The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1908-07-31

until no should be gradually crushed
TO death? For at q quarter past the
hour. the minute hand must pass the
hour hand on which he was seated.
and the instance between the two
was only q little over two inches!
HIS brain seemed dead. He couldn't
think. His gaze was fascinated by the
:apidly descending hand which was
either to crush him to death or hurl
him of on the steeply-slanting roofs
OF the building 200 feet below. He
glanced down. Would it not be better
to Jump then and end the horrible sus-
pense? No. he, loved life, and then
some help might come. And SO he
waited. The minutes, which had
seemed to come SO rapidly upon each
other at first, now seemed slower and
slower, until he wondered IL the clock
might not be stopping. But no, it
came on and on, this dreadful thing
which was to kill him. He found him.
self calculating whether it would
crush him or knock him OF. He wished
the hands moved steadily instead Of
In those terrible Jerks. One more
Jerk, or minute, and the hand would
touch his head. He crouched over
and waited. The hand descended and
ne could not sit up without touching
1t. He must lie flat-it would be cas-
Ter that way, he thought, and he was
quite calm now.
All this time he had been sitting
with his face toward the clock, his
feet hanging down between the hour
hand and the dial. AS he raised his
feet to lie on the hand he suddenly
stopped, and in moment was getting
over the side of the hand next to the
clock. Yes, there was room for his
body If he could hold his weight until
the minute hand had passed the hour
hand, and then he could raise himself
again to his former position. His
muscles were strong, and at first his
weight seemed as nothing. The min
utes seemed longer now than ever,
and the biting cold was benumbing
his fingers in spite of the heavy gloves
ne wore. At last, just as it seemed
that he must let go, it passed, and he
raised himself once more.
But what would this avail him? he
thought. Just another hour Of life?
He could not endure this for IL hours,
even If he could manage to keep his
hold, and this seemed unlikely, for the
slant of the hand was making it more
difficult each minute to keep his posi-
ton. In a few hours it would be dark
and with the night, the cold was GER
tain to become more intense, and he
would freeze. Death seemed inev-
liable, but he determined to hold out
as long as ray of hope came to him.
And so on through the frightening
hour. Then he found. with the in
creasing slant of the hand, that he
must devise some other method of
hanging on, so he laid himself fiat
against the beam, and, with his arms
around it, braced his feet against the
jut which formed the point. In this
way he could keep his position, even
though the hands were perpendicular.
AT each quarter the great chimes rang
out, their vibration almost sickening
him, so loud and close were they.
Quarter past four-and he must soon
hang on to the hand again while the
other passed. He lowered himself,
and this time it was harder than be.
fore, for his joints were stiff with the
cold, and the altered position of the
hour hand made it more difficult to
get good hold. Just as the long hand
was passing over the short one des-
perate idea entered the frenzied mind
of the man who was making such al
fight for his life. Quickly, though with
great danger of slipping and falling,
he reached one leg and then the other
around the minute hand, and, just as
1t passed the hour hand, swung him.
self upon it.
The horrors of that dizzy journey
around the clock on the minute hand.
the terrible danger he underwent in
changing his position on the hand so
as to escape having his head down.
wards, cannot be expressed in words,
but he was saved from death, for at
little after ten minutes past five
o'clock, his half-frozen hands reached
the rope that meant life to him. And
when he had gained the lower halls
Of the building to take the elevator to
the ground floor, the elevator boy
stared at him in horror. The man
he had taken up less than three hours
before was young and his hair had
been a rich dark brown. This was
surely the same man-but his hair
was as white as the snow falling
outside!