The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-11-22
CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT.
1t Was Evidently the Effort to Place
Heavy Girders on a Green Wall.

There were any number of speculations
among those on the ground as to the
cause Of the accident. A party Of work
ingmen. whom met around George Ban
rett's lifeless body, had been busy in the
building at the time OF the wreck.
"It was the wind" said one Of them.
1T blew a perfect hurricane up there.
There was temporary stoppage Of work
at the time, SO that nothing we did on the
inside helped to bring on the fall"
Poli.e Captain Christy Smith, who had
made an intelligent inspection OF the
wreck, would not believe that the wind
was natural factor in the business. One
Of the men had told him that the men
were hosting one of the great iron girders
into position, when they unhappily Jared
it, and the cave-in came. Then he took
me into the building and showed me the
guy ropes--how frail they were for the
support of the weight that yet rests upon
them. and how likely it is that they will
yet yield TO the strain and let more Of the
big beams aud girders tumble pell nell
to the ground.
SinguIarly enough, one Of the men
pointed out the guy ropes to me as the
proof that the hosting OF the girders had
not been in the least responsible for the
tragedy.
"They are perfect" he said. 'If they
had been broken l might have thought
that the placing Of the girders had caused
the wreck"
COMMISSIONER BROWNS VIEWS.
Chief Farrier, of the Fire Department,
and Chief Murphy, of the Police Depart
ment, who had been over the ground
pretty thoroughly. agreed with Captain
Smith that the weight OF the glrders had
borne the wall to the ground. Fire Com
missioner John IL Brown, who had been
all over the debris. was convinced that
the effort to place the girder in position
had Contributed to the fall.
II speak rs an expert" he said II am
practical mason. The wall is a sixteen
inch structure. the regulation thickness.
The material Is of the best. The mortar
is of the proper kind. but 1t has not set
yet. / am convinced that the effort to set
the girder into green wall pressed the
wall out and the crash came. 1t was not
the wind. 1t could not have been the
wind. for If you will take the trouble to
examine the wreck you will see thet-elt
the bricks lay to the windward of the
wall. 1t is an odd thing for structure
| to fall against the gust that wrecks it
Had the wind done that work the brick
would have fallen on the other side of the
| WALL
INSPECTOR cLARKE's OPINION.
Building Inspector James c. Clarke
was quickly on the scene and began an
luNeSllRdtiou lutO tue CRUISES VI Tue dCCi-
dent When he had completed his labors
he said:-"In my opinion the accident
was due to the high wind which was
blowing at the time. The walls
were all up and the workmen
were putting on the heavy trusses for
the root. From appearances they had
| two in place and were at
work on the third this morning.
''The wind must have caught the heavy
truss and set it to swaying slightly before
| 1t was thoroughly anchored.
This motion set the walls vibrating,
and the west wall has buckled, as it Is
called, that is, swayed in and out The
heavy iron girders, which support the
| the floors and the massive tinbers, being
thus released, have crashed down, carry
| ing all with them"
Lewis II. Broome, the architect who
designed the building. arrived on the
scene shortly after the wall fell.
He. too, attributed the collapse 70 the
| heavy Wind swaying the trusses. He
said that the walls were substantial and
| thoroughly built, and he would stake his
| life on the mortar and bricks. The wall
was twenty inches thich from the ground
to the first floor, and sixteen inches from
that point up.