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Show Absence of Proper Fcundaticn Caused Park Bleachers to Crash, Witnesses Testify at Inquest County Attorney Fails to Bring in Admission Trestles Might Have Been Weak; Addi- tional Bracing Would Not Have Pre- , . vented Collapse, Engineers Say T7HE failure of .the Liberty park grandstand, or bleachers, 1 on July 4, when Buby Soderberg was killed and sixty-seven sixty-seven injured, was due to the condition ot the ground on which rested upright posts at the rear of the structure, Carl W. Scott, 'engineer and architect, told a eoroner'a jury in City Judge' Fred W. Crockett's I court thia morning. Tba second day of the Inquest to determine the causa of tha craah of tha bleachers and to fix the responsibility opened promptly at IS o'clock and more than halt a'dossn wltnsassa wsra on hand to bo examined. Mr. Scott of the firm of Scott and Welch underwent considerable cross s semination by - County Attorney Arthur K. Moreton, wbo la eon-ducting eon-ducting the Inquest; A. B. Irvine, eouneel for C A. Sodsrbsrg, father of the alaln child, and W. H. Fol-land, Fol-land, elty attorney, and hla conclusions conclu-sions alwaya' led to thla ona thing: That tha collapee of the part ant bisachsrs resulted from the eettilng of the poets supporting tha treatise and seals. Although tha atructurs waa adequate upon his calculations to carry lha required load, it could not possibly withstand tha strain becauee ot tha poor foundation. He called attention to the fact that the uprights hsd been set up without sills or plates and any weight added to the etructure was bound to force the posts Into tha eoft ground and thereby throw the stand out of plumb and loosen the lateral bracee at tba back. ADDED BRACES USELESS. The additional braces which had been ordered or suggested by Dr. M. R. Stswart, commissioner of city parka and public property, and others who had caeually Inspected the structurs. were ussiees. hs ssld, since the foundation Itself was In-sdsquats. In-sdsquats. It wes his opinion that If the atand bad been erected on hard ground or had mud allls or plates been ussd In the foundation, tbe structure would have eerved lu purpose. Mr. Moretog tried to bring out that tha weakneea of the trestles played a part In the collapse, but Mr. Scott waa sura that the sinking of the posts wss primarily rsspon- albla for the failure of tha structure to withstand the added welgbl-e human beings. R. S. Slestsr. superintendent of parka waa recalled to the atand thla morning lo tbe purpoee of getting Into ths record the feet that ha bad discussed with Dr. Stewart ths nsed of additional bracing. He said thst hs did not suggsst ths bracing bscaoss he believed the atand wss unssfs, but wantsd It ' dons to be sure that avsrythlng would be sll right j NO PERMIT ISSUED. " I Mr. Follsnd asked Mr. Blester If It was customary for groupa of cltl-ssps cltl-ssps to uss ths park for pageants without psrmlsslon of the perk do- j pertinent. He aald ha knew that Bnalgn stake hsd staged a pageant June II and that bleachers hsd beenj erected. This waa dona with per-mission per-mission of ths park department, he eald. Ha wss notified July S thst i tha band atand would be used by the Americanise lion committee 'sfter tha parade tha following day.. I but he knew of -no consent bsvlng I been given for the use of the park for the Fourth of July celebration. Mr. irvlne asked Mr. Sleater to furnish him with a Hat of names of every man connected with the park department who assisted In tbs erection af 'the pageant bleachers Mr. Sleater said he would bring the names Into court this sftsmoon. Mr. Scott said thai ha had made an examination of the collapsed bleachers st the request of Dr. Btewart. Asked If be would have given hla approval ot tbe stand had he made hla examination or Inspection Inspec-tion before the pageant waa etarted. be was smphaUo In ths statement that he would have called attention to the foundation and advised agslnst allowing persons to climb on IL STRESSES FOUNDATION POINT "Tbs foundation must be secure, no matter how much bracing there le In a stsnd of that kind, "Mr. Scott aald. "Even .heavier bracing would not nave prevented the failure. It would have been Impossible to brace a atand that rests on a foundstlon such ss wss under the Liberty park grandstand." - Richard K. A. Klettlng. architect (Contlnuedonpage ) ABSENCE OF PROPER 1 ' - -TTormmied rrorri page I.) told the Jury that he remarked to hla wife that It was a crime to build ouch a thing. Mlae Charlotte Stewart. In charge of the elty'e recreation work and who supervised the pageant and the erection of the bleachers. Interrupted Interrupt-ed Mr. Klettlng by asking him why he did not advlae her what was wrong with the stand. "What would you have advleed. Mr. Klettlng T" Mia Stewart asked. 