New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-29
Three City Inspectors and
3 Builders Arrested on
Manslaughter Charge.
HIS PLANS CHANGED,
SAYS ARCHITECT
SubstitutiOns Caused Col
lapse That Killed Two
Men, Is Testimony.

Three city inspectors and three
builders were arrested on charges OF
manslaughter yesterday as the result
of the collapse last week Of house
being built on Marion Avenue, The
Bronx, which buried nineteen men, kill
ing two.
Those arrested are Joseph J. Dunno,
of 1866 Decatur Avenue, The Bronx,
construction and masonry inspector in
the Bronx Building Department; Will
lam Shary, of 1863 East 207th Street,
an inspector who substituted for
Drrne; Ralph c. Smith, of 2O7S Bailey
Avenue, The Bronx, inspector OF iron
construction in the Bronx Building
Department; Max Beck, of 29S West
l12th Street. of the firm of Chase &;
Beck, owners of the building; Jacob
Polstein, IF East l0sth Street, OF the
firm of Loewy e. Polstein, mason con-
tractors, and John Peterson, Of 1874
Clay Avenue, The Bronx, frame con-
tractor.
The arrests were made at the re-
quest of Francis Martin. District At
torney Of Bronx County. Coroner
Flynn held the men in $4,000 bail each
for their appearance at the inquest.
September S.
Architect Tells of Substitutions.
At the end of the preliminary in
curry before Coroner Flynn yesterday
Charles Kreymbourg. the architect.
testified that proper vertical beams
and cast iron templets would have
saved the building. By the cheaper
substitution made in his plans the
structure was weakened Sc per cent, he
said.
Jacob Vrceland, acting superintend-
ent of buildings in The Bronx. de-
clared that it was remarkable that
more buildings did not collapse.
There is gang of dishonest build
ers," he said, "who make it very diff
cult for the Building Department. |
have found an organized gang Of stone
masons who try TO defraud me at every
step. On many Job | have had to
take the foremen by the back of the
neck to shove them out Of the way so
that could get into certain sections
of buildings"
In asking for the arrest OF those
whom he declared to be responsible
for the fatal wreck. District Attorney
Martin said il was godsend that the
collapse came before the structure was
finished and filled with tenants.
THE collapse Of the Marion Avenue
building" he said. was due to the
grossest negligence on the part Of
certain persons. The building was IN
sufficiently built. II was impossible for
it 70 stand"
Buildings Weight Crushed Temples.
According to Mr.. ymbourg, the
weight of the building probably
crushed the buestone templets which
had been substituted for those of cast
iron, causing the building to topple and
fall
Shary testified that in making in
spections the city never provided any
graduated measuring instruments or
other such utensils and the inspectors
Judged of the character of mortar by
its looks"
Smith, who also testified, admitted
that the bluestone templets probably
weakened the building 50 per cent, but
he thought the substitution of the ten
inch I-beams for the ffteen-inch Beth
lehem steel beams specified in the plans
did not have much to do with the acct
dent. He could not explain the substi-
tutions.
Coroner Flynn said that Robert +.
Moorehead, superintendent of Build
ings, who recently suffered a paralytio
stroke and is in Maine, must be on
hand for the inquest