The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-09-08
FIGHTING ON A HIGH TOWER.


|
Hundred Feet From The Ground.
Two mon fighting in midair. This was
the terrible scene enacted q few DAYS
since on a massive iron tower being
erected by the water works company
when completed this tower win DO l9O
ieet nigh, The tower had reached tho
neignt OF W feet, and two gangs of
rveters were at work with their heaters
ana their hoiders-on. Tho latter work
on the inside OF the tower. while the
men who hammer the rivets to a bend
work on the frail scaffold on the outside.
10 the beholder who stands on the solid
earth this outside scaffold seems to be
as thin, as frail, and as delicate as a
SPIDERS web. There 1t winds around
the tall, black iron tower, frail below
ana dwindling away In the upward dis
lance into nothingness. Ninety feet
| from the ground and on this frail scaffold
the other morning two riveters were
working, and from some unaccounta ple
cause became involved In an alteration.
Bessemer steel Is hard, but Il Is not
harder than the hearts OF infuriated
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. Tho riveters in question
came with the water-works company
from Syracuse, N. Y. One was Miaue.
the other Dennice. Each man swung a
seven-pound hammer Mique made a
mlsiick and struck Dennice on the hand.
mauaehed with the sudden pain, Dem
nice became at once demon and swung
his hammer full and fair at the head OF
Mique. Had the iron head Of the ham,
mer crushed In those locks a mangled
and lifeless and half-headless corpse
would have toppled down to the solid
earth, ninety feet below. Mique, how
ever, threw up his hammer in a defen-
slve way and parted the blow. Again
the hammer of Dennice swung and again
IL was parrfed, but as its head carromed |
on the steel head Of Miques defensive |
hammer it shot off on a tangent like n |
glancing arrow that strikes tree. and |
Knocked away one of the supports of the |
scaffold. There was sickening. crack
ing sound as the frail upright was
knocked away from the braces. and
down went the ends of two planks com
prlslng one section of the scaffold.
Mlque, who had been retreating from
before the fierce advances of Dennice
was on firm footing, but Dennice was
compelled to make a giant spring to
save himself. In the terror Of the mo-
ment ne leaped almost to the very
shoulders of the affrighted Mique and
Knocked him down backward, falling on
'op OF him. The force of the concussion
vas such that both men rolled to the
'dge OF the scaffold, and over went Dem
lice.
lnstlnctively and in the desperation of
he moment LIE caught one heel in the
!.prlght Immediately behind him and
nrew his left arm around the neck of
llque. There he hung on the edge of the
caffold, suspended by only one heel and ,
'rlst, while below him-nearly a hun :
req 1eet below-was a row of iron pines !.
nd plates of steel To fall was to be
ashed to pieces. /,
10 fall on the pipes was to break arms ,
nd legs and back. To fall on the curved
nd upturned edges of the plates was to :
cut into huge and CHASTITY slices. :
The mans hand trembled and his
ammer dropped from his neryeless !
rasp. 1t went swiftly downward, hit a =
rejection in the scaffold. bounded off. :
IA, striking u flfteen-inch pipe, broke it Il
Two as cleverly and as keenly as If it :.
"a been split with knife. The hand y
vung over and grasped Mique around :,
le IONS with an awful tenacity, and :,
ere the men struggled on the awful Y
"a o. VI tue SCtiuOlu. DenQfce had
most managed to swing his weight on %
e scaffold when Miques hickory shirt a.
oped, and back the man went into n
ace, this time losing the purchase of 81
heel and swinging clear over so that :.
held himself only by one arm and r.
ing suspended upright In the air. =. u
que managed to thrust the toes of his "
t foot between the two narrow blanks 81
at constituted the scaffold, and thus -
CURED leverage. Throwing over the ~ ~
ler shoulder. by strong and almost ~
raculous movement he swung the 40 40
'pended body Of Dennice back to the vi
'tform and dashed his face against the tn
yer. There they lay, motionless and i ~
IL, and when their companions reached u ue
IN they found that both had tainted III
I'd away. The awful duel had lasted an
than forty seconds, but there is i &c,
he on record that can compete with lie
en- minutes later Dennice and Mioue 1n
re- hammering away as merrily as no
ore.-Peoria (Ill.) Herald. re