Evening star., 1922-02-14
ONLY. TEMPORARY BOLTS USED,
TI1EATER PROBERS ARE TOLD
Army Engineer Says They Were Kind Used
to Hold Steel Until It Can Be Riveted.
i Scouts Defective Steel Theory.

Ordinary erection bolts" tempo
rary materials used to hold steel
framework in place until finally "se-
cured" were used as the final con-
nectors of the trusses in the Knicker-
booker Theater. Col. William Kelly.
Corps of Engineers. U. S. A., told the
the inquest into the disaster: Col
kellv is head OF the board of Army
and Navy Department engineers which
conducted q thorough inquiry of the
collapse,
There bolts. Col Kelly pointed out.
are of the type furnished when the
steel arrives on the job to hold 1t
temporarily in place until it can be
riveted. They are not the type of
bolts. he said, even used in finally Sc
curing structural steel work. He tes-
titled that he had found a number Of
them in the debris broken. and had
observed others still connecting some
of the materials. He said he would
produce them today.
Disagreemerfe Expected.
Col. Kelly was recalled to be ex-
amined on what appeared to be oppo-
site testimony of other experts. He
explained that the testimony was just
what the board expected would be
produced in case of this kind. and
asserted that all of the experts agreed
on the point of defective materials: :
they were agreed on the fact that the
main tpnSs rolled off it's bearings. He
a6ded that, of course. there always
viii he disagreement as to just what
caused the initial failure, but that the
board which he heads had thorough
ly traced the matter by markings on
the wall. and the condition in which
the debris appeared on the bottom.
1t all led to thte northwest corner.
He secuted the architects theory
That the failure was caused by a de-
1ect In the main truss. and illustrated
by blackboard diagram to the jury
that even IL there had been a flaw in
the main truss, as contended, it would
not have pulled apart, but would have
been pressed together. because the
break indicated was in a compress
sion member'-the top chord of the
tion was shown In the break, but said
this Is always apparent in the case of
sudden breaks. which this one was.
Sees Nothing But Praise.
MAI. Peyton Gordon, United States
district attorney, threw bomb into
the proceedings just after Frank L..
Wagner, the builder, and r. G. Fletch-
NETT Fireproofing Company at the
time, had made voluntary statements
of the workmanship of the building.
when the district attorney said that
had anything to do with the building
had praised himself. Then, after a
pause, he said. forcefully:
The building fell"
Harry Blake, 1851 Rhode Island ave-
nue. northwest, general manager for
yesterday afternoon.
Asked If Barber & Ross were re-
quested to bid on the steel for the
knickerbocker. he answered in the
Affirmative.
Six bids were submitted. he testified.
the first Of which was made October
p, 1915. That was on a tentative
plan, he said. The amount called for
2o2 tons of steel at $11.5oo. The Sec
ond estimate was made to James L.
Parsons, January s, 1916. 1t called for
212 tons of steel: the price was $I4,-
500. delivered at the building. he
testified.
Declares Plans Same.
He said the plans were the same.
ment floor was added.
Both of those plans called for two
large trusses. the main one 107 feet
long and weighing $4,000 pounds.
Was your BID rejected because you
couldn't furnish the steelT Maj.
ahead at the time"
The third bid. he said, was on
Frank L. Wagners plans by NJ. 8.
Rich. They called for 121 tons Of
steel at $500. This plan was en-
tirely different, he said. There
couldn't be any comparison on a basis
OF tonnage of steel.
The fourth estimate was made No
vember 3, 1916, at invitation Of tho
Melton Construction Company, F. L.
Wagner, NJ. A. Weller Co., H. D.
Watts Co.. A. L. Smith & Co. and the
Boyle Robertson Construction Com
panys plan, by r. w. Geare, archi-
tect.
This was a completed plan. The ma
terial on these latter two estimates
was practically the same throughout,