Norwich bulletin., 1920-12-02
0-StOry Building in
 New York Collapsed
AtLeast One Person Was Kill ed and Six Others Are Un- accounted For = Building Was Being Remodeled.

New York, Dec 1-Broa 1way, at Fifty second street, was suddenly transformed late this afternoon from scene of bus ting activity to one of desolate wrecklge when an eight-story apartment house un- der repair collapsed, burying several per- sons beneath the debris. At least one person is believed to have been killed and six others are unaccounted for.
 Broadway was crowded with shoppers, workers hurrying to their homes and af- ternoon ztheatregoers when terrific crash rent the air and the building toppled over into the street. Fortunately, most of the debris fell into Fifty-second street. which
 was comparatively free from vehicular and pedestrian traffic, although tons of
 wreckage slid into Broadway itself.
 Six persons, three of them buried in the wreekage and later rescued, were injured. Searchers expressed fear tonight that other pedestrians seen passing the build ing may have been caught beneath the tons of wrcckage, covering the sidewalk in places to a depth of six feet.
 | Smaller crashes occurred at intervals tonight as sections of the wall which re-
 mained standing after the first collapse gave way. Other tottering sections l threatened the lives of firemen and police
 men who searched the de oris for bodies in
 the glare of powerful searchlights which | played on the scene.
 Only the ground floor was occupied. an
 automobile concern having it's offices there. The injured persons were mainly
 employees of this concern and workmen
 employed in repairing the building Three
 girls m the autemobiln establishment were buried beneath the wreckage but were rescued, suffering only from cuts
 and bruises.
 | Police tonight held back crowds in | 5x i1a rodh hIy Q city building department .risked thelr lives | in an effort to relieve the weight on the 1 upper floors and prevent the saggirg wall On the Broadway side of the structure I from giving way. Digging in the depris
 in the street was stopped when the walls still standing in parts of the Fifty second street side mad along Broadway threat ened to collapse.
 T The man believed to have been killed
 was Jeff Smith, foreman employed by the wrecking company. A fellow employe working near Smith on an upper part of the building, reported that he saw the foreman carried down in the falling de bris withNthe first crash. N
 All of the employees of the autom lie concern were accounted for later and firemen then were kept out of the building
 owing to the danger of falling walls Three suits of street clothes found in tn. duu ltlOuSnl ID Have DccH OWu6C by construction company workmen, re- 7 mained unclaimed, and officials believ, the owners were buried in the wreckage Ii Late tonight anotler section of Lht Fifty-second street W all fell with a cr,sl , heard for blocks. Workmen tested tht !, Broadway walls and as they appeared ap
 parently safe, the police guard was re , faxed to permit trolley Ecars to pas , through the street As the theatre yI closed, however, crowds, rushed to th' i scene, and police reserves were called t .I keep people out of danger.
 : Officials of the district attorneys offic g t5egan an investigation to determine ta = cause of the accident.
 e| Sidney B. Bowman, head of the auto
 mobile company, said tonight he made | s complaint against the unsafeness of tn construction work in September and tha e 2 temporary injunction was obtained bu . later was vacated in supreme court A - appeal from this decision, MT. Rowna
 said, now is pending in the appellate di L vision of the supreme court.