Homer Fields	Wallace Kumpula	James Toner

The inner and outer walls of the wooden forms – into which concrete was poured – had to be raised manually to each new floor. To do this, several men would stand around the core, one group on the inside and another on the outside, and use chains to hoist a scaffold and the forms. The two groups had to work in unison to do a chore a tower crane would handle today.

On Friday, September 15, 1961, 33-year-old Homer Fields, Wallace Kumpula, age 42, and James Toner, 24, all carpenters, were on a scaffold inside the core of the east tower, going up with some forms. A cable was bolted to the scaffold and then attached overhead to a hook that lifted the scaffold.

A chain being hoisted by the men got caught on a reinforcing bar. One of them said, “It jammed a bit.”

When it sprang loose, the scaffold tilted. The cable holding the scaffold slipped off its hook. The three men fell 43 stories and were killed.

A witness who was five feet above the men said he heard a loud noise and turned around. “The bodies bounced crazily,” said Mike Einsele, quoted in the Chicago Daily Tribune the next day, “hitting one obstruction after another, until they hit the bottom. I heard the thuds when they hit.” When the scaffold fell, it hit a ladder on which a carpenter foreman was standing. Ed Schreck said, “I grabbed a beam right there and hung on. I thought I was a goner, for sure, but I wasn’t going to let go.” He dangled 400 feet in the air until an ironworker grabbed him by his back and dragged him to safety. The scaffold probably would have hit Will Bridges had he not stepped out of the way moments earlier to get a drink of water. According to Bridges, “Every one inside the core heard them fall.” (Left) Headline the next day in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Workmen dug through the debris at the bottom of the core to recover the bodies. They used wooden forms as stretchers.

After work was called off for the rest of the day, one man who could not find his brother went to Henrotin Hospital (since closed) and mistakenly identified one of the victims as his brother. A few minutes later, the man’s brother was found safe back at the construction site.

Work resumed the following Monday.

On September 22, 1961, a coroner’s inquest ruled the deaths accidental.

The first lawsuit was filed on December 29, 1961 by Marilyn Fields, seeking damages of $400,000 in the death of her husband, Homer. They had three children. Defendants were Bertrand Goldberg, Marina City Building Corporation, James McHugh Construction Company, and Brighton Construction Company – which did general work on the project.

The complaint claimed that scaffolding was unsafe and violated the Illinois Structural Work act, which covered workers injured in falls from scaffolding.

The second lawsuit was filed eight months later on August 30, 1962. Rosemary Toner sought $350,000 from the same defendants on behalf of her and her daughter, Carrie Ann.

Then on September 13, 1962, the widow of Wallace Kumpula filed her lawsuit. Martha Kumpula sued for $450,000 on behalf of her and her sons, Glenn, age 15, and Gary, age 9.

Four years later, following a two-week trial before Judge Daniel J. McNamara, settlements totaling $425,000 (equal to about $3.4 million in 2014) were announced on October 5, 1966. The family of Homer Fields was awarded $193,800. Toner’s family got $129,200. Kumpula’s family received $102,000. The two attorneys for the families, John J. Sullivan and William J. Harte, argued there had been no safety lines in use as required by state law. (Left) A construction worker’s hat, found among debris of the fallen scaffold.