Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1879 — A Doable Peril. [ARTICLE]

A Doable Peril.

Generally speaking, the danger of elevators is that of their going down too fast, as happened in Boston the other day; and the reverse process is far less common. A singular and nearly fatal accident, however, of the latter nature, befell three persons cm Saturday at the Briggs Colliery of the Lackawanna Coal andiron Company, at Scranton. Miss Floyd Jones, of New York, was cm a visit to the family of Mr. W. W. Scranton, general manager of the company. The lady wished to see the process of mining and preparing anthracite coal for use. Mr. Scranton therefore escorted Miss Floyd Jones to the bottom of the main shaft, by means of the elevator used for the purpose, making Superintendent Brooks one at the party as an additional precaution against danger. Tne inspection at the bottom of the shaft was prosperously effected, and Superintendent Brooks then signaled to the engineer above, Albert Roskelly, and told him through a pipe to hoist the elevator to the top of the tower erf the “breaker,” which is 160 feet above the month of the shaft and 460 feet above the bottom. The object erf this was to enable the lady to examine the screen-rooms and Other departments where breaking and cleaning coal is always going on. Mr. Roskelly made the usual reply, “All right,” ana the elevator went up in the usual way. But while the ascent was in progress an unlucky casualty occurred. By some chance which has not yet, that we can see, been explained, Roskelly lost control of his engine. The consequence was that the elevator flew upward with lightning speed. * Almost in a moment the car was dashed with prodigious violence against the roof timbers of the tower. The instant effect of this was to snap the wire hoisting-rope that lifts the car at the point where it runs through the sheave-wheel; and the next effect, of course, was that the elevator fell. Had the machine dropped to the bottom of the shaft none of its occupants would have drawn another breath. Probably a fall of much less than four hundred and fifty feet would have sufficed for a fatal result. But instead of this the car slipped swiftly down for a foot or two, gave a sudden jolt, vibrated for a few seconds and then stood still. The safety catches had done their work. The carriage was firmly held on either side, and with a prayer of inward thanksgiving the party sat silent and motionless. For they aid not know but that a movement, however slight, might cause the catches to give wayJ' The concussion had been sudden and violent, and the fact that the break had occurred while the car was in the act of goin^ 1 up, instead of while it was in the act oJ 1 going down, might, as the suspended inmates thought, somehow enhance their peril. Thus all sat speechless, as if they had been turned into stone, and made not the most trifling motion until the workmen came to their assistance. Ladders were presently at hand, and the tourists were rescued from their hazardous position. To be hanging at a height of five hundred feet in the air with but a plank, as may be said, between one ana destruction, and no certainty as to how long the plank may remain fixed at its dizzy eminence, is a situation a single experience of which would be found by most persons amply sufficient. Even the acquisition of scientific or industrial knowledge, praiseworthy as it is, can scarcely be esteemed a compensation for the lingering terrors that the party in the Scranton elevator must have felt during the moments, which must have seemed hours, between their accident and their rescue.— N. Y. Evening Post.