The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-03
COLLAPSE
 OF BUILDING
 IA Persons Thought to Be Dead. SEVERAL OTIS kS MISSING
Gross Crlgs2aal Carelessness
 Charge jie to Some One.
Violations of Building Laws Had Been Filed Against the Contrac- tors by Inspectors--over-
 loading of the Floors.

are believed to have been killed, about a score injured and several are missing through the collapse today of the steel skeleton of the Hotel Darlington, a thfr- teen-story apartment house in the course of erection at 57 West Forty-sixth Street.
 The steel framework had been erected as far as the eleventh floor, and the struc- ture was swarming with iron workers, masons and laborers. when the upper floor 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 portion of the steel frame fell upon the rear of the Hotel Patterson, on West Forty-nfnth Street. crushing in the wall Of the dining room. and killing Mrs Ella Lacey Storrs. the wife of Frank Stoors. wealthy resident of Rye, as she was sit. ting at luncheon with the wife of the ISev. Minot Savage. who escaped unhurt
 The other dead, so far as known, are:
 Frederick Morrills. foreman of the Roeb- ling Construction Company; Farrell Ea- gan. derrick man. and two unidentified men, apparently laborers.
 Contractor is Missing.
 The more seriously injured with one exception. were laborers on the building. Among those missing are Frank ]. All son of the Allison Realty Company, the builders Of the hotel, who is known to have been In the building when 1t fell.
 Efforts to recover the bodies of the dead and rescue those imprisoned in the wreck were begun by the fremen imme- diately after the crash and the work Of searching the ruins will be continued all night. Owing to the enormous mass of metal wreckage days may elapse before all the bodies are recovered,
 The cause for the disasteP generally ac- cepted is the overlooking of the floors. Foreman James Halpih, In charge of the iron workers, stated that thero was d large quantity of cement and other bulld- ing material on the fifth floor, and that on the ninth floor were eighty-three iron beams, which were to have been used in constructing the remaining floors of the building.
 That criminal carelessness is chargeable to somebody is shown by the fact that the building department had placed re- peated "Violations'' against the building, the last one being filed today at the in- stance of Inspector Charles French, be- cause "the side walls were more than two stories in advance of the front walls. and the floor beams were not properly bolted and tied
 Dfsregarded Warnings.
 Tn spite of this and previous warnings, those responsible for the construction of the building went ahead regardless of con- sequences. Adjoining the collapsed build ing on the west is the four-story brown stone residence of Harold Brown. Some of the huge iron beams struck the side of the house and stove holes in the wall and roof and dislodged and was thrown to the street. The occupants escaped unin- jured On the east side Is a house occu-
 fx. 11 for boys. The pupils had gone home to luncheon a few minutes before the crash occurred Some of the beams struck the house. tearing of a portion of the roof and smashing holes in the side walls.
 Mrs. Storrs whose husband is in Lon don. was sitting at luncheon with Mrs. Savage when the crash came, and she and Meier. the waiter. were buried under the debris of the roof and walls. Mrs. Savage barely escaped being struck and her skirt was pinned to the floor by mass of fallen bricks.
 Mrs. Storrs was breathing when ex- tricatsd. but died within few minutes The waiter is believed to be fatally in' jured. The other occupant of the dining room escaped unhurt.
 Constant Trouble On.
 Records of the building department show that from the beginning to the end there has been constant trouble between the building department and the Allison Realty Company, the contractors and owners of the property. Amendment after amendment to the plans were filed and the engingeers of the building de- partment time and time again disapprov- cd of the suggestions made for the better gment both by the owners and the archi- tects.
 The plans for the building were filed bv the firm of Neville and Bagge. archl- tects, and called for the construction of a fire proof building twelve stories in height with a frontage of 55 feet and a depth of 100, of steel. brick and stone, of a height unfinished of 149 feet. The approximate building cost, exclusive of the plot, was named at 1850. .000.l
 The building department explain that as the building was under construction 1t possessed no power to sumarily stop the work.
 Splendid work was done by the iremen, who, at the risk of their lives. crawled under the tangled wrecksge to rescue the imprisoned workmen. They were accom- panied by Chaplain Smith. of the fire department who administered the last rites of the church to several of the ln- jured.
 aPtrick Murphy. the engineer of the hoisting engine and worlkmen were ar- rested and held as witnesses. Represen- tatives of the district attorneys office examined the wreck tonight and began an investigation to place the responsi- bility of the disaster.
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