The Washington times., 1922-02-02
SENATORS
'T() DEFER
ENQUIRY
CONTINUED from First Page.)

ter Or the material used in building
the STRUCTURE. ..
~ was pointed out today that
even sho,ild 1t be found that some
a. the cement and concrete used
v,ss az inferior quality, or had
hot been properly mixed, that 1t is
questionable whether any criminal
action can be taken.
tsft Sc next to impossible for
the contractor to be close by,
watching the mixing of concrete"
sSaid an official. 1.-The District
building regulations call for con-
crete to be mixed one part ce.
( ment, two parts clean sand anC
four parts gravel. Should just
portion of the concrete be i'm
properly mixed and been placed I'M
HlpSwn to the builders in the wall,
il may hive been responsible for
the wall to sag or the cement to
crunbie under the weight of the
beams and girders built in the RI of.
wIi Present Evidence.
building Inspector John p. Healy,
who. with Major Brown, Assistant
Euxineer Commissioner of the Dis
trfct. went over thesruins yesterday,
stated today that he was not as yet
prepared 10 make any statements Of
his finds.
!, ssYhen lie coroner's jury meets
or nest Tuesday we will present
whateyer facts we have to that
body 81 u Mr.. Healy. IF our evil
dence tends to show any RESPONSE
bility for the collapse of the build
Ing, the jury will, Of course. act &C
cordingly." =
All of the agencies investigating
the tragedy are whipping their evil
dence into shape either for the grand
jury or the coroner's jury. District
Attorney Gordon will not ask the
grand jury to take action until after
the inquest, to be held next Tuesday
morning at 10 o'clock in the District
Building.
Roof Inspections Ordered.
Engineer Commissioner Charles
Keller said he had ordered that all
roofs Of unusual construction" be
given an immediate and thorough
inspection. Keller pointed out that
the Knickerbocker was of unusual
construction because of the curve in
one OF the walls. and The manner
In which the trusses were erected.
Although thu District force Of in
spectors Is INADEQUATE no make such
an inquiry, Keller said he hoped to
have this inspection made with the
assistance of outside experts who
had volunteered their services.
Major Carey H. Brown, assistant
District Engineer Commissioner,
said his investigation was still in
complete.
at am still unable to say just what
he
There are several things which
have found which might have been
the cause, but cannot say definitely
at this time.
Concrete Tests Incomplete.
Gas to whether the concrete was
interior I do not know. Samples are
being examined. Even II we do find
that the concrete was inferior, II will
not be possible to lay the blame to
that. 1t may, however, indicate slip
shod building methods were used in
erecting the Knickerbocker."
Changes made in the building regu-
lations in 1918 did rot affect build
ings more than thirty-five feet in
height, and therefore did not apply to
the Knickerbocker Theater, it was
said at the Office Of the building in
spector today.
Three more messages OF condol-
ence from diplomatic representatives
Of foreign governments were received
by Secretary Hughes yesterday. They
came from Arthur ]. Balfour, head
Of the British delegation to the
Washington conference; Minister de
Cespedes, Of Cuba, and Minister SEE,
of China.
Reading in the newspapers Of the
Knickerbocker disaster. Mary Nor
rissey, ten years old. of Rochester.
N. Y, sent 81 of her savings yester-
day to District Commissioner Ru-
dolph, stating in a letter which ac-
companied her savings that she be-
lieved the 81 would help for the
relief of some of the victims.