The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-17

of whom felt worse than sea sick until
"Steeple Jack" had come down from his
perch. There wasn't a single person in
the crowd who didn't think it terrible
but singular enough, once an eye was
turned on Lawlor it did not come eff
until he had finished.
Climbing church steeples, chimncys
and flag poles is not a bit harder to
Lawlor than clerking in a dry goods
store. He is not vain enough to say
that there is no danger in it. He
knows better, for about four years ago
he spent 127 days in Hartford hospi-
tai as the result of a 80 foot fall from
a chimney in Rockville, Conn. lie
broke four ribs in his right side, broke
a bone in his instep, broke bone in
right thigh, and crushed the bones in
the back of his right hand.
When he was being carried to the
hospital, on a stretcher, he borrowed
the train porter's pipe and smoked 1t
until the hospital physicians took it
away When he was discharged from
the hospital he stoically announced
that the accident was his own fault, and
this quality in his character is what
enables him to get far above his fell
low beings and not get light-headed
over it, The chimney upon which he
was working at the time Of the acct
dent was 125 feet high, and he had
rope swung over the top to hold him
in place while he made repairs 80 feet
above the ground. Heat snapped the
rope and he fell.
Lawlor had what he terms the fun
NEST thing that ever happened" While
he was at work on the Park street
Church steeple in Boston, about two
years ago. The slipping of a rope
hurled him from the lower part or the
steeple. Spectators below turned their
heads. but when they looked again,
expecting to see his mangled body upon
the pavement, they saw nothing. Law
lor had fallen u feet into the aperture
between the belfry and railing. Here
he was lodged for over an hour. car
penters We're induced to go to the bel
fry, and, after saving away part OF
the woodwork, Lawlor was taken out
with only few scratches and torn
clothes to show that he had tumbled.
"Steeple jack holds the worlds rec
ord for lofty work. Five years ago he
startled everybody by announcing his
intention of climbing the Washington
monument at Washington, d. C.,-55O
feet in leighton wager. He turned
the scorn and scepticism OF hundreds
to admiration when he did the trick
and his performance has never been
equaled.
''Steeple Jack" Lawlor has the back
ing of New York sports for any amount
in a steeple-climbing contest. Lawlor
saws that he never saw steeple he
could not reach the top of in 30 min
utes.
When he is at work, if he thinks
there is anything going on below that
is worth looking at. he looks. Unlike
most steeple climbers, dizziness does
not follow a peer from aloft to the
ground. Of course, temperate habits
and physical strength are essential
qualifications for a candidate for
steeple- climbing honors. He would not
do the smallest kind of a job for less
than SO an hour. but his skill demands
that price, and he gets it, and more,
too, sometimes.
He sent an application to Washing
ton yesterday for the contract to gid
the ball on the federal building flag
pole in this city. and paint the pole
and repair the fixtures. He has the
government contract to repair the flag