August 29,1891





Record  and  Guide.





263





wall to the front wall. The ends of floor beams only rest 4
inches on a wall. The rear wall could not be swayed to the
extent that the front wall could, for another building stood against
it for about half its height. Did the swaying finally release
the beams from their bearings 'on that rear wall, or from their
bearings on the front wall, thus allowing the floor to drop, carry¬
ing death and destruction in its downward flight and throwing
the front wall out into the street ? No column of support gave
way, for in that event the collapse would have been toward the
centre and the street wall would have been dragged inwardly
instead of being pushed outwardly. ^Or did an explosion of naphtha
or benzine in the basement of the paint store or the drug store, in
this structurally weak and overloaded building, throw out the front
wall and bring down the upper floors? It is said that the
flames shot through the fallen mass with rapidity and burned
intensely, and apparently showed the presence of some gaseous
explosive. An intricate network of broken gas pipes were con¬
tributing, however, to that very same appearance. There was no
boiler on tbe premises, steam being supplied from an outside source.
At the time of the accident only three, or at most four, of tbe print¬
ing presses were in motion. Were these running at an accelerated
rate of speed for the very reason that the others were not consum¬
ing power ? Or did a belt catch and cause an unusual or sudden
jar ? And was one of the floors in some one place unusually over¬
weighted? Generally when a building gives from overloading,
some premonition is given by the creaking of timbers and noise of
materials tearing asunder. If there was no explosion, what caused
the ignition—was it the friction of the falling material that started
the flames or the range in the basement ? What happened inside
the building at the moment of collapse will never be accurately
known, as death has sealed the lips of tbose who could have told.

It isa silDgular omission in the present building law, as in all the
previous ones, that while the thicknesses for bearing walls are
minutelv specified for given heights, yet there is no restriction as
to the number or size of openings for windows or doors that may
be placed in such walls, and thereby more or less weakening chem.
In the last revision of the law which unfortunately failed to get
through the Legislature, this defect was to be remedied by the
following requirement: "If any horizontal section through any
part of any bearing wall in any building shows more than 25 per
cent area of flues and openings, the said wall shall be increased 4
inches in thickness for every 10 per cent, or fraction thereof, of
fine or opening area in excess bf 25 per cent." The thickness of
walls in the fallen building were 16 inches above the
level ot tbe second story floor beams, up to the roof beams, except
that the front wall was 20 inches in thickness on account of
being faced with pressed brick, laid in running bond, but this 4
inches of the thickness is not counted in under the law as the face
brick has next to no bonding in with the brick-work back of it. The
front wall was a bearing wall, with the usual number of window
openings, and it would have had to be the thickness that it was
even if it was not a bearing wall, which unfortunately it was as it
carried the ends of tbe floor beams of the several upper stories.

The humane work of recovering the bodies from tbe ruins of the
fallen building has been done at tbe expense of the city under a
section of the building law wbich says:

" In case ot the falling of any building or part of any building in the city
of New York, if persons are known or believed to be buried under the ruins
thereof, it shall be the duty of the fire department to cause an examination
of tho premises to be made for tho recovery ot the bodies of the killed and
injured, and for that purpose said department shall employ laborers and
materials, as may be necessary, to perform said work as speedily as po.ssl-
ble, and the comptroUerJof the city of Nejs' York is authorized and directed
to provide the funds to prosecute said work until completed. And for the
purpose of providing the money for said work the board of estimate and
apportionment are hereby authorized to transfer to the order of the comp¬
troller such sums as may be necessary, from any unexpended or excessive
appropriation ot the thon current, or ot any previous year, or to issue
revenue bonds payable out ot the taxes ot the next ensuing year,"

Prior to the passage of the 1885 law, or what was known as the
Esterbrook law, as prepared by a Committee from the several
building trade organizations, no provision existed in any law for
tbe rescue of injured persons or the recovery of bodies from the
ruins of a building. It required five 3-ears to get the Esterbrook
law through tbe Legislature. That law made it incumbent on the
owner of the building, when required so to do by a notice from tbe
Chief of the Fire Department, to immediately have the debris
removed and an examination made; and in case of the owner's fail¬
ure to commence the work within five hours after tbe notice had
been served, the Chief could then employ laborers, and the expense
should be a valid claim on the owner of the land. When the next
revision was made, in tbe lt87 law, which is the one at present in
force, the Committee took into consideration the possible difficulty
in finding an owner, and of the delay that would ensue any¬
way, and the leisurely way in which an owner might
possibly piosecute the search,    To   secure prompt   action aud





because it is a matter of public concern far beyond the interests of
an owner, the Committee decided to put the duty and the expense
on the city, and the section which we have quoted above was
drafted. Certain persons whom it would be useless now to recall
by name, holding official positions and speaking for the city,
opposed the change and the saddling of such possible expense on
the city, inooked as though the proposed alteration had to be
abandoned when an appeal was made to Richard Croker, who was
at that time one of j the fire commissioners. Promptly and
decisively Mr. Croker said " Certainly, the committee are
right ; let the section stand as they have prepared it."
It is to the credit of Mr. Croker'c head and heart at that
time that the search of the Park place ruins could now be
made with the vigor and effectiveness that it finally was. The
search was fiist commenced by the Chief of Police, in ignorance of
the fact that the law made it incumbent on the Fire Department to
take the work iu hand. It was nearly two days after the accident
occurred before the officials of the Fire Department woke up to
what was their duty. The scandal of a similar delay should never
occur again.





