The Washington herald., 1922-02-10
Says Faulty Truss May
Have Resulted From
Unloading.
QUIZZED BY JURY
ON EXACT DETAIL
Witness at Coroner's In
quest Contradicts Fed
eral Engineers.

steel" three-eighthso Of an inch thick.
composing half of the top chord OF
a TRUSS connecting the Eighteenth
street wall with the main truss OF
the Knickerbocker Theater roof
caused the collapse of January IS
which cost ninety-seven lives RegI-
nald W. Geare, architect Of the
ruined building. told the coroner'S
jury yesterday afternoon.
With this explanation as to the
cause OF the collapse. the coronerss
jury was called upon at the conclu-
sion of the third day OF the inquest
into the disaster. TO decide directly
between two conclusions one Of
fered by a joint board OF five gov
eminent engineers, showing TWENTY
one points OF inferior work" in
construction-the other offered bv
the architect and supervising con-
struction superintendent, blaming
no one.
Split Revealed In Steel.
The piece OF steel. six inches wide.
was shown in pictures submitted
oy Oeare TO be split about nxS
inches across. This piece was M an
Of the top Of the steel truss.
\ Geare said no one could be hels
1 accountable for the faulty steel for
II had been weakened by an abrasion
caufed by striking. as il was prob-
ably unloaded from the truck al
the grounds
|eares testimony contradicted the
testimony of Col william Kelly
U. s. A, Engineer Corps, speakinE
Tor the joint board Of five army
hnd navy engineers appointed by
the Secretaries Of the War and Nsy-y
departments. The testimony Of Col
nelly was concurred in by John Ir
FORD. engineer and computor. the
nrst witness OF technical training
ISeG before the jury since Col
hellys appearance.
The army and navy engineers
and Ford definitely assign IN.
cause Of the collapse 60 'fnferior
work in construction of the build
ing particularly the walls.
Early Afternoon Te.tImo,y-
Geare took the witness stand
soon after the afternoon sassion
! convened. With confident nanner
ne pointed out to District Attorney
Gordon and Coroner hewitt. his
work on the plans and his part in
the construction and designing OF
the building. FreferrinE to stand.
rather than sit in the witness chair
Geare rapidly told the jury bis
story Of his work in the theater
which he said was the first he had
ever built and in which he took
"a proud interest"
Throughout the two previous
DAYS and the morning session YES
terday, witnesses connected with
the investigation had placed the
cause of the collapse to alleged
| inferior work" in construction
while parties connected with con-
struction and inspection Of tho
work had constantly ''r"laycd''
7 their connections with the collapse
to points OF supervising construC-
tion. When Geare, who testified
that he had drawn or approved all
/ plans either personally or through
his engineer, NJ. S. Rich. and had
supervised the actual construction
of the building. was called to the
stand, members Of the jury and
the 300 relatives Of victims Of tho
disaster and technical experts as
sembled in the room. leaned fors
ward intently to hear the tcsti.
mony.
QuestIOned ny Jury.
! District Attorney Gordon assumed
j examination OF MIR. Geare from
the first. As the testimony was
I concluded members OF the jury cN-
amined the witness through MAJ
! Gordon. Counsel for Geare.- Judge
T. Wright, stood close by and asked
] Maj. Gordon several times to bring
/ out Joints through questioning He
advised Geare to sit down at the
| opening of the hearing. but Gearc
pleaded that he be permitted TO
stand as he could speak better
splitting. only part way through. or
a S-inch piece Of steel. inches
wide, just half of the top Of O.
| foot truss, not the main truss
caused the collapse of the entir.
steel structure Of the knicker-
booker Theater roof" District At-
torney Gordon eNciJedly aueried a.
Mr.. Geare gave his theory as TO the
cause Of the collapse.
| Yes, sir, the strength OF this
entire roof was weakened through
the weakening OF this y Inch truss
chord" Geare replied without hesi-'
/ fancy.
Can you explain why this chord
might not have torn from breaking
Of the steel structure at some other
point?" Maj. Gordon asked.
That would be impossible" the
Early in his testimony Mr.. Geare
told the jury he visited tho wreck
age within half an hour after the
collapse of the roof. He was asked
by a jurynan, speaking through
District Attorney Gordon. at wkas
time he discovered the split in the
steel chord of the truss
Discovery Promptly MADE.
IT arrived IN the scene about -
o'clock that night and shortly after
] opened my investigation OF Jk-s
wreckage ] found the split" Mr..
Geare testified
Asked IL he were not responsible
for use OF proper material in the
building. the witness replied in a
general way he was. but that he
could not be held responsible for
weak spots in material which were
proven by tests to be effective a.
whole.
Was IL not your duty TO see that
every piece of material in the buIld-
ing was as orderedg' Gordon askel
Yes, as regards the material
uenaraIlv xuaula D..