Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-05-15
THOUGHTS OF 4 FALLING MAN.
Man, Surviving FiVe-Story Drop, Tells
What Occupied His Mind.

Man, Surviving Five-story Drop, Tells
What Occupied His Mind.
From the Denver Post-"Whv.
feel bully; l was wishing they woulc
let me go out and roll on the lawn.
said the man who fell five stori g
! yesterday. Failing 100 feet down ar
| elevator shaft is not exactly a pleas
ant sensation-One has no time for
! feeling, and it is not often thai
after it is over there are pleasant
memories of the incidents
Frank G. Zeis is a restless patient
at st. Joseph's hospital today. His
| cheek and lip are scratched and his
right little finger is wrapped up. Other
wise there is no evidence of the &C
cident which befelI him at the new
Adams hotel, Eighteenth and Weltor
streets, yesterday, save a little sore
ness in the back.
Il can't tell just how l fell said
he, laughing, as if he was glad to see
a visitor, this morning Il went 'siss-
boom with just little accent on the
siss, and | have been lying here
wondering how much brain | have.
didn't think had much gray matter
in my skull until l was being carried
to the ambulance. Ordinarily | would
not have paid any attention to the
shaft sides as l went up-in fact, |
didn't but when | started to fall every
thing flashed before me; it seemed
that | could see every nail, every chip
and block on the floors and par
ticularly the boards at the bottom.
BEFORE l fell l telt the rope on one
side of my swing giving way. Then
] remembered swinging out of a seven
story building recently with a half-a-
ton of iron for a fire escape, all hang
ing on the two ropes that supported
me, and l wouldn't believe one Of
them was breaking. I yielded at the
space below to let that rope alone,
believing some one was tampering
with the free ends by which | had
puned my swing up on the pulleys.
Then came the horrible Jerking
breaking Oh strand after strand-it
seemed to unravel and break by bits
suppose it took two second for me tc
start, but it seemed like 20 minutes
When saw the cause of one and of
my board sinking l reached for the
other rope, but-sis-dOWn | went
AS [ slid off the board I thought a
dozen things. First | realized like a
flash o. lightning that | was facing
death without chance in my favor
No, I never thought of the mean
things | had dOne-nor the good, nor
my frienos and relations, it was
death, ueath-sure and swift, coming
| at me like a cyclone, and I relaxed tc
| die; a thousand rushing noises seem I'd
to bewiIder me for an instant-a very
very short instant-shorter than !
! clock can measure and my mind
passed to the bottom of the shalt. Ny
over. | don't remember thinking how
| would strike, but by some mysterious
| impulse or action | turned over an
prepared to alight in sitting position
| Then the sensation grew pleasant
[ seemed to be riding on the wine
above the earth, while the objects sho
| by like cannon balls. I seemed to b.
! in reverie VIXEN | reached the thirt
| f1oor-I know it was the third for
remember later of having seen a sticl
! projecting there-I felt a pain in ny
face. Ny finger and my face Tipped
the stick and gave me those scratche
and then l thought of the boards a
l., H.
about Is inches apart and WITH thu
vision of these boards before me, for
getful Of the flashes of light as
passed the different floors, I struck
1t didn't hurt. | just felt as if
thousand cannon doomed all at ono
and then all was black.
Me- l awoke as they carried me u
the ambulance. / thought about ours
ing. Every time an ironworker get!
hurt he curses. An ironWorker cal
give trooper pointers on profanity
but somehow death came looming III
before me again. went through it al
over in my mind, and I did not cuss
l haven't the habit, however. I drew
up my arms and legs and began u
realize 7 was alive-that | was not il
a new world, and then 7 felt thankful
The Say seemed bluer and the SUI
brighter than it ever did and re
solved never to go up in the air again
When an ironworker gets a fall he il
no more good at the business. l won
go up any more, but up to yesterda,
I always felt comfortable in the air
swinging by two ropes"
Zeis struck on one two-inch boarc
and snapped it in twain. His bacl
struck the other and was bruised
but had it not been for the secon;
board he would have walked away, &C
cording to his own statements.