1 would have had more bracing and would hava insisted that the poets root on plates." he answered. -Then why. didn't yon tell me anyway r aba asked. . cavaiH raavBKTBD aroT. "I tad no eooner mad the remark re-mark to Mra Klettlng that the stands were dangerous than down they came," he aald. "It was too late." - . The Inquest I being continued this afternoon. The Jury le composed of Matthew A. Miller, appraiser Zlon'a Havings bank: Jama W. Wade, mining engineer en-gineer and manager of the Utah Kino company, and U. W. Davia, clerk Utah Sarlnga and Trust com-pany. com-pany. Mlae Stewart, the first wltneaa called yesterday, aald that she had complete charge of the pageant ar-rangemente ar-rangemente end the staging of tha play. 6ha aald ' she directed the placing of th bleachers and that the work wss carried out from a diagram which ahe had made. Walter Heath,- general foreman of aUg. paths, was really tn shsiss of the men who did the work. The trestle for the bleacher were borrowed bor-rowed by Mlae Stewart from the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind. t ugden, and th material waa hauled her on a truck furnished by the city park department. Two carpenters were employed to help build the stand from which tha pageant was given and they were paid out of the Fourth of July fund. nxHBT TisrwEO rraimitt Mlae Stewart aald she aaw W. O. Plnney, city building Inspector, looking ever the bleachera Tuesday evening. She eaid the bleachers had been used on three previous occasion and at the same place In Liberty park. Dr. M. R. Stewart, city commissioner, commis-sioner, followed Mis Stewsrt oa th stand yesterday. Dr. stswart disclaimed any responsibility fur the erection of the etand. and added that It had been put up without permlalaon from hla department. He admitted having made a caeial In-epectlon In-epectlon of the etructure Tuesday and, with Mr. Hieater, auggeated that additional bracing be placed. Miss Stswart told ths Jury that the underpinning of toe stand had been reinforced, and Dr. Stewart corroborated cor-roborated her atatement. Dr. Stewart said that he did not order an inspection of the etand beoauee, he said. It was not th practice to laeu a permit for a temporary etructure of that kind. Dr. Stewart aaid that tha city1 rommleaion had never discussed the pageant, nor did It take any action ac-tion on th celebration. He wa not formally advised of th celebration cele-bration until a week before It look place. He aald the assigning of park employ to work on the etand wa entirely In the hand of th park auperlntendenL CAKKO.W BLaMKI itTroaTS, The settling nf some of the poets waa In a measure responsible for the collapse of the atand. City Engineer En-gineer Cannon told the Jury. He brought with him a written report of hie findings and in explanation thereof eald that eome-of the upright up-right had sunk three and four J Inches. H aid that th framing In tha trestles waa not In good condition, con-dition, because to having been set up and taken down so many times. Mr. Irvine tried to make Mr. Cannon Can-non aay that the uneound condition condi-tion of th wood uaed In the aland waa directly responsible for ths crash, but th engineer lnalated that th soft ground waa primarily the cause of the collapse. Mr. Sleater testified that 'Mis Stewart had aaked him for the ser vlcea of om of th park employes to assist In the erection of the bleachera After the stand had been completed, he aald. a spoke to Dr. Stewart about the insufficiency insuffi-ciency of bracinga, and he waa poel-Uv poel-Uv that the reinforcements had been placed. At the coneluaton of the questioning ques-tioning or Mr. Sleater. the seen of the Inaueet wae removed to the undertaking chapel of Ooff Llnd-qulet, Llnd-qulet, lilt South State etreet, where th body of th dead child w viewed. R raises on the right hand and on the left aide of the forehead, where, the undertakr explained, ex-plained, a nail had evidently penetrated, pene-trated, were etlll visible. The head back of the left ear wa fractured. |