, 1890-10-18
A Victim of the Wires.

i. -----
A horrible sight was disclosed to the crowd
at the Park Theatre last night as they were
coming out of the theatre at Broadway and
Thirty-ffth Street at II IS O'Clock. Upon
the electri. light pole opposite the theatre, on
the southwest corner If Thirty fifth Street,
with his legs strapped to the standard, was
Il lneman, and one glance told the story that
another man had fallen a victim to the dead
~ electf ic-light wires. A great crowd soon
gathered around the pole, but none dared
approach it. The unfortunate mans hands
were burning, and from his mouth issued a.
steamlke smoke.
Among those who came out Of the theatre,
however, was Charles w. Phipp, an electrical
engineer connected with the Brush Electric
Light Company. He took in at q glance the
situation and Immediately rushed ito the
iron pole. Selling a rubber cot from a cab
man standing by with one hand and a
policeman'8 club with the other, he was rea-
dy to ascend the pole. AS he started uP the
pole a cheer went up FROM the crowd.
Carefully working his way up upon the
foot rests he reached the lineman and then
threw the rubber coat around him. With
the club he struck the hands that. were SO
firmly clutched upon the wires, through
which the death current was pouring into
his body. A single blow of'the club severed
the contact with the wire and Mr.. .Phipps
then cut the straps around the lineman's Legs
that held him fast to the pole. The man
dropped then into the arms of a policeman
below. DR.. Gage, who was passing at the
time. felt the lineman's pulse and discovered
that there was a spark of life still IN his body.
An ambulance was sent for, and DIR. Stun
nard of the New-York Hospital came with it,
The man was lifted in, but died on the way
I-z-:4oI TIL Id, yyoC htOJ1nbt hopH
to the Thirtieth Street police station, and
officers were sent out to as certain who he was.
The lineman who proves the latest victim
of the high-tension current was George R.
Kopp, who lived at Third Avenue and Twen-
tv sixth Street. He was q heavy man Of
about forty years, and for along period had
been employed by the United States Electric
Light Company, which has q station in East
Twenty-ninth Street. KOpp was a night
lineman. Last evening he was sept out to
look after the company's lamp at Thirty-ffth
Street and Broadway, which was reported
out of order.
When he assembled the pole he carried no
rubber gloves with him, as the Ilnemen now
almost invariably carry. lie simply took
his pincers in his bare hands. On reaching
the lamp, in order to work the handler, he
strapped his legs to the pole and l~eisurely.
went TO WOTR 10 Tx Vic AdHP, "HNNH q
not burning at the time. The moment his
iron pincers touched the wire connecting
with the lamp a current Of electricity shot
through him. A flash Of light seemed to
shoot from his head and at the same time
his hands were seen to burn There was
no movement Of the body and after the first
contact with the wire he apparently be-
came unconscious.
Defective insulation in the wires was the
only theory that was advanced by electIl-
spot where the accident occurred, and at
a late hour no one from the United States
Company had come to rake an examina-
ton of the lamp.
The lamp is an old one and is connected
with wires that run along poles in Thirty
fifth Street. Investigation may prove that
the wires had become crossed at a distance
from the lamp, but the probability, is that
one of the wires to the lamp was defective
in nsulation.-N Y. Times Is Sept.