The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-29
DERRICK SCATTERS DEATH.
TWO MEN KILLED OUTRIGHT AND
THREE INJURED.

All Standing on Platform Which
skirts the Edge of the Ninth Floor
of the New AusteII Building at At
Ianta-The Platform Carried Away
by the Fail of the Derrick and the
Two Negroes Killed Hurled Head
long to the GrOund-A White Car
penter Escapes in a Miraculous
Manner.
Atlanta, Ca, June 2S.-An accident oc-
CURED here to-day which has been with
out parallel since a man was crushed 10
death by the fall OF a giant block Of VOLT
itic limestone being hoisted into place
when the capitol was building.
Two men were crushed to death and
three injured. The killed were negroes,
Palmetto Ayers and Charles Cargill.
william Brown, white carpenter, ana
two negroes, named Charles Kelley and
Luther Miller, were hurt.
Browns escape was miraculous.
An FIVE men were working on the new
Austen office building which is designed
as a modern Improvement upon the Equit-
able. and which is now nearing compile
ton. 1t stands on Forsyth street on the
new bride, and corners on the Western
and Atlantic railroad.
The dinner hour was just over and the
men had returned to work when the acct
dent occurred.
They were standing on platform,
which skirts the edge of the ninth floor,
when the derrick fell.
The part OF the scaffold upon which
they stood was wept away and the men
were thrown into space.
Headlong down the entire distance fell
the two negfroes.
Brown. by the widest freak of luck,
erasped one of the derrick ropes as he
shot through the air. As the boom OF the
hosting engine fell the ropes on the tackle
were set in motion. one going up and the
other down. 1t was Browns good fortune
TO catch the rope being drawn upward and
he was hauled safely to the roof.
To another boom of the derrick project
ing out on the other side of the oulldlns
was attached a car on which four men
were standing. This boom likewise fell,
but was held up by the roof. The car
was dashed over the side of the building
and swung there in safety. The men were
rescued through a window, none OF them
being injured.
The two negroes struck the ground in
the basement The scaffold from which
they fell was on the court side and clear
fall to the very bottom was opened TO them,
The bodies were crushed and mangled
horribly Scarcely a bone in the body of
either remained unbroken.
The limbs of the dead men were bent
and twisted. and blood streamed from
score of Jagged wounds in the body of
each of the unfortunates. II was an aw-
full spectacle. and many of the morbidly
curious turned away half sick. The giant
derrick fell through the open court and
the long boom piercing two floors and
sticking up deep in the ground like the
mast of sunken ship. The great upright
post, or mast, as it is called, lay with
one end piercing through the lowest floor.
The accident was caused by the slip
ping of one of the steel cables which sup
ported the derrick. These cables, or guy
lines, stretch from the ground to the top
of the derrick mast The line that slip
ped to-day was anchored in the Western
and Atlantic yard, 400 feet away. 1t is
held by four iron clips. The looseness of
these clips caused the cable to slip about
fifty feet. and the derrick was thrown out
of plumb. The weight of the massive arms
which extended out from the derrick mast
completed the overthrow of the ponderous
machine. and it swept off the roof.
Had the accident occurred a few sec
onds later others would undoubtedly have
been killed, as several workmen were pre-
pairing to go upon the scaffold on which
Ayres and Cargill were working.
Several of those about the structure
openly charge that some one had tamper-
ed with the guy line. II is argued that
the accident would not otherwise have
occurred. 1t is said that the clips were
adjusted only a short time before, and
that there was every reason to believe
that the derrick was perfectly safe. A
boss named Cannon is in charge of the
derricks. He said: THE killing of those
two men was no accident. 1t was, in my
opinion, a plot on the part of some one
al work on this building that the derrick
should fall. In the first place the clips
which held the guy ropes in place have
never been known TO slip except in this
particular case. 1 have examined the
clips and find that they are quite loose
These clips would not be i'm such a con-
dition unless they had been tempered
with, and for that reason / say that il
was the intention of some one in this
the second place, these derricks are capa-
Bile of raising five tons, and we had only
two and one-half tons on them when they
fell The clips would have never slipped
unless they had been tempered with"
The most sensational feature of the case
was the escape of Miller, who seems 10
have been equal to Victor Hugo's "Hunch-
back of Notre Dame" He first caught the
ascending rope, though ne had fallen a
long distance, and being knocked of of il
later grabbed hold of scaffold two sto-
ries below to which he chung until res
cued.
Large sized damage suits are looked for
The accident has greatly excited the town.
-s-s-s
a ~