Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-12
FACES DEATH
IN AN ELEVATOR
PASSENGER NARROWLY ES-
CAPES DECAPITATION
Department Manager Of Furniture
House Caught In Doors Of Rising
car-says Negro Was
Careless

Caught between the sliding doors of
the tunnel elevator of the county court
house and jammed against the ceiling
Of the stone entrance, ]. j. Merritt
department manager of Barker Broth
ers' furniture establishment barely
escaped with his life yesterday after
noon when in attempting to alight from
the elevator the cage suddenly started
and swept him from his feet to the
floor of the elevator.
To the strength of a broad white
hat which he wore Merritt probably
owes his happy escape from instant
death by the decapitation route and
as It was he was considerably shaken
I'm and had to be taken to his home In
a carriage.
Merritt went to the office of the
district attorney yesterday afternoon
to transact some business and then In
company with Capt. Fredericks start
ed to leave the court house building
AS the cage dropped TO the basement
through which the tunnel leads to
New High street, the occupants of the
elevator started to leave All had en-
tered the tunnel with the exception
of Merritt He was the last to leave
and as he attempted to step from the
elevator to the tunnel. the sliding doors
them. Like n flash the cage swung
skyward and Merritt was jammed
against the roof of the entrance. His
hat caught in the slide upon which
the doors are operated and Merritt
released from that grip of death just
In the nick of time, dropped back to
the floor of the elevator. not however,
until he had received a vicious blow
on the head by his sudden collision
with the roof Of the stone arched en-
trance to the elevator.
Says Negro Was Careless
The cage was stopped by Janitor
Johnson at the second floor and the
injured man was taken back to the
tunnel. where the former occupants OF
the machine who had Witnessed the
accident. managed to revive him. II
was several minutes before he recov-
cred his senses from the force of the
blow and then representatives of the
district attorneys office sent him home
In carriage.
"The accident was due to the care
lessness of the janitor who was oper-
ating the elevator said Merritt. "On
the way down in the cage he was talk
ing with another negro in the elevator
and when we reached the ground he
did not pay attention to his elevator
grip and let the machine get beyond
his control. l was just in the act OF
stepping out of the cage when I felt
the floor shoot upward, taking me with
It, At the same time the automatic
sliding doors slammed together, pinch
Ing me between them and that for a
fraction of second broke the speed
at which my head was going for the
stone arched top of the entrance tc
the cage. p
1.-The next second my head hit the
archway and my hat was dashed over
my eyes. That caused me to draw my
head suddenly backwards and at the
same time the hat stuck in the grooves
of the sliding doors and was released
and thrown to the floor of the cage
But for my sudden fall back in the
elevator my head would have been
caught between the floor of the cage
and the top of the arch, and at the
rate the elevator was going there could
have been but one result, and that
would have been decapitation."
Janitor Johnson, who was in charge
of the elevator at the time of the ac-
cident, stated that he was talking to
one of the other janitors while the
cage was descending and that when 1t
reached the ground. he threw over the
safety lever but that the lever did not
catch in the groove made for 1t. AS
result, the jar of the people leaving
the elevator snapped the lever loose
and the cage shot upward.
Aside from a bruise across the fore
head and the shock, Mr. Merritt suf-
fered no injuries and 1t is thought
that he will have entirely recovered
within few days.