In March 1925 it moved to the second floor to make room for Greenwich Village Club, a cafe that closed after a couple of months.
[3][5] Timothy Barry had connections to the city's political, newspaper, and legal circles, however the club instead attracted a seedy crowd and gained a reputation as a social center for members of the criminal underworld.
Joseph F. O'Connell, Daniel J. Gallagher, Francis Murray, Albert W. Hurwitz, John P. Feeney, Elisha Greenhood, Thomas N. Creed, and Charles Fay represented the defendants.
[13] Guy C. Emerson, an engineer asked by Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas C. O'Brien to investigate the cause of the collapse, testified that the building fell "due to a failure of the concrete piers under the foundation" and "due to a lack of lateral bracing on their easterly side".
[9] The prosecution had a second engineer, John O. DeWolf, who concurred with Emerson's findings and stated that the lack of bracing to the wall caused the collapse.
According to Goethals, the cause of the collapse was the failure of Pier 2 to support the load it was supposed to bear, calling it "the rottenest piece of concrete I ever saw".
[17] The trial ended on August 12, 1925 and after a half-hour of deliberation, the two remaining defendants, Hendrick and Perkins, were found not guilty.
Following the verdict, Lummus stated that he concurred with the jury and there never was sufficient evidence these defendants had been willfully, recklessly or wantonly negligent”.