The sun., 1910-06-15
6FLOOUS PULLED DOWN BANG!
TUGGENG STREET CARS ID
IT ALL ar ONCE.

AEape AFar az an An Day WsadeF.
The city tore down . ave story building
yesterday. not BY the modern highly
scientific method Of housswreoking In
which askyscraper IL dissolved piecemeal
and no stray brick lays out a paAaerby
but by one mighty tug and crash. taking
minutes instead Of days,
The building was q Ave story brick
structure on the southwest corner Of
Park place and West Broadway. In the
morning it had taken a sudden slump.
II could not be ahored up. Il could not
bs left standing There vas nothing 10
do but tear IL down with one big pun.
That's what the Building Department
did. to the delight Of 5000 persons, most
Of whom got for the first time q vivid
idea OF what sort OF work Is done by
No. 10 Ctotal destruction) earthquake.
At half past 10 o'clock yesterday morn.
ing Adam Stecker. proprietor Of the
saloon on the ground floor. had Just
hauled out a cigar So1. from which a
customer was helping himself, when there
came tho crack Of an explosion from abovei
You could hear It over the rumble Of the
printing presses on the third floor.
stecker thought Il was an electric light
fuse He started to put away the cigar
box. when he heard a series Of cracking.
splintering sounds. Then there was q
grinding noise and the room shook.
Il didn't take long for Stecker and
his customer to get TO the sidewalk.
From inside the building came yells.
and a moment later the doorway vomited
about twenty persons. Most OF them
were from the printing establishment Of
Thomas Lynch 4 Sons. They scurried for
the open 20 fast that they left the four
500 pound presses running full speed.
Several Of the fuRitives came from tho
tob floor. where Grimm a Co. made shoe
polish. From the cellar came Adolf Rau-
senberger. the barber. with shaving mug
in hand. His bootblack was at his heels.
The inhabiters Of the crumbling houss
were hardly in ths street and able 70
glance fearfully about them when sixty
drls employed in a press clipping bureau
on the third floor Of % Park place. next
door. came shrieking for the roomy out
doors. The hsors had wavered under
their feet.
What the astoundsd persons in the
street saw on gazing upward was Ave
story building dropping on one side a.
a man might slOuch with detected shoul-
ders. Ths three upper stories bulged out
slightly. tho two lower loors slunped In.
The line formed by the joining walls thus
rassmhled q rod broken a little below--
It's middle. Beneath ths windows Un
every door fissuTas showed where the brick
walls had suffered lateral strain. Tbs
meta; awning over the cafe was gro
/. tesquely twisted.
The police stopped traffic a block away
in each direction. The elevated trains.
especially on the Ninth avenue line. were
ordered TO run over Park place as softly
as possible.
Meanwhile the inspectors Of the Building
Department were taking a hurried look
az the collapsing house. IL hada frontage
on West Broadway Of barely twenty feet
and was a scant City feet deep. Tho
front Of IL was new construction, an
abbreviated facade put on when West
Broadway was cut through To Greenwich
street fifteen years ago. The back end
was also less than twenty years old.
inspector Nick Reville Of tho Building
Department went snOOping around the
cellar with swift alertneas. He came up
and scratched his head. Tho foundations
were az sound a. a rock. Den be went
through every hOOr. The steel cross
beams were half of them snapped on
close 20 the supporting pillars. Tbs
pillars in the cafe were set in pretty well
40 that there was a large overhang 20 tho
corner Of the building. The window sills
slanted at twenty-five degrees from the
horizontal.
The only explanation that Rsville could
find was that n leakage Of gas between
the first and second fioors had exploded.
which he dsemed unlikely. or that the
vibrating presses on the third floor had
lcssened the overhan ging corner and put
TOO severe a strain on the outer cross
beams. 30 that starting the presses IN :.
the utoElAlAE oAAaHNfA NA4AA - He1N' 49,
a few picturesque words on panios hS
stopped the running presses.
Well. there the building sagged. and
every time you looked at il you noticed
how much wider were the assures be-
meath the windows. To prop Il was out
OF the question. II must be torn down
all at once and a. soon a. might be
While everybody in authority In the
building. police and fire departments
came down Tor 70 admire and for 10 sea
two Eighth avenue cars we're fetched 70
the scene. TIE regular Eighth avenus
cars had been diverted through Canal
street and stopped al Broadway, issuing
transfers and disgruntled passengers.
The two cars were hitched tandem. .
huge manila cable was got, several 1.-THE
Hrnbed Italians Indifferent 70 fate we're
put on the job and all was made ready
for a spectacular house wrecking.
Il looked 10 easy they merely bent an
inch rope onto the cable ard h.tched the
end around the second Aoor muiliOn.
the brick corner betw 'en windows on
West Broadway and Prk Place. Thea
thew tiahtened the rope and put a steady
strain on Il. Nothing happened. The
rope was slacsed and the two trolley cars
we're started At top speed What a steady
strain wouldn't do a sudden tug might.
II did. Il parted the rope with a snap
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