The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-06-04
CRASHED FIVE STORIES.
Fatal Collapse Of Mammoth Tanks
in New York.
TWO MEN INSTANTLY KILLED.

, Thirteen Other workmen Employed
in tho Building Had Narrow Escapes.
y Trying to Fasten the Responsibility.
Three Mon Placed Under Arrest.
: : New York, June Alive enormous
. hanks. each containing l3, 900 gallons of
y water, fell five stories through the
hew building of David s. Brown g. Co.,
eoap manufacturers at Twelfth ave-
hue, Fifty-frst and Fifty-second
u }treets yesterday burying two men un-
Her thousands of tons of debris The
body of William Frazer, 40 years old,
~ surveyor IN the employ of the Otis
Elevator company was subsequently
laken from the ruins. Jacob JacC bson,
~ , carpenter. is missing, and his body
y probably beneath the debris.
1 The five tanks shot through the five
= hoors like a stone dropping through
20 much space. They were each 13 by
l8 feet square by 20 feet in height,
= were made of sheet iron and were a
/, luarter of an inch thick. To prevent
The water from bulging their sides
btout iron bands had been placed inside
ef each tank.
p The fall of the tanks, carrying with
lhem five floors of iron and woodwork,
was heard for several blocks around.
They carried down iron girders and
7 beams a foot in width and four inches
IN thickness, swapping them as If they
were pipestems. There was no stop
ping as they struck the floors in sue
RSession, SO enormous was the weight
II There were Is men In the building at
n khs time Of the accident. They were
ecattered around the factory, and
: fhere was not seconds warning of the
Fall OF the tanks. They had been fill
ing with water for testing, and were
Aearly full.
The building was nearly ready for
- Occupancy. The tanks were to have
, contained soap fat, and were put in by
the Coatesville Iron works, Of Coates
y, kille, Pa.
Agent John S. Jackson. of the Penn
tylvania iron firm, said that the
NJ breaking of the bands on the inside of
lhe tanks had probably been caused by
y the settling of the floor Police Cap
tain Schmttborger said that the tanks
had been filled too full.
Architect Kilburn said that he had
personal charge of the construction of
the building, which had been planned
sby him, and that 1t was one of the
finest buildings of its kind he had ever
seen. The walls of the factory were
third thicker than the specifications
had called for. All the work was of the
est material and workmanship, and no
expense had been spared in the con-
ktruction of portion Of the new build
Ing or in fitting it up as a factory. He
(SDould give no opinions as to what
Sansed the accident.
IA AleXander Brown, the masonry
tontractor said that the accident was
%prohab'y due to defective girders. He
. bald that the masonry was first class
I'm every respect and had been put up
inder close supervision.
1 Ex-L United States Superintendent of
ldngs Hugh Angler, now with the
skceaning department of this city
&p some of the mortar in the
!, I. II ana pronounced it of bad quail
n IT'S nothing but mud" he said.
Y les of the mortar will be ex-
|, J.nlhst by experts.
Colonel David S. Brown. the owner
Of the building. said that he could not
account for the collapse of the wall
sand floor. II know" said he. that
hbcordng to the plans the work on the
building was as near perfect as it
could be, and do not see what could
have caused the floor to give way. 1t
MRs made especially to hold these
thanks, of which there were IA. 1t
seems to me that the fault must lie in
the iron work"
There is some discussion as to the
fombined weight of the tanks on tn"
Hfioor and the weight the floor should
sustain 1t is said by representative
Of the Cotcsville Iron works that a floor
SShould have sustained a weight of 20
4fimes the weight of one of the filled
tnnks.
AleNander Brown. the brick con-
Tractor; Henry F, Kilburn, the archl-
tect, and Archie Hamilton, inspector
, for the iron work contractors, were ar
kssted, charged with homicide.