Evening star., 1948-01-15
-En1pireCoIIapse
Hearing Ends;
Report PI AIMED
Witnesses Soy Wall
Cut Down to Pier
Wos Too Weak
By Jerry OIeory, Jr.

By Jerry oIeory, Jr.
Hearings into the cause Of the
Empire Building collapse on Decem-
ber 1s ended today, with testimony
Of witnesses still centering on a
soft-brick, ground-fioor bearing wall
which formed one of the main sup
ports of the building.
The Commissioners board of in
quiry heard more than dozen con-
struction men tell what they knew
of remodeling work done on the first
floor of the building last year and
relation of the work to the key wall
pier.
Chairman Stewart Beall said the
five-man board will study the large
volume of evidence and testimony
and report to the Commissioners
within a week or 10 days unless it
Is found necessary to call new wit
nesses.
LuS "CtT 1CStlucS.
An engineer employed by Nick
Papanicolas, owner of the building
to study the collapse told the board
he believed it was caused funda-
mentally by failure of the ground
floor bearing wall.
James M. Gohgwer, the engineer,
testified he examined the wreckage
last week and declared, There is
no doubt that this pier gave way"
He said the focal point of the
collapse obviously is the central pier
of the building, which he described
as once part of a wall. That pier
was built to be wall, not a pier,
Mr.. Gongwer said. He said there
were no hard-burned bricks in the
pier and that lime mortar was used
to bind the bricks together. THAT
sort OF construction was in vogue
when the building was erected" Mr..
Gongwer testified. ut was not un-
usual then to use soft bricks in
interior walls"
Wall Was Out Twice.
Earlier testimony disclosed that
the ground-floor wall was cut on
separate occasions in 1908 and 1882
in expansion operations, leaving
only about 10-foot portion of the
wall remaining. It was this section
of wall, or pier, Mr.. Gongwer said,
that collapsed, bringing down the
six stories of the Empire Building
in the collapse which killed 4 and
injured II persons.
A member of the board, A. Hamil-
ton Wilson, asked Mr.. Gongwer what
was the straw that broke the cam
els back"
The engineer replied that he didn't
know why the pier didn't collapse
Immediately after the cuts, but de-
clsred the pier was subjected to
higher unit stress than it was in
tended to bear. When he saw the
pier in the wreckage, Mr.. Gongwer
testified, it had crumbled to a point
about one foot from the floor.
Wrecker Gives View.
Murray T. Shipp, owner of the
wrecking company clearing debris at
the Empire Building. declared the
wall pier was inadequate to support
the weight load it bore
MY opinion is that the wall was
whitfield down by various openings
and trimmings until it became a
pier and to form the functions of
a column" he said. "The weight
concentrated on the soft brick of
the remaining pier over the years
from 1882 until the building COL
lapsed caused so great deteriora-
ton on the soft brick that eventu-
ally it collapsed like a balloon"
He said the pier was plenty big"
in size but was not constructed to
bear the weight it did.
Dominic MARITIME, who helped in
stall new metal lath and plaster
ceiling over the first floor of the
building in 1947, said he removed all
the plaster from the pier but saw
no cracks in the bricks. Earlier
testimony by employees of City FL
nance Co., tenants of the first floor
when the collapse occurred, brought
out that a crack two feet long ap-
peared in the pier the day before
the collapse.
Papanicolas Reads Statement.
Mr.. Papanicolas, the building
owner, took the stand and read a
brief statement in which he denied
seeing any crack in the wall on De-
cember Is. He admitted, however,
that water leakage from an above
apartment had bulged out the paper
on the pier slightly and that water
had leaked down on City Finance
desks.
Board member A. Hamilton Will
son asked Mr.. Papanicolas if he
gave City Finance permission to
make any interior changes in their
Offices where the pier was located.
The building owner said he OBJ
jected to answering the question
on the grounds of his constitu-
tional right to refuse questions
which might tend to incriminate
him.
Asked About Permit.
Oscar Estep, building inspector,
was asked by Mr. Beall if he re-
called any permit for a new CELL
ing over City Finances Offices. Mr..
Estep said he did not recall being
approached about a new ceiling by
Morris Cladny, the contractor who
did the 1947 alterations.
Asked by MI. Wilson if permit
is required for work that would
add to the dead load of ceiling.
Mr.. Estep admitted that permits
are necessary for such changes.
Mr.. Cladny said he had been
hired by Mr.. Papanicolas to re-
model the exterior of the building.
He added, that he installed the new