Evening star., 1902-08-06
LACK OF PRECAUTION
JOSEPH BoWEN's DEATH.
Jury Finds That Walls of Excavation
Were Not Properly Braced-Testi-
mony of Witnesses.

An inquest was held by Acting Coroner
Glazebrook at the sixth precinct police sta
tion this morning to fix the responsibility
Tor the death of Joseph Bowen, the colored
man who was killed yesterday morning by
the caving in of bank in an excavation
for new building at 1142 Connecticut ave-
nue. northwest. Bowen was employed as
laborer on the work, and with several
other men was engaged in digging trench
in the south end of the cellar at the time
Of the accident Several of his co-laborers,
who testified this morning, stated that
Bowen was lame, and that when the bank
began to fall near where the men were
working Bowen tried to climb out of the
trench instead of running up to the other
end of the excavation, as the rest did. He
was caught by the falling earth before he
could get clear Of the trench, which was
about eighteen inches deep.
The coroner's jury rendered a verdict to
the effect that sufficient precaution was
not used by the contractor in charge Of
the excavation to prevent the caving in Of
the bank, and it recommended that further
excavations over depth Of six feet, in
what Is called made ground" shall be
properly secured by braces.~etc. The jury
was composed of the following persons:
G. l. Cooper, f. T. ]. Murphy, C. w. Down.
ing, R. A. Veitch, A. S. Wilson and w. J.
Kolb.
AAASe AI4AOoo SoAACos
Assistant Building Inspector Francis was
the first witness called. He said he visited
the place of the accident Monday after
noon and because of the nature of the
ground he ordered the foundation of the
building to be twice as wide and twice as
thick as was called for in the specifications
The excavation, he said, was about eight
feet six inches deep. while the trenches
were about fifteen inches deep. Mr.. Fran
els said the walls were not braced in any
way. 1t is not the duty of the building in
spector to see that walls are properly pro-
tected, he said, but when the inspector
sees wall that looks unsafe or that is
likely to damage others, the Inspector may
order the contractor in charge of the work
to secure the banks. He called the atten
tion Of the jury to section AZ of the build.
Ing regulations, which provides that ''aII
excavations shall be so protected by sheet
piling or adequate shores, II necessary, by
the persons causing the same to be made
that the sides shall not cave in and that ad-
joining buildings and property shall not be
damaged" Witness testified that he
thought the wall would not have fallen had
1t been properly braced, but when he saw
1t he did not consider it unsafe. Mr.. Fran.
els said the building inspector became
somewhat apprehensive in regard to the
wall few days before it fell, and that he
had made several attempts to inform Mr.
Blundon of his fears, both personally and
by messenger, but was unable to find him
and the message was not delivered
The permit for the erection of the build
Ing on the site mentioned, Mr. Francis
said, was issued to VIM. F. Mattingly as
owner and w. L. Turner was the con.
tractor.
Contract Was Sublet.
According to the testimony of Mr. Turner.
the contract for the digging was sublet to
Mr.. Joseph A. Blundon. Mr.. Blundon On
the stand told the jury that he regarded
the wall as safe and had not noticed anv
signs Of its caying in previous to the acct
dent. He said he was not Informed of tbe
building inspectors apprehensions as to the
security of the south wall and no messap pc
from the inspector requiring him to brace it
was ever received by him before the time
of the mishap.
William Acte, the foreman in charge of
the gang at work on the cellar. and Charles
Haxton, laborer at the place of the acct
dent, both testified that the wall could
have been securely braced at little expense
and brief loss of time. They declared that
they had not considered the wall unsafe
before the accident, even though the exca-
walton was In made ground.
Acting Deputy Coroner Becker, who per-
formed the autopsy on the body of Bowen
said that death resulted from injuries re-
ceiyed in the falling of the wall His ribs
on both sides were badly broken and he
was terribly crushed about the chest.
Acting Coroner Glazebrook closely ques-
toned each of the witnesses as to the
danger of the situation and the precautions
that should have been taken to keep the
wall from falling. The jury was out only