(According to Fisher, this sort of a ride was routine for Hollister. "Paul always used to let the elevator hit the basement floor. Only, the winch never gave way before. Depending on his morale, Paul would go faster or slower. He out-did himself on this occasion.")

'Pretty Lucky'

Fortunately for both Hollister and Fisher, they were standing directly underneath the elevator's one cross-beam, which saved them from being crushed by the debris. "We were really pretty lucky," Hollister admits.

Finding a spiral staircase in the basement, the pair walked up to the first floor and ended up in the library, where "we were conspicuous for our pallor," according to Hollister. "We mingled with the crowd later and never did get into any trouble.

"The only other person who ever knew was my geography professor. He used to ride motorcycles and had a bashed nose. So he never told anyone," Hollister says.

("Paul was all prepared if anyone found out," Fisher recalled. "He looked up a state law which required inspection of elevators every six months. The Museum's hadn't been inspected since March, 1922.")

Following this occurrence, Hollister gave up elevator crashing. "I had to graduate," he recalls.

As for the elevator, the University put up an "Out of Order" sign for seven years. Then it installed an automatic, electric one