Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-02-05
CHATFIELD HEARING
Adjourned Yesterday Until Next
 Saturday Morning.

So far, the trial of Building In.
 spector A. I. Chatfield has given no !, very promising indication of being
 even very entertaining. It was dryer : than dust yesterday, and one-half the
 crowded room was sleeping while the
 most important witness, Mir Chatfield
 himself, was on the stand testifying
 under Attorney Guilfoile's examina-
 tion.
 1 The five commissioners and Mayor
 Thoms sit like sardines in a box, so
 cramped is their position on the
 judges bench in the district court
 room where the hearing is going on. Mayor Thoms sits between Commis-
 sioner Minor on his left and Commis-
 sioner Phillips and Lewis on his
 right, while Commissioners Spain and
 Griffin sit in the rear. Mayor Thoms
 is chairman of the proceedings ard is
 addressed as your honor," just as if
 he were sitting in a regularly consti- tuted court.
 All around are witnesses and spec
 tators and it is surprising to see in the audience many young men who a few years ago were hustling for a living and today seem to be on easy street. Even the jury bench is crowd- ed with the curious and the interest," ed.
 Andrew J. Kenneally, the owner of, the house on East Farm street the floor of which collapsed and which is one of the causes of complaint against the building inspector, was on the stand at press hour yesterday. The gist of his testimony was that he took no particular interest in the building operations around the house, and that he did not see the collapse until the Monday after the Saturday night on which it occurred. Then he saw that that bottom of the supporting post was rotten for about forteen inches.
 In the opinion of Burton l. Irion, contractor, who did the carpenter work on the house, the joists were safea enough for the purpose the building8 was intended for, that is, few small stores and club room and upper tenements.
 He classified this statement with theI explanation that if the members of the club got anyways frisky the floor5 might collapse. He estimated the ut most capacity of the lower floor at about fifty persons, while it seems that on the night of the accident there were about or over 100 there. He knew nothing about the mainysupports of the building only in general way, as he had nothing to do with that part of the work.
 Mir Chatfield was then called to the stand. He said he has held the office of building inspector six years. Mir Kenneally made application to him for permit to move the house. Mir Dingwell, house mover. and MT Ba- han, contractor, made the usual ap- plications that follow such a permit and they were allowed to go ahead with the work On the old site of the house there was no cellar, but on the new one there was. He did not ascer- tain what kind of supports there were | to be under the house on it's new foundation. This is ascertalned only in cases of new buildings. and whether or not they are defective or insufficient is determined after the job Is com pleted. Plans and specifications are given only on new work. This was repair job.
 Mir Chatfield did not know what sup port the old building had: once or twice he saw the post under it. He also saw posts under 1t on its new foundation and while men were still working on it. If were looking for imperfeetions," said he "I would have tried the posts with my knife" The building was still to be inspected when he saw it, because it was not completed and people were living in 1t while it was being moved from it's old to its new foundation.
 After the collapse, he inspected the supporting posts and found the one which has been already referred to, rotten about a foot from the ground. The exterior looked we'll. but its in- terior was decayed all through. The inspector said he never tests any building material only when he has cause to be suspicious. When he saw the post was decayed he remarked to near him that the man who cut it and put it up must have known 1t was rotten.
 Then the cause of the collapse of the Costello building was taken up. Two sets of plans and specifications for two story building were intro duced. showing that one set had been rejected by the inspector and the other accepted. The inspector stated that ne believed he was empowered to use his discretion, under a certain sec ton of the building ordinances. where brick walls were 10 be constructed, and he did not think that narrower side wall in this building than was called for in the ordinance would en- danger the occupants in any way. To justify himself in this action he said he would do the same under similar circumstances again. This about concluded the hearing and ad- journment was taken to 10 o'clock next Saturday morning in the district court room.