Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-03-03
CORONER
 IS BUSY
Investigating Cause
 of Hotel Collapse
Not Definitely Known Yet How Many Were Killed
 .-Bodies in Plain Sight, But Workers Cannot
 Reach Them.

New York, March 3.-Inyestiga- ton was begun to-day by the cor oner, the district attorney, the buiId- ing department and the police for the purpose of placing the responsibility for the collapse yesterday of the Dar- lington apartment hotel building on West 46th street and the accompany ing loss of life.
 The number of dead cannot yet be stated, even approximately, though A hours have passed since the build ing's collapse, so slowly has the work of removing the >wreckage proceeded, but the list of known dead has reach ed nine, two of the bodies being still pinned fast under plies of debris, though plainly visible to the searchers.
 Five men are known to be missing and as the tangled masses of beams and masonry are cleared away the bodies of these, possib1y others, it is expected, will be recovered.
 Sixteen injured men were taken to the hospitals last night, several of whom are reported to be seriously hurt.
 Among the pile of twisted iron gir- ders, masses of stone, brick and de- bris that marked where the big iron frame stood the police and employees of the building department, assisted by firemen are working to extricate the buried bodies, Chief Croker of the fire department and Coroner Scholer being in charge. Coroner Scholer stat ed that Charles R. Allison, head of the Allison Realty Company, the gen eral contractors for the building, has disappeared. He was seen last night but since then, the coroner said he has disappeared, ami efforts of the po- lice and the coroners' office to find him are fruitless. Foreman Ha1pin, who was in charge of the iron con- struction work, is the only man now under arrest.
 Little progress was made in clearing away the debris of the wrecked hotel Darlington during the night, owing to the tangled condition of the wreckage and the lack of facilities for moving the heavy girders and fragments of masonry. At daybreak hoisting en- zine and derrick Were secured and with their aid the work went on more rapidly.
 In addition to the five bodies found last night. three bodies were uncovered before daylight, but for several hours it was impossible to extricate any of them, so tightly were they pinioned beneath heavy beams of iron. The first one removed to-day was identified as that of Adam Durwalder, the boss plumber for the firm which had the plumbing contract. His wife and T. year-old son had remained on the steps of neighboring house all night, wait ing for news of the husband and father, and when the body was ident- fled Mrs Durwalder became hysterical and collapsed.
 The two other bodies, though in plain sight, had not been extricated at 10 o'clock. One of them, which was lying in that part of the ruins nearest the street, was clothed in garments of good material and better cut than those worn by laborers, and was thought to be that of Frank Allison, the missing member of the Allison Realty Go. proprietors of the wrecked building. The body was resting face however, and as the searchers could not get near it. positive could not be made.
 The l4ird of the bodies had been cut in two cleanly, as if by knife, having evidently been severed by a falling girder.
 The second body recovered to-day was that Of a man Nbout six feet in height. evidently bricklayer. The head was badly crushed, making iden- tifcation at present practically im'