The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-03-02
QUEEREST OF MISHAPS.
Five Men Dropped Seven stories by q
Rat Seeking Its Breakfast.
(From the Minneapolis Journal

(From the Minneapolis Journal
Elevator Attendant Alexander Lundeen
1, the hero Of Temple Court today, and
several well-known citizens attribute
their safety to his cool-he,dedness and
courage. The rapscity of a rat threw the
cable OF its moorings at the north end
elevator this morning. and the car rapidly
assembled TO the roof, and then dropped
| from the seventh floor to the basement.
| Through Lundeenis work and the air
cushion tn. lives Of four men were saved
For some time 1t has been known that
;he rats were esp clally fond Of the lubri-
eating oil used on the mechanism Of the
elevator, and number of times they
have oaused trouble. This morning at
about 0 o'clock, Frank 6eist, Frank
Laudsrdale, ]. b. Phelp and another
man entered the lsvator to 60 to their
offioes. The car was started, and altar
the first floor was reached It began to
ascend rapidly, and in q moment 1t was
seen that Lundsen had lost all troll of
1t. Whom the upper floor was reached ths
car bumped forcibly against TIE top of
the shaft and loosened some boards, which
had been placed across the top OF the
we'll.
Then the descent began. and with It the
boards began to fall. They came down
in showers on all sides Of the cage. and
all the occupants began TO believe that
| their last moment had come. Lundeen,
however, remained cool. and with one
hand he helt on to the elevator rope,
throwing his entire weight upon II, while
with the othes he quickly threw out Of
the way one OF the boards which had de-
termtned to force Its way into the car.
Floor after floor was passed, but the
elevator man held on to the rope, not
withstanding that the skin on his hands
was being burned on. The first floor was
reached, and the next moment all be-
lisved they would be crushed at the bot
tom Of the we'll Suddenly the car
breath. Then there was rebound to
the first floor. and there the car settled.
The air cushion had done its WORK, and
In few moments a rescuing party had
taken from the elevator the four men
and the hero Of the hour. Lundsen.
The occupants OF the oar had sustained
no injuries whatever, with the exception
of LuGdeen, whose hands were terribly
iaoersteu. They were all badly scared,
however, and 1t was some minutes before
any one of them was able to tell the i'm
pre- ssions he had when he found that all
control of the elevator had been lost.
An tigatlon was at once made OF
the cause OF the accident and IL took but
little time to disclose what bad oc-
CURED. A rat coming out for his morn
ing meal had been attracted by the odor
of the lubricating oil and haa gone to
the pulley. Just as he was about to en-
10y bis breakfast the elevator started up
and his body was pulled betwe en- the
oabls and the wheel. The obstruction
offered by the body of the rat was suffi-
cient to throw the cable out of place and
the accident followed. 1t was but few
minutes before the cable was put baok
into place and by 10 o. dock the elevator
WAS running as usual with Lundeen In
charge Notwithstanding the terrible CON-
litfon Of his hands.