The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1912-08-17

Bell Mol Dangerous TO Building
General Condition. Makes Sug-
tit QesliOns Tor Bellermelt lt

S,hool win be conducted at Central
building this winter N W
AIneh controversy has been ndulg-
ed In by The citizens OF Guthrie lhe
school, board and architects and bulia-
ers OF this city rs TO the sa1eness
and unsafeness OF this building, EARN
in the year the school board after re-
teiying written opinions from afchl
tects and builders and after the tre
department. had declared it unsafe
passed a resolution asking the mayor
TO call an election TO vote bonds 10
renlace Central with a new building
After some delberation on the part OF
the mayor. commissioners ana sever
~ others. the mayor decided he would
not call the bond election at present.
The matter Is still undecided.
Realizing that something must be
done in the premises. the school
board decided to put the matter UP
10 disinterested en- ert to deter
mine the condition of the building.
Prof James l. Tucker, director OF
the school of civil engineering at the
state university was consulted ana
consented to make a thorough exam
nation Of the structure. YESTERDAY
Professor Tucker, in company with
" G. Griffith. retired New York
architect Of national reputation came
10 Guthrie and spent the day at Cen
tral building making thorough and
scientific examination Of the build
inc. we give their report in full here
v ith:
Gcntlcmcn, Acting in harnany
with your request Of the 18th INST"
reonesting me to come 10 your clly
and examine the Central school buiId-
ine. bee 10 say that have done so.
IN making this examination ] nave
taken the liberty 70 avail myself OF
the advice Of Mr.. v G. Griffith a re
,ired architect now of Norman. hut
formerly Of New YOrk-a man OF very
wide experience and in whose ludS-
ncnt you may safely repose con
sdence. Our inspection brought out
the same conclusions in the minds ol !
each OF MS,
We directed our attention to the
snperstrnctnrc of the building rs IL
now stands. Il must be borne III /
mind that this buildug foundation
vas probably designed hy a person
unfamiliar with Oklahoma soil when
subjected 10 a specially heavy load |
ing. OF this more will be said later. |
That there are numerous cracks III
tht walls is too obvious to need com /
ment We understand the questions ,
placed before us to have been:
|. Is the building wholly unSaie
h. its older part?
>. If not wholly unsafe. can its de
sNctc ha ram pdied
3. If remediabIem what steps shall /
be taken?
Our answers to these questions Will
appear in the following.
General Condition of Building
We wish first to point out that
when a structure which has been sub
Jected to such long and severe usage
as has this it does not seem reason
able to expect it's sudden collapse un-
less tharc can be found causes at
work which plainly lead to an abrupt
elimination, Or upheaval We ala
not find any evidence OF such forces, =,
enough there are certain simple mat
ters which can be easily attended
10. and which should have prompt at
tehtion.
In general then, we found the SUI
DGTSlTuCtuiP Ill EOOu NOHull4Oll AAES
far as any inherent defects in it are
concerned. OF course but little OF
the interior timbering was visible to
us, nor were the plans found from
which the building was erected. we
we're Obliged to be guided consider
ablv by the very excellent degree of
stiffness which the floors were found
10 nossess. and from which we con
cude that the original plans and
Workmanship were at least good and
Perhaps excellent
II is proper to say, too, that the
tie-rods put in place from
time to time have been prudent
E irecaution, in that there effect is Ger
tainly good, and it may well be that
q more careful examination on THIS
point than we made will show the ad-
Visibility of adding a few more. We
y ould only suggest that they would
Dc much greater amount OF good
IL given a greater bearing on the wall
by means of larger or longer bearin@
plates or Sbars. in place OF the
small star-washers now in nse
Bell Tower
We climbed to the belrry care
Hhly searching all the walls for evi-
dences of unequal settlement but
found none, A heavy bell which
swings is of course a severe condi
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