November 24, 1915
New York, New York
Jacob Jagendorf (left) and Robert Green (right) die from falling down an elevator shaft during a botched burglary

Green, a 31-year-old night watchman, and Jagendorf, a 30-year-old engineer had collaborated to steal silk from a shirt company in a building Green guarded. They propped open an elevator door on the fifth floor to make their escape, and loaded around 15 bolts of silk in the elevator through the night. As they stepped into the elevator in the dark, they were unaware the elevator had risen to the tenth floor. Both men fell five stories to their deaths, “clasping each other as they dropped.”

Colorization by Frédéric Duriez

Sources:

• “Thieves Plunge Far to Death in Dark.” The Philadelphia Inquirer [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. November 25, 1915
• “Work of Robbery Ends When Two Plunge to Death.” The Evening World [New York, New York]. November 24, 1915