Evening star., 1922-02-15
Released on $4,000
Bail for Action of
Grand Jury.
GORDON IS PLANNING
FOR PROMPT ACTION
Expects to Begin Work of
Presenting Case to Jury
Next Week.

Next week.
Accompanied by squads OF attor-
neys and bondsmen and fanked ana
shot at by photographers 'he
nine men whom the coroner's jury
ordered held last night for the action
of the grand jury-the nine men on
whose shoulders was placed the blame
for the collapse Of the roof OF the
Knickerbocker Theater on the night
of January %. with the resultant
loss of ninety-eight lives and injury
of scores of others-appeared at the
District courthouse today. There
they went through the forrnalities OF
signing the bonds. and were immedi-
ately released pending the action OF
the grand jury. which is the next gov
ernmental agency of justice which
must review their cases. The bond
in each case was fixed by Maj. Gordon.
United States district attorney. at
5000.
Eight Put In Appearance.
BY o'clock the nine men had appear
ed to deliver themselves into custody.
They were: Julian r. Downman, engineer
in the District building department; John
Howard Ford, designer of the steel
roof framing and contractor for fur
nishing the steel: Reginald W. Geare.
the supervising architect who design
ed the building and supervised us
constructions; Morris Hacker, super
visor of city refuse disposal; John L.
Mcdonald, contractor erecting the
steel work; Richard G. Fletcher, man
ager for the company, which did the
dreproofing: Frank L.'Wagner. gem
eral contractor for the building; Donald
Wallace. general foreman Of construc-
tion for Mr.. Wagner. and Thomas l..
Ccstigan, superintendent Of the city
street cleaning department. Hetective
Mullen, who has been assigned to the
case since the collapse. stood IN tne
corridor with the coroner's commit
ment ready to take any into CUSTODY
who did not appear. .,,. $50.
Prompt Action PrsAised.
Prompt action will mark the pro-
cedure of presenting theSeese to the
grand jury, it was indicatsd today by
Maj. Gordon. He said that the jury
now is considering certain important
matters, and that II Will be through
in a short time. He expects 10 begin
the presentation of the knicker-
booker case to them about the middle
of next week.
The voluminous record Of testimony
taken during the six days Of the coro-
ner's inquest will be presented. not as
evidence itseh. but It will De gone over
and the necessary witnesses subpoenaed
to get it .officially before the grand jury
This is necessary, it was explained. as
the grand jury inquiry is Independent
of the coroners inquest.
Tests to Be Available.
In addition to the mass of testimony
and exhibits presented at the coro-
ner's inquest the grand jury will have
for consideration the results OF the
bureau of standards tests of the steel,
concrete and other materials used in
the construction of the building. The
bureau now is engaged in making
these tests at the request OF Maj.
Gordon The erection bolts" taken
from the wreckage by Col. William
Kelly, Corps of Engineers. U. 5; A.,
head of the board of Army and Navy
department engineers which conduct
ed an investigation. and the boards
report, which was an important part OF
the testimony at the coroner'S hearing.
have been delivered to Maj. Gordon and
will be made exhibits before the
grand jury. !.
Mr.. bowman was the first Of the
defendants to appear at the district at
torney's office today. He was accom-
panied by his counsel. c. B. Garnett.
and after several hours spent in. fnd-
ing a bondsman p. F. O'Connor was
accepted as his surety. Inspector
Pratt, assistant superintendent of
police. and Detective Mullen accom-
panied Mr.. bowman to the office OF
William Gilchrist,' assistant district
attorney. who examined the sureties.
The bondsman being approved. Mr..
Downman. accompanied by Detective
Helan, was taken to the Office of E.
]. Mckee, clerk of Criminal Court No.
1, where the necessary papers were
made out, He was Immediately re-
leased.
Same Procedure Followed.
This procedure was followed in the
case of the other defendants as they
appeared. Mr.. Geare. accompanied by
his attorney, Daniel Thew Wright.
and bondsman, E. S. Kennedy. was
the next to come in. He was followed
by j. H. Ford with Ralph P. Barnard
of the law firm Of Barnard & john
son. The National Surety Company
furnished bond Mr.. Fletcher was ac-
companied by E. F. Colladay, his
counsel, and L. z. Smoot of the Smoot
Sand and Gravel Company. who fur
nished bond for him: John L. McDon-
aid was accompanied by his counsel.
Vincent L. Toomey. Of Toomey &
1C,onfinued IN Page q (.olurnn Al