The Jasper news., 1907-05-23

clenched around the little pipe, pa
ralyzed by horror,
His nerve had failed him complete
ly. He fully expected to fall and be
dashed to death: Later he commenced
calling for help. Twice ne made ef-
forts to crawl around the projection,
but his strength and nerve both had
failed him and he sat numb with ter
ror and despair, except that at times
he broke into frantic crying for help.
Discharged for Being Absent.
The next morning his absence was
noticed, the fact of his disappearance
the previous day was recalled, the jan.
itor gave his testimony, some of his
fellows were puzzled, and he was
marked discharged for absence with
out reason or excuse.
Night came on and the chill crept
up from the bay and numbed Lam.
inert. He still chung to his glddy
perch and at intervals shouted for
help. Several patrolmen and night
watchmen heard his cries, but family,
and, as they could not locate the
sounds. they gave up the search. Day.
break brought fresh hope to Lammert.
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 1t ended
four stories below, apparently in q
hole in the wall its own size. He dis
covered, too, that 1t 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 q
building across the street, apparently
windows to Mushrooms, from the ir.
regularity. He could not see any Of
fee windows.
Vain Effort to Escape.
He was not afraid of the height that
day, and lost his giddiness when look
ing down. About noon he managed to
stand up, and decided to try to get
around the angle again and return to
the office window 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 brilliant idea dawned upon
him. He began pounding on the pipe
with his penknife, but after an hour
of this he desisted. During the morn
ing. too, he had put out signal of
distress, flying his pocket handker-
chief and waving at at the people be-
low. He spent the greater part of the
afternoon writing notes on envelopes
and papers from his pocket and trying
to drop them into the street Some
were waited blocks out of the way
and some fell unnoticed.
He was SO weak that he dared not
attempt another climb around the
ledge, even If he had possessed the
courage.
Decides to Jump Into Street.
Daylight came agaln-and with 1t
hope. Lammert says that during the
morning he declared he would end
his misery by jumping-but that he
was afraid he would alight on some
one and kill him-so postponed the
Jump until night. The grim jest kept
recurring all day. He laughed at the
idea of waiting until others were safe
before killing himself.
About four o'clock that afternoon
Curtis Logan, an employe of broker
age firm in the building across the
street, went to the Mushroom and,
while there. happened to glance out of
the window.
He saw Lammert and stopped to
look. THAT fellow is long time fix
ing that pipe," he thought. For on
the preceding day Logan had seen
Lammert, noticed his perilous posi-
ton and watched him for a time.
thinking he was daring workman re-
pairing the pipe.
He watched this time for several.
minutes. Then he noticed the attitude
Of exhaustion and despair. and the
handkerchief tied to the pipe.
Suddenly the thought struck him
that the man could not get out of the
orevasse In the side Of the building.
He watched while longer, and then,
hurrying to the elevator, descended,
crossed the street. and went up to the
life insurance company office, where
he rasied the alarm.