Investments—Good and Bad.

Cats and Dogs.—If to buy, then what to buy ? With this question
repeated over und over again In his mind, his finger on his lips, his eye
upon the tape which is reeling out quotations as fast as he can read them,
the would-be buyer stands tbe picture of steadfast contemplation and in
fact lost in the possibilities of his query. It is a position ot considerable
danger, not to his person but to his purse. There are times when a prick
of a pin, as children tell their fortunes, will with certainty indicate a
profitable purchase; or to be more correct there are times when a backward
look will tell that had a pin been stuck on a particular day at any part of
the list it would have indicated a profitable purchase, because every¬
thing moved up. But, uotwithstanding a rare precedent or
two, sensible people do not decide upon their purchases in tbis
way, luckily for them. It is a good rule to look for merit
whatever tbe times. There are people, however, who in a manner allow
the list to be pricked tor them. They are tbe people who are deceived into
purchasing worthless stocks or bonds by artful manipulation of quotations,
and it is to them that a few words ot advice are offered. With the
means and a desire to purchase, it is very hard to resist the wiles of the
manipulator. A man goes into the Street when tbe market is well
advanced with the hope of buying something wbich bas been still, but
wbich will show him a profit. He cannot see any attraction in a stock
that has gone up 10 or 12 points, and ordinarily he is rii;bt, but in tbis
exceptional case he is wrong, consequently he looks around for a stock that
has not moved, or has risen sUghtly if at all. He soon fiads what he is
seeking in, say, X Y Z, which has been held nominally at 20 for a long
time and now moves up by a quarter, and sometitnes a half per cent at a
time, 2 or S points. If be buys it is ten chances to less than one tbat some
years later he tells a friend confidentially that he has carried X Y Z for so
many years, and has never bad a chance to get his money back.

In times of activity the temptation to the insider to secure a market
for the rattletrap he has had no option, but to carry is too great to be
resisted. A few wash sales may help to dispose ot some of his superfluous
stock, and generally the proceeds of every bundred shares sold is so,much
profit. It is, it must be admitted, one ot the indispensable features ot tbe
situation that things wbich have been for so long a time unsalable are
now being brought into trading. It the situation was not a very good one,
their owners would not pay commissions for the washes, knowing
that it would be only so much money thrown away. But
with all things looking rosy and the prospects ot a great
speculation in the near future what are known as cats and dogs are esposed
tor sale in tbe market place. Notbing can be done without the public, so
it is tbe fault of the public that these wares are brought out. It is the
public who take the venture. The promoter who has paid little or nothing
tor tbe goods is always ready to take the cash, so tbat be can create some
more cats and dogs for the next great rise, whenever it may be. The buying
is conducted on the principle that the times are so good and the prospects
for a large supply and rapid circulation of money so certain, that anything
and everything must go up. It Is in the expectations ot, or with the view
of inducing such a principle into being, that the stock market has recently
seen a shower of, if it has not rained, cats and dogs. Rapid quotations
have sent out and up South Caroliua, with its ennrmous
floating debt, aud Laclede Glas Common in the face ot growing obligations
to the preferred stock under the cumulative dividend clause. Atlantic aud
Pacific, with its enormous bonded debt ahead, Des Moines and Fort Dodge,
witb nothing to warrant it at all, the East Teunessee and kindred issues,
to say nothing ot coal and other mining issues. Any one interested in
learning bow people are induced to buy rubbish can do so by followiog tbe
sales from day to day. It will be seen that they commence with a few
hundred shares, all wash, that they grow to a, thousand or two, partly
wash and partly genuine, and if they grow further, it can generally be
taken that the public is in it aild then prayers for the safety of buyers
are in order. It has been some years since tbe cats and
dogs have had any show, not since the fall of 18WC certainly.
A comparison of prices then and now, or of a few
weeks b3ck, will be au instructive lesson as to what will
happen to the man who deals too long in them and has them just before
they begin to go down under the influence of a chau;^e io tbe times.
Tbat is a good way off, though. A mariner commences bis voyage pro¬
vided witb all the information he can get of the rocks and shoals he
may encounter; he does uot refuse the voyage but provides against its
dangers,   Low as well as high-priced stocks will in tbe spepulatjve roovg'