Salt Lake Telegram | 1904-06-13 | Page 3 | Boy Falls to Death

BOY FALLS TO DEATH ' John E. Rccs Plunges . From Sixth Story Down Elevator Shaft. John Ernest Rees, J5 years old, employed em-ployed as an extra elevator boy in' the McCornick building, was instantly killed yesterday morning by falling down the west side of the . elevator shaft from the sixth floor to the basement, base-ment, y He struck on the back of his head on the iron bottom of the shaft, breaking his neck and fracturing his skull. Rees had taken a passenger to the seventh floor and descended to the ; sixth, where for some unknown reason : he left the elevator, remaining away '. for some little time. During his absence ab-sence the cage crept slowly upward, as all hydraulic elevators do. and when the boy heard a bell ring he hurried to the shaft, and falling to notice that the cage had left the floor, opened the door and plunged Toff into the open shaft. Engineer W. O. McClain, who was In his workroom in the basement, heard the noise of the body striking the floor and hurried to the shaft, -where he was horrified by his discovery. discov-ery. The body was removed to the undertaking' under-taking' establishment of J. W. Taylor, where it will be prepared for burial. Engineer McClain said that the elevator ele-vator was in good condition, and that the boy had been warned that it would creep, and had been ordered not to leave the cage for more than a very few minutes at a time. Young Kees was a son of J. A. Rees. r'l a blacksmith. 1000 South Second West V street. He was a bright, industrious - boy and a favorite with his associates. The father and mother were almost flcostrated by the sudden blow to them. The Coroner decided that an inquest was unnecessary. The funeral services over the remains re-mains will be held Tuesday afternoon et 2 o'clock from the Fifth ward meeting-house. The remains can be viewed ' tomorrow from 12 o'clock noon until 1:30 o'clock at the residence.