The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1901-10-12
HOUSE FALLING.
Four Story Brick Structure
Weakened By Ex-
caVations.
TENANTS TURNED OUT
Crowds Gather to Watch
the Building Topple
Over.

A four story brick house. 1T Jackson
avenue and Forrest street is hourly ex~
pected to fall. 1t has % undermined
by an excavation be made on the
south side that it stands great DANGER ~
Much excitement prevails. Crowds NUM- vol
bering in the hundreds are gathered about nd
the house and the poles have taken pre-ncoI
Suits jackson avenue ana Forrest stueetugs
have been shut to all traHic and several q
patrolmen guard the approaches Thst
trolley line has been tied up. kl1eiI
The fall of the big brick structuresork Is
entail much loss to the several fanae hgnt|
whose sole possessions are In the dntehigI
demned house. When the danger beca taiis
known shortly after six o'clock last mis- serya|
an investigation was begun. Herm#ty
Roehrer, who keeps printing establish
ment on the first floor, discovered hugeppl
crack in the rear wall. He notified thess
tenants. There are three families in the ao|
house, eighteen persons in all. On the II
second floor the family of William Leesch
is quartered. There are nine in this FAINT II
ily Loesch has been out of work fetfs
some time and the fall of the buildis JOE
which held his household goods viii leu y
him and his family destitute. The VI un|
family resides on the third floor, and w,n
Peters family on the fourth onis
The police were not notified until l. iaoor
o'clock Patrolmen Devine, Lockwood anS =
Martin were sent to the scene from tho
Communipaw avenue station house,
Ropes were pu around the streets 81
at a safe distance and the oc
cupants of the houxs were told tds,
move out. No ting as given them to-
remove household articles. for the peiice
were taking no chances. The families :.
gathered their valuables and sought shel,nsJ
ter elsewhere. -
All night long the crowd remained to u
watch the walls sink Early morning saw,ss
crowd of several hundred and by noori-,;l|
there were thousand people about the ~ n
streets. Inch by inch the big building Ii al
settling. 1t seems hardly likely that i'll Il
can remain up for any length Of time To|
The western end of the foundation be- evI
gan to settle first This was noticed,,a,
when the walls and ceilings in the houseursI
began to crack Then the windows could -
not be moved and doors got out of plumb 8, |
As sThe News goes to press the entirsvbf
southern end of the side facing Forresftv
street has all but parted from the IaaaEr
structure, and it stands ready to faH over u
People wonder what keepts 1t up. Tbs
portion has settled about three feet The
house is about forty feet high. 81
Opposite the falling house on Forrest II
street is grocery store kept by James Il
Butler Mrs. Drier and Herman Roehrer i
live in the building. which viii suffer n
considerable damage when the wall falls
The top of the wall will extend 2
to the house opposite and the flying brick II
cause disastrous results. 81
The excavating is being done by Mich3 81
ael Nolan, a contractor of Seidier street, II
to whom it was sublet by Van Keuren a
Sons The building being erected IS OF :
brick. John Glunz, baker, Is the builder III
Michael Nolan. the contractor, notified ceo|
Walter Mumford, the agent ofthe owner ps1
of The falling house. three days ago that
he was going below the feundation walls ols
Nolan says that no attention was paid zone
the notice. His notice, he says, gave the ~
owner sufficient time to prop up the
building.
Ex-Judge Puster is reported to have mo-
titled the owner to look after the house
also.
The law calls for an eight foot founda-
tion in order to have proper protection
against just such dangers as the one in
which the condemned house now stands
The foundation wall of the house IL less
than seven feet and the contractor has
dug by his own admission to depth e
seven feet or more. Only in case con-
tractor dig beneath the depth Repaired BY
law, would be liable or be compelled to
prop up the house.
No one representing the owner, @. A.
Cornwall of New York, has appeared to
take any steps to save the house.
At one o'clock the eastern end~of the
front wall facing Jackson avenue parted
The wall is leaning three feet from its
original position The crack extends from
the top to the second story.
Word was sent from the police station
at noon to keep the crowds back at least
one hundred feet from the building.
The loss will be at least $4,000, includ-
ing furniture.