New-York tribune., 1908-03-17
TWO KILLED BY CEILING
SEARCH FOR ANOTHER.
Floor Weighted By Izcenty Tons Of
Sazcdust IN Brezcery COIlapses.
GENERAL FIRMIN.
Leader of the reyolutionists.

d
pipes and twenty tons of damp sawdust, is
known to have killed two men. and possibly
three besides seriously injuring a workman
and boy in one OF the cehOuses at tho Pabst
Brewing Company's plant. No. 606 West 10Th
street. yesterday afternoon The accident oc-
Cured SO Unexpectedly and so quickly that the
survivors said they had scarcely a moments
warning before the roof had crashed upon them
At that time Joseph Turner. the contractor who
was among the killed in the act of driving
out three boys and two women who were look
ing for frewood. His orders 70 them probably
saved their lives
THE DEAD.
TURNER. Joseph forty-fve years old, contractor No
IS9 Preston avenue. Long Island City
UNIDENTIFIED WORKMAN, Italian. about thirty
METER Antonio, forty-nine years old lahorer. No
POI Bethune street. internal injuries night leg ana
crRf1IRBE Iokn se.en Years old No 4qth
str-et LETT rip tntern.l injuries Belle
OF the six men. including iIr. Turner. who
were at work in the icehouse, the only ones to
escape uninjured were Joseph Turner. jr, the
contractors son and Dewitt Harrington and
Louis Scottio, laborers They had just stepped
out from the room when the crash came Young
Turner who is about twenty-One years old. was
on his way to ask F. Stoeger superintendent Of
the brewery. TO have the women and children
kept out of the icehouse. where they had been
interfering with the carpenters Turner was
hvsterical for time, but finally managed to
say:
THE last saw of my father he was raising
his hand to emphasize mis- orders 10 the boys
and women He told them they could gather
the wood refuse after hours. All OF them must
have obeyed him quickly enough to be out CT
danger with the exception of the ORourke boy.
| had hardly turned my back ct the door when
rhere was a sudden crash, and when 1 looked
back into the room it was full of choking dust.
while where my father and his men had been
standing there We're great heaps of sawdust
with tangle of iron pipes sticking up.
The cause of the accident still in doubt
last night for young Turner said that he and his
father had remodelled the interior of a similar
fceroom in the brewery short time ago and
that on last Wednesday father and son began
70 inspect the of yesterdays accident.
They found nothing TO indicate the ceiling could
not hold the strain it At o'clock yesterday
afternoon the Turner's took four workmen to the
room the ground floor of the building and
began 10 tear out the old woodwork to reft the
interior. They had just begun on the ceiling
four hours later when it fell The ceiling
attached TO the floor above by perpendicular
joists bout four feet long To the ends of these
between held the refrigeratng pipes which
pa cked III sawdust After the ceiling dropped it
seemed as if the weight it had simply pulled
the nails out of the joists. tearing the old wood
like putty
The mother of little Johnny" O'Rourke. who
had sent him get firewood, tainted when the
police told her of his death.
The boy had Jagged behind the women and
other children who were being driven out, and
he stopped over in corner to pick up d broken
board. This saved his life, for, with the crash
the iron pipes and wooden ceiling came down in
such way to form pocket in which the
boy caught and partly protected from the
great weight of the sawdust Metzer's escape
was of the same nature.
Almost an hour of feverish work was needed
before Mr.. Turner's body found where
he probably had been killed instantly. As
the digging progressed the Rev. Father John
Chadwick formerly the chaplain the Maine
and now of ST. Ambroses Church, aided the
men When the body of the unidentified !aborer
was found Father Chidwick crept down among
the pipes to see If there need of his ser
vices The man had been suffocate ted. and
body knew his name, for he with four others.
had been hired for the first time yesterday
workman who said he was Louis Scotto
appeared and said he was the man supposed to
be missing The contractors son did not re-
member him, although Scottio seemed to be
telling a straight though excited story
Representatives Of the Department of Build
ines examined young Turner and the supern-
teudent of the brewery. Captain DAILY said there
would be no arrests since the contract had been
let by the brewery officials to Turner, and he
was the person responsible for seeing that the
work was done according TO law Superinten-
dent Murphy OF the Buildings Department re
fused 10 make IA statement last night. Coroner
Hamburger announced that he was angry and
would write 10 Commissioner Bingham because
the police had not told him of the accident until
TWO hours after II happened.