Evening star., 1922-02-10
TFIEATER ARCHITECT DISAGREES
WITH OTHERS ON CRASH CAUSE
Failure of Top Chord In Truss Blamed for
Knickerbocker Collapse-Admits He
Did Not Make Full Inspections.

satisfactory. adding, "among the best
in Washington"
On direction. he detailed the sub
contractors as follows: Union iron
Company, brick, cement and tile
work: H. NJ. Lanford: excavating' and
McNulty Brothers, plastering.
He then went into an explanation
of the change in the design of the
steel roof framing, in substance. the
same as the testimony by J. n. Ford;
who asserted it was because the steel
beams of the original design could
not be obtained.
"The plans of the new design had
note of NJ. S. Rich on them, In
pencil, which read:
"'Double rs under all trusses and
beams which means that the /
doubled.
Were the substituted plans as
substantial as the original plans?"
asked Mr.. Gordon.
Il can't testify as to that, am not
an engineer. l relied on Mr.. Rich, !"
witness answered.
Careful I'm Drawing Plans.
He (Geare) took great care to make
it substantial, Mr.. Geare said, be-
cause it was his first theater, and he
wanted it to stand.
Il was very proud of it. Great care
was taken in providing sufficient de-
tails"
He said he constructed the York
and Metropolitan theaterS here and
one in Cumberland. subsequent. how
ever. to the Knickerbocker, answering
the District attorney.
The material was what he specified.
of the best, and the walls stand today
in wonderful shape, "a monument to
fine masonry" he asserted.
IN ha noipf rpa1a hv the AnrviCA
engineers of failure to tie the Colum-
bia road and stage walls, he said it
was not necessary as it was an in
side wall"
DO your plans provide for tying?"
mo"
"Then it wasn't your intention to
tie them?' queried Gordon.
Il wouldn't say that I didn't intend
to tie them. I didn't direct that they
should not be tied. nor do remember
that 1 told them to do IL"
You don't contend it was tied, do
you?" pressed Maj. Gordon.
No. sir"
1T was your business to see that
it was tied?"
Duty Of Architect.
mot necessarily. 1t is the archi-
tect's duty to go there once a day and
see that the work is carried out gen.
orally: to see that the job is progress
ing properly in accordance with the
plans"
who superintended the construc-
ton of the steel work."
My engineer, 1 suppose; I don't
recollect." witness answered.
You left the details to the engi-
neer?" pressed Maj. Gordon. You
don't know whether beams and
trusses had requisite bearings or
not?"
NO. I didn't so into that" witness
did you see that brick and terra
Gotta work was properly construct
edo"
Yes"
Did you see whether proper amount
of cement was going into the tile?"
Yes. l frequently went on the
scaffolding to examine the work"
DO you know personally why the
building fell DOWN." Maj. Gordon
continued.
Il have a theory" witness answered
"Of your own knowledge DIR on
talking with your engineer" Maj
Gordon interrogated.
Il haven't talked with him." Geare
answered.
Tell us, if you can. why it fell,"
Maj. Gordon directed.
Gives Opinion Of Disaster.
said T-12 appears to be the one that
failed first; vibration. and the fact
that that truss chord at the top was
faulty.
."Did you look to see whether it was
faulty when it was put in?" asked
Gordon. Response in the negative
brought a hot retort from Gordon
will you please tell me. then, what
the duties OF the supervising archi-
tect are. He isn't employed to see
that a window is in a certain place.
He is supposed to see defective ma
terial. isn't he?"
IF he sees it, 1t is his duty to or
der it out" witness spared, and con-
tinued: There was a break in the
top chord of truss TIP. 1t was one
of the first things I saw upon arriving
at the theater about a half an hour
after the accident"
He noticed it by an abrasion.
Taking piece of steel, which, he
said, came from the Interstate Com
merce' Commission, he showed how an
abrasion could be in the steel with
out being observed.
Says Chord Caused Collapse.
The top chord of T-12 started the