The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-07-14
AN ELECTRIC FAN VICTIM.
A Baltimore Man Touches One and
Is Instantly Killed by the shock.

Baltimore Special.
Emil Myer, thirty-five years old. bar
tender in Dew Drop Inn," took hold of
the frame of an electric fan which was
whizzing away on the end of the bar at 2
o'clock yesterday afternoon to turn its
breeze on several customers. Without
murmur he dropped lifeless behind the bar.
killed in an instant by an electric shock.
Those in the saloon could not realize for
some moments that the man who had Just
been serving them had fallen dead before
their eyes. DIR. Henry Stark made a hasty
examination. He pronounced the man
dead. The body was picked up tenderly and
carried to a room in the rear, where 4. was
held until Coroner Saunders arrived and
summoned his jury of inquest. when 1t was
sent to the morgue.
The fan was run by a ffty-five volt cur
rent supplied by the United Electric Light
and Power Company. Fifty-fve volts, II is
said, is not strong enough to kill That
power is the same as supplied to an mean
descent light. 1t was thought possible that
the wire by which current was transmitted
with wire carrying a much heavier cur
rent and that the entire mechanism of the
fan was charged with electricity.
The floor behind the bar, upon which
Myer was standing, was wet, and when he
touched the fan a circuit was formed, al
lowing the current 10 pass through his
body His left hand was severely burned.
Myer came TO Baltimore from Germany
about ten years ago and had been en-
ployed bartender at different saloons
He had only been at the Inn about a
month He was unmarried
The testimony al the inquest, held at the
central police station. last night. dealt in
conjectures, suppositions, ideas. and beliefs
as to the cause Of Myers death. There
cause. The main answers of the witnesses
were that the man touched the frame of
the fan and dropped dead.
After more thar an hour was spent in ex-
aiming the witnesses about all the Jury
knew was that the fan figured in Myers
death, and they rendered a verdict that
he came to his death by coming in contact
with an electric fan"
Coroner Saunders conducted the inouest
No post-mortem examination of Myers
body was made
F. r. Owens. an electrician employed by
the United Electric Light and Power Com
pany. testified that he handles fans every
day. when / heard of the accident | went
TO the saloon and examined the fan and
wires, said Mr. Owens. Il found that the
wires, fuse and fan were all right. The
fan was still running and | handled IL by
the frame without receiving the slightest
shock. The meter showed that the fan
was DtlDS run W d NOlldSc OF nItN-flNe.
A high lamp current would break every
lamp in the house. / have been EMPLOYED
as an electrician sixteen years Five hun
dred volts and sometimes twenty-five volts
will kill a man, according to the condition
OF the mans heart. IL the floor was wet
where a man stood he would get a shock:
If dry he would not. III his hands were
wet fifty-five volts would hurt him and
probably Kill him. The man may have
touched the switch that regulates the cur
rent running the fan and thereby received
the shock
DR.. Stark. who examined Myers body
after he fell said: There were symptoms
OF apoplexy. The condition of his eyes and
mouth indicated apoplexy."
William Russell. superintendent OF over
head construction for the electric COM
pany. said after the inquest: II believe
that the man had heart disease and that
the sudden shock he may have received