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

1ANol ISlOh w. Os MA E w D
 The center of interest in the catas-
 trophe probe, as he was leaving the
 city hall when adjournment was taken
 yesterday for luncheOn.-Photo by
 H. c. Baird.
 ~ss.s.'ss.sss.............
 under supervision of Matthews and Wheelock; that nothing was taken off | east wall or front wall, which were not fractured or damaged; that shale was off same of bricks by heat; that he es- | timated damage for Mrs. Hudgins which was accepted by insurance company; that he estimated four stories of the building a loss, and the damage at $46,000; and treated as loss all of walls above first story; that insurance companies allowed damage Of $37,500; that he estimated the walls as loss because it would cost as much to use old wall in new building as to make new wall, and not because walls
 above first story were unsafe; that walls were safe for new building; that con- create walls was to be made inside brick wall; that walls were safe to leave stand; that his workmen were in building, on walls and all about them, and he would
 not have allowed this unless he considered walls safe: that Mir Moore's statement
 about walls leaning, in his estimation,
 was not correct; that Mayberry building
 was now being built on same walls for
 fourth time after being burned that Jef- ferson County Savings Bank building would not stand cyclone If it properly hit it; that without some uncommon force" Steele-Smth wall would have stood 9 years; that half of fallen wall was now lying in old Steele-Smith place and
 other half was on wrecked stores, which indicated it was struck by bolt of light
 ming or something of the sort Upon be-
 ing questioned by MT. Bowie witness stat ed he was instructed by his employees to
 make building safe, and that such he
 did; that wall was not like blanks stand ing on end;" that there was limit set for him on expense of making walls safe; that no one had ever made a statement to him that the walls were unsafe; that if MT. Matthews had reported wall danger ous, commission would not have been jus tif1ed in tearing down wall under it's present condition, and owner could have stopped raging by injunction.
 Bostick Is Next Witness
 P. E. Bostick stated that he built Steele Smith building; that he considered wall safe; that he bid on underpining it to put basement in proposed new building and would not have done so had be consid- cred wall unsafe;. has no doubt that some abnormal condition caused wall to fall ludl Ildll OI Wdl IdlllnS luSlu6 olctle- Smith place showed it did not fall of its
 own weakness that he knew best kind of
 materials went into the building; that by
 no possibility wall could have fallen by
 own weakness; that east wall was not
 damaged by fire; that builders did not
 brace such walls pending rebuilding; that 'shaling off of brick would not weaken wall; that he considers MT. Matthews
 competent for his position; that none Of
 the west wall fell in last weeks accident; that if wall fell from wind it would have all fallen in one direction; that first story was 26 inches thick. second 21 inches, third story 1T, and two top ones 13 inches thicks that time never would arrive in which city would have been Justified in tearing down wall unless practical men had declared it | unsafe; that before it fell he would have
 reported the wall safe if he had been
 asked to examine 1t for city.
 John s. Leedy Testifies
 John s. Leedy of the Leedy Insurance
 company said that his company was Mrs.
 Hudgins agents; that he considered MT. Wheelock and MT. Allen as competent
 men as there were in their line of busi-
 ness; ghat if he had been told to tear walls down such would have been done; that
 he never heard even a rumor of the walls
 being unsafe that there were negotiations
 with Steele-Smith company to reoccupy
  gotiations were abandoned and their plans for flve-story building were discarded and negotiations were opened to build a three- story motion picture theatre on the site; that the Steele-Smith negotiations were abandoned because they were unable to settle with insurance companies and other
 matters regarding resumption of their
 business that first thing he does in case of this kind Is to go to Allen and Wheel ock or some competent contractor and | architect and instruct them to take charge immediately in order to prevent just such catastrophe as has happened"
 | John Miller. contractor, stated that he | considered MT. Matthews, MT. Allen and l MT. Wheelock were about the best and most able men in their lines in Birming- i ham.
 l George F. Rutgler, inspector for South eastern Underwriters association, stated | he was on Twentieth street with head
 down to keep dust out of his eyes when he heard crash and believes he saw flash | but couldn't say whether was lightning ol | flash from trolley cars.
 w. H. Dewey in Adjoining Building
 W. H. Dewey said that his business was
 over jewelry store adjoining tea store which was crushed that he heard crash went to window and saw dust; then weni out on roof and heard people moaning
 and grooming in wreckage down below
 him; that there was one brick on his roof | that the fall of the Ham wall and not l Steele-Smith wall did most of damage 1T Ham and Atlantic and Pacific store; thai l he believed Steele-Smith wall better thar a new wall, as it Is eight inches thicker than now required by city's building laws believes nothing but stroke of lightning could be responsible for fall of wall; that Ham wall was three stories but has fallen down to one story.
 Frank Moragne at this point asked per- | mission to question witness, and asked fl there was not danger sign on Steele Smith place and had been there since fire; dozen or more men jumped up in the audience and said such was fact; witness and others admitted it, and said ii was only same sign as put on all building
 jobs and was not on account of any dan ger from walls falling. Adjournment was taken until 2:3O o'clock
 Calman First Afternoon Witness John Calman was the first witness of the afternoon. He stated that he was
 under the wooden shed over the sidewalk in front of Blacksmith and saw a flash.
 then heard d crash. which was closely fol-
 lowed by second crash; that when he
 saw flash he was stunned and felt the
 same way as he had once before felt when
 bolt of lightning struck near him; that
 he is very susceptible to electricity ana fcIf that kfnd nf ~anno kior. fl,nf the vuln6