Occupations
Many of the occupations during the early 1900s were industrial ones in the factories and mills. Another occupation often forgotten about, though, is being a housewife. This occupation in today’s society is difficult to imagine what it was like in the 1900s when they did not have the advancements we have today. Many housewives perished in oil-lamp explosions, and from burns they received from boiling water and bonfires.
1893
A 50-year-old male was employed at Macaroni works to...make macaroni!! The Male was hired on a Monday and died on a Monday. He previously had experience in New York making some Macaroni; however his experience did not help him in Pittsburgh. He fell into the giant revolving mixing Stone for making macaroni, and was found 1/2 hour later inside the mixing bowl. The death was labeled accidental. The documents filed in this report were very fragile, but there were many accounts and remarks to the death listed in the file. 189302_167
BG 07 Apr 2008
1895
A 37-year-old male employed as a structural iron-worker died in an accident during the construction of a bridge. Two strong gusts of wind apparently blew a large iron girder from the cables supporting it, causing it to fall and strike the victim. The testimonies of all the workers who witnessed this accident stated the belief that the deceased could have avoided the falling girder by simply running in the opposite direction. When the emergency alarm was sounded to indicate an accident the deceased ran in the direction of the falling girder. 189501_338
TG 07 Apr 2008
1918
In a somewhat unusal case, a frieght mover died in a fashion that will seem pretty familiar to those who have watched cartoons. While at work, he was crushed by a piano that they were lifting using a pulley.
191803-061
AFS 11 June 2008
In February on 1918, three men that worked at the Carrie Furnaces in the Rankin Boro. were crushed by a fall of coal that was coming through the coal chute while they were at work. They all died on the same day as the accident.
191803-041, 191803-042, and 191803-043
AFS 12 June 2008
1926
Looking through these files gives you a constant reminder of the dangerous working environments that laborers faced in the 1920s. Coal mining is rooted in the history of Western Pennsylvania, and unfortunately, so are the accidents that come with it. On April 19th, 1926 in the Warden Mine, there were three deaths on the same day, but completely unrelated because the times of the accidents were not the same. One victim was run over by a mine motor, another killed when slate fell on him, and the third was crushed by the mine motor while being pulled from the motor by a cable. 192604_195-192604_197
It is not surprising to see how accidents/deaths were a part of the mining occupation, but it was revealing that accidents leading to death on the job seem to be taken nonchalantly. In today's world, if an accident happens that leads to death, the work site is usually shut down for the day for safety reasons. In the 1920s, it appeared that, if someone died, the work continued as if nothing had happened. The government did not take a serious examination of the mining industry hazards until the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.
MG 13 Sept 2007
1928
Case file 192810_43 is an interesting occupation-related death. Upon opening the file I found that there was a newspaper article enclosed. The article said that four men were working on a skiff boat in the Ohio River, and an eye witness saw the boat flip. The witness called the police to save the men, but only one man could be found, and he had passed away. The remaining three men were not found. I worked through the next couple boxes of files and I could not find any information on the other three men. I do not know if they were ever found.
AL 27 Sept 2007
It appears to me that the occupation listed for immigrant workers is "laborer." This seems to be pretty consistent throughout the files. It does not surprise me, however, as incoming immigrants were considered to be not as skillful, and therefore found jobs as laborers. Not being allowed to have more prestigious jobs is probably a sign of the times, when immigrants with foreign cultures and languages were seen as inferior.
MG 27 Sept 2007
1932
File 193212_37 involved a department store night watchman who fell into an elevator shaft. As he fell, he struck his head on the counterweights, depositing hair on two of the bolts which are present in envelopes in the file along with pictures of the elevator shaft opening and inside of the shaft. Glass paned sliding doors were all that separated the open shaft from the hall way of the store. On the elevator, there was a grate door can be seen in one of the pictures.
ZB 18 Oct 2007
1957
File 195710_234 involved a man who died of a "crushed head and mangled body" due to being run over by a mine motor at the Renton coal mine. The victim was riding on a flatbed behind the locomotive motor carrying equipment into the mine. Upon passing a switch in the tracks, the flatbed suddenly became stuck and jerked the man in front of the still moving locomotive motor, which had successfully passed through the switch.
