Nine Boys and A Man Fall Down Shaft

En kall januarinatt i 1904, när staden St. Louis was preparing for the World’s Fair which would make it famous, overzealous co-workers killed seven boys and a man. Det var 5:45 p.m. den 13 januari på gamla Brown Shoe Company fabrik i hörnet av Washington Avenue och North Eleventh Street. Dags för män att få ledigt från arbetet. All the men and boys who worked on the sixth floor of the Brown Shoe factory were crowded around the elevator gate.

Problems occurred at the elevator gate in the past due to overzealous co-workers trying to shove as many people on the elevator as they could. Whether the forecast of snow or sleet for the day had an effect is unknown but the Brown Shoe workers were pushing against the gate so hard the elevator operator could not open the door.

James Johnson, hissoperatör, told the workers they were pushing against the gate too hard and he could not open it. Han bad dem att backa bort från dörren, men de ignorerade honom. Johnson told them he would go to the seventh floor and come back down after they quit pushing on the door.

Efter hissen vänster, någon kunde lyfta grinden. Arbetarna i ryggen såg grindlyft. They began to push the workers waiting at the elevator towards the gate not knowing the elevator was one floor above them. The workers shoved nine boys and a man, the father of one of the unfortunate boys, into the shaft. The workers finally quit pushing when they heard men in the front yelling workers had been pushed into the shaft.

All ten workers fell the seven stories and landed on the concrete floor of the shaft. Someone ran to Director I. H. Sawyer’s office. Sawyer, who ran the Brown Shoe factory, halted the elevator and went to the basement. He told the January 14, 1904 upplagan av St. Louis republiken he would never forget the gruesome scene.

Six of the workers were dead. The workers killed were: Joseph Provaznlk, Inte. 311SA Pennsylvania Avenue; George Rottmann. Inte. 2101 Cass Avenue: Carmine A. M. Giocomo. Inte. 717 Wash Street; Ernest Buschart. Inte. 256 Shenandoah Avenue: George Watson. Inte. 1813 Indiana Avenue. and a boy named Sidener or Sedner. Carmine Giocomo was 45 years old and fell to his death with his son. The rest of the workers were boys 12 till 15 år gammal.

Four of the workers were found unconscious and in grave condition. They were: Abe Weinberg of No. 819 Franklin Avenue ; Lorenzo Giocomo of No. 717 Wash Street; Willie Pearson of No. 4241 John Street and Tony Kirschner of No. 1234 Franklin Avenue. All four were all taken to City Hospital. Weinberg and Giocomo, whose father also died in the fall, passed at 9 p.m. Pearson was expected to die within the next 24 timmar. Only Kirschner, who had multiple fractures, had any chance of surviving. All four of these workers were between 12 och 15 år gammal.

Director I. M. Sawyer personally visited every family and offered the resources of Brown Shoe Company to help them through this tragedy. St. Louis Police briefly arrested the elevator operator. They released him after an elevator inspector said the elevator was working correctly. He held the unknown person, som tog upp porten var ansvarig för olyckan.

Innan barnarbetslagar och OSHA regler, dödliga arbetsplatsolyckor inom tillverkningsindustrin var gemensam plats. Under januari 14 och januari 15, 1904 utgåvor av St. Louis republiken, historier berättade av flera industriolyckor. Ett tåg anställd i företaget slogs och dödad av ett tåg. Dagen efter denna hiss olycka, en arbetare på Rialto byggnaden krossades i en annan hiss olycka. Alfabetet soppa ungar av den federala regeringen är oftast mer av ett hinder än en hjälp. De var kritiska i detta område men.

Gjorde något om denna historia överraska dig? Har det att ge dig en ny syn på tillverkningen vid sekelskiftet det tjugonde århundradet?

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