"The man's body was reduced almost to pulp by the fall and it is estimated that every bone in his body was broken." (Image by Joseph Murphy.)
Window cleaning was a perilous endeavor in Old New York, becoming more dangerous as skyscrapers began stretching to the heavens. The harness belt that window cleaners wear today was devised all the way back in 1897, but it wasn’t universally adopted right away nor could it protect against injuries from other unexpected hazards, as these hard-boiled accounts from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle demonstrate.
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“Fell Fourteen Stories” (November 4, 1902): “While cleaning windows on the fourteenth floor of the Broadway-Maiden Lane building, an eighteen story sky scraper, on the southeast corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane, Manhattan, this morning, Daniel Murphy, 32 years old, of 961 Dekalb avenue, Brooklyn, missed his footing and fell to the basement. The man’s body was reduced almost to pulp by the fall and it is estimated that every bone in his body was broken.”
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“Modern Window Cleaning: A New Device to Keep Men From Falling” (March 28, 1897): “With the advent of the sky scraper office building has come a new device to protect window cleaners who have to work at perilous heights. The cleaner wears a belt which is attached to a fastening on either side of the window by means of a rope. This device is a safeguard against danger and prevents all possibility of accident in the heretofore perilous occupation of window cleaning. The responsibility for accidents from falling rests upon the owners of the buildings, and hence the scheme has met with considerable favor. The plan herewith described is one of several devices, now patented, for the protection of window cleaners. Many of the large office buildings in New York and Brooklyn are equipped with one or another of these devices.”
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“A Bootblack Killed By Electricity” (March 18, 1890): “An Italian bootblack named Joe Soleastiani of 47 Mulberry street, New York, while engaged in cleaning windows for the Inter State Bank, at 167 Broadway, late yesterday afternoon placed his hands on an electric light wire that ran into the building.”
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“Killed By a Fall From Window” (November 23, 1902): Minnie Siebert, 10 years old, fell from the window of her home, 515 West Fifty-second street, yesterday afternoon and was instantly killed. Yesterday her mother told her to clean the windows. The little girl bowed the shutters and tying them with a string, stood on the window sill and began to her task. The string broke, however, and the child was dashed to the pavement below. Her mother, who was within a few feet of the window from which the child fell, ran down stairs and picked up the child and endeavored to revive her.”
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“Nearly Three Years Ago” (August 10, 1859): “Nearly three years ago a young woman broke a pane of glass while cleaning a window, and cut her arm near the wrist. Her wound soon healed, but in a few weeks a swelling arose some distance from the cut which at times was painful. Three medical men were consulted at various times, who all advised compression on the part. This for a time was always successful, but a few days ago, having been more than usually painful, she went to Mr. E. Sidebottom, surgeon, who extracted a piece of glass nearly a half inch square, which had been embedded edge downward all this time. It was taken out about an inch and half from where the first wound was.”