Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1888-04-14
LINEMAN ARCHIBALD,S Peril.
An Incident that Thrilled a Crowd
OF Spectators i'm St. Louis.


A thrilling incident, in which Robert
Archibald, an employee of the Bell Tele.
phone Company, narrowly escaped
death, happened at Broadway and Pine
street. Archibald was ordered to climb
q 60 foot pole on the corner and en-
anime the wires, which were not work
ing we'll. He is a sturdy man, 26 years
old, and delights in climbing to peril
GUS heights. The fact that there was q
drizzling rain, which rendered the wires
more dangerous than usual did not ad-
mOnish Archibald to he more careful
than usual. He strapped on his spurs
and assembled to the cable box, which is
about As feet above the ground.
While opening the cable box and ex-
aiming the switches and connections
the steel spur on his boot suddenly
came in contact with the Brush wire.
Instantly the man was terribly shocked
by tho powerful current of electricity
which was being driven through the
wire by the immense dynamos at the
power house. He uttered groan of
pain, relaxed his hold on the pole, and
fell. Fortunately, however, his foot be-
came cntangled in maze of wires on the
pole, and he was thus saved fall to the
granite-paved street below. Several of
the wires which suspended Archibald in
mid Lair were Brush electric light wires,
and these tortured the poor fellow till lie
shrieked with agony. He was so badly
tangled up in the wires that he was help
less. His head hung downward and his
feet were inextricable caught in the
smaller telephone wires above. Mean
time an immense crowd of curious
people gathered below, but they were
powerless to aid the suffering man.
Two or three linemen. who soon arrived
on the spot, climbed to reach Archibald,
but he was out of their reach, and if
they cut the lines he would be killed in
the fall. Suddenly Archibald cried
out:
"Send for . fire truck for Gods sake,
or I'll be burned to DEATH"
"That's it" shouted q policeman,
"why didn't we think of that before?"
Tho officer quickly sum-, ,oned the
truck, which was on the spot in less
time than minute.
Archibald was suffering terrible tor
lure all this time, and when the Pomp-
Ter Corps came tearing down the street
he had been suspended i'll his perilous
position fully fifteen minutes. Tho
police drove back the throng of people,
most of whom were very much excited
and urging the truckmcn to hurry to the
rescue.
The ladder was quickly raised by a half
dozen firemen, who worked vigorously
at the crank until Archibald was reached.
Here another difficulty was presented.
The firemen could not dislodge the line
man from the twisted wires, which were
knotted and tied about him in perfect
labyrinth that no one could penetrate.
Finally it was decided to tie rope
about the unfortunate man, throw one
end over the cross arms at the top of the
pole, and let him down after the wires
were cut. This was done. A line was
tied about Archibald's shoulders, and
then the wires were cut. He was then
pulled mp and out of danger, and then
lowered to the the ground.
A curious phenomenon was observed
while the firemen were fixing the rope
about Archibald's body. His whole
rame was so Over-charged with electri-
,ity that every time he was touched bril-
liant sparks were emitted from his body.
These at first rather frightened the fire.
men, but, being assured they were
they worked with all possible
laste until Archibald was able to tread
he ground.
The injured lineman's burns were ut
ended to. Archibalds feet, head and
lands were severely burned, and his
ystem SO badly shocked that he was ut
rst thought to be dying. DIR. Moore
hswever, that he was not fa-
ally injured.-.St. Louis Globe.