New-York tribune., 1910-12-24
FALLING ROOF KILLS MAN
Three Workmen Seriously and
Four Slightly Hurt in Newark.
MACHINERY HALL IN RUINS
Owners We're Transforming Old
Exposition Building Into
Variety Theatre.

Old Machinery Hall. for forty years the
Madison Square Garden Of Newark took
,eve1se yesterday for its Transformation
s,-c variety theatre by letting its ancient
,oo< crash through upon the workmen en-
~seed within its gaudy new walls. The
Aesr-v dome, which pulled the rest OF the
-oof with il. hurled John Klodrig. a cement
mixer. forty-two years old. Of No. % Liv-
.,r..on street. up against the right wall OF
>he b,ziiding and crushed his head in. killing
,s-, instantly John Crooks of No a Sd
s--..t: John Lafferty, Of No. IS Edwin
pl.ce. and Stephen Grimes. Of No s3s Mar
&.- street were extricated from the ruins
en injured that they were sent TO hospitals.
II vas thought at first that L.aferty. who
.,-ss-ed from a broken leg. g dislocated
..oulder and a sprained ankle had been
s,su-ed internally and couldn't live and
che report spread that two had been killed
e- the collapse and a number buried in the
Debris whose fate was problematical Po-
rce Captain M. J. Ryan. of the 1st Pre-
einct was on the jon in an instant. and
sert in q call for the Fire Department.
The hreuen picked the mass OF tirnbers
eud girders over with experienced hands.
They found only The body of Klodrig. the
three badly injured men and Henry Pierce,
John Devanagh. Louis Tuttle and John
E-su.s. who were only slightly hurt and
vent home after the ambulance surgeons
Nsd dressed their abrasions and bruises
4 careful canvass among the sixty or
eeverty workn1en employed in the building
showed that all had been accounted
for Larerty and Crooks. the latter Of
whom sustained z broken wrist and broken
-fb- were taken TO the City Hospital and
Crimes. with severe contusions. was sent
20 ST Barnabas's Hospital. The excitement
~ss ali over by o'clock. an hour after the
sccident.
Machinery Hall. extending from No 3S1
70 81 Washington street near Court. was
erected in 1872 for & series Of industrial eX-
positions IN which the manufacturers Of
Newark displayed their products and es-
peciaIly their machinery. in operation Gen
eral Grant attended the first fair, IN his
capactty as President OF the United States,
end on succeeding occasions Horace Gree
;ev. James C. Blaine. Senator Bayard and
other public men of the day delivered ad-
dresses there.
Il became a favorite place for political
-ree-ires during Presidential campaigns.
when hall was needed large enough TO
house an audience desirous Of hearing a
Presidential candidate. and for the six-day
walking matches of a bygone period Later
sill il was used as an ice-Skating rink. but
FOR several years II had languished in bar
-fcsde6 idle1esS.
Recently William Lehman. Joseph L
Feibleulan and Bernard Straus. its owners
decided 10 make theatre out Of the old
barracks. The method Of renovation de
cided upon was TO prop UP the roof. build
new walls under Il and then let il down
upon them supported by new steel g1rders
All this had been done and plasterers
and carpenters were at work on the hnlsh-
frc touches at the time OF yesterdays atas-
Irophe-
Captain RYAN said that many of the
-vzorkuen had criticised the sienderness of
the steel girders supporting the roof and
rad predicted q collapse. William L
o-Rorrke DR. Mckenzie. county physician.
and the detectives of Prosecutor Motifs
Office are ali engaged in separate invesrga-
lions TO fix the blame