Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-09-24

| CtuU. ne SOOOu up, P1oSol lue rope
around the shaft of the cross to which he
fixed his breast hook, seized one of the thin
ner cords tied to the thick one, and drew up
the pole, left until then at the foot of the
roof.
This pole, armed at its further extremity
with three-pronged grapnel, had at equa!
intervals projecting pads of twisted leather
and wire. The man hooked the grapnel of
the pole to the top of the cross, and in few
minutes, by the help of his breast hook and Of
the Tiers straps fastened to his knees,
climbed up the pole as if it had been knotted
rope, but with this advantage, that the pole,
being stiff, maintained, and kept in position
| by the grapnel, did not swing.
He easily managed to slip sidewise between
the bars forming the radius of the
cross, which, once the upper part
of his body passed, gave sup
port to his arms, and finally enabled him to
sit on the summit of the cross, his breast
against the pivot of the vane, which rose
scarcely two feet above his head.
He fastened himself to this spindle. and,
with the help of the second cord, the end of
which he held, hoisted up the bird from the
lower platform.
At this point of my narrative 1 cannot
| help remarking how fantastic death is in its
executions As this unfortunate man had to
| die, was it not easier to let some tile fall on
his head? But no, the grim monster has his
whims, and while he rocks some people
to everlasting sleep with mothers tender
care, he grants final deliverance to others
only at the price of endless pain and trouble
1t was written above that this wretched man
should pay in a single day for ali the suffer-
ing from which his humble life had so far
preserved him, and thai he should exhaust all
his strength, all his courage, to climb to the
giddy height where death awaited him.
l am not aware that any musician ever
thought of nothing but the chorus yelled by
human crowd possessed by the frenzy of
enthusiasm, but at last when the man stood
upright in the air. bolder than the bold edi-
fee over which he was towering, wild accla-
nations sprung up with terrible harmony
towards the poor wretch who had caused
them.
1t was his ruin.
Up to this fatal moment his humble heart,
his narrow intelligence, could not have en-
tertained the idea that he was in the eyes of
the world anything but the bird that passes
or the blade of grass on which one treads.
perilous undertaking, the last of which he was
about to accomplish, not one of hisiron nerves
had given way, not one of his fibres had
shuddered; he has not once thought either of
his danger OF of his courage. He said to
himself; s'The work IS hard" His thoughts
did not go any further.
But at the burst Of the enthusiasm of the
multitude below, his eyes, which had never
seen the radiance of glory, his ears, which
had never heard its formidable voice, opened
suddenly to dazzling intoXication. From the
height where he saw himself raised, he en-
braced the skies, he ruled over the earth, and
the thousands of men moving and shouting
at his feet appeared to him smaller than
ants. He who had till then known nothing
of humanity but its 1niseries, LIE understood
greatness, and felt himself arrayed with al!
its majestyl What could he do, the poor
man, against this enthusiasm, the echoes CT
which whirled around him like a vertigo?
He was seen to bend down, TO sit upon the
cross, takes the bird on his knees, undo the
rags which he had put around it to preserve
it from collisions, and taking it with one
had, and with the other holding himself to
the pivot, stands up straight. Having bent
himself little, he lifted with his shoulders
the remains of the old vane which fell with O
crash along the spire, alghting. the roof of
the church, and then, taking the bird by its
tail he placed it on the, pivot designed to re-
ceive it. He bent down once more and set it
into motion. The crowd saluted with terrific
shouts the first rotation Of the new weather
cock of the steep1e.
The poor wretch had now only to come
down. By letting himself slide first along
the cross, then along the pole, he would End
at the summit of the spire the ropes he had
used to pull up the pole and the vane; he
had then only to coil a rope around each
leg and to let himself slide down, his
back conveniently leaning against the roof
In three minutes at the utmost be would have
been on the platform.
But those shouts, those shouts of triumph
given forth by the crowd, took away the re-
mainder of his reason.
4 glow of pride as coarse as himself, al
terribly grand as the courage he had JUS;
shown, prompted him with the mad desire to
surpass, by an act of audacity still more H.
credible, all he had done until thenl
He placed himself ast1ide the bird, and by
violent effort, set it in motion.
At the sight of this frightful act of folly,
the crowd was struck dumb and motionless,
every heart terrified, every eye distended,
staring at the weather-cock turning, turning,
turning
One, two, three, four, five minutes passed.
The vane was still revolving.
The man, who at first had saluted with his
cap, was now bent forward, clasping
With his arms the neck of the bird.
He tried to pass one of his legs
over the tail of the bird, but whether
owing to his presence of mind having already
left him, OF to the too great height of the OBJ
stacle, he did not succeed He tried again by
stretching out his legs to reach the cross, but
he moved them vainly in the air. He had
probably taken spring to get astride the
bird, for his feet did not find any point OF
support, and he was seen to cross them under
the stomach of the bird.
And then the man sat up erect, stretching
out his arms with gesture of supreme pride
He remained thus.
And the vane was still turning.
While this vertigo-inspiring scene was
going on, the agitation of the crowd
was increasing. Locks alone were ex-
changed, for no one dared to speak
Some women began to make signs Of
the cross Finally a piercing scream was
beard; young girl had fallen backwar IN
tit. Instantly, as if by electricity, several
women swooned; children screamed and