Evening star., 1922-01-30

Walls Ordered Raxed.
AS a matter of precaution, and to
prevent any loss of life that might
result from the caving in of the thea
ter walls, Building Inspector John G.
Healy today ordered the raZing of
moving the walls must be done by
the owners of the building and must
be begun today.
Outside the theater great piles Of
wreckage are being placed upon
trucks and carried away. The SOL
diers, sailors and marines. which gave
such valued service Saturday night
and yesterday, have all left the scene.
The blue-coated police are in control.
Ropes stretched along 18th street and
Columbia road keep back the curl
Gus throngs. which continue to visit
the theater site.
morgue. which was established Sat
urday night in the basement of the
First Church of Christ. Scientist. Co
lumbia road and Euclid street, today
had demobiliZed. All of the dead
bodies had been identified and re-
moved from there last night, by the
undertakers.
Only in one corner of the basement
was there today reminder of the aw-
full scenes enacted there Saturday
overcoats. and other clothing picked
up by the rescuers was being eX-
amined for marks of ownership.
Building Inspector Healy. whU to-
day ordered the walls of the theater
raZed as a safeguard against further
loss of life or injury, has thoroughly
examined conditions at the theater
since the disaster.
Sees No One to Blame.
He is satisfied, he said after a
scrutiny Of the plans of the building,
thatsno one is to blame for the col
lapse.
He has found the plans for the con-
struction of the roof to be both sound
and practical and that the necessary
tests following the construction were
met.
I'm my opinion" Inspector Healy
said when asked for an expression as
to the cause of the collapse. lit was
nothing more than the hand of God.
1t was one of those things that can
not be explained. However, the facts
are such that it would suggest that
although the construction OF the roof
met all the necessary requirements,
the point which first gave way under
the strain was not strong enough to
hold the great weight of the snow.
1T is my information that there
was an average snowfall OF a trlne
more than twenty-siX inches, but no
one can tell just how much snow was
piled up on the roof at the point
where the break occurred. Because
of the drifts there may have been
as much as five or six feet of snow
at this point. This fact. however,
will never be determined"
Roof Of Truss Type.
The roof of the Knickerbocker The
ater was of the truss type of con-
struction. and according to Building
lnspector Healy is a standard design
used to cover large expanse of in
terror. where girders and columns are
not to be used as supports. 1t con-
sists of one principal beam attached
to which is network of steel
member beams of much smaller size,
which are placed by mathematical cal
culation to hold the weight of the
roof.
This truss type of roof is used by
all other motion picture theaters Of
the larger size. according to 1nspec-
tor Healy. This type is popular be-
cause it permits the elimina tion Of
columns or pillars which. to a certain
extent, obstruct the view OF the
screen. It is considered highly prac-
tical and safe
Remarkable Progress Made.
The physical situation at the Knick
erbocker Theater at O'Clock this
morning was remarkably good. Any
one viewing the progress made by
the time darkness had fallen last
evening would hardly have believed
the accomplishment possible. The
nights labor worked wonders.
BY the time the office-gofng crowds
started the ruined interior, although
not cleaned out. had been so thor
oughly explored that but slight
chance remains of any bodies being
found. The great mass of the half
of the slanting balcony still re.