The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-08-05
BUTTE WAREHOUSE MAN Accl.
DENTALLY ELEcTicUTED.
CORONER ALSO SHOCKED.
Manager Of Electric Company Says
Storm Caused High Tension Wire
to Fall on Light Wire.

Butte, July 31.-Alfred E. Rhodes,
driver and warehouse man for the
Cudahy Packing company, the Butte
headquarters OF which are in South
Arizona street, opposite the st. James
hotel, was shocked twice by an cleo
trio current shortly before g. o'clock
this morning and died in a few min
utes. Coroner Johnson came very
near being killed in the same way
while making an investigation of the
accident, half an hour later.
The accident to Rhodes occurred in
the refrigerator car Of the company,
which is a permanent fixture on the
railroad track at the east end of the
warehouse. The car is lighted by
electricity from the city plant. A
few minutes after Mr.. Rhodes went
on duty he had business in the a
and it was while attending to it that
he received the shock. After open
ing the outer door he unlocked the in
ner door, removed the paddock from
the staple and hung it on an electric
wire overhead.
Full Force of Current.
AS the lock touched the wire he
received the full force OF the current
and fell to the floor.
H. l.. Klock, manager Of the pro-
duce department of the warehouse,
was near him and rendered prompt
aid by dragging him from the a to
the platform. Then Mr.. Klock and
several other men worked with him
a few minutes and he recovered sui
ficiently to get up and walk. He went
to the Office Of the company, only a
few feet away, and sat down a. few
minutes to regain his composure. He
then returned to the a alone n
entered the end he had previously
opened. With what he came in con-
tact the second time is not exact
ly known, but in view of the fact that
the entire interior of the a was wet
and charged with the current the sup
position is that he merely touched a
piece of meat or some iron instru-
ment. Mr.. Klock missed him in the
office and %supposing he had returned
to the car went to see how he was
| getting along. On reaching the outer
| door he saw Rhodes lying on the floor
with his head on the threshold of the
inner door.
Mr.. Klock again pulled him from
| the car to the platform, but while
taking him out he heard the death
| rattle in his throat and knew he had
| received a fatal shock. Mr.. Klock
and half a dozen other men worked
with him pending the arrival Of DR..
Hall, who had been sent for as soon
as his condition was learned, but he
died within a minute or two after be-
ing taken from the car. ~
Coroner Johnson was notified and
he arrived on the scene as quickly
as possible. After viewing the re-
HALLS uC cutClOu IAC S0A " ShO PuA
pose of examining it's interior and
placed one of his hands on a piece
! Of meat. The meat was charged
almost as strongly with the deadly
current as was the wire overhead and
the coroner got the full benefit of it.
| The shock knocked him down and
for 10 minutes he was practically
dead to the world. When he recover
| ed his senses he was so weak he
| could hardly walk. In half an hour he
recovered from the effects Of the
shock and finished his investigation.
The body of the dead man was sent
to Richards undertaking rooms,
where an inquest will be held this
evening.
Cause of Accident.
Shortly after the death of Rhodes.
Max Hebgen, manager of the Butte
General Electric company, arrived on
the scene and inspected the interior
of the car in which he had been killed.
The current of electricity had then
been turned off, however, as he had
been previously notified by telephone
that something was wrong with the
current. Mr.. Hebgen gave it as his
opinion that the storm which broke
over the city about $3.50 O'Clock this
morning had knocked one of the high
err tension wires onto the lower ten
sion wires and from that time until the
leakage vas discovered the lower ten
sion wires had received mor than
their share of the current.
Under ordinary circumstances the
current for supplying incandescent
lights in that district would not have
been strong enough to charge the en-