The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-16
a CLOSE SHAVE.
The steeplejack's Story Of His worst
Experiences.
(London Tft-Bits.)

z tsls 'ulN ran away To sea before my
! After. some years OF knocking about
/ got tired OF maritime life. and having
I married and determined TO stick 10 the
shore / got work with a builder, whose
peculiar line lay in erecting TAN Chin
neys. ! had always a very cool head. and
could stand on elevations that made most
men dizzy. and So was soon q favOritc
hand with my master
we had, on one occasion, TO fasten a
uBhtnlns conductor which had sprung
near the TOP of a very high chimney, and
AT. OSBORNE chose myself and one James
shaw 70 do it. as the most daring OF his
men. About half a dozen Of as went that
morning with a hand-cart containing the
necessary ropes. blocks, the kite and
I Having flown the kite and dropped its
] me across the top OF the chimney. we
soon drew 9p q rope, at the end of which
/ was block through which ran a line
whereby We were TO be drawn UP.
shaw had only been married fort
/ the men hanteringly asked him if ne
his wife: and them Nr osborne having
/ shaken hands with as and bid us be cool
and steady. we were drawn slowly w.
IL was known an over the town that the
conductor was TO be fixed. though. thg
DAY had not been named, ! did not cx-
pect that we should have many sDeetat-
| OTIS, but as we got higher, and the view
opened under our feet I saw that the
streets We're already thronged with star
erS. Shaw very quiet and whom I
waved my cap at the people he said. snap
folly, and that ne thought I might think
I or better things than how % amuse these
/ gaping Idiots who. he dared say. desired
70 oetttt run than to see us meet with
Il had come up IN the best heart. think
ing. indeed. nothing about the danger We
incurred. but as we drew nearer and
nearer TO the top with nothing as id
seemed belonging 20 this world near to
I the peril of the undertaking. What shaw
| srou6ltl OF ~ / don know; ne sat at the
tbt 2l the oracle never looking out
though told him he would do better TO
I Keep his eyes about him. so that he might
/ SFoW used to the height
] 5000 gracious What was this? Here
lecting coping, and still they were wind
ing away without slaekening speed I'm
me least! guessed in a moment that
they mtstook our height and that with
the great purchase of this WindIass tbe
[oPs would De broken when the cradle
/ Cdme 10 the block I sprang up and
Gatcmng the rope, climbed hand over
natd 70 me coping. Shaw sprang up.
also and followed me; he too got safe.
and still they went on winding IN tili
me ne rope sang again with the strain there
5 i11S ana tne main rope with its block fell
HoWii, 1hus We're we two poor men left
IN q most desperate situation.
foor Shaw was completely dazed with
aLlilsht, ana the moment he got on the
coping, which was only a foot and a half
Droad: ne called out;
Where can I pray? Where can I
kneel and pray?'
and 50 1 said, very soIemnly:
SIt down, Jim; God will hear MS If
we pray to him sitting down
me color of his face was of q trans
Parent aren't, blue, end it was distorted and
( lNItching as ~ he was in a fit His ewes
W-re very wild and drawn into a s0nint.
ana ne couldn't sit steady. but swaIed
4 f.I POu ny backward and forward, so that
dsaS certain he must t0pple over.
49,, Tome, Jim, lad I said, thinking to
hue - tHc .IlsnI OH hlm, its bad enough
DuI IL can be mended. Hitch up a bit
and put your arm around fhe rod-1,9,r
De IT VIII steady YOU
~ ., w mere are you, and where is this
roo! ne. asked I'm a very hollow voice
I thouSh lie was looking at me and the
roc was only foot or two to his left
t,.bS ms knew that he had gone
ollnd with the fright, and self-preserva-
ton said don't go near him: but I re-
nemDered his newly welded wife and
mat, taking him all through he was al
ways a very decent fellow. and / Thought
now should have liked him to nave
1ohe II / mad been in his case so 7 de-
Iernihed 10 run bit of risk in his favor
Or course ! burst not get on nv feet
put working myself on by nv hands I
SoC 10 MIN and. putting my arm around
nus waist ana telling him as cheerily as
could 70 Keep cool I put him with his
arm around the rOd-rIt had however
/ sprung me staptng for five yards down
ana was SO loose that it swayed with
MN, ana ! expected every minute tC
ste MN railing head over heels down and
I me Tod tearing away with him
mere was great hustle down below:
peoPie were rushing around the yard and
! pushlng 70 get in. but as vet there were
oHiy some score of men at the foot Of the
CHIMNEY, and, by close looking I saw
mem put somebody ON a board and car
| " MN gently away towards the engine
ngIsf- one or the MN walked after
WIN a nat IN his hand; then I knew
somebody had been hurt with the falling
SFd0ie ana that 1t must be poor Mr. Os-
OOIne, as none of our men wore hats
Not lace was turned up to us. L
hat
so taken up with sorrow that So GOOD n
LidH ana 50 KIND master should be
Ali t5l,,, yhat Ior while they had never
| a. tHuuBhl ABOUT us, and the people out
side imagined that we had come down
win the cradle, so thus we We're left
IN total isolation for full twenty min
While L was watching. them below,
] Ieellng very sorry for my poor master.
was startled by a wild laugh from
ohaW' VINO began making cat-calIs and
yelling as If he was possessed Then T
Knew OF course, that he had gone mad
EVen now ] tremblo when I think Of
mat time It was horrible to peer down
the smart. black and soOty and yawnine
/ and scarcely less so to look outside and
see a i1ght or pigeons sweeping round
az considerable less height than we were
Then Shaw-thank goodness. he was so
oazed mat he could not see me-called
( nv name three times as 7 SAT fairly,
crinSing i'm dread that his sight might
clear, and with a CHASTITY grin he began
| WORKING himself towards me / worked
] away rum MN as nOlSeleScIN 7 cOuId.
Win every hear of my head standing on
He followed me twice around that
/ hofFid coming, making most hideous
| noises, and then, having come a second
time TO the rod, he got an idea in his
muddled head that had fallen over, for
/ ne never lost r sense of where he was
an through this trying time. Then he
/ uled 10 get on his feet but at the risk
/ or my own life ] could not let the poor
. IelioW rush on to certain death without
one more effort and I cried out for him
, / a whipped dog. all trembling. 7 suppose
II had been put into his head that I
was a dead man speaking TO him
/ | mar morning my wife had had a let
ter from her sister in Canada. and as
/ knere We're parts We could not make out.
set our timekeepcr to read it for me.
" had SCRAP Of uncovered paper at
, the bottom and, by another piece OF
good luck, / happened 10 have bit of
red pencil in my pocket 7 wrote on the
PAPER: Get us down Shaw's gone mad.
! RMS 1 shut IN my tobacco box and was
fortunate enough to drop it at the feet
OF couple of men who were standing at
the engine house door
directly all was hustle 70 rescue us.
Ihev rot the kite up again and
watched il mounting slowly. and when
the slack Irvine feH between shaw and
myself 7 took it in my hand and could
nave kissed it. Poor Shaw with his
teeth chattering, still fancied I was a
spirit, and did all I could to faver that
idea until they got another cradle up 10
I us Then, having pushed him in
scrambled in myself and clutched him
fast and soon we got down, he wrestling
and fighting with me all the way.
he was i'm madhOuse FOR some
months and then. went to scavengering.
NTMna la Il