Evening star., 1948-01-04
Empire Inquiry
To Get Data on
Wall Alterations
Testimony Tomorrow
To Be Illuminating
Probe Member Says
By Jerry o'Leorx. Jr.

| Inc empire Building board or
inquiry tomorrow will hear testi-
mony and receive documents de-
signed to connect alterations Of =
first-fioor lQad-bearing wall with
the December 16 collapse of the
structure, District officials predicted
last night.
Building Inspector Robert II.
Davis, who is a member of the
special five man investigating
board, said very Illuminating testi-
mony" will be heard when the
hearings resume at 10. am. tomor-
row. in the District Building, The
investigation now is focused on the
30-foot-long first-f1oor wall-which
by some accounts was weakened by
alterations, Mr.. Davis said.
Mr.. Davis, assisted by Joseph L.
Parkhill, jr., and r. D. Kinney.
spent. all day yesterday searching
Building Department files for EN-
pire Building records that might
throw light on the cause of the
collapse.
Search Not Completed.
They said they have not finished
the search and that they preferred
to withhold comment until the in
formation Is turned over to the full
board of inquiry.
The board received testimony last
that Builder Harry Atkinson, 3439
Fourteenth street NV, had noticed
alterations in the load-bearing wall
after the autumn of 1916.
George L. Goodacre, who ran
restaurant there many years ago.
said he had a 8 or 10-foot opening
made in the wall in about 1908 to
expand his business. This opening
was enlarged few feet some time
between 1880 and 1882, according to
a succeeding restauranteur, James
Speros.
Mr.. Goodacre also told of second
opening made into the wall when
he occupied the first f1oor-a OPEN
ing he described as about four feet
wide.
Wall Extended to Roof.
If these witnesses are talking
about the same wall, the two cuts
would have removed about half Of
the supporting surface of the wall.
leaving a pier still standing early
in the 1930s. The wall itself is
thought to have been about 80 feet
long and 18 inches wide, Mr.. Davis
said. 1t extended to the roof of
the building.
The board of inquiry expects to
clear up these details about the
wall tomorrow:
Were the reported cuts made at
all? .s.
! II made, were they made with or
without building department
permit and under supervision of
building inspector?
If made with the approval of the
building department, why have
records of the transaction not been
uncovered?
The debris itself, in which four
were killed and IL were injured.
may hold the answer to the mys-
terious collapse.
To Reconstruct Structure.
Mr.. Davis said 1900 cubic feet OF
debris still remain to be removed
before investigators can determine
just how much of the 30-foot-long
wall remained in place when the
building collapsed.
All bricks found in the wreckage
are being sent to American Uni
versity where investigators, at a
later date, will be able to reconstruct
the brick structure to some extent
and determine just how much of
the bearing wall had been removed
before the crash.
About Is witnesses are scheduled
to appear before Chairman Stewart
Beal1 and the other members of the
inquiry board tomorrow, including
Brig. Gen. John w. Oehmann,
former District Building Inspector,
and Ben Fields, manager of the
City Finance Corp, which occupied
the first floor at the time of the
collapse. The board also expects
to question passerbys, employees of
the building and others possessing
information about the seven-story
ediface.
Tomorrow's session and perhaps
another on Tuesday may complete
the investigation into the collapse.
The wreckers expect to finish clear
ing debris away from the original
site of the first floor wall early this
week