Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-12-19
FIGHTING CN A HIGH TOWER.

Two men fighting in midair. This
was the terrible scene enacted on a
massive iron tower being erected by the
water works company. The tower had
reached the height of 80 feet, snd
two gangs of riveters were at work with
their heaters and their holders on.
The latter work on the inside of the
tower, while the men who hammer the
nvets to a head work on the frail scat.
fold on the outside. To the beholder
Who stands on the solid earth this out
ide scaflold seems TO be as thin, as
frail and as delicate as IA spiders web.
There il winds around the tall black
iron tower, frail below and dwindling
away in the upward distance into moth
ingness. Ninety feet from the ground
and on this frail scaffold two ~riveters
were working, and from some unac-
oOuntable cause became involved in an
alteration.
Bessemer steel is hard, but il is not
harder than the hearts of Infatuated
men. Iron rivets. awaiting the touch
of the hammer, are hot, but they are
not hotter than the inflamed passions
of the sons of Adam. The riveters in
question came with the water works
company from Syracuse. y. Y. One
was Mique, the other Dennice. Each
man swung a eve pound hammer.
Mique made "A mislick and struck Den
nice on the hand. Maddened with the
sudden pain Dennice became at once
. demon. and swung his hammer full
and fair at the head of Mique. Had
the iron head o. the hammer crushed
in those locks a mangled and ~lifeless
and half hearless corpse would have
toppled down "a the solid earth, ninety
feet below. Mique, however, threw
up his hammer in a defensive way and
parried the blow. Again the hammer
of Dennice swung and again it was par
RED. but rs It's head caromed on the
steel head Of Mique's defensive hammer
it shot oil on a tangent like a glancing
arrow that strikes a tree. and knocked
away N of the supports of the scat
fold.
There was a ~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 scaifold. Mique, who
had been retreating from before the
fierce advances of Dennice, was on a
firm footing. but Dennice was compel
led to make a giant spring to save him
self. In the terror Of the moment he
leaped almost to the very shoulders OF
the affrighted Mique and knocked him
down backward, falling ON top of him.
The force of the conclusion was such
that both mel rolled to the edge of the
scaffold, and over went Dennice.
Instinctivcly 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 lie hung on the edge
Of the scaffold, suspended by only one
heel and wrist, while below him-near-
ly a hundred feet below-was a row Of
iron pipes and plates of steel. To fall
was to be dashed to pieces.
To fall on the pipes was to break
arms and legs and back. To fall on
the curved and upturned edges of the
plates was to be cut into huge and
CHASTITY slices.
The mans hand trembled, and his
hammer dropped from his ~nerveless
grasp. 1t went swiftly downward, hit
a projection in the scaffold, bounded
of. and striking a Is inch pipe broke
it in two as cleverly and as keenly
as If it had been split with a knife.
The hand swung over and grasped
Mique around the loins with an awful
tenaciry. and there the men struggled
on the awful verge of the scatfold.
Dennice had almost managed to swing
his weight on the scatrold when Mique's
hickory shirt ripped. and back the man
W.hs INV nl'atNf 'iAh iHic ioSiIg tle
purchase Of his heel and swinging clean
ove 80 that he held himself only by
n arm and hung suspended upright
in the air.
Mique managed to thrust the toes Of
his left foot between two narrow planks
that made the scaifold, and thus nc.
quired a leverage. Throwing over the
other shoulder by a strong and almost
miraculous movement he swung the
suspended body Of Dennice back to the
platform and dashed his face against
the tower. There they lay, motionless
and still, and when their companions
reached them they found hat both
had tainted dead away. The awful
duel had lasted less than forty seconds,
but there is none on record that can
compete with it.
Ten minutes later Dennice and Mique
were hammering away as merrily az
before. Peoria Herald.
The Problem Solved.
Wife docking up from a book)-This
writer says that half the miseries OF