New-York tribune., 1909-11-04
CRIMINAL COURTS
BUILDING SEIZED
DECLARED UNSAFE BY
BUILDINGS DEPT.
Police Squad Takes Charge
May Stop Sub7cay Ser
rice TO-d0U.
t1ce To-ddy.

Mike" Calvin. of the Elizabeth street
station. with twenty five patrolmen
marched down 70 the Criminal Courts
Building. az Franklin and Centre streets
snd took active charge of the mass Of
brick and granite. As soon as Calvin
had distributed his men throughout tho
tuilding. he ordered everybody TO clear
out in double quick time. The captain
rad received orders from Police Com
missioner Baker 70 have the building va
Gated The Police Commissioner had
acted on the advice of Edward s. Muir
phy. Superintendent of Buildings. who
bad made an inspection of the premises
on Tuesday pronouncing them unsafe
Among those who had to make a hur-
ried exit from the big building were
Coroner Julius Hamburger and his secre-
tary. and the superintendent of the
building. Edward Coppers, and his fam
ilv. who had their living quarters on the
second mezzanine floor. Superintendent
Murphy ha taken this step upon receiv-
lne the reports of his engineers and in
spectors. who had gone over the entire
building on Monday
In addition to the police and the night
employees of the building, others who
were present when the building was va
Gated we're Judge Joseph F. Mulqueen,
Of the Court of General Sessions. and
various members of the Department of
Buildings Judge Nulqueen had come to
tho building he said. to get some pri-
vate papers. ard when told that the
building had officially been declared
unsafe" he said that he concurred in
FEARS GAS EXPLOSION.
WHY. only yesterday" said the judge
"a gas pipe in the third floor, near my
chambers burst. causing a great flow OF
gas that was very annoying to every
bod, present A gas explosion in the
uresent state OF the building would be
almost certain to cause its collapse,
believe. and VIC would not care to occupy
the building much longer. even if the
Denartment of Buildings had declared 1t
safe.
'eThe Court of General Sessions dlo not
hold a session yesterday, but that was
because of the fact that We never DO
held court on tho day after election, be
cause the police are too busy with cleo
ton cases
Soon after thc arrival Of Captain Gal
yin and his men. Coroner Hamburger ar
rived al the Criminal Courts Building
and went at once to his office. where ell
the napers necessary for use to-day and
tomorrow were taken out of the safes
The Coroner stated that superintendent
Nurphv's action of yesterday was only
what he had recommended over year
ago. when he stated that the building
was unsafe He showed the newspaper
men present through his offices and point
ed out more than a dozen cracks. some
of which he said. had only appeared
since Tuesday Directly off his private
ofice the Coroner pointed out spots
where the heavy cement flooring had
sunk 10 a depth Of more than six inches.
Judge Nuqueen stated that Justice
Vernon NJ Davis. OF the Supreme Court
Judge Otto A. Rosalsky. Of General Ses-
sions. and himself had met a the build
ing yesterday afternoon after court had
closed for the day and held conference
over the condition Of the building AS a
result Of this conference the judges re-
fused to hold court any longer in the
chambers on the third floor. They
Immediately informed Superintendent
Murphy Of their action. who, in turn.
sent word To Police Commissioner Baker,
ordering him 10 vacatc the building
QUARTERS FOR JUDGES.
Temporary - quarters for the judges OF
General Sessions viii he established
probably in three chambers of the Su-
rrrne Court Building. in chambers
street and if there is not sufficient room
there attempts will be made to use the
new Police Headquarters building. I'm
Proome street Coroner Hamburger also
viii seek temporary headquarters in tho
new Police Headquarters building but
when leaving the Criminal Court Build
ing last night ne announced that he was
going 10 take possession Of a room in
the old police quarters in Mulberry
street
According to Judge Mulqueen tha
oeiling in his chambers on the third floor
fell three months ago. hrea king water
rip@s aud flooding the courtroom. Yes
ttrday. he said. the floor in the lavstorv
or the third floor had cracked directly
down the centre The Judge stated that
n, and Judge Rosaisky had inspected the
'fi1fffif-Ic WIN 4 iHUi'tii Gnu liSftf'i'i
numerous cracks throughout the ceilings
srd walls
In this building. where more than one
thousand persons 4 day congregate," said
.I':dse Mulqueeu. there is no sense i'm
exposing them 10 such danger. and by
owing out tonight NJ will alay the
rrhlic fears. although far person
ally am concerned. I am rea d. "a con-
'-nue here if others are willing. / am
going 10 apply 10 tine Sinking Fund Com
mission for permission to make use Of
the Police Headquarters building
RUuD on BOWL OF JELLY"
Tho Judges Who have chambers in the
Criminal Courts Building are Warren
u Foster, Thomas {. OSullivan. r. 9.
r. Grain. Otto a Rosslsky. Edward
Swan. Vernon NJ. Davis Joseph 7. Ma
lone and Joseph Mulqueen.
Judge Mulqueen told crowd Of news
paper men last night that he had often
felt the entire building shake 20 its foun
dstions when sitting in his chair in the
courtroofns. He said he believed the
building was built on bowl Of jelly"
Early in the evening Special Attorney