Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-07-25

II
| week by Col. J. w. Jones, adjutant-
general of the national guard. Gov
ernor Frear was not In his Office this
morning when the Star-Bulletin en-
deayored to trace this feature to its
conclusion.
/ As to the exact cause of the acct
i dent opinions OF those employed en-
the work vary widely.
i Lee Turner, a member of the con-
i struction crew working for Anderson
& Woods. the subcontractors who had
the steelwOrk job. says that the weight
LOT the trusses caused the pillars,
or H-beams, to buckle, thus throwing
1.-THE truss out of plumb. Anderson
was standing on the truss nearly 10
feet in the air and fell when the truss
dropped
/ L. H. Bigelow. constructing engi-
neer for the Honolulu Planning Mill,
and in general charge of the aFnlory
/ work, says that the accident could not
have been foreseen. He says that it
was due to the risk incurred on any
steel erection job before the first and
second trusses are tied together. He
also says that Anderson considered
/ the job safe Oh. he would not have
\ walked out on the truss
i The architects, Ripley & Davis, in
response to a question as to the cause
/ of the accident, showed the corre-
/ spondence in which they protested
4 against the manner in which the steel
was being erected.
4 Jack Lucas of the Honolulu Planning
4 Mill, while declining to be quoted in
detail at this time, said that the cor
respondence would show that the con-
TRACTORS objected to the character Of
the steel work supporting the trusses.
n Pillars Not @. x.
H One Of the features brought out by
the Star Bulletins investigation today
was that the H-beams which are to
support the trusses are not, according
to the architects, of the character
Ripley & Davis say that the beams
Gid not come up to their requisites for
safety and that & plan to render them
safe was worked out here.
II Another feature is that rather than
delay the work and Inconvenience the
contractors and sub-contractors, the
work was allowed to proceed along
lines that were at least regarded as
Of doubtful safety.
1 The first statement that a mans
life was needlessly sacrificed on the
armory job and that an investigation
should be made of the methods under
which the work was proceeding, came
from Lee B. Turner yesterday after
noon. Turner came here from Hawaii
where he was employed by Anderson
e. Woods en- bridge work He was
an eyewitness Of the accident, being
q member of the construction crew
He made the following statement:
Turner Makes Statement
The statement that the accident
was caused by the breaking of the
tackle or any part of the tackle Il
false.
"The statement that the truss was
merely resting on top Of the pillars
and had not been riveted at all il
false.
The statement that the accident
was not due to any structural defects
is false
The accident was due to the fac
that the pillars were too light for the
heavy truss that was placed upor
them. The weight of the truss caused
the pillars to buckle, letting the trus'
drop.
THAT the truss had been at leas
bartly riyeted is shown by the fac
that on the ends of the truss, now lyin.
on the ground. are two broken plates
/ - al 4
of these broken plates are on top o
the pillars. When the pillars buckles
and the truss began to sag. the strait
on the plates was too great, and the,
broke across and then the truss fel
10 the ground, carrying Gus Ander
son with 1t
TO my knowledge, Anderson pre-
tested at least dozen times to tn
architects that the steel of the pillar
was not strong enough to carry tn
: weight of the 10.200 pound trusses
One of the architects, his name
Ripley. understand, was often her
looking over the work, and Anderso
protested to him.
Jack Lucas. the contractor. told u
not to take any chances. Boys, h
said. don't risk your safety. If tn
Job isn't safe. don't undertake it. Ar
derson and Woods both thought tn
job was unsafe, and kicked about i
Lucas is all right; we don't blam
him, but after our protests to the a.
ch!tects. there should have been som
thing DONE
There has been some funny wor
on at this ioh tell you. On Monda
CT last week We went to work and pt
up the first truss. 1t was seen the
that the truss was too heavy for th
pillars and it has been shaky. The
some Eof the inspectors. after looIin
at the work, must have decided IL
Job was unsafe. for we were laid O
at O'Clock Monday. We were laid o
all the week. Somehow it was deci
ed that we should go ahead, althcua
! the first truss showed signs of sa;
I ging. So We started to work aga
| last Monday and again the inspecto