Arizona republican., 1911-01-04
WORK OF MISCREANTS
 IN NEW BANK BUILDING
DAMAGE OF A LARGE BUT UNI
 DETERMINED AMOUNT
The Wholesale "Groundins" of Wires
 in Conduits

Contractor Clinton Campbell of the new National Bank of Arizona build
 ing is engaged in the repair of an act of vandalism which will probably
 cost him not less than a thousand dollars. In fact, it is impossible to estimate the amount it will cost for the extent of the outrage has~not yet been determined.
 There is no clue to the perpetrators. It is not even known when the crime was committed but it was at least several weeks ago. It was only dis covered the latter part of last week
 when a final test was being made of the electric light wires.
 They had been given a test at the time they were 'roughed in," that is when the rough floor was laid over
 them. Sometime after that the fin
 ished floor was laid.
 The test the other day showed that
 the wires were hopelessly grounded"
 How that could have come about was a mystery for the wires are all in spiral steel conduts. No accident could have disarranged them. The
 trouble was in the upper stories but
 it was not an easy job to locate it. The floor was torn up in one room
 over the line of the cable for some distance and then the cause of the disturbance was plain. It was found that nails had been driven through the rough flooring into the cable. generally at a point where it crosses joist into which a niche had been cut to receive it.
 The test was pursued from point to point in the third and fourth stor- ies and it has been found necessary to tear up the floor in not less than d dozen rooms. It was said yester- day that not less than 25O nails had been extracted from the cable and the work is probably far from finish ed.
 The greater expense of repairs will be in the relaying of the floors for in places the cable runs crosswise pr iagonally to the flooring so that many boards in each case will have to be replaced.
 It is feared that it will be found that the cables in the railways will be found to be similarly punctured. In that case the damage will be great for the floors are laid with expen- sive tile on a thick bed of cement. At one point near a doorway 1t has been necessary to dig a hole into the hallway floor.
 The wall of a hallway on the third floor has been cut through in three places in the search for d grounded wire. The wall is beautifully tinted and now the tinting of all the walls in this hall will have to be done over on account of these three patches.
 This damage was done at time be- fore work had progressed to such d stage as made it advisable to employ d watchman or to exclude all but employees from the building. l; was suggested that the work had been done by men who were familiar with the system of wiring but that is not so. for in the day time or by means of a light at night, one could trace the course of the cable ; by the cracks between the rough | board of the under floor.
 Mir Campbell bears the situation philosophically. He entertains no suspicion regarding the identity of the perpetrators though he has no doubt that the crime is a result of he has had with var ious trades unions on this and other he has had under construc- | tion for several months. following his | adoption of the "open shop" sys- tenn.
 Several of the contracting carpen- ters in Phoenix have adopted the 1 ''open shop" but the unions have re- | garded Mir Campbell as the head of the movement