The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-14
COLLAPsING BUILDINGS.
Eight Badly-Constructed Tenement Houses
Tumble to Pieces.

E1SnC BaOly-COnStrucCeO IenemenC houses
Tumble to Pieces.
NEW YORK, April 13.-Eight fvestory tene-
ments on the south side of West Sixty second
street, between Tenth and Eleventh avenues,
that had recently been put under roof, fell this
after,sson while efforts were being made to brace
them up, that the yielding foundation might be
made secure The wreck was complete not a
| stick ><zlained standing, not timber remained
whole in the entire row. Half hundred work
men were at work in or about the buildings at
the time. At least thirteen of them were in
jured, none fatally 1t was said, soon after the
accident occurred, that twenty persons were
buried in the ruins, but up to late hour no.
body had been found. The excitement about
the place was so great that it was difficult to
obtain any reliable information as to who might
have been lost, but the gangs of workmen en-
gagged in searching for remains found no clew to
any object of their search.
The most superficial examination of the debris
showed the cause of the disaster to be wretched
workmanship and poor material. The mortar
contained little or no sand, but loam or mud in
stead, and was wholly unfit for use. This, and
the fact that the building had been erected dur
ing the cold weather. of wet and frozen bricks,
were directly the of the collapse.
The builder Chas. A. Buddensick, who was
responsible, left the neighborhood in a carriage
Immediately after the disaster, and drove to his
residence in East Seventy street, but
where he went from there nobody could learn
The police, who arrested the master brickiayer,
Chas Frank, could not find the builder. Bud
densick for years has been in trouble with the
A.
has put up. The evidence given by Frank and
Cnas Swager, brcklayers is very damaging to
Mr. Buddensick The erection of the building had
been going on since last December, during
all the cold weather. The fourths story walls
showed weakness in a sudden thaw before the
fifth story was reached, and had to be taken
down. Workmen were forbidden to carry home
! scraps of timber left by the carpenters. By the
builders order they were to be used in filling the
walls, to save bricks, which were sometimes put
in by armfuls. When good thaw set in the
walls began to weaken, and steps were taken to
brace them up from both ends, so that they
would stick together until the roofs could
be put on and the end walls built
They stood for a week or two, without,
so far as could be ascertained, exciting The curl
osity of the building department. The heavy
warm rain of yesterday morning completed the
work begun by the thaw. This morning it was
seen that the three houses at the west end were
about to fall. The foundation had bulged
poticeably, and the walls were shaky. Builder
Buddensck's attention was called to the fact
and he set men to work upon the walls and
foundation. Four stone-masons and eighteen
carpenters were at work on this when the crash
came. There were roofers, painters, fathers
and plumbers numbering perhaps thirty
at work about the premises at the time
Fifty men had been laid off, as
some material had not arrived. About 3:I5 p
NJ. shout of warning went up that brought
pale faces to many windows. The end building
toward Eleventh avenue, was seen to totter and
then fall with thunderous noise. Both foun-
dations and sidewalks had fallen out and the
body OF the house, deprived Of its support, fell
to the cellar The building adjoining it having
nothing TO lean upon fell next Then the whole
row followed, like line of card houses. A con-
tinuous roar followed that seemed to last mary
minutes as one after the other of the tai. build
ings went down Workmen in buildings for blocks
around, and people living on the street
for half mile about, were startled by the
noise and shock and in very short time the To-
cality OF the wrecks was packed with excited
people, whose threats of vengeance on the reck
less builder filed the air. When the heavy
clouds Of dust had cleared away the people
looked upon heap of broken bricks and tim
bers, piled only few feet above the level OF the
street. Men with broken limbs and bruised
faces were struggling out from under the wreck.
and dragging themselves painfully away. Shrieks