The Washington herald., 1922-02-11
DECLARE WALLS
0fTHEATER NOT
ENTIRELY JOINED
Witnesses at Inquest Into
Knickerbocker Tragedy
Include Owner.
cortirres from Paae one.

SNNNNfN~-
piece Of steel comprising the top
chord of the truss which tear. he
said. caused bucklIng Of the chord
and collapse Of the roof.
n arrived on the scene about a
half hour after the accident, and
found the tear soon after. After
examining II for three or four min
utes, / turned to aid In the rescue
work." Geare replied as before.
Test to BE Made.
A section of this piece Of steel
will be taken to the Bureau OF
standards for test, 1t was intlmated
by District Attorney Gordon.
Geare testified that last June ne
inspected the roof and noticed con-
siderable vibrations on the beams
and trusses,, which, he declared,
were not unusual in view of the
ventilating motor on the roof and
ths street car movements on both
sides of the building. Mr.. Geare
id,-however. this could not nave
been considered dangerous.
THAT Is the one thing In the
world I would like to know. ana
trust the investigation viii bring
out" Harry NJ. Crandall. owner OF
tbs theater, testified when asked
bv District Attorney Gordon whaA
he thought caused he collapse.
Mr.. CrandaII was questioned as
To his connections with the theater,
saving that he owned 81 per cent
of the common stock at the time
the theater was built. He became
president of the company owning
the theater in 1918. he said
Il had no part in the construc-
tton Of the building, and don't know
the first thing about building opera
lions. I entrusted everything TO my
srrbitect an whom I had faith.
felt that IL he should err In any
way II would be caught up oy the
building inspectors office
Notified Of Completion
GeaKe notifed Mr.. Crsndal the
tbeater was completed ON February
2. 1918. he said -....
Apparent contradictions In testi-
mony were revealed, when AelVin
:. Rich. engineeT in the employ Oh
Mr.. Geare. declared that ne nao not
been shown the modified steel plans
for the roof structure. after com
nIetion of the plans by ]. II. Ford,
engineer and computor OF the Union
Iron Works
ON Thursday. Geare testified that
his approval was given to the modi-
fled plans through inspection by his
engineer. Mr. Rich. whom he said
had apparently checked over the
pIanS because a note with Rich's
initials was attached to one Of the
plans.
'I remember attaching that note
to the one set of plans. but other
wise I have no recollection Of hav-
ing inspected them. I did not agree
to the substitution of plans and did
not approve them later" Rich tes-
titled.
Il attached a note to the plans
calling for use OF douoie I-beams
in the wall to take care OF reac-
tions of the heavy beams on the
walls which l did not believe had
been accounted for" Rich said.
Were double I-beams placed as
you asked" District Attorney cor
CON asked.
'T made a brief inspection of the
walfs after the accident. but il did
not appear to me that double l.
beams had been placed as ordered
by me-" he replied.
John l. Mcdonald. contractor for
construction of the steel work IN
the building. testified a few minutes
later that:
81 personally saw that double l.
beams were placed at all points
called for"
Rich said that he had drawn all
"f the original plans for the build
ing and had submitted all to Mr..
A. Geare. He said he d1d not Euper-
intend the construction of the steel
work in the building because he en-
tered a training camp at Fort Mycr
en- May l2, 1917. Assembling of the
steel roof members started on May
10. 1917. and erection Of the frame
started on May Ia, ii was shown m
filed reports of the field inspector of
the District Building Department
at the inquest on Wednesday