The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-09
ENGLISH sTEEPLEJACKs.
They Lead a PeriIOus and an Excit-
ing Life.

ing Life.
From the English Illustrated Magazine.
Ny steeplejack hailed from Leicester.
When came upon him he was repairing
shaft. which must have been fully $50
feet high.
The chimney had cracked badly. It was
his work to bind It up with iron bands-a
feat accomplished without the raising of
any substantial scaffolding, and solely in
cage which he lowered and raised by
pulleys.
When interviewed him we stood at the
foot of the gigantic chimney and OBJ
served frail and rickety looking ladder
running right to the summit-a ladder
bent out at the cornice nigh above us. so
that men mounting ii hung for moments
in mid-air, with their backs seemingly in
q hne prelude to that grewsome tale he
told me, and gave me fit of the ShiVers
even while we talked.
so you are a Steeple1ack," said I. "And
how do you like the work."
on, like the work well enough" said
he. I've been at it five and thirty years,
and am not going to begin faultfinding
now. Use is second nature, you may
know"
And can you really get used to hang
ing on by the eyebrows up there?'
Used to it? Why, it's no more to me
than going up stairs to bed"
But that chimney is not far short of
200 feet high
"She's just over It's feet. The tallest
shaft l ever climbed topped the 200 feet
by a good yard or two. But light has moth
ing to do with it except where cost is
concerned. I'd as soon stand 800 feet up
step
Not if your men are sober and work
with proper care. Steeplejacks are not
often killed nowadays-when they keep
w n xrr1,a Aoxnr
kites. A man took his life in his hand in
those days. / remember when was a bit
OF nipper watching q back country
steepeJaclz swarm up a 100-foot shaft. He
Went to the work so drunk that he could
hardly stand. When a man in the crowd
spoke to him he said: Look here, how
true enough. Only very strong man
went up after kite without taking a
stiff glass of spirits before he began
You speak from experienced"
Yes, I've climbed many a hundred
shafts with a kite, and never took any
thing but cold water for the job. But
then I'm a strong chap, and there aren't
many with as good a head as I've got"
Was kite-fying very dangerous?"
he. But a kite is not often used for
chimneys, since we got these ladders
There may be q. few kite-hyers in out-of-
the-way places, but all big men work as
And how was the kite business man
aged?"
"Oh, that was plain enough! We used
to make a big kite and have two strings
to her She carried a guiding line at her
belly and second running line at her
tail. We used to let her go little way
from the chimney and try to bring her
right over the top of it.
1T wasn't as easy as it looked by long
way, and you'll scarcely believe me when
tell you that once few a kite for three
weeks at a shaft in Leicestershire and
didn't get It over even then. It was a
you got your line over and then, when
youd done it. you might fail to make it
1.-The thing was to guide the kite right
over the opening with your line and then
to pull her down so that the second cord
ran across the top of the shaft Directly
We had done this we attached rope with
pulley block to the line and hauled il
up. You can see easily enough that the
thin line might slip off the top while
we were hauling, and then all our work
was lost. 1t it stopped on, and we sue
ceeded in getting the thick line up, we
would take the end of the rope and run
round and round the bottom of the CHM
'iThe result of this was to wind our
rope round the summit above the cornice,
and so to give us hold enough to haul up
a man. The pulley did the rest, and so
long as the rope at the top held we were
There must have been a frightful risk
of the thing giving" said 1.
Not so much as you would think. You
see, II was all a downward pressure with
the fiat parapet of the cornice to prevent
the line coming off. I've flown hundreds
of kites. as | say. and | can remember
only two bad mishaps. In the first case
at Birmingham, the rope broke away
when we had a man half way up, ana
he fell fifty feet, smashing himself to bits
on a heap of Stag; in the second case
down in Yorkshire, had got line round
the weathercock of a steeple and was
hauling a young chap up, when, Just as
he touched the top, the line gave, and 1
expected to see him come crashing down
the whole $50 feet.
H.
after sounds like a miracle to hear 1t
seems that he felt the line Stacking, and
when he was within yard of the weather
cock, he got his feet against the stone