Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1910 — PETER GRIESER ALMOST SMOTHERED IN CORN BIN. [ARTICLE]

PETER GRIESER ALMOST SMOTHERED IN CORN BIN.

Timely Discovery Saved Life of Elevntor Employe, Who Was Drawn Into Pit of Shelled Corn.

Peter Grieser, who works at the Babcock & Hopkins elevator, almost met his death Friday night. He had gone into one of the corn chutes to sweep the side walls preparatory' to running oats through the chute. He climbed down a ladder inside the bin until he reached the shelled corn and then stood on the com as he swept the dust from the walls. He did not notice that he was sinking into the corn until it was too late to extricate himself and he was drawn downward by the suction until his body and head were covered up. Harvey Moore, the foreman of the night force, saw that the cbm had stopped flowing from the chute opening below and first thought that all the corn was out, but as he looked up the channel leading to the bin, he thought he heard a faint voice call, and he ran up the steps to an opening leading to a side* trap door. This door was forced shut by the weight of the grain in the bin but he reached his hands through an opening at the bottom and they came into contact with a hand from within. Harve did not wait to hunt an axe, but whaled away with his fist and shattered the door and the corn began to pour out at the side of the chute and down the steps. He could see in the faint light, a pair of hands above the corn, but he could not rescue the owner single-handed. He gave the alarm to the other workmen and

with shovels and their. hands, they scooped the grain from about the man. As soon as the grain was low enough so that Harve could reach his hand down, he followed the face with it and gave the almost smothered man a breath of air by shoving the grain away from his nose and mouth. It was some little time before the corn was below the head and the rescuers were then compelled to take a short rest, after Grieser had assured them that he was not suffering. When the gum was below the arms, the men tried to extricate the corn-immersed workman by pulling him out, but the weight of the corn was so great that he could not be bulged and it was necessary to remove the grain to his waist line and then attach a rope beneath Grieser’s arms before he could be pulled out. He was not much the worse for wear, and in fact, felt better than his rescuers, who had worked so rapidly that they were quite overcome and Harve had bruised his hand when he mashed the trap door in. Had it not been for the timely discovery Grieser would have smothered to death. As it was, he was only covered up some six or seven minutes but he would have died in a few more minutes. Today he is about as usual and is not in the least the worse for his experience.