New-York tribune., 1922-11-15
BlarneOverload
As Floor Falls.
killing W orl1er
Collapse of Old Hotel Pins
4 Under Debris 3 Flights
Below; Lessee Denies
Weight Was Excessive
Two Inquiries Under WAY
Clouds of Onion Dust Hin
der Rescuers Who Reach
One of Injured Too Late

Two Investigations are under wav
into the cause of the collapse yesterday
OF the fourth floor Of the eighty-year-
old six-story brick building at 1876
Washington Street, in which one man
was killed and three were hurt serious
ly. Commissioner of Accounts David
Hirshlield has taken charge Of one in
quiry. The ether is being conducted bv
Assistant District Attorney George N.
Brothers, head of the Homicide Bureau,
who has working with him the detective
force of the District Attorneys Office
and special squad assigned by Chief
Inspector Lahey.
Frederick G. Kuehn!e, chief building
inspector Of Manhattan, said after an
inspection of the building that the col
lapse was due to overlooking. This was
denied by s. d. Woodruff, head of S. D.
Woodruff & Sons, who rented for stor-
age purposes the upper four floors. Mr..
Woodruff said the building had been
| regularly inspected by Building De-
partment inspectors and passed as safe
for the loads which the floors were
required to carry. Mr.. Woodruff ad-
vanced the theory that the beams Of
the floor had given way because of dry
Irot due to age and not because the
floors were loaded in excess of their
normal capacity.
Four Fall With Flooring
Six men were loading bags Of onions
on the fourth floor when the crash
the ground floor in tumble of splin-
tered timbers and debris. solIy Mid
Ter, of 456 East 171st Street, was pinned
in the heap of wreckage and died be-
fore firemen could extricate him.
Thomas Sawyer, of SO Seventh Avenue;
William Pearlman, Of 299 Georgia Ave
nue., Brooklyn, and Eugene Murphy,
whose address is not known, were taken
out alive and sent to the Broad Street
Hospital, where it was said they were
injured internally.
Ben Blake and James Scott, negroes,
who were also at work on the fourth
floor at the time Of the collapse, made
their way to safety through broken
window and thence to fire escape on
the. outside of the building.
s. D. Woodruff & Sons, lessees Of the
four upper floors, are seed dealers and
vegetable importers, exporters and
commission merchants. The ground
floor is occupied by the Interborough
Transfer Company and the second floor
| by A. P. Campbell, carpenter. The
collapse of the fourth floor tore hole
twenty five feet square through the
third and second floors. The only per-
sons in the building at the time of the
crash were the six employees Of the
| Woodruff firm.
The building was formerly the rear
: section Of Smith & McMell's hotel and
restaurant, landmark and a famous
rendezvous for the fashionable of an
earlier generation.
| Commissioner Hirshfeld in the aft
ernoon examined Ben Blake and James
Scott, the two negroes who escaped.
Blake said that he and Scott were
| loading bags Of onions on the fourth
! floor when he saw that the partitions
were sagging away from the ceiling.
With Scott he went to the third floor,
where they were attempting to shore
up the floor above them with 4x6 tim
J bers when the whole of the fourth
| floor sagged in the middle, and they
had to jump for the windows to avoid
being crushed by the falling mass.
Blake said that he and Scott broke a
window on the third floor and ran down
the fire escape to the ground. He said
there were about 1000 bags of onions
on the floor, having total weight of
about 100000 pounds
Scott said that he had told the fore