The Washington herald., 1922-02-03
Wall Out of Plumb and
Intact I-Beam May
Solve Crash.
CORONER'S JURY
WILL HEAR FACTS
District Attorney Gordon
Inclined to Suspect
Poor Construction.

The cruN OF the investigation
into the Enickerbocker Theater
catastrophe has been reached
This is the opinion expressed bv
engineers last night. who. since the
disastrous roof collapse SATURDAY
night, have been conducting exten-
sive inVestiGations in the ruins 81
the once palatial playhouse.
solution OF the causes Of the ca
tastrophe and fixing Of responsi.
bility revolve about the two prin-
cipaI discoveries:
wall lve inches out Of plunb
An l-beam which supported IN.
main roof truss On the columbia
road side OF the theater-generaT
believed by the engineers To have
been the central point O. the un-
fortunate occurrence - which Vas
intact except for slight scratches
on the edge OF the upper hange.
1-Besm IL Significant.
Upon these facts the .nrinee-s
believe they can construct the a..,--
essary conclusion which will deter
mine the exact way in which the
accident happened. and thereby
oehnitely place the blame upon the
responsible person or persons
However. the Investigations have
not progressed as yet TO the point
where these conclusions can be ar
rived at. although IN is declared
that the necessary details will he
forthcoming in the near futurc.
Actlhg on the supposition thEt
the main source Of trouble Gs
the Columbia road side Of r
where the main truss Was ..l-.s
tn rest upon the I-beam u ~
under consideration, the - ...-
are unanimous in asSerrir ..4-
the beam is intact. and T. MAJ
tically the same condition sgar-
as IL was when first placed q -o-
sition.
Wall May re Real LIZ
With this as a basis. IN
enoeaNored 70 determine how 20
main truss could become disIodEed
from its base without tearing d.
from he wall. or badly damaging
it.
They had supposed a. first that
the roof crash first started in ih.
center. thereby causing the main
truss to raise at the end. throwing
practically all OF the weight of ih,
large roof on the hanGe OF the T.
beam This they assert would hay.
caused the fianCe to bend under the
great weight. but this thereby j.
contrsdicted by the fact that the
fanEe of the beam is unimpaired.
Although, as the engineers hav.
repeatedly asserted. the details Of
the accident theory upon which
they are yorkinE have not been
completed. IL has been intimated in
some quarters that the Columbia
road wall. which is considerably
"out of p-nb~ will be the con-
Meeting link by which the chain oI
evidence can be wrought finally
Expert to Fix Blame.
Whether this discrepancy in tue
wall can be attributed to faulty
construction or whether il was
thrown out OF place rapidly under
the weight Of the snow burden.
thus leaving no base upon which
the roof truss could rest. f. still
a matter of conjecture
With the inquiry revealing these
facts, the investigators feel GER
tain that when they are raucd
upon to make report OF condi-
tions before the coroncr'S sur.
next Tuesday, they will be in pos
session Of Information which will
definitely lay the blame upon those
responsible.
Engineer Admits Discoveries.
The I-beam which supported the
main roof truss on the Columbia
road side OF the thester stands IN
its place in the wall in perfect
condition, except for slight sbra-
sions on the front OF IT," said MAJ.
Carey II. Brown, assistant Engi-
neer Commissioner. who H. con-
Quoting the principal investigation
for the District government
The Columbia road wall which
supports the l-bcam under consid-
eeration. is out Of plumb. however.
I am not yet prepared to make any
definite statement as 20 how these
two discoveries link with the oc-
currence OF last Saturday night" he
continued.
Gordon Agrees Win CapPer.
Mai. Brown refused to comment
as to whether or not he considered
the walls of the thclter faulty
constructed. saying. we shall de-
termine that later"
Peyton Gordon. United States al.
torney. however, was not so rcltr-n.
in his comment yesterday, and wHcn
asked for his opinion regs riding 81"
walls, declared. Il am inclig"d 70
agree with Senator CapPcr. of kaf-
sas. that the cause of the KniCker-
booker calamity will be found In
faulty construction, cspec ally as
regards the roof of the thcstcr
building"
Attacks building Materials.
Faulty construction materials
were declared responsible Tor the
crash by a party OF members OF
Congress and building experts. sc-
cording to statement made by
Representstive w. n. UpShsw, OF
Georgia. whose niece IS at present
in a hospital suffering from wounds
received in the accident.
Although the placing OF the re-
spcnsibility for the disaster will be
principal feature. Corone- Nevitf
will cell Erst thJe who " tBcSscd
the actual fall OF the roof. and wiz
Cortinsed o. Page FSve.