The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1910-02-10

by the plunger. The passengers were
thrown in a heap at the bottom of the
well and the cries of the wounded men
for help could be heard above the noise
of the falling car. Many of the
men fed from the heap of men
not thinking of the injured, but
led by Claude Waters, a relief force
was organized and in remarkably short
time the injured men had been taken
from the heap.
The news of the falling of the eleva-
tor was quickly communicated to every
portion of the great factory and the
rooms about the fallen car were throng-
ed with people. The managers of the
plant and the Office men hurried to the
scene of the accident and were most
active in the removal of the injured
men. The story of the accident scat
tered like wild fire about the city and
the report was sent out mat many peo-
pie had been killed. The three am
balances in the city hurried to the
factory and as many as possible of the
injured men were removed to the Ke-
nosha Hospital in the ambulances while
others were sent to their homes in car
riages. Every nurse in the city was
called for duty at the hospital and in
addition three graduate nurses were
called down from Milwaukee to aid in
caring for the injured.
Stories that YAM Gasbeck had both
legs cut off spread about the city and
a big crowd of men and women gath
cred about the hospital. Van Gasbeck
who was terribly injured proved to be
the nerviest man in the bunch and not
withstanding his terrible injuries he
personally directed the. work of his re-
moval from the mass 1t the bottom of
the well. Most of the men in the car
suffered slight injuries and many of
them complained of lame backs this
morning.
The escape of so large a body of men
without any one being fatally injured
is regarded as most fortunate.
At the plant this morning the Of
fcials of the company discussed the
accident at length and the real cause
of the falling of the elevrtor was that
it was overloaded The elevator made
by the Keickheifer company is the
most recent inventions in the elevator
line and it was regarded as car which
could not meet with accident. It was
of the hydraulic pattern the car being
supported by a plunger which was
operated by water power. The capa-
city of the elevator was 5000 pounds
and it had been tested to lifting pow.
er Of 1000. When ft is stated that
there were between 35 and 40 full
grown men on the car it will be seen
that it was taxed beyond its highest
efficiency
z. G. Simmons, Jr., the general man
ager Of the company, in speaking of
the accident this morning said: "We
were very much astonished at the ac-
cident That elevator was supposed
to be the best hydraulic elevator made
and it was of, the latest pattern. It
was the last elevator installed by the
company and this was probably the
first accident of the kind that ever hap
pened. We have tried repeatedly to
impress on the men employed in the
factory that freight elevators must not
be used for passenger service and every
elevator is plainly marked with a
warning against such USE However,
it has been impossible to prevent this
use of these elevators and at times the
men in charge of them have been
whipped because they refused to carry
the workmen as passengers. If we
were to seek to prevent the use of the
elevators it would be necessary to have
a force greater than the force of en-
ployes to fight the men off the cars.
We deplore the accident deeply and
are doing all we can to furnish first
aid to the injured men,"
Mr.. Vincent stated that he had close
ly Investigated the accident and that
he could find no cause for the breaking
of the plunger. There did not seem
to be any defect in it and in his
opinion the accident must have been
caused by the overlooking of the ele-
vator.
Nothing has as yet been done to re-
build the elevator but it will undoubt-
edly be rebuilt within a short time.
HAD CHARTER MEMBER NIGHT