Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-04-27

MARVELLOUS ESCAPES
STEEPLEJACk.

now England's most talked about
climber of spires and tall chimneys rs
Rhys Lewis. He recently had na'-
row escape from death when mas
brought out stories concerning ms
perilOus life. On one occasion Lewis !"
life was saved by the heroism OF ahoth-
er steeplejack who was assisting MN
in his work. The other mans name
is Jenkins and he is employed now IN
one of the Turkish arsenals at n rat
salary. Lewis went up to pour molten
lead into the socket of the vane on the
top of the spire of Saint Elvan's church
in Aberdare. The vane was $50 feet
from the ground. To do the work he
had to stand on Jenkinss shoulder.
and when Lewis in this eerie position
was in the act OF emptying the ladle,
a sudden gust Of wind scattered Sood
deal of the molten metal. When the
task was done and the pair descended.
the brave Jenkins showed on his barred
arms bracelet-like marks where IN"
flesh had been eaten away by the
molten metal that fell upon them.
Had Jenkins moved an inch under this
exquisite torture both men would IN
evitably have fallen to the bottom ot
the spire and met with an awful
death.
Once. on a steeple in Llandarog
Lewis was taking a stone out OF the
top of the spire. $50 feet from tho
ground. He had just attached IL to his
pulley block. when the laborer AT the
bottom pulled the rope yard IN
stead of six inches. as required. with
the consequence that the block Of stone
struck Lewis in the chest, knocking
him backwards over the suspended
chair in which he was sitting. his
head hanging down. and his legs tilt
ing up in the air. He tumbled clean
over head first. but got firm grip Of
the rope and slid down. without further
mishap. TO the ground. the displaced
stone accompanying him in his light
ming descent.
Not long ago Lewis was ascending Il
high chimney at a Welsh coal pit TO re-
pair some loose brick work near the top.
He had got a rope over the chimney
and was on his ladder. within n few
feet of the top. when one of the work
men who was attending TO the rope at
the bottom thought the line looked
slack. and. in spite of definite in
StluCtioll WINCH he fldt ItttlNfu iitl ~
pull upon il under any considerat ton.
tightened il up. The strain on the de-
fective chimney top brought down
four feet of loose brick above the
steeplejack's s head. while the dust al
most blinded him. The ladder on
which he was standing began TO os-
cillate fearfully. but the steeplc jack,
with great difficulty and the utmost
caution. finally worked his way back
to the earth.
1t was at TredeGar that Lewis was
blown about by the wind. when he was
sitting in his chair at a height Of l60
feet. For twenty minutes he was
swinging about heiplcssly. but at last
he managed to catch n corner of III"
chimney stack-which was square
and. getting his knee against it, guided
himself. haphazard. down the rope.
This was a wonderful exploit. but per-
haps his experience on the top of q
lofty Dowlais stack in the cogging
mills was yet more remarkable. In
this case. again. his laborer was at
fault. The end Of the pulley rupc
tailed on piece of ground close 10 thu
works railway. and the man was toll
off specially to mind it. While Lewis
was on the top of the chmney-hav-
ing just changed his platforms-thc
man left the ground, and as ill-luck
would have il locomotive came by
shunting and caught up the end of
the trailing rope on one of the buffers.
In moment the rope was twisted up.
the platform at the top Of the chin
ney was torn down. and Lewis was left
H.
support. Hundreds Of agonzed work
men waited below absolutely unable 10
assist the man dangling far above
them in the air. Lewis. however. kept
calm. With his fingers clutching
solely to 7s-inch iron band. which
girthed the chimney. and his legs
meanwhile dangling in space. he ac-
tually crept around. hand over hand.
to his ladder. and so saved his life once
more.
1t was the irony of fate that n man
who had escaped so often from perils
a: great heights should be injured Sc
verely by fall from no greater eleva-
ton than forty-four feet. Lewis was
working at that distance from the
ground on the steeple of a village
church when stay gave way and he
fell. cutting his head badly and "tele-
scoping' and breaking both arms.
When he recovered consciousness ne
was taken to public house. where he
partially Strengthened out his arms oy
using the leverage Of an old wooden
table. What to do with the injured
man the villagers did not know, until
one genius placed him on board of
train for Merthyr. the town where
Lewis lives. sticking his ticket in his
hat and telling the train guard that
"he would be known when he got
there"