DISAGREE.
The cause of the fall was the next point to
be investigated On this, no settled opinion
could be found. 1t was declared that the sup
port was removed while the arch was
green; that the late rain had q
tendency to cause the fall, as the convexlty OF
the arch was unprotected from the "eathef;
again that the arch was, in the first place, de-
fcctiVcly constructed.
Mr.. MERRILL's OPINION.
can't for certain say what was the cause
of the fall. 1t may be be-
canse the support was taken
away too soon. Then again. the construction
of the arch may have had something to dc
with it,"
''In what respect?"
..Well- the arch is what is called a hollow
arch--that is, there are layers of brick and then
an open space My opinion is that there ought
to have been two layers of brick and then the
space. But this arch had only one tkicknes
of brick and was topped by lot of sand.
"You are the contractor, are you not?
'Yes."
Have in charge the brick work well as
the re,t2"
'Well the brick work has been sub-let by
me-
''To whom, if you please?''
"TO John Alton"
Mr. Merrill continued that he supposed the
work was we'll done. He didn't believe the
mortar had anything to do with it. Picking
up piece of the hardened mortar, he struck it
against piece Of iron. and observed, 'why it,
is as hard as brick.
Previous to the little talk with Mr. Merrill,
the GLoEE man had gotten hold of MI Bufing.
ton, the architect.
THE ARCHITECTS ACCOUNT.
The pumping proce S was put to the archi-
tect, and ready answers were given to all in
qulries.
First" said the pencil pusher. II would
fall?"
"Oh, it is a matter Of noimportance.'
'But the disaster on top of the suspicious
aroused about the safety of the building as a
whole, makes it of some importance, surely?'
II mean that no injury results
to the material strength of the build
ing. 1t was u stone arch
as it were, from the walls Of the main build
ing. Why it fell cannot exactly tell. l am
inclined to believe that the support was re-
moved too soon, while the mortar was green"
Remember Mr. Merrill picked up piece of
the mortar, and striking it against iron, de
clared it as hard as brick).
'"Then, too" continued Mr. Burlington, "the
late rain may have had something to do In dis
lodging it. The plumber has been laying gas
pipe, and he drilled hole through the top OF
the arch that may have Jared it, All these cir
cumstances combined caused the accident"
THE WHOLE BUILDING INSPECTED.
At this stage of the proceedings Mr. Butfing-
ton seemed to have exhausted the subject of
athe fall" except adding, little damage is
DONE and that will be fully repaired by We'd
nesday at no cost to the State" Several
general remarks having been dropped about
the safety of the building as an entirety Mr..
Burlington suggested the propriety of taking a
walk the building.
Accepted.
The two commenced the investigation, and
stepped with circus like agility over joists and
skinned up ladders like Darwin ''Links''-the
architect did. The building is two stories high
with basement; the basement walls are sub
stantially built of stone; the superstructure is
of brick. Outwardly to all appearances, every
thing is serene as summers day. In the in
terror, the upper floor is in extent ninety
feet long by forty-seven feet wide; this room
is clear of all Instructions in the way of pill
lars, etc. The floor below First foor) is devoted
to Offices and on this floor, northeast corner is
situated the broken vault.
WEAK SUPPORTS.
From the basement the system of support
adopted is seen and shows up in this light:
The joists are two inches thick by thirteen
deep; they extend from the wall to the girder
in the center; these are in the two lengths of
twenty-eight and twenty-five feet without sup
port. The joists mortised into a girder
composed of plank lengths nailed together,
this girder being supported by five small
wooden pillars.
This looks like rather frail support for
the weight above?" queried the reporter.
'All sufficient. Long joists are best; you get
better wood than in short ones,''
But unsupported as these are?"
'"Ihey are as strong as there is any necessity
for. The space between joists will be triple
brdged, the rightly and strength increased
and the weight will be thus distributed
The gentleman then explained that "the
girder'' was ''all right" too. 1t vas preferable
to solid piece because by the laps it made
no continuance joint, as in the case of solid
timber.
1t was pretty evident that Mr.. Burlington
had technical answer ready for every objec
ton urged, SD the reporter looked around fol
himself.