New-York tribune., 1902-01-25
WATER UNDER CITY HALL
BREAK IN MAIN LETS 10000
GALLONS DAILY ESCAPE.
CAPTAIN COPELAND THINKS FOUN-
DATIONS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED
CRACKS IN WALLS WIDER.

break in the 4-inch cast iron croton main
under the cement stone tagging of the base
ment floor Of the City Hall was discovered yes
terday morning About 100000 gallons Of water
from the Fire Department main has been escap-
ing every twenty-four hours through the break
for indefinite period
The volume of water that poured through the
break went into the sand underlying the City
Hall, and so took care Of itself without detec-
tion until yesterday morning. AS a result of the
break the City Hall is virtually resting over
extremely moist sandbank.
Captain Copeland. Of the City Hall police pre-
cinct says that from his investigation yester-
day he thinks the foundations of the City Hall.
thick they are have been affected by the
break, as he is sure that several cracks in the
southeast corner foundation walls are much
wider than they were three months ago.
Martin Keyes, the keeper Of the City Hall, dis
covered the break. Day before yesterday"
said Mr.. Keyes last night to Tribune reporter.
II noticed that the cemented floor of the base
ment Of the City Hall was becoming unusually
damp. and thought that the stones were sweat
ing. as they sometimes do. Toward night Of
the same day looked around again. and said
to John Murray, the engineer that I thought
there must be A break of some kind under the
City Hall. He said the floor had been just as damp
for the last three or four months and that it was
nothing uncommon. Last night called Muir
rays attention to the water that leaking
through the cemented floor. and told him that it
must be that there was kind of a break.
He agreed with me, and this morning l went
down with workman and crowbar and pried
up OF the fagstones.
''The water came right out of the hole, and
then we lost time in getting 1t shut off. The
,workmen then uncovered the finch main that
connects with the fire MAINS and found that
there had been clean break in the pipe. l
don't know how long the break has been there.
The floor securely cemented that the
water could not come through readily. The
ground is sandy underneath the City Hall
that guess any sort Of leak would lose itself
sn the ground or run into the sewer"
The break IN the pipe is square across, and
the pipe. on account of the action of the water.
had sagged after IT had broken. This gave the
. water practically uninterrupted opportunity to
Birdsalrs Office said yesterday that about
10000 gallons would escape in the circum-
stances about every twenty-four hours. Bor-
ough President Cantor was not informed of the
break until late yesterday afternoon He or
dered the workmen replace the broken main
with melleable iron screw pipe. This VIII
prevent accidents in the future. ii is thought.
The surprising thing about the break is that
IL not discovered until Mr.. Keyes noticed
the sweating of the tagging. With so much
water running to waste IL would seem that the
pressure the fire mains ought to be sensibly
diminished, ana InaL lne Dreak snOulu nave
been detected by the Fire Department people.
They knew nothing about it, however.
The break undoubtedly accounts for the ex-
treme dampness Of the basement of the City
Hall for the last few months. Some people
were uncharitabe enough yesterday to suggest
that the dampness must have lasted clear
through the Van Wyck administration and af-
fected the Mayors temper
The pipe in which the break was discovered
was laid IN the administration OF Mayor Strong,
and apparently served every purpose. If the
water has been running to waste for any length
Of time then a lot Of it must have got away, as
the pressure would send II through the pipe at
the rate Of LOG 900 900 gallons a year.