The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-02-22
THE STEEPLEJACK.
HE LEADS A PERlLoUs AND A VERY
EXCITING LIFE.

Steeple Top-The Old Method of Kite
Flying In Chimney Mounting.
My steeplejack hailed from Leicester.
When cnmo upon him, he was repairing
| SHIFT, which must have boon fully $50
feet high.
The chimney had cracked badly. It was
his work to bind it up with iron bands, q
feat accomplished without the raising Of
| any substantial scaffoldipg and solely In
cage which he lowered and raised by
J pulleys.
When interviewed him, we stood at
tho foot Of the gigantic chimney, and I
observed frail and riokety looking ladder
running right to tho summit--a ladder
| bent out at the cornice high above us, SO
| that men mounting 1t hung for moments
In midair, with their backs seemingly In
a limo parallel TO the earth. This alono
was a fine prelude to that growsome talo
ne told mo and gave me At of the shiyers
even while we talked.
| SO you are steeplejaok, said l.
And how do you like tho work2'
"Oh, like the work we'll enoughl" said
he. "I've been at it five and thirty years
and am not going to begin fault finding
now. Use Is second nature, you may
| know"
And can you really get used to hang
ing on by tho eyebrows up therep'
Used to itP Why, it's no more to me
than going up stairs to bed'
but that chimney is not far short of
400 foot high"
"She's just over 175 feet. The tallest
shaft 1 ever climbed topped tho 300 feet by
good yard or two. But height has moth
Ing to do with 1t, except where cost Is con-
cerned. I'd as soon stand 800 feet up as
3D. It's oil the same if you make bad
STEP"
"You do not consider it dangerous &C.
cupation, then2''
Not IL your men are sober and work
with proper care. Stooplejacks are not
often killed nowadays when thoy koop
sober. 1t was different when we flew
Kites. A man took his life in his hand in
those days. I remember when was q bit
of nipper watching baok country
steeplejaok swarm up 100 foot shaft. He
went to the work so drunk that no could
hardly stand. When man in tho crowd
spoke to him, he said, Look hore how
am to go up thore sobor!' That was
truo enough. Only % very strong man
went up after kite without taking a stiff
glass of spirits before no began"
You speak from experienceg'
Yes; I've climbed many hundred
shafts with u kite and never took any
thing but cold water for tho job But
then I'm strong chap, and there aren't
many with as good n head rs Two got"
WAS kite flying very dangcrous?'
Quite dangerous enough for me-" said
he. But kito Is not often used for
chimnoys since wo got these ladders.
There may be fow kite 1liers in out of
tho way places, but all big men work as 1
work"
And how was the kito business man
agods'
"Oh, that was plain enough! We used
| to mako u big kite and have two strings
to her. She carried q guiding limo Mt hor
belly and second running limo at her tnil.
Wo used to lot her go little way from tho
chimney and try to bring her right over
| tho top of 1t.
1t wasn't so easy as it looked by long
way, and you'll scarcely believe mo when
tell you that once flow kite for three
weoks Mt q shaft in Leicestershire and
didn't get it over oven then. 1t was q
common thing to waste three days before
| you got your limo over, and thon, when
you'd dono Ii, you might fail to make il
| fast.
Tho thing WAS to guide tho kito right
over the opening with your limo and then
to pull her down SO that tho second cord
ran across tho top of tho shaft. Directly
we had dono this we attached a rome with
| pulley block to tho limo and hauled it I'D.
You can see easily enough TINT the thin
line might slip of the top while we were
hauling and then oil our work was lost.
Ii 1t stopped on and we succeeded in get
ting the thick line up, wo would take the
end OF tho ropo and run round and round
tho bottom OF tho chimney with it,
Tho result of this was to wind our rope
| round tho summit above tho cornico, and
| SO to give us hold enough to haul IN a
man. Tho pulley did the rest, and SO long
as tho rope at the top held we were safe
enough
There must have been n frightful risk
| of tho thing giving" said 1.
| mot so much rs you would think. you
| see, 1t was all downward pressure with
the Hat parapet of tho cornico to prevent
the limo coming off. Two flown hundreds
OF Kites, as / say, and I can remember
only two bad mishaps. In tho first case.
at Birmingham, tho rope broke away
when wo had man half way I'D. and he
| fell 90 feet, smashing himself to bits on n
heap of Stag. In tho second case, down in
Yorkshire, l had got q line round the
weathercock OF steeplo and was hauling
( young chap up whom, just as he touched
| the top, tho limo gave, and / expected to
SEQ him como crashing down the whole
| 100 feet.
He didn't, though, and what happened
after sounds like. "a miracle to hear 1t
seems that he felt the line Stacking, and
when he was within u yard Of the wealth
ercock he got his feet against tho stone
and gave sort of spring, throwing his
arms round the ironwork and holding
| on for his lifo
| After that ho just climbed astride of
tho old steeple and sat there for Is hours
| while we were flying another kite across
him. You don't often hear of pluck like
| that