The Washington times., 1922-02-09
SAYS
MASONRY
6 A USED
COLLAPSE
Steel Strong Enough, Head OF
Iron Works Testifies at
Coroner's Inquest.

The walls of the Knickerbocxer
Theater and not the steel lconstruc-
ition caused the collapse Of the
theater, according to inony of
fered today by John Il ID, presi-
dent of the Union Iron Works, who
was a witness before the coroner's
jury.
Ford declared he agreed almost
entirely with the report made by
Col. William Kelly, U. S. A., that
there were twenty-one defects in
the construction of the building.
He said the steel furnished by his
company had nothing to do with
! the cave-in. s,.,
Declares Walls Az Fault.
IF the steel had been made twice
! the strength il was, the collapse
would have occurred just the same"
he declared "The collapse was tlie
result Of either the steel work slip
! ping out Of the W Ill or the wall slip
ping away from the steel work"
Ford said the Union Iron Works
only contracted to furnish the isteel
trusses and beams and had no part
in the construction.
Our job ended when we delivered
the steel at the curb" he said.
Il have seen the steel taken out
! OF the building and ] also have
| talked with men who have seen the
I steel" Ford declared. They agree
with me that not in one instance
| did the steel fail. 1t held to the last.
II would also like the jury to
/ know that the steel was of sufff-
| cient strength to carry the 1000
| pound fan recently installed and also
| the amount Of snow on the roof at
the time. These two weights would
not affect the steel In the least"
Tiles Declared Inferior.
The tiles used in the walls of the
/ Knickerbocker were inferior, It was
declared by Charles f. Fisher. of
/ 623 L street northwest, who told
! the jury that he was in charge of
| the grading concrete work.
81 was ordered to fill the tiles with
concrete" Fisher declared. But l
was unable TO do so. The concrete
would only go down into a portion Of
the tiles. Therefore the tiles were
not as sound as provided for in the
plans"
Fisher came on the stand after
Robert II. Davis. engineer of the
building inspectors office, had gone
over several details in the plan and
coroborated the testimony Of Ford
in several instances.
Ford. however. was the star wit
ness of today. He absolved his COM
pany from all blame in connection
with the roof collapse. He said he
furnished all steel material, but had
nothing whatever to do with the
actual construction.
In answer to a question by Major
Peyton Gordon. United States Dis.
trict Attorney, Ford declared the
bracing on the steel work was suf-
ficiently adequate when II left his
| shop,
Criticizes Construction.
In all OF his testimony. Ford irdi.
Gated the blame lay on the con.
struCtion-the manner in which his
steel work was placed.
81 did not believe the walls were
strong enough to bear up the
weight OF the structural iron and
roof" testified Charles +. Fritts,
OF Mt. Rainier.
Frtts was a structural iron
worker on the Kn!ckerbocker Thea.
ter for three days. He, like J. c.
Donaldson, another structural iron
worker, only was employed on the
building operation for three days
when he was transferred by the
contractor to another Job.
Fritts was the first witness placed
on the stand this morning. Asked
by Coroner Nevitt whether he be-
l,eved the walls were strong enough
to hold up the structural iron work
and roof Of the kn ckerbocker, the
iron.worker declared:
NO"
did YOU feel that the walls
appeared suff GENTLY constructed
for the weight that was TO be inn
posed on them" F'r It's was asked.
mo, sir; did not Ike the walls"
Did some OF the beams rest on
tiles that had not been filled with
cement?"
"Some Of the tiles were not filled
with cement, but / do not remember