Evening star., 1922-02-07

! Of boiling, 4 good bolt is better than
bad rivet.''
"Of course. we all know that" re-
| sponded Maj. Gordon with feeling.
Evadex Straight Statement.
! Maj Gordon could not get a straight
statement from the witness as to
! whether boiling is better than riveting.
: Maj. Gordon had to give UP this line
because the witness said he didn't
, know.
| He couldn't tell the thickness of the
roof. because. he said. IT had fallen
Mr.. Healy said he had regular field
! men" and one supervisor. AS to qualifi-
! cations. he said they were practical
| or technical men.
"Did YOU find that the wall is plumb
at the present time?" asked the coroner
\ at the suggestion of Ralph P. Barnard.
| at is not" the witness said
| How much is it out?" asked DR..
! Neyitt.
! about five inches. That is the Co
| lumbia road wall"
! Have you any opiTiOn as to the
cause of the wall being out Of plumb?"
/, asked Corporation Counsel Stephens.
! II have none that would be a plaus-
; ible explanation" witness responded.
Plans Not Followed.
{ Robert Henry Davis. 1880 irving
street northwest. engineer and COM
| puter in the building inspectors Of
flee for two and half years. next
| was called.
( Mr. Costigan was the computer in
| 1916. he said. This he took from the
| plans. The witness said he had three
year college engineering course. and
+: thirteen years practical experience
Questioned by DR.. hewitt. he said he
had made a study of the plans OF
the Knickerbocker Theater and OF
/ the ruins.
/ From the plans and observations he
! made, he said the plans do not agree
with the actual construction. The
trusses We're of different height and
the members" different The plans as
submitted to the Office had no dimen
sions. the witness said
Is that unusual?" asked DR.. hewitt
piled
sometimes. he said, dimensions are
sent in later. as the builder can't put
| IN any of the structural part that ha 9
not been checked.
Explain the differences between the
plans and construction" instructed
the coroner.
Truss Shy In Height.
THE plans submitted had no di-
mensions. the witness went on. "In
checking there was no discrepancy
For instance, the main truss, No, ii
scaled on the plans six feet six inches
but m measuring the truss on the
ground 1t was found the truss was six
feet six inches over. That is. it was
not as high as it ought to have been
The truss was nine inches shy in
height"
! When was that discovered?"
4 After the collapse, when we check
ed the plans the witness testified
With proper inspection it should
have been discovered" he answered
to question of the coroner.
Asked if the fan was added after
the structure was completed, Mr.
Davis said he didn't know.
DO you mean to say a permit was
issued for the building without di.
mensions on the plans?" asked Mr.
Il would say it was, because the di-
mensions are not on the plans." the
witness said.
Sufficiently Strong.
The calculations showed that truss
No. IL was sufficfently strong to carry
the load of the fan and roof. There
were some overstresses. he said. He
told the jury that he couldn't put his
the collapse. Some Of them were
weak, but he was unable to tell which
one started the collapse.
+! The south end of truss No. II restet
on column No. 2, Davis said. The
trusses were rfveted to the columns
I
of the truss 1t is assumed that thu
/ fact that the truss was bolted to al
angle plate prevented distribution o.
the weight.
The stresses seemed to figure out al
right, the witness said, but the methot
! of connecting the various members t.
the main pillar or STRUT was rathe
out of the ordinary. There was
weakness in the connections to thi
. main column, he said.
How did the truss get off of tina
: Il can't tell you," witness replied
'"The average bearing on the beam, tn
number of inches in the wall, wa
| about seven inches"
How do you reach that conclu
sion?' asked Maj. Gordon.
by marks on the beam and i'm
pressions in the mortar" the witness
, said.
On the flange that carried tn
; trusses Nos. 15, II and 16, the fang
had dip in them where the trusse
fell on, he said.
There wasn't any beam that had
bearing or seat. of less than thre
and one-half inches, he said-that is
that he could hnd.
well, they were all there, weren'
> they?" asked Maj. Gordon.
mo, some Of them had been tori
out" the witness said.
Questioned About Education.
Maj. Gordon then asked the witnes
. more about his engineering educa
at Delaware College and Lehigh Uni
versity, but he did not get a degree
| Give the differences between tn
nJans and fho constructions aake