Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-08-27
COLLAPSE OF A BUILDING
Continued from third pase.,

Only IA bodies have been taken out
since yesterday morning, but no very
large part of the ruins has been un-
covered. In the vast pile that remains
there is ample room for the large num-
Der whose names appear in the suspense
list as missing.
The latest figures, revised at 1 o'clock
this morning, are bodies recovered, 40;
dead identified, 81; persons missing, So.
During the day % who were on yester-
days missing list have been found, and
1t is probable that to-days list will be
somewhat reduced tomorrow, but the
final reductions of the list of the missing
will, it is believed, leave more than 50
to be accounted for in the list of the
dead.
REMOVING THE PRESSES.
NEW YoRK, Aug. 25.-Up to 1880 TO-
day three of the presses were moved The
foreman decided that il was impossible
to get the great iron machines out en-
tire, so he set his men to work TO break
them up with sledge- hammers. This
change in the plan will probably result
in much quicker work In removing the
debris. Still it will take probably forty
eight hours to reach the cellars and sub
cellars, where it is supposed most of the
dead are.
At about 1890 o'clock the workmen
removed timbers which disclosed two
more bodies, one on the site of No. 20
Park Place, the other at No. "a. The
former was believed to be that of a
woman. These could not be taken out
on account of the pressure of heavy
machinery without doing violence to the
bodies, so the efforts of the laborers
were directed during the remainder of
the morning to the task of hauling away
the heavy distractions. At 10.45 o'clock
derby hat was pulled out from net
work of beams. Beneath it two or three
bodies were seen.
BODIES UNDER THE RESTAURANT.
Clerk Mandelbaum of the coroner's
office, who has made a careful investi-
CATION, said at ii o'clock that there
were not less than 20 persons buried
under Peterson's restaurant. The back
wall, which is still standing, grows more
threatening. The firemen fear that
when the iron work is removed the wall
may fall in. II was in almost u totter.
ing condition at noon, and the workmen
were keeping sharp lookout.
Before noon Captain Eakins said that
if the wall did not fall the work of re.
moving the presses would be so far ad.
vanced that the bodies beneath the side.
walk, if there were any, could be easil,
reached. He thought there were SC
corpses in the cellars. That would
make total of 30. This estimate may
be above or below the right number, but
considering the number of missing, OF
whom nothing has been heard, the lisi
of killed is not likely to fall far below
30, especially rs it may happen that per
sons living out of town, who have no
been reported missing, may have beer
In the restaurant.
Two more bodies were identified a
the morgue this morning. They wer,
those of Adam Dahren, aged IA, and
Abraham Dcrshopski, aged IL.
The bodies not identified before to-
morrow Will be buried in potter's field
There are Ii bodies still unidentified
There are many cases of mistaken iden
tiiication Mamie Williams and Adam
Dahren were to-day believed to be Mar,
Demlin and Abraham Dershopski.
MAY HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY AN EX
PLosIoN.
Superintendent Brady of the depart
mcnt Of buildings, stated this afternoon
that he visited the scene of the Parl
| Place disaster, and from what he coull
learn he was Of the opinion that tn,
catastrophe was caused by an explosion
of naphtha or some other explosiv
matter. lie was satisfied that the uppe
/ sc E,,.ll.,a.
weighted, and had direct evidence l.
that eject.
The thirteen insurance companies in
terested in the Park Place disaster he'll
meeting today in the office of tn
board of fire underwriters and appointe
a committee to make an exhaustiv
inquiry into the cause of the calamity
The committee is instructed not to ad
nit any liability.
AN ARCHITECTS OPINION.
+. II. Kelly of Buffalo, who has bee
in the architectural and building busi
ness for "a years, practicing and teach
ing, and who has served four year.
apprenticeship at the carpenters bencl
was employed to determine, il possibl,
what caused the collapse of the buildin
on Park Place. Mr.. Kelly happened I
be in New York on business. He knee
neither owners nor victims, and was q
free from bias as any one could we'll b,
After an examination lasting sever,
hours, Mr.. Kelly reports as follow
After thorough investigation | hay
arrived at the conclusion that the prir
cipal cause of the collapse of the builC
ing on Park Place was the faulty col
struction of the carpenters work. TIL
hemlock tlmbers used in constructor
the building were sufficiently stron
for all practical purposes. They a.
the standard size, and the wood W,
sound. l did not find a rotten pie
in the place. Indeed, l was su
, prised to find that, as whole, Il
| ioists and girders were uninjured e.
cept by fire. The building simp
squatted,' and it sat down because
, the way the joists and girders we
5 framed as builders say, or put :
=, gether. First Of all the joists in tn
, building ran the wrong way, from d
/ street to the rear wall. never saw
9 building put up in that way in my lii
7 and in whatever city l am I exami
buildings in course of construction.
I joist should always run across the bull
i ing-should run as runs the street
n which the building fronts. A joist, &c
S should be laid in party wall-the WI
r between two buildings-or in q par
ton wall--a wall dividing the sar
: building. When SO laid ioist
II supported or stitfened at both en-,
g To lay joists in any other W
# is, in my opinion, almost Grimm
II | found in the next place that t
II joists were too short to frame il
d the centre girder the proper distance
IS safety. | was unable 10 find one 10
% in the collapsed building which gain
T. into girder more than one inch, a
II the average was three-quarters of a
l. inch. / measured dozens of them. al