The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1904-03-03
SERIOUS BUILDING DISASTER
STEEL SKELETON OF KEW YORK
HOTEL CoLLAPSES.

Five Known Dead, Eight or Ten Miss
ing and Score Injured-Eieven
Stories of Frame Work Go Down (.
without Moments warning-con-
tractors and Owners Repeatedly
Warned of Violations of the Law.
New York, March 2.-Five persons are
known to have been killed, about a
score injured and eight or ten, all of
whom are believed to be dead, are miss.
ing through the collapse this afternoon
os the steel skeleton Of the Hotel Dar-
lington. a thirteen story apartment
house in course Of erection at 81 West
46th street. The steel frame work had
been erected IS far as the eleventh floor
and the structure was swarming with
iron workers. masons and laborers,
when without an instant's warning, the
upper floors sagged and collapsed. and
the whole structure fell with a crash
that was heard for blocks and shook all
the buildings in the vicinity. A por-
tion os the street frame fell upon the
rear OF the Hotel Patterson. West 47th
street. crushing in the wall of the din
ing room and killing Mrs. Ella Lacey
Storrs, the wife of Frank Storrs,
wealthy resident of Rye, Westchester
county. as she was sitting at luncheon
with the wife of the Rev. DR.. Minot ].
Savage. pastor of the Church Of the
Messiah, who escaped unhurt
The other dead, so far as known, are
Frederick Morrills, foreman Of the
Roebling Construction company, and
three unidentified men, apparently la
borers. The more seriously injured, with
one exception laborers on the building,
are: Joseph sinto, Andrew Maher,
James w. Smith, Henry Strobe, Tony
Smith. Dennis McGinnis, Frederick
Weissenmuller, Gottleib Wittreau, B.
Viddroll, Jose Gently, and Ernest Meier,
a waiter employed in the Hotel Patter-
son.
Among those missing is Frank J. Alli-
son, Of the Allison Realty company, the
builders OF the hotel, who is known to
have been in the building when it fell.
The cause OF the disaster generally
accepted is the overlooking of the floors.
Foreman James Halpin in charge of the
iron workers. stated that there was a
large quantity of cement and other
building material on the fifth floor and
that on the ninth floor were eighty
three i-on beams which were to have
been used in constructing the remaining
floors of the building.
That criminal carslessness is charge
able to somebody is shown by the fact
that the building department had placed
repeated violations against the build
ing, the last one being filed to-day at
the instance of Inspector Charles
French, because the side walls were
more than two stories in advance of the
cront walls. and the floor beams were
not properly bolted and tied"
Records of the building department
shows that from the beginning to the
end there has been constant contest
between the building department and
the Allison Realty company, the con-
tractors and owners of the property.
Amendment AFTER amendment to the
plans were fled and the engineers of
the building department time and time
again disapproved Of the suggestions
made Cor the betterment both by the
owners and the architects.
The plans for the building were
aled by the firm of Neville & Bagge,
architects. and called for the construc-
tion OF a fre-proofed building, twelve
stories in height, with frontage Of
fifty-ave feet and depth of 100, Of
steel. brick and stone, of height un-
finished of 149 feet The approximate
building cost, exclusive of the plot, was
named at s350.000.
The building department explains
that. as the building was under con-
struction it possessed no power to sum
marily stop the work.
The Hotel Patterson was shaken
to its foundations and the rear
fire escapes on seven stories were
torn from their fastenings and
all the windows on these floors
were smashed The occupants of these
apartments hastily quilted the build
ing. Rev DR.. Minot J. Savage was ill
in his apartments in the front of the
hotel at the time of the collapse.
At IL o'clock tonight the contractor
in charge of the wrecking work said
that his men had discovered seven bod
les, and that two were known to be
pinned under the wreckage on the east
side of thn buildino