The Washington times., 1922-03-16
.kN|CKERbOCKER
CRASH BLAMED
ION. architect
Associated contrsetors' Re-
port Makes osars Rsspon-
sible for Direct Cause.

Responsibility for weaknessns in
design Of the structural steel Of the
Kniokerbocksr root IL placed upon
Architect Geare. who accepted
faulty design from the fabricator.
according to the report OF q special
investigating committees named ny
the Associated General Contractors
Of Amsrica, made public today.
The direct cause Of the COLLAPSE
was attributed to the unstaunY or
the north end Of the main truss,
principally through failure OF the
northsrnmost top Tusset plate OF
that truss, and the bottom chord
where Il rested on the Columbia
Road wall. the report asserts.
Contrary TO the report OF the
American Association Of Eng neers
sent to District Attorney Gordon yes
terday.l the contractors' committee
exonerates the contractor. He 10 not
held responsible BY reason OF the
quality OF his work. or by any non
compliance with the design. specifi.
cations or the alternate design. but
10 held Jointly RESPONSIBLE with the
building department OF the District
for failure to apprehend violations
OF the building code In detecting that
the design did not provide for ade-
Quate anchortng.
Architect and Contractor.
The special committee Of the enRt-
neers' ORGANISATION lays the blame
| for the theater crash on the archi-
tect and contractor.
From the number OF violations OF
the building code. II 10 evident that
| the designing was carelessly done, or
else, what Is worse, the violations
were deliberate" says the engineers
report. Evidence At the scene Of the
disaster contradiets GeaIe's theory
Of a flaw In the steel" the engi-
neers declare. Nine defects in con-
struction and fifteen separate viola.
tions of the code were reported by
the committee. composed Of Nolan
ID. Mitchell. Warren q. Noil. Lewis
NJ. Neel, Willis A. Slater and J. A.
Cliff. They will be called before
the grand Jury to testify.
Provides for Future.
The report Of the contractor
committee lists seven principal
faults In design, in full accord with
the nine faults noted by the en-
gineeTs' report. The former com
mittee believes and holds the ron.
tractor only jointly responsible with
the building inspectors,
-Four recommendations for pre-
venting q recurrence OF such dis
aster are made by the contractors:
O Charging sufficient fees for
building permits to make possible
an adequate force for checking and
inspecting new construction; t2l pro-
vision. by the owner for adequate
plans and specifications and inspec-
ton on the part OF the architect;
90 revision'o OF building codes stand.
ardising them 10 that the average
architect and contractor may be-
come thoroughly conversant with
their requirements; ~ registration
Of architects. engineers and con.
tractors TO Issue adequate skill and
responsibility.
The committee Of the Associa ted
General Contractors, representing en-.
gineers, contractors and the public,
Is composed of Rudolph p. Miller,
consulting engineer, formerly super.
intendent Of the building department
OF New York city: James Baird. vice
president, George A. Fuller Company,
Washington, and Guy Mason. attor-
neys. Washington. w. p. Christie,
research engineer Of the Associated
General Contractors. served as secrc.
tary and technical assistant to the
committee.