I find it strange that the OP would think the Header course were "illegal", or against building code when in fact buildings built with out sufficient actual header brick that weren't Hammer cut bats to speed production/use the waste bats to tie each wythe to each other were against public ordinance.
Maybe a lazy mason didn't want to mach the existing and lied? Hillary?
Usually 2 or 3 % of the face units would have to be headers tie the wythes together. as has been learned by the few hundreds of years of experience with Dutch and English bricklaying. otherwise the outer wythes would peal off in entire layers, many times killing passer-bys.
Then as now uninsurable buildings were nearly impossible to resell or secure a mortgage on.
Many towns in America their veneered 80-120 year old brick buildings wall ties have rusted away leaving the veneer ready to peel off at the next large wind or minor earthquake.
In general, I find that people were just as smart as we are if not smarter, as they had far less money and technology to do what they accomplished. I think today's Americans are far more superstitious then ones from the late 1800s, and in general think and act more illogically.
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