Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-06-22
NARROWED FIFTY HOURS ON
A NEW YORK SKYSCRAPER.
A TRUE STORY.

the little pipe, paralyzed by horror.
His nerve had failed him completely.
He fully expected 20 fall and be dashed
to death. Later he commenced calling
for help. Twice he made efforts to crawl
around the projection, but his strength
and nerve both had failed him. and he
sat numb with terror and despair, ex-
cept that at times he broke into frantic
crying for help.
In the office nobody noticed that Lam
inert was not at his desk for perhaps an
hour Then they supposed he had been
called into some other department, and
no attention was paid to his absence.
After hours the janitor found his locker
unlocked and his desk piled with work.
and Strengthened things up.
The next morning his absence was no
ticed, the fact of his disappearance the
previous day was recalled the ianitor
gave his testimony. some of his fellows
were puzzled. and he was discharged for
absence without reason or excuse.
Night came on and the chill crept IN
from the bay ana numbed Lammert. He
still chung to his giddy perch and at in
tervals shouted for help. Several patrol
men and night watchmen heard his cries,
but family, and, as they could not To-
cate the sounds, they gave up the search.
Daybreak brought fresh hope to Lam
inert. Hunger, he says, revived him and
spurred him on to fresh attempts to
escape.
His first thought was to slide down
the pipe, but he found that it ended
four stories below, apparently in a hole
in the wall its own size. He discovered.
too, that it carried telephone wires to
the upper stories. During the morning
he decided to call for help every half
hour, and took out his watch for that
purpose. Also he found that he could see
two windows of a building across the
street, apparently windows to wash
rooms, from the irregularity He could
not see any Office windows.
He was not afraid of the height that
day, and lost his giddiness when looking
down. About noon he managed to stand
up. and decided to try to get around the
angle again and return to the office win
dow. He crawled out until he could look
around to where the window pole hung:
then he grew afraid to let loose of the
pipe. and drew back into his safe harbor.
He had come near falling in the effort
and was weak from the experience.
Then a brilliant idea dawned upon him.
He began pounding on the pipe with his
penknife, but after an hour of this he
desisted. During the morning, too, he
had put out signal of distress. flying
his pocket handkerchief and waving it
at the people below. He spent the great
er part of the afternoon writing notes on
envelopes and papers from his pocket
and trying to drop them into the street
Some We're waited blocks out of the way
and some fell unnoticed.
He was so weak that he dared not at
tempt another climb around the ledge
even if he had possessed the courage.
Night found him disheartened and des-
pairing. He was about ready to let loose
and fall into the street. Apparently no
one had seen his signal or found his
notes. The night was raw and cold and a
misty rain drenched him to the skin. He
grew still, and his body was filled with
pains. Many times he shifted from ledge
to ledge, and once. by bracing his feet on
one ledge, and sitting on the other with
his hand around the pipe, he dozed off
until a dream of falling awakened him.
Daylight came again--and with it
hope. Iammert says that during the
morning he declared he would end his
misery by iumping-but that he was
afraid he would alight on someone and
kill him-so postponed cae jump until
night. The grim jest kept recurring all
day. He laughed at the idea of waiting
until others were safe before killing him
self.
About o'clock that afternoon Curtis
Logan. an employee of a brokerage firm
in the building across the street, went to
the Mushroom and while there, happened
to glance out the window.
He saw Lammert and stopped to look.
That fellow is a long time fixing that
pipe" he thought For ON the preceding
day Logan had seen Iammert, noticed
his perilous position. and watched him
for time, thinking he was daring
workman repairing the pipe.
He watched this time for several min
utes. Then he noticed the attitude of
exhaustion and despair, and the handker-
chief tied to the pipe.
Suddenly the thought struck him that
the man could not get out of the crevasse
in the side of the building. He watched
~ NtitAt AtAtSti. anu nun AiiE " TIC
elevator. descended, crossed the street,
and went up to the life insurance com
pany office, where he raised the alarm.
The employees of the auditing depart
ment were skeptical, but Logan insisted
that man was on the ledge. Then
someone remembered Iammert and his
odd disappearance. The window was
thrown open and someone shouted Lam
merits name. The result was a feeble
cry for help.
After that there were things doing.
Telephone messages summoned men from
the nearest fire station. \ rope was
swung from the window by Lammert's
desk across to the window beyond the
projection and one of the window wash
ers. with his belt hooked over the rope,
slipped hurriedly along the ledge around
the projection, and in an instant reap
peared supporting Lammert. Eager
hands stretched forth and drew Lam
inert into the window-and in a dazed
way he walked over to his desk. put the
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