The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-10-04
FOLLOW 4 SkYROCkEf.
RIggers Climb Two Hundre d Feet
Inside of a CrumbIihg
Chimney:

Inside OF Crumblihg
Chimney:
A brick s1Iiokestaek nearly 200 feet
in height stands on the site of the old
Morris & Tasker Iron foundry, On the
north side of Morris street. between
Fourth and Fifth streets, Philadelphia
The entire block was occupied by the
foundry buildings until recently, but they
have been torn down one by one to make
room for the encroachijig rows of small
dwelling houses, which began OIL the
fonrth street front and are now being
built along the east end Df Norris street:
All that remains of the foundry now
IL a rough one-stOry st9ne building and
the tail stack. Recently it was deter
mined to remove these in order tirextehii
the row Of dwellings along Morris street
10 ruin. and the contract for t-artiilg
them away WAS awarded less thai q
month ago. The contractor busted HIM
self in removing the dirt and rubbish in
the neighborhood, while others began to
dig cellars and lay foundations for the
houses that were to take their places.
Work was practically stopped because
the stack had become an obstruction.
1t is huge affair, octagonai in shape
and built entirely of brick 1t stands
ON u solid foundation 20 feet square and
I'D feet high, and it tapers from diam
eter OF IL feet at the bottom to s feet
at the top. 1t was built quarter of IA
century ago when they knew how to
build stacks. and was apparently con
structed to last forever.
Daring Engineering Feats
The contra tor wanted to null the stack
down, but the formidable height and size
made the operation SO dangerous to all
me other structures i'll the vicinity that
the building Inspectors positively forbade
HIM to do it. The authorities ordered that
the stack be taken down brick by brick
and recommended that the work he com
menc.d At once. In its present shane
the tall pile Of bricks is regarded az some
| tElng OF menace to the nnighborhond.
although it looks as though it could with
stand an earthquake
The work Of razinc the stack must of
! necessity begin ut the top. and the first
eHcrt of the contractor was to get
| man up to its smoke-blackened mouth.
Various plans were suggested. and finally
| the JOB was entrusted to Thomas Cutler.
VINO, with three helpers. essased to get a
rope up through the interior of the stack
on Tuesday afternoon. Cutler is we'll
known rlgger. and has a REPUTATION for
getting away with just such tough ton
tracts as this one appeared to be-
A large crowd of peone froni the neigh
| borhocd watched his operations. He first
examined the broad interior Of the stack.
but could see no Way of climbing up with
out the aid of rope fastened to the ton.
ne surface of the bricks on the inside.
were an inch thick with SCOT. and some of
them seemed on the verge of crumbling tn
pieces From the basement all that
| could be seen above was a square match
of blue sky that looked scarcely ii foot
across. In order to get on the inside
OF the stack Cutler broke hole in the
bricks and mortar big enough to permit
man to squeeze through.
Balloons and Skyrockets.
| With these difficulties facing him the
contractor purchased number Of small
hotalr balloons. and he sent these alpft
on the inside of the stack with long.
thin rope tied to them. The balloons
would float slowly upwards. humping
from one wall to the other. until they
got nearly to the top. and then they
| would catch fire in the confined s,,ate.
A dozen were tried in vain. and at mid
night the balloon scheme was abandoned
and the contractor went home
| Next morning he returned bright and
early. bringing with him wagonload
of Daraphernalia of all Sorts The whole
| nelghbOrhood was aroused and before
he reached the spot SO large a crowd had
gathered that the services of several po-
ilcemen were required to keep them out
| of harms way. The windows and th..
roofs of adjoining dwelling houses were
| hiled. and everybody took the lyelieSt
kind of an interest in the destruction Of
| their old landmark
Cutler and his assistants first I'M
loaded large coils of rope of all sizes. and
| then produced bunch of powerful sky
| rockets At sight of these the crowd
| gave a shout. One of the rigsers
| crawled inside the stack with the rock
| cts. and Il coil of the thinnest rope was
| pushed in after him. For while the
eager watchers held their breath. we'll
| knowing what was going on. Then the
| legs OF the man We're seen coming slowly
out of the ragged hole in the slot. and
when only his head and arms were on
the inside he struck match ignited the
| fuse. and quickly slipped out.
In an instant there was Il SiZZle and a
sharp report, and the hundreds of pairs
of eyes turned skyward saw the rocket
with the rope trailing after it shoot out
of the top of the stack and soar high in
the air. 1t threw out some coIored fire
that was almost inyincible in the bright
| sunshine. and then came down to the
| ground like an arrow. bringing the end
of the rope with it. The crowd cheered
| and Cutler was for a moment the biggest
hero the neighborhood has known for
| years.
| Having got the thin rope safely over
the top thicker one was fastened to il
and drawn completely through This
| process was repeated three or four times
| until rope an inch and half thick was
| i'll place. One end of this was made
| fast to an iron stanchion outside. and the
| other dangled along the east wall on the
| inside. Cutler directed one of his men
to climb up this for the purpose of max
ing block and tackle fast on the top.
and George Brennan. an old volunteer
| fireman, undertook the job
| He started up the rope. hand over hand.
| getting what support he could for his
but when less than half way up he
stopped. struggled for half minute dts-
| perately and then began to slide rapidly
earthward. He reached ground with no
other injuries than blistered hands and
| bruised knees, but it was Il long time be-
| fore he could get his breath. He said he
| did not believe any man could make the
| ascent unless he also was tied to the tail
| of a rocket. us the first rope had been.
| Cutler. however. made the next at
tempt, and he succeeded. He went up
| hand over hand. Shak king down the SCOT
and dirt in black clouds. and when his
head appeared over the top of the stack
| he looked us if he had been painted black.
The crowd gave him another cheer and
he raised his handkerchief in return
He looked no bigger than :; sparrow at
the great height, and it could he seen
by the way his clothes f',ri.c,, about that
he was catching brisk breeze
He stayed up all tue afternoon and
the men up hereafter and lowering has
kets full of bricks 1t is expected that
fully two weeks will be required to raze
the Stack-Philadelphia Times