The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-07-18
LOOK LIKE MIRACLES.
Some People Who Have Had Marvellous
Escapes.

Escapes.
Nashville Americana
The remarkable and almost miraculous
escape from instant death of Charles
Evans, who fell distance of over fifty
feet from the fourth story window of the
st. Nicholas hotel Saturday night, at
tracted considerable comment. Evans
did not break bone and next morning
was walking about his room, his only
complaint being that he felt ga trife sore"
In the establishment of p l.. Hedrick,
contractor, an american reporter listened
yesterday afternoon to three veteran car
penters as they recounted some reminis-
cences about hairbreadth escapes. "In
1888" said one of them, when J. Il. Bow
ers & Bro. of this city, were working on
the courthouse at lebanon, one of the
carpenters, n white man of about thirty,
who was putting on tin roofing on the
gable end next the Brown building, fell
off to the ground a distance of nearly fifty
feet, striking and breaking in his descent
piece of scantling two by four inches
He was laid up for some time, but was soon
as sPry as ever.
"When / was working on the house of
Mr.. Ewing on Stevenson-ave., a few years
ago, a workman named Bud Mccarthy
fell from the extreme top of the tall house
to the ground. He was disfgured about
the face, but was not dangerously hurt.
He recovered entirely except for the
SEARS
"In 1885," said another, 81 was work
ing on one of the largest buildings then
in Nashville, not far from the square.
The house was four stories tall and was
being covered. A fellow-workman missed
his footing and fell fully fifty feet. The
joists but not the floor had been laid. In
the basement dirt and rain had formed a
good deal of mud. This fellow missed the
joists and stuck in the mud nearly up to
his knees, so he had to be pulled out. His
case looked doubtful for a time, but he
got through all right"
"When the front wall of Wesley hall,
at Vanderbilt, had been built just about
the second floor one of the brickayers
had hold of a rope drawing up a load of
brick. The rope had been exposed to the
weather and had become rotten. 1t broke
and precipitated the fellow who had hold
OF the rope backwards from the wall into
a brick-pile about thirty feet below. He
was considerably bruised, but not seri-
ously hurt"
Another instance was advanced of
where a railroad mechanic on the Louis
vile & Nashville railroad, a short dis
tadce south of Nashville, was balancing
himself on top small iron bridge during
its construction, tightening a bolt. His
wrench slipped and threw him nearly
thirty feet, face downward, on the rocky
bed beneath. He was terribly SCARED,
but recovered in a short time.
One of the speakers mentioned an Incl
dent which he had witnessed in Cincin-
natl last fall, where a workman was
ascending by long ladder TO the top OF a
three-story house TO do some repairing on
the roof. The man, whose name was
James Brown, in climbing over the edge
of the roof came in contact with an cleo
trio light wire which so stunned him that
he lost his footing and fell 10 the pave
ment, breaking rib or two and sustain
ing serious but not fatal injuries.
And so the remarkable tales ran.
Many will, doubtless, remember the es-
cape OF Allen Carter, a Vanderbilt stud
ent, from what seemed certain death.
Late one night about a year ago he left his
room on the fourth floor of Wesley hall
and walked into the hall. He had
headache from long study and took a
seat on the banisters in the draught from
the windows, that he might cool of lit
tie. But he was overcome with q sudden
dizziness and fell backward. He dropped
sixty feet, striking at each
floor, and crashed against the foot
of the steps near the front door.
When picked up he was unconcious,
and no one dreamed that he could recov-
er. Doctors were hastily summoned, and
to their amazement it was discovered that
the only injuries which had resulted were
a broken big toe, an Insignificant cut on
the head and a shock to the nervous sys-
tenn The young man was in few weeks
hard at work on his studies as sound as
ever.
1t is one Of the curious things people
observe but cannot wholly account for
that fall which kills one man leaves
scarcely scar on another. 1t has become
almost truism that drunken man is
about ten times as hard to kill as sober
one.