The Portland daily press., 1894-09-12

Ladder Gone.
New York, September ll.-Tragedy accom-
panied the gusty storm of last evening",
An iron worker balanced on a ladder up
on the extension which is heing built to the
Hotel Savoy, at Fifty-ninth street and
Fifth avenue. was whisked off by the wind
and dropped eleven stories to the cellar.
He fell downward through the floorless
skeleton building, his body glancing from
rafter to rafteI and ricochetting from the
iron girders. When horn or-stricken
searchers found it in the cellar, twenty feet
below the level of the street, there was not
feature left by which Charles E. Tratman
could be recognized.
For some time large gangs of workmen
have been engaged on the addition, which
is being built to the hotel on the Fifty-ninth
street side. The new building is beirg
made to match the old. The structure rises
an il on skeleton for eleven stories. So far
the iron workers are in sole possession. No
floors have yet been laid. One can look
from the cellar up and see the blue sky
above.
Nesk is being pushed hard, and Contrac-
tor Lamore has gangs of men working on
the structure day and night. His night
gang consists of seven men who work by
cleo trio light eleven stories in air. Up to
last night the gang had been under the
charge Of Charles Trauman, who, though
only TWENTY-FIVE years old, had been in the
contractors employ for six years. and was
one of his most trusted..men. Tonight the
gang will work under a new foreman
FIVE ON THE BUILDING.
Trautman and four others-J ohm Brogan.
Charles McGinn. Frank Logan and william
Nolle-were:on hand promptly at.six o'clock
last evening, and ascended to the eleventh
story at once. Already the wind was blow
ing and the western sky was .heaped with
great purple clouds, beto1ening the coming
storm. After while a few stray drops fell
and Trautman looked anxiously at the
coming storm. doubling If work could go
on.
The wind freshened. 1t blew in sharr
gusts, and these are anything but pleasant
when one Is on top of an eleven story skele-
ton. One of the gusts blew TIautman's hat
off, and sent 1t careering down through the
structure. Then the wind blew his hair this
way and that. and he said he was going
down to get his hat. -
He walked byer toward the ladder which
led down to the tenth floor. That was the
last anyone every saw Charles Trautman
/ alive. III t4
The storm increased. The clouds black
ened the sky. The rain began to hammer
down upon the men at work. So far, the
electric lights had not been started. for
Contractor Lainore was uncertain whether
sorsnot work could proc eed in earnest. AT
length, he decided that work would have to
be abandoned for the night, and signalled
to the men to come dowE. M
FOUND THE LADDER GONE.
The four men on the eleventh floor went
to where the ladder had been. 1t was gone,
SO they descended by another ladder. When
they reached the ground they missed Traut-
man. They spoke about it and found that
no one had seen him since he started down
for his hat. LamOre sent a man through
the building to see If he was on any other
floor, but Trautman could not be found
Then the workmen remembered that the
ladder by which he had begun his descent
had disappeared, and they looked at each
other with apprehension. Gould the ladder
have blown off in oneof those gusts and
carried the unfortunate foreman with its
1t was raining hard now. but no one
hesitated They all hurried to the cellar,
and.there, with the help of lanterns.f found
all that was left of poor Trautman.
The face was unrecognizable. and there
did not appear to be a whole bone left in
the body An ambulance had been sum-
moned, but there was no need of it when it
came. Two, policemen gathered up the
poor, broken body and carried it up on a
stretcher. Then they took-it to the East
Fifty-first street police station. Trautman
lived at No. 209 East 127th street. He wa
unmarried.