LIFT FATALITY

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11705, 18 December 1923, Page 6

LIFT FATALITY

BOY LOSES HIS LIFE DISTRESSING ACCIDENT AT ACCOUNTANTS’ CHAMBERS. KILLED INSTANTANEOUSLY, A distressing accident which occurred in Accountants’ Chambers, Johnston street, last evening resulted in Gordon Stanley Vanoe, a lad of about 18 years, losing his life. Vance, an employee of Messrs Watkins, Hull, Hunt, and Wheeler, entered the automatic lift of the building in company with another lad, Raymond William Sneddon, employed by the same firm, at about 8.30 o’clock. Both were proceeding upstairs for a wash. Just what happened is unknown, but as the lift connection worked and the automatic ©levator passed the ceiling of the ground floor Vance, who had his back to the door, lost his balance, and fell through the aperture. He was jammed between the lift-floor and wall, and 1b thought to have been killed instantly. POLICE ON SCENE. Mr E. W. Hunt, who had momentarily visited the office, was just leaving when the accident occurred. The police were communicated with, and a doctor in the person of Dr. Gilmer was summoned. On hi® arrival he pronounced 'ife to be extinct. The police subsequently communicated with mechanics at the corporation power-house, and these were entiusted with the work of extricating the body of tho unfortunate boy. Sneddon was able to escape from the lift, as it was brought to the rest just opposite the first floor. He was, in the opinion of Dr. Gilmer,_not in a fit state to be examined, and was taken to his home suffering from shook. One phase of the aocident which caused the mechanics mystification is that similar pattern automatics are constructed so as not to work when the main door is open. Vance’s family are said to reside upon Wellington terrace, and his father is said to he a member of the clerical staff of the Railway Department