Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-09-08
RECKLESS, ANGER.
1t Nearly Causes the Death Of
Two Men.
A FEARFUL STRUGGLE IN MID-AIR

Ninety Feet from the Ground the Partici-
pants wrestle, with Certain Death for .,
Misstep-The AssaiIant Saved by the
Man He Assaulted. and Then Both Fall
in a Faint-A Thrilling Scene Graphic
ully Described.
PEORIA, ILL.,, Sept. 6.-Two men fighting
in midair. This was the terrible scene,en
acted on massive iron tower being
erected by the water works company. The
tower was up ninety feet. 1t is built of
| steel plates, which ara riveted together,
and two gangs of riveters are at work one
| inside and one outside, the latter on II
scatfold which hardly looks strong enough
| to sustain itself. To the beholder who
| stands on the solid earth this outside scat
fold seems to be as thin, as frail and as
delicate as n spiders web. There it winds
| around the tall, black iron tower. frail be
| low and dwindling away in the upward
distance into nothingness Ninety feet
from the ground and on this frail
scaffold the two riveters were working.
Deadly Burst of Fury.
The riveters in question came with the
water works company from Syracuse, n.
Y. One was Mique, the other Dennice.
| Each man swung seven-pOund hammer.
| MiQue made a mistake and struck Den
nice on the hand. Maddened by the sud
den pain, Dennice became at once de-
mon and swung his hammer full and fair
at the head of Mique. Had the iron head
of the hammer crushed in those locks a
mangled and lifeless and half headless
corpse would have toppled down to the
solid earth, ninety feet below. Alique,
however threw up his hammer in a de-
| fensiye way and parried the blow.
The Scaffoid Gives Way.
| Again the hammer of Dennice swung,
and again it was parried, but its head
carromed on the steel head of Mique's de
fensive hammer it shot off on tangent
like g'ancing arrow that strikes n tree,
and knocked away one of the supports of
the scaffold. There was sickening
cracking sound as the frail upright was
knocked away from the braces and down
went the ends of two planks comprising
one section of the scafrold Mique, who
had been retreating from before the fierce
advances OF Deuuice, was on "A firm foot
| ing but Dennice was compelled to make
a giant spring to save himself.
| Anger Gives Place to Terror.
| In the terror of the moment he leaped
almost tothe very shoulders of the af-
| frighted Miqne aud knocked him down
| back ward falling on top of him. The
| force of the conclusion was such that both
men rolled to the edge of the scaffold, and
lover went Dennice.
| Instinctively and in the desperation of
the moment he caught one heel IN the
upright Immediately behind him and
threw his left arm around the neck of
| Mique. There he hung on the edge of the
scaffold, suspended by only one heel and
wrist, while below him-neary 100 feet
below-was n row of iron pipes and plates
Of steel TO fall was to be dashed to
pieces.
| Struggling for Life.
To fall on the pipes was to break arms
and legs and back. To fall on the curved d
| and upturned edges of the plates was to
| he cnt into huge and CHASTITY slices.
| The mans hand trembled and his ham
mer dropped from his nerveless grasp. 1t
went swiftly downward, hit IL projection
| in the scaffold bounded off, and, striking
a fifteen inch pipa broke il in two as
| cleverly and as keenly as if it had been
| split with knife. The hand swung over
and grasped Mique around the loins with
an awful tenacity, and there the men
| struggled on the awful verge of the scat
| fold and at that dizzy height.
| saved by IA Miracle.
Dennice had almost managed to swing
| his weight on the scaffold when Mique's
hickory shirt ripped, and back the man
| went into space this time losing the pur-
chase of his heel and swing clear over, so
| that he held himself only 10y one arm, and
hung suspended upright in the air. Mique
| managed to thrust the toes of his left
| foot between the two narrow plauks that
| constituted the platform and thus ac-
| quired a leverage. Throwing over the
other shoulder. by a strong and almost
miraculous movement, he swung the sus-
| pended body of Dennice back to the plat
form, and dashed his face against the
| tower.
| Reaction After the Strife.
| There they lay, motionless and still. and
when their companions reached them they
found that both had fTinted dead away
| The awful duel had lasted less than forty
| seconds, but there is r1ne on record that
can compete with it.
Ten minutes later Dennice and Mique
were hammering away at the riyets
merrily as of yore.
| The Pures and Best.