Death

Gramps ID E2331
Date 1904-06-06
Place Manhattan, New York
Description derrick collapse at Delancey St. pier of Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan

Source References

  1. Brooklyn Daily Eagle [S0111]
      • Date: 1904-06-04
      • Page: 2
      • Citation:

        death of Robert J. Maguire
        https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/53107115/
        some OCR typos tweaked, and paragraphs added

        The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
        Brooklyn, New York
        Monday, June 6, 1904
        Page 2

        Three Other Workers Were Badly Injured When Robert McGuire Met His Fate

        TRYING TO LIFT GRANITE MASS

        Everybody Thought the Apparatus Had Been Rigged-Properly, but Something Went Wrong.

        One man was instantly killed and three other men were injured this
        morning by the breaking of the mast the main upright timber of a
        derrick on the south roadway of the Williamsburg Bridge on the
        Delancey Street anchorage, Manhattan.  The man killed was Robert
        McGuire, 34 years old, married, a stonecutter, of 153 Second avenue.
        Long Island City.  The injured men were Julius Kaluza, a cabinetmaker,
        of 420 East Sixteenth street, Manhattan, lacerated scalp; Samuel Koiz,
        32 years old, a tanner, of 112 Seventh street, Manhattan, contusions
        of the right leg, and Charles Durlewanger, 18 years old, of 115
        Hamburg avenue, Brooklyn.

        When the accident happened the derrick was about to hoist a huge block
        of granite.  McGuire, the man who was killed, and who had rigged the
        appliance when it was erected to do the work, gave the order to hoist.
        A guy rope broke and the strain snapped the mast as though it was a
        pipe stem.  A piece of the mast struck McGuire on the head with
        terrific force, crushing his head and splitting it open.  The derrick
        apparatus was on a heavy wooden platform built transversely across the
        promenade to protect pedestrians.

        The three men injured were walking on the promenade and were hit by
        pieces of flying woodwork.  Patrolman Colgan, of the Delancey street
        station, telephoned from the tower for an ambulance from the
        Gouverneur Hospital.  Dr.  Dosh, of that Institution, treated the
        injured and dressed their wound on the bridge.  They did not go to the
        hospital.  McGuire's body was taken to the Delancey street station.

        Captain O'Connor, of the Delancey street station, said no arrests had
        been or would be made, as McGuire had superintended the erection of
        the derrick and was in charge of it when the accident occurred.  He
        was employed by the owners, Snare & Trieste, of 39 Cortlandt street.
        The derrick was used in the erection of comfort stations on the
        promenade and roadway opposite Mangin street.

         

References

  1. Maguire, Robert J. [I1426]