They Fell to Their Deaths: Part 2

 

Back in 2016 I posted an article, "They Fell to Their Deaths", in which I explored various Pennsylvania landmarks and the unfortunate folks who went to the Great Beyond by falling or jumping from them. Weirdly, many readers found this post to be morbidly entertaining, and some have asked if I was planning to write a follow-up. So, as a service to the loyal readers of Pennsylvania Oddities (whom I lovingly refer to as Pennsylvania Oddballs), I present this sequel.

1. Starrucca Viaduct (pictured above)

Constructed from locally-quarried bluestone, the Starrucca Viaduct in Susquehanna County was the world's longest stone railroad viaduct when it was completed in 1848 by the Erie Railroad. Still in use today, the 1,040-foot long bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. 

Who: Peter Byrne

When: April 10, 1898

How: While walking across the viaduct, Byrne stepped out onto the bridge coping to avoid being struck by an eastbound express train. Unfortunately, he didn't see the westbound freight train approaching on the other track. He was winged by the locomotive and hurled from the structure, falling 91 feet. Amazingly, he was still alive and conscious after he hit the ground and was carried to the town hall, where he died a few hours later from internal injuries.

Packard Grande

 

2. Packard Grande Building 

The Packard Grande Building (not to be confused with the seven-story Packard Motor Company Building on Broad Street) is a 25-story skyscraper constructed in 1924. Located at the corner of 15th and Chestnut streets, the Packard Grande currently houses 152 luxury condominiums.

Who: Arthur Hamilton Vail

When: August 9, 1928.

How: Vail, a Harvard-educated stockbroker with the Halsey, Stuart & Co. investment firm, has just arrived at his office on the top floor when, for some reason, he fell out of the 14th floor window. His last words, according to his secretary, were, "It's very stuffy in here." His hat was still on his head when his body was recovered, after falling through the skylight of an adjacent clothing store.

 

Yeadon Borough Hall

3. Yeadon Borough Hall

Bordering the city of Philadelphia, the borough of Yeadon in Delaware County can trace its roots back to 1645, when the land was part of the colony of New Sweden. Those buried in Yeadon's cemeteries include Betsy Ross and serial killer H.H. Holmes.

Who: William Taylor

When: February 8, 1937

How: Taylor fell to his death from a scaffold while working on the borough hall building as part of a WPA repair project.

 

1606 Walnut St.

4. 1606 Walnut Street Office Building

Today, the five-story building at 1606 Walnut Street in Philadelphia serves as the District 47 headquarters of the AFSCME and houses a luxury skincare store on the ground floor. It was formerly the offices of the investment firm Townsend, Whelen & Co.

Who: Patrick Grant

When: October 28, 1927

How: Grant, a former college football All-American and national golf champion, was a Harvard-educated stockbroker who plummeted to his death after accidentally falling out of the window of his fifth-floor suite shortly after arriving to work at the offices of Townsend, Whelen & Co. Ten months later, another Harvard-educated stockbroker from Philadelphia, Arthur Hamilton Vail, would die after accidentally falling out of his office window (see Entry #2).

Nay Aug Park

 

5. Nay Aug Gorge

Nay Aug Park was established in 1893 as a place of recreation for the citizens of the fast-growing city of Scranton. At the height of its popularity in the early 1900s, the park featured an amusement park, zoo, bandstand, swimming pools and a natural history museum (The Everhart Museum) highlighting the splendors of Nay Aug Gorge, a geological wonder created by Roaring Brook, which lent the place its name (in the language of the Munsee band of the Lenape Indians, nay aug means "roaring water"). Today, visitors can behold the splendor of Nay Aug Falls from a footbridge spanning Roaring Brook and explore a large assortment of bird specimens at the museum, which is said to be haunted by the ghost of its founder, Dr. Isaiah Everhart.

Who: Anthony Gill

When: January 22, 1931

How: Gill, a veteran sports editor for the Scranton Times, leaped eighty feet to his death from the bridge over Nay Aug Falls after his release from a sanitarium. According to his obituary, Gill had been suffering from a "nervous condition" for years.

Maloney Building

6. Maloney Building
 

Named after an Irish immigrant who made his fortune by electrifying the city of Philadelphia, construction of the Martin Maloney Clinic began in 1928 on the grounds of the former Pepper Laboratory of Clinical Medicine on the campus of University of Pennsylvania. The building, which stands at 3600 Spruce Street, is the only building on the UPenn campus built in the Art Deco style and is now the Maloney Wing of the larger Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania complex.

Who: Dr. Robert T. Comly

When: August 25, 1932

How: Comly had just finished his internship and was preparing for a residency at St. Christopher's Hospital when he took an elevator to to the top floor of the Maloney Building, made his way onto the roof and jumped. He fell nine stories, conveniently landing in front of the hospital's morgue. The 26-year-old physician left behind a suicide note in which he claimed that he did not think he "fit in" at St. Christopher's. 

Reading Terminal

7. Reading Terminal Market

Before the Reading Terminal Market became a world-famous public market it was, well, umm,  a world-famous railroad terminal. This immediately recognizable structure, which opened in 1893, was built by the Reading Railroad and is designated a National Landmark Building.

Who: Henry W. Peacock

When: January 9, 1904

How: Peacock, a sales agent for the Beech Creek Coal Company, died after falling from a seventh floor window. According to reports, Peacock had accidentally dropped a newspaper out of his office window and, while watching it flutter to the ground, became so mesmerized that he lost his footing on the freshly-polished floor and plunged headfirst to his death. It is unclear whether he, too, was a Harvard graduate.

 

Grant Building

 

8. Grant Building

This forty-story Pittsburgh office building opened to the public in 1929, and became a famous landmark for a 150-foot radio antennae on its roof that spelled out the city's name in Morse code. It is currently the 11th tallest building in Pittsburgh.

Who: Jeanne Williams

When: May 11, 1950  

How: Williams, an elevator operator at the Grant Building, leaped to her death from a seventh floor window after leaving behind a note stating, "It was my husband's fault". The victim's family and friends, however, insisted that she wasn't married.

 

Fort Jenkins Bridge

 9. Fort Jenkins Bridge

Built between 1924-1926, this open-spandrel concrete arch bridge over the Susquehanna River connects Pittston with West Pittston. Though ordinary in appearance by today's standards, the Fort Jenkins Bridge was hailed a "work of art" by the Pittston Gazette when it opened to traffic in 1926.

Who: Unknown Suicide

When: December 24, 1935

How: An unidentified suicide victim slashed his throat before jumping into the icy waters of the Susquehanna on Christmas Eve of 1935. Several witnesses saw the man jump from the bridge, and police followed the body downstream for two miles before it washed ashore near the Port Griffith viaduct.

 

Old York Post Office

 

10. Old Post Office, York

In June of 1906, Congressman Daniel F. Lafean secured funding for the construction of several new "federal buildings" in York, Hanover and Gettysburg. Construction was completed on the York Federal Building on South George Street in 1912, and the building served as a Post Office as well as the office of the Postal Inspector, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Farm Security Office. Since its closure, the old Post Office has been used as storage space for a variety of businesses.

Who: Philip Simmons

When: February 27, 1912

How: While working on the roof of the building on a particularly windy day, construction worker Philip Simmons lost his grip on a rope attached to a derrick and fell twenty feet onto the roof, sustaining a broken neck. He died less than an hour later in the York Hospital.