Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-04-20

The Coroner's jury re-assembled at
nine O'Clock yesterday. morning. TO re-
sumo the enquiry into the causes Of
the Main street disaster. The first
witness called was Joseph Bodley, who
testified. as an expert, that in his opiu-
ion the cause Of the disaster was the
g,ying away Of the partition wall be-
tween the Chapman and Hutchinson
buildings. He thought this wall gave
way because it had been weakened by
cutting new jOist holes i'm il, and then
the weight OF an additional story had
been put upon it by Chapman. II the
Chapman building had not been re-
modelled and there had been an UNI
usual stock of goods i'm The Hutchinson
building. and the building had fallen
under those conditions. then he should
say the accident was caused by the
weight of such unusual stock of goods
coming upon ola walls. Poor mater
iai in the walls would also
CUT A FIGURE.
Witness had noticed the ola alley wall
Of the HutcLiss0n building. Before
the building was remoleied. there was
o very considers Bile bulge in The wall
but q portion of that had been drawn
out. The STRENGTHENING of an Old and
bulged wall had some tendency 10 FUR
tter loosen it bv breaking the brick
away from the mortar. Water COM
ing in contact with an old wall had a
tendency 90 weaken it. by disinJeSrat-
ing The bricks. There was four or five
feet OF water I'm the dismaurled build
ing i'm the 1885 flood Witness an
swered q great many questions, by
and otherwise. bearing upon
the causes OF the accident As to the
practice of cutting joist holes i'm walls,
he said i- was always bad practice, and
besides removing q portion OF the
bricks. the remainder we're Jared and
the bond and strength of the wall
VERY SERIOUSLY AFFECTED.
The filling up of old joisr holes with
pieces of bricks did very little to
strengthen q wall previously weak
eued. If holes for jCisJ were cut in
tour inches on each side of q wall
there would De very little Of it left. If
Nr. HutchisScl cut new jOist holes in
the S'rty wall. when ne remOdeled his
building. he weakened the wall be-
fore Mr. Chapman got % work at it.
AS TO general construction, Mr. Bod
lev said q tive-st0ry wall should be mt
least FIVE bricks thick at the bottom
and drop OF "a brick no each story. a
f0ur-story building should be four
bricks at the bottom. Three bricks
was enough az the bottom for three
story building. IL il was only TO carry
its own weight
e. p. Lowe. employed on the Chap
man building. ip the work of recon-
struciign, was next called and testi-
fed as TO the details of the work.
Asked as TO the cutting of new joist
holes i'm the parry wall, he said the
floors had been raised. and new joist
holes cut twelve inches apart from CEN
tire 90 centre, three inches wide twelve
TO fourteen inches high, and four
inches deep. This had been done on
the second and third floors. and the
jCiSts were iu. ON the fourth floor the
holes had been cut, but the joists were
not yet In. Then q new story was
added 90 the party wsH. Witness had
no fears for the party wall but he had
as TO
THE GREER & LANG WALL,
and had 50 expressed himself to some
one during che work, saying it was
an Clt AID rotten wall Witness had
never before put O fifth story thirteen
inch wall mp on top of an old wall.
III new wall had been carried up
that high from the ground. the top
story would have been but nine inches.
The witness thought the material
used ion tne walls was good. The brick
were hard and ,he mortar good. Tn the
opinion oi witness, the party wall and
the Hutchiss0u alley wall went tOgcth-
or. As To the cause. DE thought addi-
ti0nal weight on the party wall had
great deal to DO with the accident,
contributed 90. however, by an imper-
feet wall on the alley side, and soft
brick I'm the lower stories of both walls.
Witness thought the cutting Of joist
holes I'm the party wall would not
weaken it enough to- cause the accident.
although iy would have some effect
Walter WORKS was next called. He
was I'm the door of Booth & Digby's
when the accident occurred. Witness
ran through tho Riverside building,
and back 20 Hutchisson's Office. He
helped get Charles Haller out and
later helped remove Mr. Hutchinson
from up stairs. Witness did not see
8 f. hrr.fTfH.re frfT IrH hn1
THOUGHT THEM DANGEROUS,
because Of the additional weights put
upon the old walls in increasing the
height OF the stories.
Otto Tyson was i'm the Stamm alley.
EOinE west from Main street. when the
buildings tell. He looked back, on
hearing the noise. and saw the top of
The Chapman building. ncNt TO Greer & /
Laiug s.. falling. but could not r2mom-
ber having seen the Hutchinson build
ing for dust lie could not say which
building fell first
Alex. Bebout was called as an eX-
pert The first story wall of n five
story building should not De less than
eislteen inches. i'm any event, without
regard To the weight OF the stock 10 be
carried An OLD building, with thir-
teen inch walls. would have to have
extremely good wallis. before he would
add q fourth story. and then the fourth
story would Doe but nine inches II two
Stories thirteen inches thick. were add
ed TO such % wall. he would say it
would not De safe. The cutting OF
ioist holes in an old wall would weaken
&c. As 90 the cause of the accident. he
thouShJ it was caused princi-
pclly or partly by the wind
or the sunday night before
The wind on tho -nnI.N nirht Lafnr.