The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-25

our powers and will appreciate the volun- tary appearance of all witnesses or per sons having any information which will aid us to a correct finding of the facts
 He then suggested all present who had any testimony to offer and who had not been summoned give their names to the clerk"
 The session opened by MT. Ward read ing the statement of the purpose of the investigation. M. A. Dinsmore was the first witness. He stated that he was sitting in his office on the thirteenth floor of the Jefferson County Bank build. ing when wall fell and was looking out window; he saw wall gradually lean to angle of 45 degrees and then suddenly go all to pieces; he said. My God, that wall Is falling" there was no lightning then everything was enveloped in cloud of dust; in few minutes fire broke out and in about 10 minutes it began to rain always thought wall was dangerous storm was not particularly severe; he had gone to window to look whether or not it was going to rain. as his wife and child were on the street.
 View From Potter Building l.. B. Adams said that he worked on the third floor of Potter building and had clear view of Steele-Smit wall: that he
 
 ing out: that he saw east wall begin to buckle-the middle bulging out toward the east; then it fell and he ran dowT stairs; that there was no lightning unti 10 minutes after wall fell; when he saw ! lightning there was no report as if some thing had been struck; that he formerly was marble setter and his eye was sc | trained that he noticed buckling imme- diately: that he knew wall was unsafe and dangerous ever since the Steele Smith fire; that he never reported or mentioned this opinion to anyone. Mrs. Elizabeth Jobson said that she was across street when walls fell thai there was crash of thunder and her inn presson was lightning had struck thai she was just crossing from Trianon the atre to go into Ham shoe store; tha,
 there was very little wind; that the | lightning flash and noise first attracted her attention.
 l Dr. T. K. Lewis stated he had just l come out of Vaudette theatre and no. ticed there was considerable wind anc dust: that he started up Second avenue
 but wind and dust were strong thai probability of cyclone occurred to hin and he stopped; he neither saw noi heard lightning; then he noticed the east Steele Smith wall moving and as it de scended he saw it strike Hanns store he did not see any whirlwind effect Arthur Thompson said that he was going down Second avenue and was di- lectly in front Of the A. and P. tea store and gust of wind or something blew him off the sidewalk across the gutter and into the street: that noise and dust came at the same time as he was blowr off sidewalk.
 From Jefferson Bank Building A. B. Lannigan said that he was ir his office in southwest corner of fiji teenth floor of Jefferson County banl building and was looking down Second avenue at wall: first thing he saw wa: | whole wall leaning over and falling there was quite a wind blowing; l' | minutes after accident before it begar raining; saw nothing unusual abou cloud: he had gone to window to pull | 1t down on account of wind; he saw nc | lightning until 10 minutes after wall fell 1 w. s. Cooper said that he was no l in town when wall fell, but had beer noticing appearance of wall for some l time and always thought 1t was dan gerous; that his family intended severa days ago to go to Hann's store to ge l shoes and he told them not to go as i was a dangerous place: that fire agains l one side of wall makes it dangerous | that he never mentioned his opinions ex 1 cept to his daughter and wife; that ht l had known Building Inspector Matthew: I for 30 years and had not mentioned it tt | him. On being questioned by MT. Mat thews witness stated he had never made close examination and did not know whether or not wall was out of plumb. J. A. Posey said that he was standing on Nineteenth and &econd on side Steele Smith building was on; heard crash anc then saw dust; that crash sounded likt dynamite explosion; saw no lighting and heard no thunder; wind was blowing mighty hard"
 Ernest Sam stated he was standing IT front of shoe shine shop near Adams dr1a store; had remarked about wind blowing hard, then heard crash; saw no lightning until 10 minutes after crash; formed i'm presson that wind caused wall to fall that people were getting out of weather Practical Builder Gives Impressions | R. R. Moore said that he was passing l in front of Kress store when wall fell 1 first he noticed breaking sound: tlrret | and saw wall falling; wall fell similar tt lots of walls he had seen fall; wall learet | out first like falling tree and then broke away from part left standing and craslet down through space; saw no lightning | saw woman in front of Ham store blowr l of sidewalks that he was bricklayer ant had been foreman of brick work on Tut l wier hotel and Lyric theatre; thought wal was dangerous all the time; that old wal l always makes cracking sound as 1t break loose; that when contractor builds nev wall, every time he gets one story hisl he is very anxious about wall fallinl until joists are placed on; that he hat | never placed plumb on wall but has yer. good eye; that he believed east Steele | Smith wall was or inches out o plumb that question about sky scraper being out of plumb involved technica ! question of dropping plumb from top t
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