Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-05
LOCKED IN VAULT,
OFFICIAL FAC ES
AGON|z|NC DEATH
Deputy U. S. Court Clerk lmpriS-
oned in Federal Building
Strong Room
LIFE SAVED BY AN ACCIDENT
Hart Beats Desperately on Steel
and Concrete Walls Trying
to Summon Help
LIFE SAVED BY AN ACCIDENT

Cropping blindly about in an alright
vault of concrete and steel on the
fourth floor of the new federal build
ing, while in the room adjoining his
fellow clerks bent over their books
needless of his peril, Deputy Clerk w.
G. Hart of the United States district
court was held prisoner fifteen minutes
yesterday until released by V. W.
owen. assistant clerk of the court, who
CHANGED to open the massive door of
the safe in search of legal documents.
Hart, his clothes disordered, his eyes
wildly staring, and his knuckles
bruised from pounding the hard walls
of his prison, astonished his friends
by staggering out of the dark vault.
almost in a faint.
Hart threw open the doors of the
vault shortly before o'clock yester-
day afternoon, an hour before the
closing of the office for the day, with
an armful of books and papers which
he intended to stow away for the night.
AS he entered the vault the big door
swung silently back and closed, max
ing the young man a prisoner. Hart,
who was in a corner of the vault, bend
ing over a pile of books, rose quickly
to his feet as the door closed and ran
blindly toward the entrance, stumbling
over a row of books and falling to the
floor. After several moments he found
the door by cropping along the walls
and shouted to his friends in the room
outside, Several feet of concrete and
steel blocked all chance of their hear
ing him, but in desperation he beat on
the steel door with his hands and
shouted.
GIVES WAY TO DESPERATION
Suddenly he realized that those in
the room might not have occasion to
enter the safe until the next morning,
as he had jusC completed putting away
all of the documents of the office for
the day Fearful that the clerks would
leave the office for their homes and he
would be imprisoned until the mornes
ing, and already feeling the need Of
fresh air, Hart, in sheer desperation,
sank. to his knees at the base of the
door, and with his fists beat a tattoo
on the steel surface while he strained
his throat in fruitless effort to send the
sound of his voice through the door.
1T was the most dreadful experience
ever had in my life," said Hart,
chokingly. II must have swung the
safe door open with too much force,
for it suddenly rebounded from its
hinges with a force that closed and
locked it.
"The first intimation I had that I
WAS lOCKGQ III WAS Wu6U Lie SldlL VI
light that came through the doorway
was suddenly eXtinguished. The idea
of being penned in there in the dark
with solid walls of steel and concrete
and impure air shocked me. l rushed
toward the door, but before 1 reached it
1 fell over pile of books. When l
regained my feet had lost my bear
ings. The only way 1 could find the
door was by feeling along the walls.
SURPRISED BY RESCUE
1T first held the hope that the boys
outside the room could hear me, but
after ten minutes or so of shouting
and pounding on the vault door with
my hands realized it was useless and
that it was probably all night for me.
Yet while the boys were in the office
l knew there was chance. Before
Owen opened the door I began to
breathe hard and feel the lack of pure
air. When he swung the door open 1t
took me so by surprise that it broke
me up. I guess L won't get my nerves
steady until tomorrow"
The vault in which Hart was impriS-
oned is the same as the others in
stalled in every department of the fed
eral building. 1t has no outlet when its
door is closed. The electric lights are
even brought in from the outside.
1t is thoroughly encased in concrete
and steel, and occupies floor space of
1Ox1O feet, with a low ceiling. The
vault is nearly filled with old docu-
ments which in some places are stacked
so high that they mount to the ceiling.
The air in the vault is always close
and it is said human being confined
for period of two hours would die of
suffocation.
Those working in the office say they
had no intimation that Hart had en-
tered the vault, and not seeing him in
the room, believed he was either in
some other part of the building or had
left the place on an errand. Hart's
home is at 1906 Orange street