Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-09-25
KNOCKED FROM P0LE.
,,NemAN FlTzoATRlck'S REMARK
ABLE ESCAPE FROM DEATH.
One Thousand Volts Shot Into Him. and
He Lived to Tell It. Pole Live"
Two Months.
New York Horsli.l

New York Ilcrsli.l
II ia not the fault of the Manhattan
Electric-Light Company that Lineman
Michael Fitzpatrick was not killed on
Tnos1ov inst rs poor Feeks and Kopp
were. Sheer good luck saved him.
Fitzpa,rick has been employed OF and
ON bv the Metropolitan Telephone Com
NAM for three wears. lie was sent yestor-
dav 70 straiehten out O snarl in the COM
ronv,s wires along the upper part OF First
avenue.
The pole he picked ont tor his work
olont tbiTfv feet south of Eiehteth
.trcSt n was supposed TO be used for
tolonhone vines exclusively. and fltzpat-
y;ol, bod no reason to expect danger from
shook on II. lie wore the iron spurs used
bv linemen for pole-climbing, and quickly
made his way 20 the first crosspiecc on
the mole about twenty-five feet above the
ground. II was then about hali-past
o'clock.
Manv persons stopped to watch him, as
i the case whenever lineman goes pole
cHmbing these DAYS. They wondered wne-
thor he would get shoe ed to death as
Feeks and kopp were, and wanted 10 see IL
Fjfznatrick dug his spurs into the pole
lord and rested mon them. Then, instead
Of tlrowine his leg over il. he leaned
AGAINST the crossmece. That's whore the
first of bis luck came IN. The chances are
that he would never have lived TO tel what
happened afterward if he bad got ma leg
over that crossplece. AZ II was, hlteI le'h-
inc, AGAINST il he pOked his head between
i've narallel wires attached TO the cross
piece and began. to look for the crossed
telephone-wires.
SOMETHING HAPPENS.
Suddenly the lineman's arms shot out
stif and rigid. his body swung around IN
ri his head was clear of the parallel wires
and then plunged headlotg. The crowd
uttered ordinations Of horror: lheN
thought lust what they had been LOOKING
for had happened.
Fit1patrick had received n shock, and
mighty stiff one. too. but II wasn't SO
heavy as 10 might have been-Whlch IS
where more Of his luck came in-and ne
didn't strike the pavement nrst III HIS '"n'
which was equally lucky.
There was something intervening IN me
shane Of an empty express-wagon, Whlch
had been backed up close TO the pole Oh
one of the side-b0ards Of the wagon titZ-
patrick's limp and apparently htoless BODY
struck. and the springs acting as very
hard but still effective cushion the oOuy
bounded To the pavement with greatly
decreased force. There II lay Tor ten NM
utes motionless. the face black and the
eyes bulring like those Of a man who had
been suffering slow strangulatlon-
A BURN on THE NEcK.
On the left side Of his neck just under
the point of the jaw; was raw spot about
an inch long. The skin had been scorched
off That told very plainly the cause of
Fitzpatrick's fall. His stunning mad come
from the deadly electric-llght current.
An ambulance was called and Fltzpatrlck
was soon undergoing examination IN the
Presbyterian Hospital. 4 shOuldeT-blade
had been dislOcated. and besides the raw
spot on his neck he had several ugly
bruises about his body.
But FitZpatriok Is plucky fellow, and
rs tough as he Is lucky. he insisted on
leaving the hospital as soon as possible
after the doctors had done their fixing ana
Assisted by friend he hobbled out Of
the hospital at 6 o'clock and actually rode
home i'm street-car. He lives at No. "a
cast Twenty-ffth street, and has ,wlte
and child. ! had talk with him whlle he
was hobbling toward the car.
HOW HE FELT.
at is hard to describe what my sensa-
tious weren he said, when the current
struck me. | seemed TO see fire and heard
n tremendous buZNng noise IN my ears
and tried to cry ont. Then everything was
a blank until came 20 feeling as If | had
been pounded all over. There was strong
flavor of sulphur in my mouth, winch IS
there vet. -.
"Vll swear that current YVES more than
II. 1rfTgLraI IN NJ
ia a moment What saved my life was the
fact that there was nothing TO hold me up
after the current shot into me. tell, sup
pose, almost az once.
IF I'd had my legs swung over the
crosspiece. or had been fastened any. way
SO that the weight Of nv body couldn't
break me loose, IshOuld have been done
for sure. -,-,...o.
Flcctric-Light Company. They had at
tached a wire guy to the pole TO support
one of their wires. which kept big arc
light and lot of other lights gong m "a
butchers shop opposite. But the insula-
ton must have been bad somewhere, for
the current escaped 10 that guy wire, and
from that guy wire 1t must have got
into the telephone wire.
I'm only a poor lineman, and ! suppose
| don't count for much If do come near
getting killed. But | think something
ouoht to be done to stop electrc-llght
companies from meddling with telephone
poles. If some big bug was 10 get killed
that way it would be done, mighty quick,
tOO.'
INCREDIBLE NEGLIGENCE.
When | visited the scene of what came
| so near being a tragedy the Manhattan
| Company had cut the guy wire which had
wrought the mischief; But the severed
/ ends were there TO tell the story. What
: possible excuse the company could have
/ for running a guy wire 10 the telephone
pole could find no one 10 tell me. Mr.
| John Dooley. contractor living at No.
| 1926 FIRST avenue, right opposite the pole
| that was rendered dangerous 10y the Man
! hattan's interference, told me something
which indicates that somewhere there was
| an almost incredible amount of official
neglect.
For the last two months" he said
whenever II rained II has been common
practice for children to gather around that
/ pole and make merry over the slight cleo
! trio shocks they got when they touched TO-
/ Tve put barrels around the pole often 20
/ keep them away.
The company's establishment is at
| Tightieth street and Avenue b. only two
! blocks away. and they must surely have
/ heard there of the leak on this pole. Nearly
everybody IN the neighborhood knew OF It,
when the men came 10 cut It down
one of them remarked that the company
had been notified that the pole was dan
| gerous."
At the Manhattan Company's Office
could find no one who felt authorized .
to say anything.
NOT FITzPATICR's FIRST.
This is not the first close shave that Fitz
patrick las had through contact with O
| live wire. On August 4, 1889. at BOwery
and stanton street he received couple OF
shocks from one of the United States
Company's wires. One Of the shocks came
within an ace OF knocking him into eter
nifty.
THE STRUGGLE AND ITS MORAL.