The herald., 1894-10-28
THE WALL "8UcHLED" AND FELL.
Partial Collapse Of a Brick
Building.
Miraculous Escape of Number of
Workmen.
Only Three Men Irjursd-Cause of the
Disaster-Due tn a Measure to
Hssty Construction.
Those Iijured.

"The wall bucsled and collapsed" il
! the terse way contractors and builders
explain the cause OF disaster that oc'
cured at Marchesssult street and the
Plaza yesterday afternoon. in which
three men were severely injured, and
they with dozen others narrowly es-
capped with their lives. Other people,
however. talk about poor mortar, hasty
construction and "Buddeuseckec" meth
ods. The exact facts will probably never
be known unless come OF the injured
wo.kmen take the matter into the
courte, as the building inspectors office,
it appears, is not empowered to hold an
Investigation into such matters as iall-
ing buildings.
Ii was shortly after ! O'Clock and
Jacob Kalch. Charles Bowden and Will
liam Duehrlng, bricsmaeons, together
with number of others. had just
resumed work on the building wnen
part OF the south and west walls
fell in and the workmen went down
with the debris. At first it was thought
that ell had bsen buried in the ruine,
but III q few minutes the men, with the
exception OF the three named, bobbec
up ali right without scratch. kalch,
Bowdsn and Dlehring we're found
pinned in with broken tlmbers. Police
man Davis headed a rescue party and in
a short time the men were at the receiv-
ing hospital ard Doctors Ainewcrth,
MacGowsn and Mccarthy were search
ing their anatomy for broken bones and
internal injuries. Save in the case OF
Bowden, wnoee back was badly injured,
nothing serious WAS found to be the
matter with any OF them. Kalch. who
resides at 432 South Hope street, had
only few scratches and light bruises,
DGehring sustained fracture OF the
right arm above the wrist and his nose
ia broken. He lives at 1906 West Elev-
enth street. Both men were sent to
their homes. Bowden will be cared for
at the hospital for q day or two.
Outside OF the statement that the wall
"buckled," the causes assigned for the
disaster are ae numerous as are the peo.
pie who claim to have watched the con-
strrction OF the building since the foun-
dsticn was laid. The structure was a
one.story affair, composed OF brick and
iron. 1t was being built for Mrs. Doria
Jones, and r. w. Pierce & Co. were to
have occupied it with general etock OF
goods. Construction was being rushed
through at very rapid rate and to this
the accident wastin q measure due.
Ben Kronick, the general contractor
fo- the building, had little to say in re-
gard to the matter save the statement
that "the wall buckled."
NJ. B. Ferris, who had charge OF the
brick work. Was at O loss to explain how
it happened. and did no. think it was
any fault of the mortar. He pointed to
the remaining walls and called atten-
tion to the fact that they were II inches
thick to the ceiling ioists and inches
above-this is as per specifications.
The iron work was furnished by
Llewellyn Bros, but after the wreck
this portion OF the construction, OK
cept one cast iron pillar. which broke in
b fall, was found all right.
Inspector Elsen of the superintendent
of buildings office, visited the wreck in
the afternoon and investigated the mat
ter. He stated that the disaster was
caused by too much haste being made
in raising the walls and also to the fact
that the anchor braces we've not proper
ly set. As to the mortar used pronounced
OF very poor quality By number OF con.
tractors who saw samples, Mr.. Eisen
was not prepared to give an opinion.
He stated that in the haste made to
complete the Structure the mortar had
not been allowed sufficient time to set
properly. The anchor braces had been
eet in and hsd play enough to work
some, so as to render them to an ex-
tent worthless. 1t also developed that
there were no cross braces. The weight
of the men working on the roof evident