The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-11-23

! Brennan was pale and looked broken
/ down BY his misfortune
| Mr. BROoME THINKS THE WIND DID IT.
Architect Broople was seen at his resi-
! denca. No. 363 Bergen avenue lie APP
peared much affected bv the catastrophe.
1t IS the irst time trouble Of this nature
has arisen in my twenty years. xEsarience
as an architect" he said. ssfhe plans
were originally drawn in San Francisco
| redrew them, making some modifica-
lions as suggested by the authorities. My
opinion is, so far as l have been able to
get at the true facts of the case, that the
wind did it all. "
But what Of the charges by Foreman
Knight?n | asked.
Il have only TO say that court investi
CATION of the mat erials used The walls
are good substantial walls, built of the
best material as TO brick and mortar,
thoroughly anchored to each tier of floor
beams rs they went up. They were fully
ample to do all the work, and more, too,
that was required of them. lam per-
fectly willing 70 reconstruct them as they
originally stood. Three trusses had been
reared. The workmen were rearing the
fourth. am Of the opinion that if the
other Two trusses had been up, to form a
tie or bond on each end of the building,
that the severest gales would not have
affected them People must remember
that severe and unjust criticism
is often made by people who are not
judges, and who are TOO quick
10 Judge without seeing or hearing the
facts. And sorry as | am for the fatal
results cannot blame any one person for
indifference or neglect TO do good work.
The terms Of contract were being fully
complied with. At no time have / had
any cause TO complain. or had l any COM
plant made to ME by those in charge as
TO any imperfect work or work being
done. The sand was a good, sharp. grit
sand and the mortar was a lime mortar
with proper quantity of lime.
This is the first intimation that have
had That the wall was out of plumb. Mr..
Knight never called my attention to such
q condition of the walls, aud when Wis
tied them Friday / am sure the walls were
not out of plumb.
II am sure the true facts will come out
at an investigation. 1t will then be shown
tnat the wind swayed the fourth truss,
which the workmen were then securing
to the third That it fell. pulling
The other three, the first being anchored
to the wall, naturally the west gable
went with it. This would have been the
case had the wall been three feet thick.
The first seventeen feet of the wall were
twenty inches in thickness. The thirty
i've feet above were thirty-tiye feet in
thickness.
THE WOUNDED AND DEAD.
All the wounded at St. Francis Hos
pital We're resting quietly at eleven
is closed at that hour Of the night, but
through the crevice Of the main doors
one of the Sisters told me that no one
had yet called to identify the unknown,
who, Il was supposed, would die before
midnight.
Two brothers-ln-iaw of the dead
George Barrett called at Boylan' Is morgue
last night to identity the body. They
said they saw the name IN the list pub
lished. and came over to ascertain If il
was true. His wife had not been notified
and to prevent her coming over last night
It was decided not to break the news to
her until this morning
The work of demolisnsng the northwest
corner. Of the building was Discontinued
yesterday. A large strip two feet wide
was pulled out of the front OF the build
ing and this left the northwest corner
standing In a column like form as high as
the roof No more bodies we're taken
from the wreck during yesterday after
noon and last night.
A peculiar feature OF the disaster is
that a wagon OF Brennan's to which
were attached two horses, stood directly
inside the building when the wall fell.
The falling debris demolished the wagon,
but left the horses uninjured.
Thomas McTammanny. reported miss
ing yesterday turned up late yesterday
Afternoon. He escaped nut was so
frightened that he wandered about some
time before he came 10 himself
One OF the very first men at the wreck
yesterday morning was priest, Father
almost Immediately after the crash and
was one Of the first to enter the building
and advance to the place where the
wounded men were imprisoned. He
offered bis services and was OF great |
value 30 the workers and to the men i'm
prisoned in the debris.