The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-11-02
FELL FIFTY FEET.
Six Painters Hurled From
a Broken Scaffold in the
Erie Railway
Station.
ONE DIES OF HIS INJURIES
Two More Cannot Rccover-Crowds
Of Passengers Witness the Ac-
cident.
ONE DIES OF HIS INJURIES

A shocking accident occurred in the
Erie Railroad trainshed at seven o'clock
this morning in which six painters We're
thrown from a scaffold suspended fifty
feet above the ballasted tracks. Three
of the men were internally injured and
will probably die. They are John Heines
thirty years old, of No 477 Grove street;
Stephen Dietz, thirty-nine years old, of
No. 1853 Steuben street; Charles Rockey,
twenty-nine years old of McClane street,
Passaic.
Cornelius McPhillips, of No. 315 Eighth
street, sustained painful injuries. His
left leg was broken in two places, his
right arm was fractured. and his shoul-
der dislocated. He will recover.
John Costello of No. Palisade avenue
had his hip dislocated. His nose was
broken and he also sustained severe
bodily injuries. George Steatly of No.
105 Condict street had his left arm brok-
en- and was terribly injured about the
body.
THE SCAFFOLD FALLS.
The scaffold upon which the men were
working was a rudely constructed af-
fair. 1t consisted of three inch 5oists
laid upon the iron girders which sup
port the roof structure Upon these
light joists hemlock boards of an inch
thickness were laid The scaffold had
been made into two sections about ten
feet in length each.
1t was erected late last evening and the
usual precaution of strappfng the joists
to the iron supporting girders was not
taken.
The six men had mounted the scafrold
shortly before seven o'clock this MORN
ing and for some unaccountable reason
all collected in the centre of the scaf-
fold nearest the depot to mix their
paints. They were thus engaged when
suddenly the main joist snapped and the
next instant there was terrific crash
and five of the men were dashed upon
the tracks below.
effort to support himself on a piece of
projecting joist. The sudden swaying of
the other end of the scaffold loosened
his hold and he dropped on top of his
were cut and bleeding and moaning
with the pain from their injuries.
SICKENING SIGHT.
The accident was witnessed by hun
through the depot on their way to New
York to business. Many of them turned
horror stricken, away from the scene
while others went to work with will
and extricated the injured from beneath
the splintered joist and boards. An
alarm was Immediately sent out for am
bulanceS ana the patrol wagons OF the
down town police stations. Pending
their arrival the waiting room was con-
verted into a hospital. Subsequently the
injured men were removed to st. Fran
cis' Hospital in all haste, where their
injuries were promptly attended to. For
the, past week a large force of men
have been at work scraping the rust off
the ironwork of the trainshed prepara-
tory to having it painted. This part of
the work was finished yesterday after
noon and the work of administering a
coat of red paint was to have begun
this morning. A rigid investigation is
to be made to find out upon whom the
Charles Rockey died of his injuries in
st. Francis Hospital at fifteen minutes
before twelve o'clock.