TG 29 Jan 2008
1960
A 41-year-old construction worker died at a cemetery where he was working. The wooden board which acted as the floor of the scaffold he was standing on broke, causing him and another worker to fall 16 feet. The other man only sustained minor injuries, but the deceased fell onto a steel reinforcing rod projecting from the concrete below. The steel rod penetrated his neck and head, injuring his neck, mouth, palate, and brain. Two other construction workers died at the same site about four months previously. These men perished as a result of a cave-in during the construction of a mausoleum. 196004_176
TG 15 Feb 2008
1961
A 51-year-old pro-wrestler, who went by the name "Ali Pasha", was wrestling in the Pittsburgh Area with another famous wrestler. After winning his bout with a pin, Ali Pasha went to his dressing room in pain, and fell to the floor. He was rushed to Allegheny General, where he died of arteriosclerotic heart disease (heart attack). When going though the reports, there were no signs that he had any previous troubles or drugs such as steroids found on him. 196106_002
BG 2/24/08
A 38-year-old man died while working at the Allegheny Contracting Industries Inc. The man was scraping an asphalt mixture from the inside of a large bin used in the mixing process. The man apparently slipped and fell into the asphalt below him. As a result of the impact of his fall, much of the remaining asphalt on the sides of the bin slid to the bottom and buried him. A rescue attempt was made, but unsuccessfully. The coroner recommended in his report that workers should be harnessed to safety belts with cables while doing such work. 196109_39
TG 26 Feb 2008
1964
In December of this year, a 40-year-old white male died of bronchopneumonia following second and third degree burns of 50 percent of his body. A steel drum exploded in front of him while he was at work at an auto dealership. The deceased was cleaning up the shop and was using an acetylene torch. There were no witnesses to the explosion, but it was believed that the deceased was using the torch near the steel barrel or was using it to remove the top of the barrel. The barrel was empty, but had previously been filled with antifreeze. The fumes inside were ignited, causing the explosion. There was a warning label on the barrel saying to keep it away from open flames. The barrel was found on the roof of a building, "some distance away" according to the affidavit of one employee. 196412_015
TG 12 Mar 2008
A group of ten year old boys were watching a bulldozer move earth. The operator told them to stay away a few times. However, they got a little too close and a pile of dirt was pushed into the leg of one of the boys. He was stuck there, so instead of telling the operator, his friends ran home to get help. A second push of dirt completely buried the kid, killing him. 196411_65
BF 20 Mar 2008
1965
A 60-year-old white male, employed as a floor furnisher, died of bronchopneumonia following 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree burns of more than 50 percent of his body due to an explosion and fire in the home in which he was working. He and three other men were using a compound mixed with gasoline to fill the cracks in a floor they were sanding. A spark from the floor sander ignited the gasoline and caused the explosion. The other three men working in the house were also burned, but recovered from their injuries. 196510_137
TG 17 Mar 2008
1972
A 23-year-old white male died after falling 250 feet into a pile of debris at the bottom of a smoke stack. The man was a laborer for the Rust Egineering Company, who was contracted to replace the brick inside the smoke stack. The man and his co-workers had finished their work and were in the process of taking down the scaffolding used for the job when the end on which the deceased was standing broke away from its support and he fell. There were three other men on the same section of scaffolding as the deceased, but, being further away from the end that fell, they were able to grab onto the adjacent scaffold and avoid falling. 197206_202
TG 28 Mar 2008
A 21-year-old white male died of pneumonia with infection of wounds and septicemia from second and third degree burns of 85 percent of his body. The deceased worked in a paint shop. He used some paint thinner to clean his hands after cleaning up a spill. According to his co-workers, the man was a heavy smoker. Although there were no witnesses, it was believed by those working at the shop that the deceased lit a cigarette and this ignited the fluid and caused the explosion resulting in his burns. 197209_230
TG 31 Mar 2008
A 59-year-old white male died of asphyxiation due to thoracic compression when the hole in which he was standing in order to install a sewer pipe in a residential yard caved in on him. He was immediately buried up to his neck and was unable to breath. The owner of the home was about to hand the man a shovel when this collapse occurred and tried to keep his head above the dirt. He was unable to do so. The hole was about twelve feet long and between eight and ten feet deep. Contained in the file was a short reel of film shot by KDKA. The film records the excavation of the deceased's body from the hole. Workers uncover the body with shovels and attach it to the end of a small crane in order to lift the deceased from the dirt. The film concludes with the opening remarks of the interview conducted with the owner of the home who was the only witness to the accident. This is reportedly the first film to be found in the coroner case files. This is perhaps the result of the KDKA film crew happening to be present for this interview during the excavation of the body from the yard. 197210_10
TG 31 Mar 2008
A construction worker was killed by a metal bar that fell from the 13th floor of a building at Bigelow and O'Hara in Oakland. It was calculated that the 47 inch long bar fell at a speed of 55.7 mph. I looked on the internet, and the 15-story Chevron Science Center is at the corner of Bigelow and O'Hara. It was under construction in 1972, and I found a picture of it at the University Archives website, here. 197208_101
BF 03 Apr 2008
A steam roller operator was running his steam roller at a construction area. There was no seat so he had to stand while driving it. He apparently slipped off and was run over by it. 197208_208
BF 03 Apr 2008
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