Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-05-29
FATAL ELEVATOR ACCIDENT
Cage in a Pittsburg Building Drops
Fifty Feet with Load Of
Human Freight.
FOUR ARE KILLED AND MANY INJURED.
Accident Occurs mt Banquet and
Bnll-List of the Killed and In-
5ured = Coroner Immediately Bee
gins investigation Into the Cause
of the Accident.

Pittsburg, Pa, May 25.-One man and
three women We're killed and several
others injured Friday night at 1925
Fifth avenue, the building occupied by
a dancing academy. The cause Of the
fatalities was the swapping of the ele-,
vator ropes, allowing the cage to drop
SO feet.
A banquet and ball was being held
in the building by the Pennsylyaniat
Electro-Mechanical institute. At
about ten o'clock the elevator started
with load for the banquet room, on
the sixth floor. When that floor was
reached it was found that every place
was crowded and the passengers de-
cided to go to the fifth floor, where
the dancing was in progress. When
between the sixth and fifth floors the
steel cable snapped and, with a re-
| sounding crash that was heard blocks
away, the cage dropped with its load Of
human freight. 1t smashed through
the floor above the cellar of the builds
ing and was stopped by braced post
OF wood three feet below tn first floor.
In this inaccessible position the pas
sengers were jammed under broken
timbers and twisted steel, yet none
| might have been killed had not the
heavy iron balance weights, weighing
over ton, come crashing down upon
them. Miraculously all but four were
able to scramble out. The others were
pinioned under the heavy weight.
1t was almost noon Saturday before
any of the victims of the frightful
accident We're identified. Large
crowds surrounded the entrance of the
morgue all night, awaiting Informs
ton as to the identification of the four
bodies that had been taken there from
the scene of the accident. The bodies
were so badly disfigured and distorted
that thorough Identification was only
possible through marks on the cloth-
ing worn, and as some had no marks
on their clothing, Identification was
impossible until friends inquired for
them because missed from their
homes.
List of Killed and Injured.
The casualty list as furnished by the
coroner and obtained from the hos
pitfalls is:
The dead: Miss Mamie Curtin, 10
years old, of Hazelwood, Pa. Miss
Susie Flanagan, 10 years old, of 4s7
Woodland avenue, Allegheny. Miss
Nellie c. Sweeney, aged 1e years. Ray.
den P. F. Flohr, IS years old, Of Nc
KEGS Rocks.
The injured: Albert Myers, % years
old, liberation of right hip and cons,
pound fracture of right leg. Harry
Lipson, % years old, scalp wounds.
Miss Katie Flanagan, 81 years old.
Mrs. Lulu Postelwaite, 46 years old.
Miss Margaret Postelwaite, II years
old, daughter of Mrs. Lulu Postelwaite,
suffering from nervous shock. Charles
Blonde, IS years old. Fannie Simond,
20 years old. John Morrison, IS years
old. Frank S. Amrock, % years old.
L. N. ellis, 40 years old. Mrs. Z. N.
ellis. Paul Gillis, three years old.
Unknown man, about "a years old.
bruised and cut; is unconscious; at
the Mercy hospital.
The injured are all suffering from
severe cuts and bruises, but with the
exception of the unknown man II 10
thought all will recover.
Investigate Cause of Accident.
Coroner McGeary and his assistants
were kept busy throughout the night
answering telephone calls from friends
and Others anxious to.ascertain partic-
ulars. The coroner at the earliest time
possible sent out summonses for
jury to inquire into the cause of the
accident and to fix responsibility,
This jury met in the courtroom of the
morgue building at ten o,cloclc Safnr.