The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-11-12
Thu sTEIPLEJACK.
he LEADS A PERILous AND A VERY
EXCITING LIFE.


shsft whish must have been fully $50
feet high.
The chimney lad cracked badly. II was
his wsrk 10 bind 10 up with iron bands, .
feat accomplished without tho raising Of
any substantial seaRolding and solely In
cage which he lowered and raised by
pullsys.
when l interviewed him, We stood at
the fost Of the gigantic chimney, and I
observed frail and risksty looking ladder
running right 10 the summit-a ladder
bent out ID the oornics high above us, 90
that mon mounting 10 hung fer moments
In nidair, with their backs seemingly In
line parallel 10 the earth. This alone
was fine prelude 10 that srswsoms tale
he told me and save ne . At Of the shivers
even while We talked.
$50 you are = stssplsjaok," said I.
And how do ysu like the work.
"Oh, L like the work we'll snoughl" said
he. i've boon at il ave 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 the eyebrows up theref"
used to iti Why, it's no more to me
than going up stairs 10 bed
but that chimney is not far short of
300 feet high"
"Shes just over 175 feet. The tallest
shaft ever climbed topped the 200 feet by
a good yard or two But height has moth
ing to do with It, except where cost is con-
cerned. I'd as soon stand 800 feet up as
30. It's all tho same If you make a bad
STEP"
"You do not consider 1t a dangerous &C.
cupation, thenp'
"Not II your men are sober and work
with proper care. Steeplejacks are not
often killed nowadays when they keep
sober 1t was different when we flew
kites. A man took his life in his hand in
those days. l remember when l was bit
Of a nipper watching a back country
steeplejack swarm up 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
am l to go up There sober?' That was
true enough. Only a very strong man
went up after kite without taking q stiff
glass of spirits before he began"
"You speak from experienced"
"Yes; I've climbed many hundred
shafts with 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 head as I've got.''
"Was kite flying very dangerousp"
"Quite dangerous enough for me-, said
he. but kite Is not often used for
chimneys since we got these ladders
There may be few kite hiers in out of
the way places, but all big men work as
work. -
"And how was the kite business man
agedp'
"Oh, that was plain enoughi We used
to make big kite and have two strings
to her. She carried guiding line at her
belly and a 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.
sit wasn't so easy as 1t looked by long
way, and you'll scarcely believe me when
tell you that once flew kite for three
weeks at a shaft In Leicestershire and
didn't get 1t over even then. 1t was a
common thing to waste three days before
you got your line over, and then, whei-
you'd done it, you might fail to make it
fast.
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 q rope with
a pulley block to the line and hauled it 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
If 1t stopped on and we succeeded in get
ting the thick line up, we would take the
cid of the rope and run round and round
the bottom of the chimney with it.
The result of this was to wind our rope
|. round the summit above the cornice, and
SO to give us hold enough to haul up e
man. The pulley did the rest, and so long
as the rope at the top held we were safe
enough"
There must have been frightful risk
of the thing giving" said l.
"Not SO much as you would think. You
see it was all downward pressure with
the fat parapet of the cornice TO prevent
the line coming of. I've flown hundreds
of kites, as I say, and I can remember
only two bad mishaps. In the first case,
at Birmingham, the rope broke away
when we had man half way up, and he
fell 90 feet, smashing himself to bits on q
heap of Stag. In the second case, down In
Yorkshire, / had got line round tho
weathercock of stecple and was hauling
% yOuHS Ouop up Wnous Juso oS no oouOuou
the top, the line gave, and I expected to
see him come crashing down the whole
$50 feet.
HE didn't, though, and what happened
after sounds like miracle to hear. 1t
seems that he felt the line Stacking, and
whom no WAS within yard Of the wealth
ercock no got his fect against the stono
and gave sort of spring, throwing his
arms round the ironwork and holding
on for his life.
AFTER that he just climbed astride Of
the old stesple and sat there for Is hours
while we were flying another kite across
him. You dent often hear of pluck like
that"
admitted that you do not and put an
other question to him:
"when you had hauled man up in the
ordinary way, what would no do thenf"
"If it was a stseplo, he would sit with
his legs round the cock until he had made
the pulley properly fast. Then no would
haul up four planks and build a foothold.
The rest Is easy once you have got your
man up there. "-English Illustrated Mag.
azine.
Shopgirl Amenities.
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