Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1891-07-23
ALIVE AT EIGHTY.
Only Through ais Kemafkabie Presence
az Mind.

| than attained mans allotted three
score and ten, yet remarking his mar
velous activity and vigof for a man Of
that age, your correspondent to-day
found an octogenarian still following his
vocation of life, who. in recounting
several incidents ofhis long career, told
OF one that will certainly linger in the
minds of not few old Cincinnatians.
The speaker was Samuel Barnett,
who was born April 2, 1871, and the in
cident referred to dates back nearly
half century, and occurred in the
erection of the Catholic Cathedral. Gin
cinnati, on Plum, between Seventh
and Eighth, and running back to Wes-
tern Row Central ayenne), as he tells
it. He, bricklayer. had enjoyed the
| distinction of having laid up the first
corner" in the wall, and was now dele
| gated to do the finishing touch in put
ting the great cross in place when the
| incident occurred.
The cross itself was twentv-four feet
| tall, and its attitude was 298 feet.
| There the great strain on the block
| and tackle by which il was being ma
nipulated may we'll be imagined, as
one is wont TO say yet it was not cor
rectly imagined or precaution would
have been taken against what hap
pened The tackle hook was not
strong enough to withstand the awful
strain, broke, and the heavy rope and
blocks carried the derrick away, leav-
ing Mr.. Barnett up there, nailed to the
| cross as it were, surprised, sorely Ler-
| picked. painfully grieved, 275 feet from
terra frma and sixty feet from the der
rick.
| There was one choice left for him
and that was hazardous one, yet he
was probably not as much excited by
| his perilous predicament as most of
those in the gaping crowd that looked
| up to him, orr he could not have main
tanned his equilibrium and availed him
self of this one chance as well as he
| did, in a manner corroborated by
| William S. Birdsill, also of this city,
who, then very young man, witnessed
it, and gives substantially the same
| narritive. This one chance of escape
was in a guy rope TINT still remained
attached some ways off from Mr.. Bar
nett, and running to the ground, he
tween three and four blocks away.
But the thought of riding that guy rope
| all that distance, or nearly all that dis
lance, until near enough the ground to
| drop from it with safety was anything
save consoling and pleasant. However,
that was not the worst of it. The first
thing was to reach it alive and get the
chance to ride it all the way. When q
mans life is in the balance he will
gladly embrace an opportunity to en-
| dure punishment with the chance of
saving it, but when he is on a solid
footing. even if he is 275 feet mp in the
air, and must quit that footing OF the
chance of catch at rope, to get out
make the catch. Most men would risk
getting giddy headed and falling, while
waiting for scaffolding to be build up
| to them.
Making up his mind to reach that
guy rope and. riding it, if he could, Mr.
Barnett only deliberated as to how best
to do it. One way, was to make leap
for it, catch-as-catch-c can, and the other
was to drop astride it. BY the first
way it was not certain he could get q
| firm hand-hold, and if be did the re-
bound might be so great he could not
maintain the hold. By the other way.
straddling it, he was sure of getting the
rope between his legs, yet not so sure
of locking his feet in time to hold
against the rebound of the rope until
he could swing up and also get hold
| with his hands. But it was a large
rope, of an inch and half diameter,
and he concluded to chance holding
with one leg at the knee point if he
could not get both locked about in
making tie drop, perhaps six or eight
| feet as he thought. But, realizing that
| the nearer he was to the rope when he
dropped the less would be the force
of the rebound, he decided to let him
self down from the coping at the base
of the cross, and found to his Joy that
he would touch the rope with his feet.
Then suspeuding his weight by his
very fingers the rope touched his ankles
| above the shoe tops, and assured of
locking his feet the moment he let go
his hand holds he squandere red none of
his strength in longer holding on, but
instantly let go.
The excited throng that looked on
all this time with bated breath now
jumped themselves, but we're not so ex-
cited that they lost their heads; they
were alive to the danger of the situa-
ton, and ran with beds they had pro-
vided to catch the whirling form of Mr..
Barnett should he be unable to main
tain his hold. But. as he is still here
to tell the tale, it is evident that he did
not drop and was born to die natural
death at ripe old age. He Rugged
| that rope with his legs and feet like q
| cub bear until he reached sag in it
that allowed him to swing up and also
catch with his hands, which by this
| time was becoming absolutely neces-
sary. as he had been swinging head
down until the blood, 80 badly needed
to circulate in his fast becoming be-
numbed legs, was all rushing into his
| fast becoming bewildered head. Then.
too, by the aid of his hands he was able
| to so readiust himself as to let the rope
| play upon his shoes instead of his
barked shine and lacerated calves,
which was to him more than the differ
ence between riding on freight train
and vestibule limited. Richm 09sd,
Ind, Correspondent Commercials
| Gazette.
Not to- Ese stopped.
The Boston Globe tells story related
| by the assistant manager of the SYM