YOUTH CAUGHT IN LIFT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23796, 1 May 1939, Page 11

YOUTH CAUGHT IN LIFT

JAMMED FOR NINETY MINUTES ANAESTHETIC TO RELIEVE PAIN (From Our Own Corresrondent) SYDNEY, ApJ. 22. Ronald Layton, 19, was jammed by a leg and an arm between a lift and the wall of the lift well for about an hour and a-half in a Sydney wool store, and before he could be released two doctors had to administer an anaesthetic to him. Layton, employed by a wool cartage firm, went to the Ultimo store of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd. It is believed that he entered the lift, driven by hydraulic power, on. the fifth floor, and. after he had pulled the rope, he either slipped or fell before the door had time to close automatically. His left leg and arm became jammed between the floor of the lift and the wall of the lift well as the lift ascended to the sixth and top floor of the building. In this way the lift became jammed and stopped after Layton had been dragged upwards for several feet. Screams for help from Layton attracted employees in other parts of the store, and when ambulance officers arrived within a few minutes the ambulance officers realised that further injury might be inflicted on the youth unless he was extricated under expert supervision. While one ambulance officer tried to minimise Layton’s suffering, the other communicated with his headquarters, and a hospital was requested to provide two doctors immediately. Two doctors were picked up by an ambulance and rushed to the wool store. Layton had been jammed for an hour before the two doctors were able to get to him to administer an anaesthetic, but although he was suffering much pain, he never complained. "Just try to relieve the pressure off my leg,” was all he asked. . While he was under the anaesthetic, lift experts who had been summoned were able to raise the lift sufficiently for the youth to be released. He was then taken by ambulance to hospital and admitted with his leg and arm severely crushed. No bone was fractured, and his condition the next day was not serious. Layton pleaded with the doctors not to amputate his leg. His father had been a cripple since the youth can remember, and it is believed that his fear arose from this. Doctors told the youth’s mother there was no hwtifHation for his fear.