LOCKED IN FREEZER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4608, 11 October 1934, Page 2

LOCKED IN FREEZER

MAN'S NARROW ESCAPE. For four hours and a-half on the night of August 21, Edward Perrett, 63, an engineer at the ice-cream factory of Peters* American Delicacy Company, in Little Collins-street, Melbourne, faced death by freezing. He had become securely bolted in a small ice chamber, measuring 12ft. by 6ft. in which the temperature was six degrees below zero. Frozen moisture glistened on the walls, and there was only the frost-covered floor to rest upon. A nightwatchman, who had gone in search* heard the unusual noise and released Perrett, just as his strength was giving out. Perrett was rushed to his home in Wordsworth-etreet, Moonee Ponds. Perrett explained that he had gone into the chamber to read the tem-

peratures before closing down for the night. "I closed the heavy wooden door behind me," he said, "but I forgot when I slammed it that one of the two handles, connected with the bolt on the outside, was loose. I heard a bang and a click, and instantly I realised that I was a prisoner. There is no way of opening the door from the inside. I rushed to the door and pulled frantically, but my luck was out. The bolt had shot home. It dazed me for a moment. The only sound was the ticking of the machinery which would slowly freeze me to death. The machine was outside and I could not get at it to stop it." Perrett is so msed to his cold work that he does not bother with mufflers. Last night he was wearing a thin suit and overalls. "An icy coldness gripped me and I realised that if I was to live I would have to keep myself warm while I tried to raise an alarm," said Perrett. "There was a large tin in the cham-

ber, so I battered the door with it. I kept up the battering with the tin until my blows became automatic. I had some crazy notion that I might batter that heavy door down with the tin can." Perrett said that after he had become nearly exhausted, his tortured mind raised a new fear. He knew that, if the machinery was left unattended for very long, it might "draw back" and begin pumping foul air into the chamber. "That thought," he isaid, "gave me new strength. I grabbed the tin again and went for the heavy door with all the might I could gather. Then my strength began to fail again. The whole of my right side was numb, and I began to get dizzy. 'lt's all over with me,' I said to myself. Suddenly, the door swung open and I staggered out into the warmth. Mrs Perrett had become alarmed when her husband did not arrive home at h's usual hour, and hlad telephoned the factory, could not get

an answer, and rang 3TJZ broadcasting station, which adjoins the ice cream factory. There she found Mr Hockham, who was listening to the cricket. Hockham immediately went in search of Perrett, releasing him just in time. It will be several days before Perrett recovers from frost-bite.