The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-15
ELEVATORS KILL THREE.
..o-yrR FATAL ACCIDENT AT TIE
AH" wIJDORF-ASTORid.

.s,oria Hotel yesterday, about noon,
" Blu was crushed.to death and a second
one nsor,,lly injured, while a third nearly
shared his ia.o' Lila, ,yos J,mes Deomnn
n,-oocond street and Second avenue, tho
VI .,or,o,ly injured was James Foley OF o4e
one ~, v.otth street, and thesthird mar was
.~,.s Looney OF 3O4 West Ff~fty'fourth street.
ln .n ,Sreo q, the men worked for J. Condor, a
.-.,rap. Of seventh avenue ana fltty-iourth
-, ,yho has the contract TO cart away Iho
~, from the Waldorf Astoria. DeRmen ana
,"onsv were accustomed to take q third man
III ,bom as a helper when they went TO tho
,,.,dor,. Astoria. and as their regular helper
W. ,ick Yesterday they took Foley along In mis-
place. .,,,,n., hot.,s arc de-.
ur,rcd Mt the street level in Astor court an aiioy
Nat runs through tho block from Thirty'th'rd
- thirty fourth street, by four PLATFORM Gle
~,,ors which rise from the boiler rooms, Two
= w.. W. holoy. in n limo along the east side Of the
.ourt, The first two OF these elevators, on 'ne
IN aldo of the row. belong to the Waldorf,
.us .ro run by hydraulic power. The plat
= =, these are mounted directly upon the
W.. =, Tho hydraulic pistons which work them.
w ~ ,ro elevators north Of these belong to the
...,,.. and arc operated BY electrically driven
80. which lift them by means Of chains. II
!. n NJ these which broke. There are four
" .,os, chains to each elevator. These chains
-. ovor n drum at the hoist In the cellar. and
r.. tro,, there over iron pulley wheels situated
-. tho street level, one over each corner or
H. r,o,forms. The chains were attached to
.-.,olt. Mt the corners Of the platforms by
-. NJ spl,t links made OF onc-half-inch iron.
r.oh chain returned from he drum beneath to
M under side of the platform and thus made q
Iii Each platform is about eight feet long ana
ok feet wide, As the pisti9r RIM n nmdg su n,pSSn
4 afth chain, OF smaller size than the suspend
a. chains. rises at one end Of each PLATFORM.
By means Of these the he e at b a sb %e top op pSd bot.
,om NJ each OF these chains, so that, when the
nIatforms reached tho proper limit or their
movement in either dLreetsSbn sr Inc sb out chafn wo ran
,hropgh holes in the platforms and the cleva-
tors be thus automatically stopped.
.rv NJ these ash elevators except men who are
seyniarly employed for that purpose, The
man who should have had charge OF the AS
toria elevators, however, had gone to lunch,
w tbo tbree cartmen worked the elevator them.
They had.been down to the boiler room twice.
nm. cans OF ashes and dumped these into their
cart. Then they went down a third time. This
Tim, time. t nsSp n the PLATFORM nnte 1a.I and, standing amid
the cans, started up to empty them. When
he platform got WITHIN about three feet OF the
H ,eSSi caused the two split links at the north
corners Of the platform, to ~straighten out. Tho
platform dropped at that end and hung sus-
handed vertically by the chains on tho other
md. and the three men and nine cans Of ashes
were dropped In a heap at the bottom OF tho
elevator shaft. Looney was thrown clear OF the
cans of ashes and escaped with q scalp wound.
The other two men were buried under the ash
cans. Many employees of the hotel ran to
their help: When ana Foley ssma was va taken daad out no
balances took Looney and Foley to Bellevue;
Foley was reported to be dying at the hospital
At Al, go H. S.C loci this this % M tbs Gbu A priest Is S Sdni iase
Tho elevator. which broke was put in by
souipped the Astoria with its passenger eleva-
try Is fnd out what had caused the accident.
was accounted for. One is that one Of tho ash
cans may have projected over the edge Of the
platform far enough to catch against the edge
happened, tho hosting. machinery would havo
continued to act with its full force, unless the
man ss IL; The operating 1sanid . chain nnl had che Checked aD'i. # ItI IN.
anee which the hotel people had recently had
As the elevators open right into the open court,
protected. only by irun bars to keep persons
from falling into them when the platforms are
down into na a the iower REGIONS eSiS Q ara az sSe f Sot asT when Meas
the platforms did not I'LL tho well holes. To
remedy, this wooden trap doors were put over
the wall Of the hotel. To save having to send q
man outside to open these doors or having some
one 60 up on.the platform to do this, an auto
consisted Of q framework Of wood stood up
o. one end OF each platform. which carried o
wooden cam that pressed the door up at one
elevator which fell this arrangement was on
ne end where the links drew out. 1t Is posi-
S ss.s 1%SsTstSse, Il that at the 70, cover We, pushed Isl up By this his
mat the strain thus produced proved too much
fSr tho links and had strained them open 90
.nst they could give way under the load of
VT, The !. sSPFIa r. people s declare y, t thst the elevators
inspector Of the Fidelity and Casually Company
inspected them all.
Oscar WestberR. who was employed as assist
building at 500 Fifth avenue, was crushed to
aeath yesterday afternoon between the side Of
ne elevator and the elevator shaft.
NOBODY knows how the accident occurred. Al
ssrt Hal, the janitor. left Westberg in charge of
ns building at noon while he went home for din
nsr. When he returned. about al hour later. he
t9und that the elevator had stopped running.
az looked up and saw tho car at the second
Moor; he found Westberg's dead body a few
he heaa is s4fen 1ySing on ! the floor ,Sa Of the elevator.
me only explanation Of the accident Is that
mestoerg, after leaving the ground floor,
leaned forward while closing the door Of the
e e.SSasor =, and that his head struck between the
"TSst1erg was % years old and was unmarried.
Mnhsm +. Ochs of 2066 First avenue. a
St trSsr Ior feinert's express at 1854 East 146th
ttbSee sD TSs killed ye ,terday:by an elevator: IN
Daoaoway. ,Ochs had gone to the building with
T ymH materials and vas on the eighth floor
'isTrator shaft to call the elevator man.
rne elevator is one which will be used for
tTSSuttar passenger work when the building is
b bT'i me but IT is being, used in the meantime
n inc contractor for the building and was In
str : q Emil Chelems OF 423 East Fourteenth
cSinorv Inc elevator and its operating ma
.ba11sety are complete, but the work about Its
v"u,i tb rs s aiiad finished. Al the floor where ochs
nnait Is In place, but there is no glass in The
reason yUen par: ochs assumed for some unknown
looked ISa; sSOx anE his head through the unglazed door,
inc o 9evator when the car, which was descend.
aI a ,rSdm above, caught his head between its
de a Snt me edge OF the door. Ochs was almost
was prrna ana was killed instantly. Cheiems
It The Tsosneeu, put he was discharged aftcrward