Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-07-20
AN ADVENTUROUS LIFE.
The Tempestuous Experience of a
Steeplejack on Long Island.

After a very adventurous life, dur
ing which | was a sailor, soldier, ma
rine and prize fighter and travelled to
nearly every corner of the globe, |
married and settled down to the COM
paratively prosaic life Of steeple-
jack.
Being very athletic and of muscular
build, | found I could get plenty Of
employment and good wages for paint
ing flag poles, chimney stacks, and
similar work that required steady
nerves, the knack Of rigging and a
seaman's knowledge of knots and
bitches There was an element Of
danger and daring about this work
that suited me, and | was often sert
for by people at distance who had
heard Of me, and could get no one To-
cally who knew how, or had nerve
enough, to execute the jobs they
placed in my hands.
In the fall of 1903 l took a contract
to scrape and paint the iron chimney
stack of the Ridgewood Pumping Sta
ton, Long Island, n. Y, belonging to
the Brooklyn Water Commissioners.
The stack is the tallest chimney in the
olhtSN .-eiSSs, peiio -'c 49, Aiioii' : ~
diameter of the stack is twelve feet
at the top and thirty-two feet ut the
ground, and an outside iron ladder
leading to the top of the chimney is
provided to facilitate any painting or
repairs that may have to be done
from time to time TO do the work
built light swinging scafold. It's
middle fitted into the stack, and it
was swung from light half-inch tao
kles fitted at each end, suspended
from two large hooks fixed at the top
of the chimney expressly for the pur
pose
TO paint and scrape the stack all
around | found l should have to move
my scaffold three times. l raised my
staging by means of the two scaffold
falls, working entirely alone except
when it was necessary to haul the
scaffold to the top of the stack, when
[ got one of the employees at the
pumping station to work the falls,
while I ran up the permanent ladder
attached to the chimney to make the
staging fast at the top. To lower
the structure I would take off the
hitch from one end at a time, and
tiieii ""Cl DptI toSctlSf'
The pumping station at Ridgewood
is situated in very exposed position
and, as it was the month of Deem
Der and very windy. to keep from be-
ing blown out from the chimney ]
had a rope attached to one end of the
scaffold, passed around the stack, and
made fast to the other end.
One day I was scraping the loose
scales of paint off the iron plate. and
had descended about halfway down
the chimney. | was working very hard
to get finished, when 1 was suddenly
awake to. the fact that it was grow
ing dark, but. as l required very little
light for the job in hand, / continued
my scraping. The wind was bowling
around the chimney, and seemed to be
increasing in volume, though 1 paid
but little attention to it.
I worked until nearly six o'clock,
when it became very dark, 50 I de-
cided to pull my scaffold around to
the ladder on the opposite side of the
chimney, make fast, and go home. /
was about to put this plan into opera
ton, when disaster overlook me. AS
l urfastened the rope which held my
the scaffold round to the ladder, 1t
slipped from my fingers and vanished
into the night Hardly had | real
lied what had happened than the high
wind, catching the lone line of ropes
and falls of my tackle, blew the scat
fold with me upon it, out and away
from the stack to a distance of twenty
feet. Then, the force Of the gust
suddenly abating, I swung in with a
fearful crash against the chimney.
The shock of the collision nearly
flung me from the stage, hut, although
dazed, | vet chung on for dear life.
Another instant and l was carried
out again, whirlcd around, and sent
hurting against the chimney again by
another puff of wind.
BreathleSs and terror-stricken. I
hung on desperately to the falls on
one end Of the scaffold
As | thought over my position my
heart sank within me. 1t was Of ne,
use to call for assistance. for I was
$50 feet in the air. The wind was
shrieking and moaning, and the noise
Of the machinery in the pumping sta
ton far below would drown any sound
could make. To stay in nv present
situation for any length of time, how
ever, was clearly out of the question.
for even if I could manage to keep
from being thrown off, my scafrord
would soon be dashed to pieces, and l
myself stunned or disabled by striking
the chimney.
All this time that awful pendulum
motion was going on with the in
evitable Earring crash agains.
the chimney every time-I swung in,
HI s3 Nv