Fort
Wayne, Indiana
Electric Works' Tower Accident
November 10, 1915
ONE MAN IS KILLED
When Upper Section of Construction Tower
Collapses This Morning
One man was injured so badly that the died
within an hour at the St. Joseph's hospital and
another was painfully hurt at 10 o'clock this
morning when the upper thirty feet of the
156-foot construction tower, being used in the
erection of the new
 storage
warehouse at the Fort Wayne Electric works'
plant, in Broadway, suddenly collapsed.
The Victims.
Frank Farrell,
1805 Wall street, aged 25 years. Died
at St. Joseph's hospital at 11:10 o'clock.
Charles. M. Helwig,
of Hammond, painfully, but not
seriously hurt; his injuries consisting of
bruises.
The cause of the accident has not been yet
ascertained. The tower was built in the
shape of an elevator shaft and was used to haul
concrete to the upper floors of the building.
It was built of six by six-inch wood and was
tightly bolted together. Guy wires were
also used to steady the tower.
Fell 115 Feet.
Farrell was stationed on a platform 115 feet
above the ground. His job was to take
pails of concrete as they came up the shaft and
pour them into a trough, which led to the third
story moulds. When the upper thirty feet
of the tower collapsed without warning, the
platform was carried down and Farrell was
plunged through the opening in the platform down
through the center of the shaft.
The Fort
Wayne News, Fort Wayne, IN 10 Nov 1915
MAN HURLED TO DEATH WHEN SCAFFOLD GIVES WAY
When the upper thirty feet
of a 156-foot scaffold fell at the new building
being constructed at the Fort Wayne Electric
works at 10:15 o’clock yesterday morning,
Frank Farrell,
aged twenty-seven, 1305 Wall street, was injured
so badly that he died at 11:10 o’clock, less
than an hour later at St. Joseph’s hospital. He
was thrown 125 feet to the ground, but not a
bone in his body was broken, death coming from
internal hurts and concussion of the brain.
Charles M. Helwig,
a Hammond carpenter, was badly but not fatally
injured.
Investigations yesterday by
officials of the A.
Bentley & Sons company, contractors,
failed to reveal the cause of the scaffold’s
collapse. It was made of six by six inch timbers
bolted together and was supported by cables or
guy wires. P.P. Wiant,
civil engineer, stated that the towering
scaffold, which was used as an elevator for the
pouring of concrete was inspected only a few
days ago.
Farrell was working on the
scaffold, emptying the buckets of concrete into
troughs as they were drawn up the inside of the
tower. Without warning the top thirty feet
crumpled and crashed to the ground, throwing
Farrell down the inside of the structure. He was
picked up unconscious and received first aid at
the Electric works’ dispensary, being rushed to
St. Joseph’s hospital where he expired, despite
attempts by Dr. F.J.
Schulz and
Dr. B. Van Sweringen to save his
life.
Helwig, who was nearly buried under
falling timbers on the fourth floor of the
building, sustained a bad scalp wound, cut above
the eye, bad bruise on the leg and slight
bruises from head to foot. He was taken to his
rooming house at 715 Broadway, after receiving
medical attention from
Mrs. Nora L. Turner, in charge of the
Electric works dispensary, and the physicians.
Farrell is survived by a widow and few
months’ old babe, in addition to his father,
G.B. Farrell,
four brothers and two sisters. They are
Andrew,
employed at the Fort Wayne Electric works;
Arthur,
employed where his brother was killed;
Charles, Miss Mary
and Mrs. Martha
Martz, of this city, and
Ernest, of
Toledo.
Funeral services will be
held at 2 o’clock Friday at the house, in charge
of the Rev. J.A.
Nipper. Burial will be in Lindenwood
cemetery.
The Fort Wayne
Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, IN 11 Nov 1915
Transcribed by
Loraine Jordan. Thank you, Loraine!
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