September 15, 1961 – Three carpenters fall 43
stories to their death as a scaffold on which they are being lifted separates
from the hoisting hook inside the core of the east tower of Marina City, under
construction north of the river on State Street. Mike Einsele, a worker inside the core, says,
‘We were raising forms inside the core and I was about five feet above
them. They were standing on the
scaffolding, and I guess a cable slipped.
I heard a loud noise and I turned around to look. The bodies bounced crazily, hitting one
obstruction after another, until they hit the bottom. I heard the thuds when they hit and I got
sick. I got out of there then.” [Chicago
Tribune, September 16, 1961] Another
worker, Will Bridges, who was working ten stories below the scaffold and who
had just stepped out of the way to get a drink of water, said, “Everyone inside
the core heard them fall.” Speculation
about the cause suggests that the heavy forms on the scaffold that were being
hoisted for the next phase of concrete work jammed against the wall of the core
and twisted the hoisting hook enough so that the scaffold fell away.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
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