The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-12
BUILDING FLOOR FALLS IN.
OYER WEI6H7 USES A COLLAPSE
IN VES.rT STREET.

HEad re oeeurrod = Little Later There
Would Have Bcen Loss or Life-Tho
Buiiding Faulty Constructed Building
Department. Says It 1an't TO Blame.
Defects in tho conjunction of the building ut
30 and 81 Vesoy street, together with the over
loading Of the second floor. caused n collapse of
o section OF the floor. 20S40 feet, shortly before
9 o'clock yesterday morning. Tho building, like
many others IN this quarter of the town, is of
the old fashioned type OF business structure.
the lofts of which wore originally intended for
light manufacturing PURPOSES, but have been
devoted to other uses. The construction OF tho
building recalled that formerly oil the site OF
6S, 20, 70, and "a Park place. which collapsed
on Aug. 90 1901, killing sixty persons. Tho
scene OF the Park Place disaster is less than two
blocks from tho collapse OF yesterday morning.
Tho ground or store floor OF the Vesey street
building was occupied by tho Grent Atlantic
and PcaHo Tea Company. which used the second
floor Ms 4 storage loft. While there wns little
weight on the gr,und floor. the floor above was
loaded to the ceiling with tier upon tier of chests
Of tea. 1t is said there were 5000 chests, weigh
ing about fifty pounds each. Henry J.. Cain
used the third loft as a printing shop. and Beck
ett g. Bradford occupied the fourth and fifth
lofts with q printing and Dookbindlng concern.
The building is q five-story structure. with a
eray-stone front, and. like the Park place build
inr, Is L-shapcd. having an entrance on Church
street.
The employees in tho printing and bookbind-
ing shops get to work nm hour earlier than the
employees of the tun company. Beckett Sc
Bradford employ rs men and 10 women, and
there were nearly q score in Gains place at the
time Of the collapse. There were some of the
tea company's employees among the hundreds
that were hurrying along to work when the col
lapse occurred.
Without an instnnt's warning tho heavily
loaded section of the second floor in tho north
east corner fell through with u deafeninG crash.
sending clouds OF dust from the dry mortar into
the street, and the entire front OF the store.
with its big plate-glass windows, was forced
out, sending the chests of tea all over the pave
ment. The noise of the collapse and the clouds
OF dust caused the alarming rumor throughout
the neiEhborhood that a building had fallen in.
and in n very few moments n large crowd gath
cred In the streets surrounding the building.
Rouudsman Bailey of the Church street sta
tion heard the noise OF the collapse, and after
aummoning fremen and the police reserves he
dashed upstairs. where he found the employees
in tho printing and bookbinding establishments
at work. They had heard the crash, but had no
iuea that It was in their building. They rushed
for their clothes and hurried down stairs to the
street. There was no use for the firemen, us no
fires were burning on the floors affected by the
crash x ana ' 6sp nre Wa., rstn5pe and TO ,b fselr guar,
dispersed the crowd. It was not difficult TO do
his, after the crowd had learned tha, u was
Sew erai:of the tea company's employ ees ar
rived at the scene q few moments after the col
lapse. They said that four men work ed at desks
Immediately under the part OF tho door which
fell, and, had IL occurred twenty minutes later,
several lives would have been lost. The Build
ing department was notified Of the collapse,
aud Assistant Superintendent Rutherford and
o corps of inspectors arrived. and gave orders
for the removal of the debris. Tho e1amina-
Second floor depended for support on a main
beam n foot square. running the length of tho
At Atom ia, sgpnGs' "f G 2ft nea1 i fsei. iFG Th pi't cross Bbtasss
were six inches wide. and instead of meeting
strapped there. so that they could get full bear
ing for their size and weight, they were simply
were posted around the floor by the tea com. /
sany announcing that the carrying capacity of
the building department men say that the col.
lapse showed ihnt the floor WAS loaded 100
have been. The total weight OF the tea was
stimntcd at 100000 pounds.
of tho printing presses on the floors above had
not caused the collapse. but the vibration caused
After the engine "e' was started. The macniler SH i
run by steam furnished by the New York Steam
Bunkie started the steam as usual at 1880 |
o'clock YESTERDAY morning. lie shut 1t of a few
Owned by the Delaney Kane estate.
The collaps. was caused in my opinion by
tne lAultv COnStrucllDn OF the DullulHR ana tho |
Overlooking OF the floor" said Assistant Super !
fntendent Rutherford. 1T was pure negligence
on the part of the company. as it knew the car
rying capacity of the floor and allowed it to be
overtaxed."
What is tho system OF inspection In this
quarter OF the town ~ he was asked.
w have no system at all. Why. we haven't
enough inspectors to look after the buildings
which are in course OF construction. much less
to watch the old ones that need looking after"
Are there no inspectors for this sectionr"
None that could he held responsible for this !
collapse. We haven't sufficient money to en-
ploy men to look after buildings snch as this.
We are trying. to procure an appropriation
which will enable us TO get IA force sufficient to
look after the needs of districts like this, and
make regular house to honse inspections. The
fault is with the occupants themselves. When
the inspector gets around he finds the floors
loaded only to their legal carrying capacity.
but as soon as he is gone the over
loading begins. and as 1t Is a long
period before he gets around again. the occu-
pants have things pretty much their own way.
There are many buildings faulty constructed
in this vicinity. I stopped the men loading an
other building across the street with the stock
taken from this building. for the reason that
they might have precipitated n similar collapse"
The damsge caused by the collapse 10 COM
paratively small. 1t was estimated that 2,5O0
would cover IL.