The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-08-15
Evidence Before a Corone1Is
Jury as to the City
Hall Disaster.
EXPERTS BLAME THE WIND
No Fault Found With Work
and Material Used on
the Wall.
Difference of Opinion as to the
Possibility of Bracing It
Volks' Big Head.

In the largest dining room of the Quar-
tet Club, Hoboken, last night an inquiry
into the death of Frank Fields, who died
from injuries received by the falling of
a wall on the new City Hall building on
Thursday last, was begun. Only one in
the room knew why the inquiry should
have taken place as far as possible from
the scene of the accident, and that one,
the coroner, kept it to himself.
Hoboken's solicitude for Jersey City's
welfare was touchingly exhibited in all
this. All the jurymen were residents of
that distinguished city, and it must have
been that that eminent county function
ary, Coroner A. ]. Volk, deemed 1t his
duty to be as important as possible and
not permit the communicating influences
of Jersey City people to intervene, and
so he held the inquest at the most
northern end of the City of Hoboken
convenient for the Jurors. As for the wit
nesses from Jersey City, if they had
long distance to come, that was their
lookout.
AS for the inquest proceedings, there
was the customary amount of nonsense
and absurdity which doth hedge ''coro-
ner's quest The record was loaded
down with what lawyers would call ''ir-
relevant, incompetent and impertinent
testimony" Witnesses were allowed to
tell what others said to them about the
building. and valuable time was consum-
ed in idiotic questioning to what end
no one for the life could tell. When
reputable lawyer of this city, in Whls-
per ventured to suggest to his honor
the Coroner that he be allowed to put
some queries, the great man presiding
bristled up saying he knew his business,
he did, and didn't propose to permit any
one to come between the wind and the
awful dignity of his position. The pare
idea of a lawyer daring to suggest any
thing reasonable to coroner!
WHAT TESTIMONY BROUGHT OUT.
Before the inquiry proceeded. long
delay took place, occasioned by the tardl-
ness of two of the jurors and While the
general crowd waited, Mayor Fagan
walked in and took a seat in the rear OF
the hall, where sat Architect Louis H.
Broome. Contractor Rd. English, his son,
Inspector Talirnan, Health inspector Ben
iamin and Detective McGinnis.
At the cross table near the Coroner
were CounseIloP John w. Queen, as coun-
sci for the contractor, and Counselor
Kent Kane Stearns, who watched the
testimony presumably for the Corpora
ton Counsel. Finally the jurors entered
and were sworn in. They are:-
August Grassmann, John heatlng'
Michael j. Coyle, John Clark, E. A VIII
tenberg, Charles Bartz, Cornelius kleil,
Leonard Schroeder, George Naegeli, FREQ
schultz. Louis Spungenberg and Herman
Simon.
ont of the mass of testimony presented
were;-That the wind blew down the
wall: that the men jumped on the wall;
that the material used was good, and
that tbe wall was built in the ordinary
wav. These facts We're made painfully
nlain bv the clear, straightforward testi-
Tnony of Architect Broome, Contractor
Richard English and his son, Inspector
Tallman and those who remained on the
scaffold after the wall fell and were un-
hurt.
The first man who established the above
was Patrick Wincey, a bricklayer, resid-
ing at No 14s North Ninth street, Hobo
ken who was on the scaffold at the time
of the accident. There was a gust OF
wind and the wall collapsed. He said 1t
vras twelve inches thick and about "
feet long. The height at the time 1t feli
was short of twenty feet. The m ortar and
material was good and as far as he knew
everything was safe. When part OF the
seaffold gave way he fell, but wasn't in
ii,red. There were no braces used pc
cause the wall was supposed to be
strong enough without that.
an falling 1 stuck in the derrick and
got scratched" he replied, in answer to
. question by ex-Mayor Grassman, fore
man of the jury.
Here then came a series of absurd
questions by jurors, who seemed to think
that they must ask question, however
silly it might be.
witness added that he had never seen
q wan twenty feet high braced. He be-
lieved that all the scaffold fell
THEY JUMPED ON THE WALL.
rbe testimony of Hyman Herdman,
bricklayer residing in New York was
extremely interesting, and Went rlght at
tho cause of the accident He spoke IN
an undertone at first, but when he des-
cribed the warning given by Fields ne
could be heard all over the room
.I was on the scaffold," he began. lay
,np bricks when / heard Frank F1etas
boller that the scaffold was giving way
and we all jumped for the wan. Ine
thickness of the wall was twelve inches.
1 believe the point OF tne scailoiq- saw
wav. but / don't know. Anyhow. here l
am
"Did you fall?" queried the foreman.
..No. sir, L jumped on truss That
mart of the scaffold which I stood on
gave way. The wind blew the wall down
and we jumped.
James Martin, who runs a plumbers S
shop directly opposite the City Hall build
,ng said that he heard the crash of the
falling wall and he rang up headquart-
ars outside of that he knew nothing.
william Tallman, who resides at No.
551 Bramhan evenue, and is inspector OF
the building, said that at the time of
the accident he was on the ground floor
He heard a run1bling noise, and on look
inc up saw bricks falling from the arch
above.
..Then / heard moan and found a
badv ON the bricks. In the afternoon, at
one O'Clock, | went up the scaffold and
told the foreman to make everything
secure and brace the scaffold."
Mr. sTallman described the location of
the wall, its material and other matters
Of detail in connection with its builc-
Irlg. The materials used were excellent,