The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-27

than at United States weather bureau: that he had been afraid of Steele Smith wall on account of kind of Weather which made him believe wall had frozen that he did not make complaints to city officials any more as he had learned better;' that when brick wall falls it kicks back" as well as falling forward that his brother worked in Atlantic and Pacific store
 T. A. Darden, Eightieth street and Eighth avenue, East Lake. stated he was carpenter; that he was not about building when it fell: that he never examined building; that he thought walls were dangerous; that he could show in
 practical and theoretical way" if put in position to do so, that walls were not safe to generous public;" that the philosopher and gravitation scientifically'' showed that this wall was "tripped up.'
 Frazier Saw Nothing Dangerous
 c. H. Frazier of West End. barkeeper, stated he was night watchman at Steele Smith building for several weeks after fire; that his duties kept him inside the building; that once or twice parts of walls fell but he didn't know of what wall; that this was while Allen and his workmen were working on taking, out debris and making walls. safe; that he never noticed walls being out of plumb or cracked while he worked there: that during all the time he worked there he saw nothing dangerous about place ex- cept some loose plank and timbers that kept failing from time to time; that the weather was "extremely cold and freez- ing while he was there; that he does not think wall was wet and don't know whether or not wall froze; that Mir All len was not through when witness left place; that he considers Allen very com petent man; that he never heard crit
 cism of Matthews until this catastrophe came up.
 J. M. Lawrence of Southern Adjust ment bureau. s07 American Trust build ing, stated he adjusted insurance on Steele-Smith building, that policy on building was $37. 800 and all of policy was paid as loss; that the estimate of loss is put down in items and details: that first story of walls was figured separate ly from rest of walls that all above the first story was paid for as total loss that he takes this to mean that wall can not be used again; that many times, however, insurance companies thus are made to pay for walls three or four times; that settlement was made on basis of walls above first story being useless: that this Is based entirely on expert opin- ions; that contractors who checked esti- mate for insurance company believed second story wall was between 50 and 100 per cent good but that there never was any dispute about walls above second story being worthless; that he figured loss about s12OO above insurance policy; that he will sset detailed report on insur- ance and present 1t to commissioners that "by no means are walls paid for by insurance companies always torn down; that this is a common thing in insurance; that he considers Charles AL len as absolutely an honest, competent and able man in his line of work; that his experiences with Matthews indicated he was able building inspector; that MT Aliens figures on loss were in the main accepted: that total loss on building was $3S. 200; that insurance companies always have right to rebuild burned buildings rather than pay insurance but that this is never done; that he certainly would not have paid loss on three top stories of walls' if he knew they were ito be used again in new building unless he 'had to-"
 An Unsafe Practice"
 Ben Price, 5ls Empire building. archi- tect, stated that he regarded Mr. Mat thews as a competent and able build ing inspector that shale brick Is pretty nearly impervious to water" and will ab- sorb very little; that he considered it unsafe practice to leave wall five stories high and 140 feet long standing unless properly supported and tied, but he did not know if Steele-Smith wall was SUD- ported; that shale brick does not dete- riorate by going through fire; that nor tar joints could be frozen if weather was cold enough and they were water soaked; that effect of wind has to be considered in estimating strength of burned wall that in arriving at safety of walls one must consider whether or not they are plumb, cracker and bent that if wall was of proper thickness. not shaled. not out of plumb. not cracked, not bent, tied
 (Continued on Page Eight.l