The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-29
AWFUL PLUNGE OF
A SOUTH SIDE MAN
George Fuchs, Of Cedar Avenue, Fell
Into sn Old Beer Vanlt.
DISTANCE he WENT WAS SIXTY FEET
He Had q Brood Of Chickens in u
Building Erected Over the Entrance
TO the Vault and Was Feeding Them
when the Floor Gave Way..Seyeral
Feet OF Shiny Water Saved His Life.

George Fuchs, of Az Cedar avenue.
evidently was not born to be drowned.
nor killed by falling a great height,
for in an awful experience yesterday
morning death was presented to him
In both of these shapes, but yet he es-
capped with slight bruises. He fell into
an abandoned beer vault, sixty feet
deep in which there is several feet OF
Shiny water
In the rear of Mr.. Fuchs saloon at
the number given above. is a bowling
alley, extending back almost to the
bank of the Roaring Brook stream, and
underneath the saloon and alley is the
vault, the dimensions of which are APP
proimately ~ by $50 by 60 feet, Mrs. Nj.
Robinson owns the property rented To
Mr. Fuchs, and ten or twelve years
ago this cavity was used for storing
beer In watts.
The watts were filled at the brewery,
two blocks away. and carted on wagons
to the vault. There was an entrance
on Cedar avenue, under the sidewalk.
and through 1t the watts We're let down
an incline plane and kept on ice until
occasion required their use.
When the watts We're taken out, It
was done at the other end of the vault,
ON the bank of the brook. where "A
story and half structure was fitted
up with hosting apparatus. The
sides of the vault at this end are per-
pendicular and from the floor of the
building to the floor below, the distance
Is fully sixty feet.
A RELIC OF THE PAST
With the advent of the Ice machine
and compressed air refrigcrators, the
manner of preserving beer by storing
Z N.l..r. a
with. and for the past decade this par
ticular vault has been relic of the
past. and has fallen into abandonment.
The building was boarded up, SO that
there might be no danger of any per-
son falling into the vault. Fuchs had
brood of chickens that he wanted to
isolate for a few weeks and he kept
them in the building. He went in yes
terday morning with feed for them,
and the floor gave way beneath nim
Down he went feet foremost his wits
scared out of him, and he struck on the
water. going down over his head; but
! he rose and floundered around until hr
perched on some of the flooring that
came tumbling down after him. This
happened to him about 8 o'clock. and
! he saent over an hour In his watery
position, shouting and screaming at tn,
top of his voice for help.
CHILDREN HEAR HIM.
! At last some little children heard him
and communicated the news to old Mrs
! Fuchs. The neighbors got around and
by the aid of ropes the prisoner was
rescued. His head was cut painfully
by being struck with the flooring as II
dropped down after him, but aside from
that and the terrible nervous shock, ht
Ill.
! lants and an hour after being taker
out he was able to walk about.
The vaulh is a sort of private sewel
for the premises and there Is an out.
let from 1t to the Roaring Brook. bu
the water flows in faster than it flow.
out, and there is always between ant
s feet Of slimy water in 1t.