Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-04-16
TJMBLNG TENEMENFS.
Eight Large Unfinished Buildings
Suddenly Collapse.
Many Worklnen Carried Down III
the Mass Of Ruins

large number Of workmen were putting
the finishing touches to row Of eight five
story brick tenement honses On Sixty-second
street, between Tenth and Eleventh avenues,
in New York, when they suddenly gave way
and tumbled to the ground with terrific
crash. Describing theaccident metropoIi-
tan paper says
Five men were putting the roof on the sec
ond house from Tenth avenue when thecrash
came. They, Like their comrades on the up
per stories Of other houses, were rescued with
little trouble. Fourteen men were rescued
within an hour of the crash They were
taken to the Roosevelt hospital Police 1nspec-
tor Dliks and Fire Commissioners PurroT
and Van COtt were soon elbowing their
way to the front Building Inspector D'Oench
and Street-Cleaning Commissioner Coleman
followed. Mr.. Van Cott obtained from the
mayor authority to hire 100 men. who were
soon busy. The firemen and members VI Che
insurance patrol were soon at work I'm the
debris
To this force was added. an army of voIun-
teers- Sometimes the laborers came to a big
timber which was fastened down BY the shat
tered roof and portions Of the wall. "a long
rope would be fastened to the end of the stick
and three hundred vigorous arms Wa
it out. The bricks made an incessau
as the men in the ruins surroundeE
selves with a rude barricade. It
marked that no mortar clung to the loo
bricks.
Every one who saw the houses fall used the
same sinile in describing it: They FELL likg
a row Of dominoesn The houses were on the
south side of the street, and the first of the
row was about two hundred feet from Tenth
avenue. They were fye-stOry double
deckers, built as the sequel proves, in the
poorest manner and with the himsiest ma
terials. Gangs Of roofers and bricklayars
were at work in the houses at about O'Clock
| in the afternoon. Suddenly there was long,
strange rumble, then crash as the east walk
of the first house caved in upon its neighbor
| House No. quickly followed, and with b
| protracted clatter the entire row fell i'm
| heap. The noise was heard for blocks, and
cloud Of gray dust filed the air. Men
whose tattered clothing was covered with
dirt and whose faces were bleeding crept out
4 from under the mass, and such as were able
70 do SO walked away.
Meanwhile crowd rushed from all quar-
\ ters into Sixty-second street. The widest
stories were set afioat There were, it was
said, 100 men under the ruins This figure
came down to fifty and ct last lower stiIl
when it was learned that less than forty men
were employed in the houses. One estimate
was that five laborers, eight carpenters two
! bricklayers. four masOnS and nineteen frauler@
were employed IN the buildings A boy was
sent to the Roosevelt hospital with the neWs,
and soon ambulanceS came hurrying to tha
spot. An alarm brought the firemen, and
the ominous signal Of twenty five consecutive
strokes was sounded This is call for all
the ambulances in the city. The hospital
responded promptly, one from the Presby-
4 tian, covering the distance from Madison
avenue and Seventieth street in five minutes
Sixty second street, between Tenth and
Eleventh avenues, is rough and uneven as amy
country read, and the ambulances made them
way cautiously between piles OF loan. THE
use of this material in place of sand in pre-
4 pairing mortar is one Of the principal reasons
! why Mr. Buddensiek's houses fell.
Captain Kfllilea, of the Twenty second po-
| lice precinct, led his reserves to the scene.
Finding them unable to deal with the crowd
he sent to other precincts for aid.
The police barred the streets at Tenth and
| Eleventh avenues and prevented people from
approaching through Mr.. Buddensiek Sixty.
! first street house As the night drew on the
air became sharp, and the crowd, tired W
/ waiting when there was nothing to be seem
slowly dispersed. Coroner Martin and his
deputy, Dr. William T. jenkins, fingered
about the ruin, both expressing the hope chat
there would be no need of their official services
| By 1 P. II. sixteen men had been taken Cut
| injured more or less severely, and about
twelve more were reported missing
The contractor for the erection of the build
/ ings is one Charles Buddensiek, who has bR-
fore been in trouble on account of his reck-
lessness in building operations. He disap-
/ peared shortly after the disaster but THE
police were sent upon his track. The fimsiest
/ materials were used in erecting the buildings
and that is assigned as the cause of their COL
lapse.