Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-30
A MENACE TO LIFE
Lieut.. Sewen on the Government
Printing Office.
bow A COLLAPSE MIGHT COME
Great Danger Of Disaster in Case
of Fire.
THE RECENT WORK

Lieut.. Sewell. the army engineer in charge
of the additions now being made to the
government printing Office. having made
some startling presentations as to the I'M
safe condition of the present structure. in
which 2,70O people are employed, 1t Is ex-
pected the matter will be called to the at
tention of the grand jury. Lieut.. SewelPs
exposure of the condition of the building
was brought out in the trial Of the alleged
violation of the eight-hour law in the
Police Court last week.
To a Star reporter who called upon him
today at the scene of the operations upon
the additions to the printing office Lieut..
Sewell repeated practically what he had
testified in the trial and represented in his
letter to the district attorney.
A Menace to Life.
st consider the government printing office
in its present condition a constant menace
to the lives Of the inmates he said today.
81 do not think it Is in immediate danger
Of collapse. although it has been in that
condition and may be again. but do be-
leve it to be in danger of destruction by
fire, in which case calamity of horrtfy-
ing proportions would undoubtedly ensue.
This contingency deem ample reason for
hurrying work on the fire-proof addition to
crowded condition of the H street wing.
"This portion of the building is old and
the timbers are soaked with ell and grease.
If a fire got a good start 1t would sweep
through the place like whirlw1nd. The
first floor to burn through. which would be
a thing of but short time owing to Its
infammable nature. would start the col
lapse of the whole place and the falling
one floor should burn their falling away
would deprive the wall of support and IT
would go down, carrying everything with
it. The stairwayS and the fire escapes
place in time, and men would crush each
other in their efforts to get out OF the
death trap.
What Might Cause n Collapse.
"There are also conditions which would
bring about collapse Of the building as 1t
now stands The imposing of overweight
on floor, sudden shock or vibration to
the long wall on the II street side might
start a movement which would rrecipitate
the entire mass. but this can be guarded
against by proper precautions. From what
l have heard from employees. there have
been times in the past when that building
was on the verge of a collapse: that is, the
conditions permitted the possibility Of such
"A calamity, brought about by overweight
by the careless alterations in the structure
changing of pillars, and otherwise weakea-
ing the supports. 1t Is possible to create
the same condi tons again.
There are structural defects in the build
ing which to engineers seem very serious
The walls are badly constructed in many
places, and l have found that the mortar is
loose and dry, frequently having crumbled
to dust. The Entels over the windows II
some cases are weakened with dry rot ami
if one should ever give way under the pres
sure of the bricks above it would let ont
part of the wall.
IF can get the new steel structure IN
der roof before freezing weather sets in, the
interior of the building can be ready by
spring for the public printer to move his
men into. or begin to move at any rate
That will relieve the pressure on the H
street side and remove some of the danger
OF course that part of the house is gradu-
ally going to pieces by general decay, but
if it is not overcrowded, if presses are not
set running on the upper floors, and If pre-
cautions are taken about making changes
in the structural features, think there is
no immediate danger of collapse"