Construction work in the heart of Washington, D.C., came to a sudden and terrifying halt when thousands of pounds of steel broke loose high above the street.
At the southeast corner of 15th and G Streets NW, on the site of the old Riggs House, workers were raising steel beams for a new hotel and theater building when the derrick gave way. In an instant, roughly nine thousand pounds of steel crashed downward, smashing a truck in two and throwing its frightened horses into the air.
Only one man, 21-year-old iron worker Michael Perry, was reported injured, though many others narrowly escaped being crushed beneath the falling beams.
The following account, published in 1911, describes a construction accident that could have become a far greater tragedy in the crowded streets of Washington, D.C.
Steel Beams Crash
Washington, D.C. — One man was injured and a score of others narrowly escaped death when about nine thousand pounds of steel, which was being hoisted to the sixth floor of the hotel and theater building being erected at the southeast corner of 15th and G Streets NW, on the site of the old Riggs House, crashed to the ground.
Michael Perry, an iron worker, 21 years of age, the only person injured, is at the Emergency Hospital. His left leg was fractured in two places below the knee and his right leg was badly cut.
Shortly after 10 o’clock a team owned by the Littlefield Alvord Company hauled a load of steel beams, to be used in the construction work of the building, into the fenced-in space along the 15th Street side of the site.
A large derrick which has been in use in lifting the steel beams into position since the work started several weeks ago, was in position on the 6th floor, about the center of the building.
A mast had been erected and guide ropes secured at several places. The boom attached to the mast of the derrick had been lowered and a heavy iron pulley through which the steel cables run was lowered to the wagon. Eleven of the steel beams were fastened together by means of a heavy iron chain. This chain was later attached to the bottom of the pulley.
Gave Way Suddenly
Perry, who was in charge of the hoisting of the beams, was standing a short distance from the wagon. He had signaled another employee on the 6th floor and the beams started slowly upward.
Just as they reached a position about level with the 4th floor the mast either slipped from its position on the steel work of the sixth floor or one of the guide ropes broke.
Without warning the derrick gave way. It struck on the steel work and remained there. The steel beams, however, released by the fall of the derrick, fell on the wagon, from which they had a few moments before been removed.
The truck was broken in two, the rear end of the front portion being depressed and the front part elevated, lifting the thoroughly frightened horses into the air.
Perry was unable to get to a place of safety when he saw the derrick start to fall and one of the pieces of steel struck him on the leg, knocking him to the ground. A number of other employees had been almost directly under the spot where the wagon stood a short time before, it is stated, and had gone to work on the top floor of the building.
Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. December 12, 1911.
