Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1901-02-02
FAMOUS STNEPLE JACK
EASY, HFALTHFUL AND Ple heSNT
WAY OF EARNING A LIVING.

| First Ascent NJ Twelve Years.
Climbing tall church strcu"s IS an
easy, healihnl and pleasant way oi
making Il living. according 20 Joseph
| b, Perry, the man who recently re-.
| paired and painted the SpIrr that tow.
ere Skyward hiGh above the roof OF
| st. Johns Cathedral ut Erir and SU.
| prrior streets. He has been long NJ
| the business and has u!2Gn enough
| money To retire in Il year or 81 an
spend tn" remainder OF has life Cnm-
fOrtally on the ground ut his favm
near .Alpcna, Mich. pvrrF is getting
toward forty-nuc years row. ana Il"
says that when II man IS fifty years
old he is old enough 10 give Np the
| Stccplc jack business. He Is one Of tn
most famous Strrnc climbers in The
country. and although he has taken an
kinds of chances in his work he has
never lccn hurt. In repairing tn
Stecplc of st. Johns Cathedral in this
ciiy Ec took about rs dangerous i
chancc as has fallen to the lot Of any
one.
He came here the day after the wind
storm that seemed to be blowing the
Spirc over almost. and. although 'hr
wind was about as high That day. Ii"
ascrrdcd tie Stcuplc and tied II rope
around it. lie went M inside the Stcr-
PIE to the highest point where there
n N
there threw small rope around tEr
base of the cross ut the Top. With tins
he pulled Il heavier rope into place aud
was ready for work. He put Il strong
r0l,c around the Strcplc where II WAS
beginning to crack oppn. attached y
block and tackle to this and tightcnrd
the rope until the strrplc was squeezed
together again and the crack closed.
This put an cud to the d?nCcr "f the
StCcplc blowing apart for the time hc-
ing, and after the wind moderated hc
climbed the StcCplc again and repaired
II thoroughly This took Il week. For
this work. although he could not work
all The time on account of the wind ana
lIIn. -Ii 'll ' S'i '--''. w iiN u Nv
WAS through he made Il contract to
paint The portions of the snirc that
Eeclcd rcpninting. Next Sprin" he
will @ld the great twclve-foot cross
that S,lrmountS The stcCplc. Th" gill-
ing cannot he done in winter hccausc
the gold leaf cannot be made to stick
in cold woat tier.
Mr.. Perry is we'll known all over the
United States and Canada. being. per
haps. the best known stceplc climber
in the country. All the summer he has
been in New York repairing one and
another of the tall stccplcs there. II
is interesting to hear the stceplc
climber talk of the things he has done
high above the heads of the people in
the streets.
Il made $40 before breakfast one
morning" he said to a reporter. at
was at my home in .\lpcna. The wind
had blown the cross from the top Of
the Spirc of one of the churches. The
stceple is POI feet high and the new
cross that was to be put on was six
teen feet tall and ten feet across.
There were some little windows in the
Spire about fifty feet below The top
and l went inside the strepie until |
reached them. That much of it was
easy. They had had a man working
for a week to put up the cross and he
had failed. He built n scaifold M from
the roof of the church. thinking that
he would be able to reach the ton in
that way. He didn't get rs near the
top with a sea at1old as Il boy could go in
five minutes by climbing up the inside
Of the stceplc to the highest windows
When he was through they sent for
me. They thought l ought to 90 up
as far as the other mans scaffold
went. but didn't want any of that in
nine never used scatfold in my
life l wouldn't trust myself on a
scaffold.
'1'hey were in hurry to have the
cross placed in position on top Of the
stepple, and sent for me to do it. They
offered me $40 for the job. | got up
at ) o'clock in the morning and went
up inside Of the stecple to where the
little WINDOWS are. Then | got out
and climbed up the lightning rod to
the top of the steeple, fastened block
and tackle, and had the MN on the
ground below hoist the cross up TO me.
put it in place and fastened it so that
nothing less than hurricane could
blow it away. and then come down and
went to breakfast. l was less than
two hours on the job, and it was max
ing money faster than l ever made it
before or have since.
"Thr easiest money ever made was
by going up in a balloon. happened
to be in town up III Canada where
the old Barnum circus was showing.
To make it more Interesting the circus
people We're in the habit of Offering
500 to any one who would 90 up in
the balloon with tie acronaut when he
made an ascension. This was to make |
it look as though it were very dan.
gerous thing to 20 up In Il balloon. ! |
had nothing particular to do. and so |
waited until the balloon WAS about |
ready to start. and the offer of 500 10 |
any man vino would 30 mp had been |
shouted over anl over. ard the hand. |
bills making the same announc, ment |
had been passed around al through |
the crowd. and then I went up to the |
ropes around the balloon and said | |
would 90 M in it for 500. Everybody |
heard me. and got cheer. ana there |
was no chance for the show people to
back out. SO they told me to get in |
and up we went We CAME down six. |
ty miles away. but | rot back and got |
my SlOO the next morning. all right. 1t |
was the easiest money ever made.
Il have been in the stecpie.climbin~
business for seventeen years. although |
| made my first climb when | was only |
,.,,,.u oil I ,.uc ,,.nrl-i,,r 81,