Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1902-07-03

- A11~ ~A@%sAy - BtE1SH0e SCH
sation-one has no time for feel
ing, and IL is not often that after il
IL over there are pleasant memories
Of the incident.
Frank @. Zeis is q restless patient
at St. Joseph's Hospital. His cheek
and lip are scratched and his right
little finger is wrapped up. Other
wise there is no evidence Of the ac-
dent which befell him at the new
Adams Hotel. Eighteenth and We'll
ton streets, save q little soreness in
the back.
i can't tell just how fell, = said
he. laughing, as il he was glad to
see q visitor this morning. Invent
'siss-bo0m. with just little accent
ON the siss. and | have been lying
here wondering how much brain
have. I didn't think / had much
gray matter in my skull until I was
being carried 20 the ambulance. Or
dinarily l would not have paid any
attention 70 the shaft sides as went
up-in fact, / didn't. but when /
started 70 fall everything flashed be-
fore me; It seemed that l could see
every nail. every chip and block on
the floors and particularly the boards
ut the bottom.
Before / fell | felt the rope on one
side Of my swing giving way. Then
] remembered swinging out ofa sew
en-story building recently with half
atom OF iron for a fire escape, all
hanging on the two ropes that sup
ported me, and / wouldn't believe
one Of them was breaking. / yelled
at the space below to let that rope
alone, believing that some one was
tampering with the free ends by
which ! had pulled my swing.
Then came the horrible jerking,
breaking of strand after strand-it
seemed 70 unravel and break by bits.
| suppose it took two seconds for me
TO start, but it seemed like twenty
minutes. When | saw the cause OF
oneendofmy board sinking | reached
for the other rope, but-siss-down
] went. AS l slid of the board /
thought dozen things. First re-
allied like fash Of lightning that /
was facing death without chance
in my favor. No, l never thought
Of the mean things / had done-nor
my friends and relatives. 1t was
death, death-sure and swift, COM
ing at me like cyclone. and l re-
Taxed to die; a thousand rushing
noises seemed to bewilder me for an
instant-a very short instant-s short
er than a clock can measure, and my
mind passed to the bottom of the
shaft. My head was pointed down
and turned over. / don't remem-
Der thinking how l would strike.
but by some mysterious impulse or
action, / turned over and prepared
to alight in a sitting position.
Then the sensation grew pleas
ant. seemed to be riding on the
wind above the earth, while the OBJ
jects shot by like cannon balls.
seemed to be in a reverie when
reached the third fioor-I know it
was the third, for l remember later
OF having seen a stick projecting
there-I felt pain in my face. My
finger and face tipped the stick and
gave me those scratches and then
thought OF the boards below me, for
getful Of the flashes of light as I
passed the different floors, / struck.
1t didn't hurt me, just felt as IL q
thousand cannon doomed all at once
into my ears and then all was black.
Next / awoke as they carried me
to the ambulance. l thought about
cursing. Every time an ironwork-
er gets hurt he curses. A iron
worker can give trooper pointers
on profanity, but somehow death
came looming up before me again.
went through il all over in my mind,
and / did not cuss. haven Z the
habit, however. / drew upmy arms
and legs and began to realize was
alive-that I was not in a new world,
and then l felt thankful. The sky
seemed bluer. and the sun brighter
than it ever did, and / resolved new
err to 60 up in the air again. When
an ironworker gets a fall be is no
more good ut the bushes. DeMrer