The Washington herald., 1922-02-08

chart of the roof submitted by the
architect TO the building inspector $
office at the time the building was
erected in 1916. The chart was hung
in front of the jurors
Col. Kelly was interrupted at
times by District Attorney Gordon
to explain in detail his technical
review of the construction of the
theater He also was questioned at
length by the jurors. who showed
a Keen interest in the. testimony.
Pictures showing the various beams
as they now rest on the ground. sup
plementing the technical testimony
and verifying conclusions reached by
the army and navy engineers. were
presented.
Charles Nash. 31O3 street north
west. a carpenter. who aided in res
cue work on the scene. testified that
he found heavy steel trusses rest
Ing on hollow tile wall.
Inspectors Office witness.
Robert Henry Davis. engineer in
the building inspectors office,
whose testimony showed that arca-
itects plans for the building had
not been followed and that no di-
1 mansions whatever had been sub
mtted with the plans for the roof
to the building inspectors office.
was on the. stand for twenty-fi FIVE
minutes at the morning session,
Asked by, Ringgold Hart. Assis-
tant Corporation Counsel. to ex-
plain in detail wherein the plans
had not been followed. he said:
"AlI trusses used In the roof are
not as high as shown in the original
plans.
"A strut. in the FEAR of the build
ing used in support over a column
is not shown at all on the plans 8"
Davis said that the permit foy
the erection of the building was
issued with only scale dimensions
offered. that no specifications were
shown for the steel bearing plates
upon which the beams were placed
in the walls.
The main truss OF the building.
truss TIL on the plans, called for
scaled measurement OF six feet
six inches at the center point OF
gravity. Ny inspection since the
disaster shows that the truss was
built six feet six inches from out
side point to outside point. This
threw the general distances up an
inch and half. causing total
shortage i'm height of all trusses of
nine inches" Davis testified.
should not this have been dis
covered by the field inspector for
the building department at the time
of construction" District Attorney
Gordon queried.
1T should. DAVIS answered.
Difficult to Fix Cause.
Asked to explain what he con-
s!dered the funda mental weakness
in the building which caused the
collapse. Davis replied
Il am unable To say that any
one thing was the direct cause"
He pointed out several instances
OF apparently unstable connections
az the buttresses of struts and TIE
small bearing allowances for sew
eral beams. All beams were given
an allowance. however. Of three and
4 half inches, he said.
Thomas L. Costigan. who Was
said by Davis to have been the com.
putting engineer in the building in
spector's office at the time the plans
were submitted. was not called yes
terday. Mr.. COstigan is now a
member of the city refuse depart
ment OF the District. of which Nor
ris Hacker, building inspector at
the time the plans for the theater
were submitted. is now superin-
tendent.
Mr.. Hacker testified that the
plans for the theater were not
called to his attention at the time
they were submitted. He said this
was not unusual.
Z. @. Curtis, now dead, was
named by John P. Healy as one of
the inspectors who passed on the
construction work of the building.
Mr.. Healy also named A. X. Selden
as member of the field inspection
force at the time.
Mr. Seiden. who was called from
Florida to, testify. stated that he
had only inspected the grounds and
adjacent buildings. He said he had