Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-11-22
CAUSE OF CRASH.
Expert Testimony Given to
the Building Commits
sioners.
Sioners.
Weakness in the Second Story
Caused the Crash.

OnThursday the Sth inst. the new
south wing of the State Capitol at
Madison fell with dire results. Gov.
Rusk at once telegraphed to various
cities for experts IN architecture to
make a thorough examination into
the cause of the calamity. These men
came from Cincinnati Chicago, and
St. Paul and after several days hear
ing testimony and examining ruins
make the following report
Hon J. H R,,st, Gocernor, and Chairman Of
Capitol building Commission.
DEAR SIR.-In compliance with your request
;" 10 investigate the cause Of the collapse of part
Of the capitol in process Of erection, we make
the following report.
We have made a careful examination Of the
new south wing Of the capitol and found taat
nearly the whole OF the interior wallis, floors and
roof, and also a part of the southern exterior
walls, had fallen TO the ground We then heard
the statements Of the supervising architect the
consulting architect the contractors and their
foreman; also the statements Of some Of
the men employed on the work. to-
gether with the statements of several citizens
who witnessed the disaster We then made an
other examination of the building and also
perused the specifications and examined the
drawings and this is the result Of our labors.
In order that the matter may be properly un
derstood by persons not acquainted with the sub
jeCt we give a short description of the new south
wing Of The Wisconsin state capitol building, so
far as it Is necessary for our purpose. The in
terror walls of the building for the most part run
through basement and first story 10 the height OF
second story floor and 60 no higher. Above this
the floors are carried principally by IRON col
umns resting on these walls ana run
ming up to the roof, carrying girders
upon which the iron floor joists rest which carry
the brick floors and the roof The building has
Easements and four floors. The masonry sup
porting the iron columns consisted, for the mos
part, Of pasters called piers in the specifications
ia the brick walls Of the first story and below.
The central corridor, however, had IN the first
story and below rubble tone walls on which some
columns rested The brick pilasters were two
feet square. the walls which contained them being
generally foot thick On top OF these pilasters
at the level of the fecond story floor a cast-irOn
plate foot square, rested directly the brick
work Tor on the rubbe stone work in the cor rido
wallis and on this plate the second story columns
were placed with the other columns above Them
These castiron columns We're by the speciiica
TONS in the second story TO be inches in diane
ter and in the third story to be inches
outside diameter, each of which stories were
twelve feet high The fourth story which was
seventeen feet high, was TO have columns five
inch outside diameter The thickness Of meta
an inch The fourth story columns Carried the
roof aud ceiling only The second and third story
columns also carried the hoors. After careful
examination of the building itself, together with
the drawings and specifications thereof, and also
having listened TO the statements OF the persons
before mentioned, each Of whom was examined
whomsoever except ourselves we
have come to this conclusion:
that the disaster occurred on acsount Of the weak
ness OF the second story columns or of the mason
ry supports beneath them, or of both combined
and we will therefore coutlne our remarks to
these points. We estimate the load Of a second
story column where il rests on the masonry be-
low at 20 Short tons when the building would be
finished and loaded with the ordinary weights 10
would have u carry. With regard TO the drawings
and specifications. The specifications say, tine
pud OF a
have cast plates at both ends, plates to be the
same size as base and cap The base
and cap was about ten inches in diam
eter We found the plates % be one
foot square resting directly on the brick, or ruu-
BILE stone masonry, without any cap stone on the
masonry I'm other words an estimated load OF
30 tons WAS brought ON one foot square Of ordina-
W masonry, which masonry was IN most instances
Of brick though the brick ptasters or pier itself
was two feet square Weregard the brick plaster
two feet square as smaller and weaker than it
should have been, and the fact that the cast iron
plate was but one foot square, and, therefore did
not cover the whole top OF the plaster, and had
no cap stone below it, as a grave mistake. The
weight borne by the column was concentrated on
too small an area OF masonry, the top OF which
perhaps crushed more or less under the plate
We estimate the second story column, II MADE
as called tor in the specifications would safely
carry % tons. The estimated load thar it utl-
mately would have 20 carry we estimate at I'D
tons.
The third and fourth story columns, as called
for in the specifications, would have been strong
enough TO carry their respective loads and SO
would all the girders aud uoor beams with re-
gard to the execution of the work.
The cast iron columns were not made of the
thickness called for, being on an average Is thick
ness of metal instead of Is of an inch; besides be-
ing OF widely varying thickness on Inherent sizes
of the same column one column we noticed
being 316 of an inch side and l5l6 of an inch
on the other, some columns having sand holes
cooling seams, and other flaws and defects and
some being patches, Ii is impructicable 10 say
what the detective columns would bear, but they
were much weaker than if they had been of the
thickness called for in the specifications and had
been good sound castings. We regard the mason
rs as fair ordinary work. calling for neither spec
al praise or blame Yours truly,
JAMES r. WuLETT.
A G.. NASH,
q. IS. STRUCK,
GODFREY LUDWIG.