Evening star., 1901-08-01
INSTANTLY KILLED
Carpenter Falls From Roof of an
Apartment House.
SKULL CRUSHED BY BLOCK OF CEMENT
Coroner to Hold an Inquest Over
the Remains.
ARRANGING FOR FUNERAL

Andrew Vogelwide, a carpenter. twenty
eight years old, fell about 10 o'clock this
morning from the roof Of the apartment
house under construction on the northeast
corner Of 18th and L streets northwest.
and was instantly killed. The building.
which is not quite finished, Is to be known
as the Sherman flats. The accident this
morning was caused by the giving way
Of the cement packing on which Vogelwide
and three colored men were working. Vo-
gelwide fell from the roof to the basement
a distance of nearly ninety feet. the force
of the fall being broken at each floor by
the cement packing, which in turn gave
way under him. Finally the unfortunate
man reached the basement Of the seven
story building, a big block Of the cement
falling upon and crushing his skull and,
as stated, causing instant death. His
body was removed to the morgue by d.
rection of Coroner hewitt. who Will hold
an Inquest at the sixth precinct station at
IL o'clock tomorrow morning.
About noon today, while Policeman Hal
Ter and two reporters were In the building
making an investigation, some heavy
pieces of cement tumbled from the upper
floor, causing the men to run for their
lives. Fortunately they managed to es
cape injury. A number Of men employed
in the building were made i'll by the shock
resulting from the killing of the carpenter
who was general favorite with them,
and about twenty of them quit work.
Mr.. F. H. Duehay. who Is experimenting
the work on the building for the Sherman
Apartment House Company, was not at
pened He arrived shortly afterward,
however, and sent word to the victims 8
relatives, at 927 street A brother-in-
law Of the dead man visited the. morgue
Al,l- ony,%S fnr
Undertaken Wise to prepare the body for
burial after the inquest is held tomorrow.
A Cautious Workman.
While Mr.. vogelwide was a carpenter, he
was not working at his trade on the build
ing He was always a cautious workman
and for this reason Superintendent Due
hay selected him to superintend the work
on the roof Of the building, where. it was
realized, there was danger Of an accident
such as the one that happened today. John
Brown, Mercer Jackson and Richard Bry-
ant, colored, were working under VOgel-
wides direction, ramming the cement fill
ing. This wet cement mixture, which was
composed Of five parts OF ctnders, four of
cement and two of sand. was put In upon
which rested on the fianges of the iron
joists. One Of these pieces Of board. 1t Is
believed. was knocked out of place so
much that the heavy wet mixture caused
This caused the dropping Of the cement
mixture, making a hole about six by fif-
teen feet Vogelwide. it Is stated, was
standing on the cement engaged In ram
the edges where they had a chance to
escape in the event OF an accident. When
the board fell there was no way that the
victim could save himself. At each floor
the mass Of debris became larger, until
when the basement was reached there
were probably several tons OF it. The
falling mass Of cement and q few pieces of
board made a series Of loud noises and
startled the workmen throughout the big
structure, who ran to the street. They
soon realized what had happened. and
some of them returned, while others re-
manned about the street until the body was
removed, and they then started for their
homes e:
William Dodson, John Brown and Joseph
Braxton, colored, were the first ones to
venture to the pit where the body OF VOgel-
wide lay. They picked him up and removed
him to the sidewalk. Physicians were sent
for. but Vogelwide was dead and nothing
could be done for him.
The Coroner Informed.
Policeman Haller of the second precinct
was near the building when the fatal acci-
dent occurred He had the man on duty
at the station notify the coroner and the
superintendent Of the morgue. but no mes
sage was sent to headquarters until nearly
IL o'clock. Coroner hewitt and the dead
wagon reached the building about the same
time. The coroner examined the building
and directed the officers to summon all the
witnesses to the accident to appear at the
inquest tomorrow.
Superintendent Duehay, in conversation
with Star reporter, said that Mr.. Vogel-
wide had worked for him a humber of
years. He was an excellent workman. and
trustworthy man. Mr.. Duehay deplored
the accident. 1t was his belief that the af-
fair had resulted from one Of the boards
having been misplaced, as already stated.
The colored man who had charge of the
mixing of the cement. cinders and sand
said the accident was in no way the result
of an improper mixture being used. He
had been in the business a number Of
years, he stated, and had prepared the
cement mixture in the same way for many
of the large buildings in this city. At tine
time the accident happened, he said, the
cement that first fell had not had time to
set.
Many of the workmen will appear before
the coroner's jury tomorrow and explain
what they know of the accident. The de-
ceased was native of this city, and was
not married. His parents were born in
Germany.