St Louis, Missouri, USA
1904 - TEN DROP TO THEIR DEATH - EMPLOYES OF THE BROWN SHOE COMPANY AT ST. LOUIS CROWD AT ELEVATOR. BREAK DOWN THE GUARDS

And Shove Those Next to the Carriage Into the Shaft and To a Fatal Fall of Six Stories.

St. Louis, Jan. 13 – A crowd of employes pressing against an elevator gate tonight on the sixth floor of the Brown Shoe company building caused ten persons to plunge down the shaft. Six were taken out dead and of the other four two died in the hospital and two are fatally injured. The dead:

JOSEPH PROVANZENIK.
GEORGE ROTHMANN.
ANTONIO GIACOMA.
LORENZ GIACOMA.
Three unidentified.
Fatally injured:
Tony Kirschner.
William Pearson.

James Johnson, the elevator operator, was arrested pending an investigation. Johnson said the elevator door did not break, but that it had been raised by the employes while waiting for the car to descend to the floor, and suddenly the employes in the rear of the crowd began pushing, precipitating them down the shaft. Factory Superintendent Fray corroborated Johnson’s story.

Decatur Herald
Decatur, Illinois
January 15, 1904

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