Evening star., 1922-02-07

his eyes and. of course. didn't see any
more of the falling roof.
Crawled From Under Debris.
| Then he described to the jury how
he and his family crawled out from
under the concrete.
| Asked by Coroner hewitt as to any
warning, the witness said he heard no
noise.
Was their any sensation prior to
the fall?" asked Coroner hewitt.
| None that ! heard" said the wit
ness. He said the crack was about
| ten to fifteen feet to the left of the
I screen. and in the corner. His gen
| eral impression was that it was to
| the left of the screen.
| Maj. Peyton Gordon, district attor-
| Dey. questioned the witness to fix in
his mind as to just where and when
/ the crash started. The witness stuck
to his original statement.
! Saw Roof Wavering.
He was followed by John McEvily.
2424 18th street, a chauffeur. who
! said he entered the theater about 7:45
! on the night of the accident. and was
! For a second. he said, just before
the crash, he noticed waver of the
| roof just in front of the stage.
! What did you see in that flash of
a second2" asked the coroner
I 1T was hard to tell"
! What time did YOU get out?" ask ed
| the coroner.
About a quarter of Sunday morn
! ing was the reply. He was not able
| to get out unassisted.
| Wilton j. Lambert. attorney for
Harry Crandall. asked that witnesses
| be Instructed to tell whether they
meant ceiling when speaking. or if
!
! Maj. Cary H. Brown. assistant en-
! gineer commissioner of the District,
| next was called. He testified that
he made an investigation. and was
instructed to tell the results.
! He received first information about
$3.50 o'clock Sunday morning. and ar
rived on the scene about $50, and
| remained to assist in the work of
rescue. He told the jury he had
| visited the building several times
! since to determine what caused the
| failure.
| Cause Held Problematfcnl.
I'm my mind there is no definite
he testified. There is considerable
| doubt as to what caused failure
| There is no doubt that the main truss
fell early. The unseating of the
north end of the main truss would
| cause failure. What caused that un-
seating is, to my mind. problemati-
| CAL"
Did it have sufficient space to
rest upon?" asked the coroner.
| Il am of the opinion that the bear
| ing of that truss should have been
, more adequately provided for on the
| Columbia road wall. Other precau-
! tions could have been taken which
would have made that adequate" he
answered.
Maj. Brown said he had not COM
| tod fhn
he said. was a matter of detail,
rather than the main portions of the
! roof.
! Maj. Gordon then interrogated the
/ witness as to the wall construction
At the top the wall was twelve
inches thick. said the witness. The
! point where the main truss bore was
| eighteen inches, made of a double
row Of tiles. he testified
what was on the outside of that ."
| asked Maj. Gordon.
"a single row of bricks" the wit
! ness replied.
Attributes Failure of Truss,
The wreckage indicates the north
ure" he said. Il do not Know what
caused the unseatins. That was to
the-lef and south Of the stage"
! No investigation to determine the
| grade of concrete under the Intel
which supported the truss was made.
he said. The trusses all rested on
lintels. but there were no wall bear
ings or lintels for the beam. he added.
Maj. Brown did not make an in
| vestigation. he said. of the bearings
| on the wall. He couldn't say how
much bearing the beams had in the
| wall. The thickness of the cement
roof was about two and three
quarter inches, witness testified.
| Maj Gordon sought to get details
of the witness investigation. but Mai.
| Brown said that no detailed investi.
| cation was made. He did, however.
| estimate the weight of the fan on
| the roof at two tons.
Examined by Maj. Gordon as to
the position Of the trusses, Mai
| Brown said that the main trusses
rested at right-angles. The pilasters
| were not made to bear any weight,
he said.
Former Inspector Testihes.
Morris Hacker, building inspector in
1916. now supervisor of removal of
city refuse, was then called.
He said he knew that the building
was being built while he was in office,
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