The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-10
ELEVATOR HEART DISEASE.
Attacks Those Who Run the Lifts
ana Is the Cause of Accidents.


From the Denver Republican.
The cause of the runaway of the eleva-
tor Al the Brown Hotel on Saturday night
which resulted in the temporary pennmg
up of a woman and the pilot, was ex-
planned yesterday. On Saturday evening
when the accident occurred, it was
thought the trouble was in the cable But
the examination of the elevator disclosed
the fact that the only damage done e!e-
vator cable or lever had been done by
the collision Of the elevator with the top
Of the shaft. The trouble was thus placed
upon Monte Inman. the pilot.
A sudden attack of heart trouble is said
10 have caused a temporary paralyzing
of the arm, which refused for the moment
to push back the lever. Inman viii not
admit that this was the only cause of the
accident, and insist that the lever was
out of order, but when a physician was
consulted yesterday he asserted with great
positiveness that the case as described to
HAN was one of an attack of heart failure.
He went on to say that this trouble is
very common among elevator pilots
Especially is this true in such high al
titudes as this" said DIR. r. H. Brown of
Chicago the physician who discussed the
matter at the hotel. THE sudden ascent
and descent and often the shock of a too
hasty stop sitoon tell on the action of the
heart when this vocation Is followed at an
altitude of a mile above sea Level. OF
couse, the faster the elevator goes the
more aggravated viii be the heart trouble
of its manipulation, and In a high building
the chances of serious results to his health
are more certain than in lower building.
The air I'm the top of the shaft Of sky
scraper Is lighter than at the bottom, and
the rapid change from one altitude to the
nj hfaFs Ia 60 Non haC net nrin
result 1t cannot be otherwise. The or
binary Transient in this part of the world
is affected most uncomfortably by walking
upstairs at a fair speed. The ascent in an
elevator at many times that speed does
more harm. The guest at the hotel or
the visitor 90 the public building does not
notice it much, but the pilot who remcins
in the elevator for hours at a time day
after day. is permanently injured in due
time"
Il was an interested visitor to the state
Capitol ON Saturday. But a few hours
before the accident ait the Brown Palace
Hotel / was conVersing with the pilot of
the state Capitol elevator on this very
subject. and he told me that he was al
ready feeling the effects of his vocation,
and was at times during the day obliged
to leave his post and secure the services
temporarily of some other state employee
90 do his work until his heart resumed
lis norman dCtlO0. In1S Is tQe same story
told me everywhere go. 1t is one of the
threatening fatal results of what We caN
modern Improvement which, in other
words, is the refined manner of self-tor-
ture and risk of nife and health in order
to do something a little faster and thus
make few dollars more than we other
wise could do There is point of speed
beyond which as a matter of protection 10
life. limb and heath. elevators and all
other vehicles of locomotion should not be
allowed to go. The mad rush in this
country, of which the frightful speed of
The elevator and the bicycle 'scorcher' are
TYPICAL must stop somewhere. The fatal
result of these things are most apparent.
"It was only few weeks ago that ! was
called TO attend a man in Chicago who had
been suddenly stricken down and who died
before l reached the house. 1 could find
no reason for his death except that the
action of the heart had been bad, but upon
inquiry I learned that he had for two
years been an elevator pilot. There was
then no doubt at aid in my mind as TO
what caused his demise. His family fin
ally accepted my statement that he died
a martyr 10 the modern improvements
which make Mfe so easy that the great
public does not get proper heaIthful exer-
else. His last words were Top floor ."