The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-07

attention and requested to be taken
back. The elevator was stopped and i'm
mediately began to slide back. 1t was
a great deal faster than the ordinary
descent, yet not fast enough to be called
a fall.
The passengers realized the circum-
stances, but were Gagged securely and ut
terly unable to help themselves or receive
help. The elevator man brought his
lever to the stopping point, but the trou-
BILE was at the bottom. AS the elevator
struck the cushion on the ground the
counterweight struck the top of the shaft.
The elevator rebounded from the cushion,
and this. coupled with the force with
which the counterweight struck, was suf--
hcient to throw the weight from its
groove. which is between the two ele-
vators, swapping off the cable that held it.
This mass of iron fell fully 125 feet, ex-
erting force which was the cause of
all the injuries, for had the accident con-
sisted only of the falling of the elevator
nothing worse than q severe shaking UP
would have happened to the passengers.
The counterweight consisted of pieces
of iron weighing over fifty pounds each,
and as the whole weight jumped the
groove. several of these pieces were
wrenched out of the iron binder which
holds them together. Some of these fell
on the wrought iron roof of the cage
and one penetrated and fell on the floor.
The portion of the counterweight that
held together buried itself six feet in the
ground at the foot of the shaft.
When the elevator struck, the elevator
door was securely locked, but the tangled
mass of iron soon gave way to the eff
forts of rescuers, revealing a pile of
crumpled humanity. A witness of the
affair, who kept his head, telephoned for
the patrol wagon, and in a short time
the patrol and all the ambulances were
waiting at the different doors of the block
to take the injured away
Friends of the injured rushed to the
telephone to warn relatives, and several
doctors arrived in time to render assist
ance. All the time the crowd around the
building grew, and it was with the ut
most difficulty that the guard could force
a passage for the filters. Inside of q half
an hour the injured were all taken away.
one woman was in the elevator when
1t fell, but all efforts to learn her name
were futile. She was later driven to her
nome In private carriage. Her exact
injuries were not known, but she was
probably one of the lucky ones.
Elevator Inspector Holmquist and the
building inspector immedii tely began a
search for the cause of the fall 1t was
found that a cable had broken inside of
the shackle which was fastened to the
anchor, and this will probably be found
TO be the origin Of the trouble. The ends
OF all the cables are fitted into shackle
about five inches long. the strands of wire
are spread out and babbitt-metal is
poured in, making it impossible for the
cable to slip out of the shackle The
cable In question broke about one-fourth
OF an inch inside, in such a position that
1t would be impossible to discover the
weakness in 1t until 1t parted When the
inspector went over the machinery a
week ago he looked at these cables but
the break was where it could not be seen.
When this cable broke it slid along under
the other three, twisting and tangling
them so that when they came to pass over
the sheaVe wheel they snapped like
strings.