The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-15
NARROW ESCAPES
 REALLY HAPPEN More Thrilling Than Seen on
 the Stage SOME RARE INSTANCES
Swiss Workman Falls From Building Onto Rapidly Moving Train. Another Man Escapes In
 Fearful Collision.

Fearful Collision
 From the Strand Magazine.
 Narrow escapes from death are always interesting to read about or to see on the stage. They are not so satisfactory to the persons who experience them, es pecially, 1t Is said, because they happen too quickly. Dramatic art assigns a suitable period of suspense which ena- bles the spectator to develop and enjoy all the thrills due to a situation, but reality is generally abrupt and hurls the fated individual into catastrophe before he can arouse his emotions. Of course this view is opposed to the theory of old-fashioned fiction that one instant in a crisis nnrolls the map of an extensive career and performs a bleaching opera ton on the hair that would keep a coiffeuse busy for an hour.
 A Swiss workman was busy repairing the roof of a railroad station when the cleat against which he was resting gave way and he began to slide over the edge of the roof. To avoid a spiked railing below, he made a desperate jump into space An express train was rushing by and the man landed on the roof of a car His outflung hands found and clutched a ventllator chimney. He was
  and descended unhurt.
 More tragic was the occurrence on a Rocky Mountain railroad. Four em- ployes of the Great Northern were speed ing down a precipitous grade on a hand car at 30 miles an hour when a special train confronted them around a curve. There was no avoidance of a collision. Two of the men jumped to death on the rocks below. The others stuck to the car and one was crushed by the wheels of the advancing engine. but the other man was tossed uninjured into a clump of bushes which grew on a projecting rock 20 below the edge of the cliff. It was the only safe place where he could have fallen.
 A Dr. Bach was cycling down a pass near Gosehenen, In Switzerland. when his brake snapped and the machine darted forward at a terrific speed. At the foot of the mountain is a bridge spanning deep river gorge. The physician tried to guide his flying machine onto the bridge, but the front wheel struck a side wall and he was flung over the parapet. While falling through the air he caught chain hanging from girder. The momentum of his body, suddenly arrested, nearly wrenched his grip loose, but he was a strong man and kept his hold. While swinging in midair suspended over the raging river and unable to improve his perilous position. an automobile came chugging down the pass. The hapless man shouted for help, but he could not be seen from the bridge, and his cries were drowned by the noise of the motor and the sound of the river. few min utes after the automobile had passed a carriage drove across the bridge. Again he cried out for help, but in vain. The awful strain on arms and fingers was be- coming intolerable, and the doctor was about to drop into the torrent to an in hln death when two peasants came by and saw him. They flung a moose oyer nm and pulled him up. He tainted and was ill for long time.
 A father travelling with his young son on an English railroad last year had Il narrowing five minutes. The child was leaning against the compartment door when the door flew open and the young ster disappeared. The father frantically jerlSed the safety rope, which stopped the traina and jumped out. He was as- tonished and delighted to see the boy on his faet running up the track. But at that moment an express on the other track came roaring by and the engine knocked the boy down and passed over him. The father groaned with horror. He could not believe his eyes when the l. jumped up and came pluclSily toddling back. The boy had no injuries except a few cuts.
 About two years ago small steam yacht with a pleasure party aboard was off the outer harbor of New York when it was run down and eapsized by a string of garbage scows. Of the eight aboard the yacht four chung to the keel of their vessel and were picked up; the others sank and vanished from sight. Among the latter was a young woman, Miss Fanny Day. She was reported drowned. and her family was mourning the tragic event when she walked in, very much alive and well. Her escape was extraor- dinary. When the yacht turned over the girl was drawn by suction under a barge and came up in a dark space. A chain struck against her face; she grasped it, and as soon as she could get breath she screamed for help. A lid above was lift ed and two men pulled her up into day. light It happened that a load of garb- age had been dumped through the bottom of the barge at the moment of the col lision, and the young woman fortunately rose through the open trap into the chamber The trap immediately closed again, leaving her in the hold of the scow, imprisoned in darkness and filth, but safe.
 Another narrow escape from drowning occurred in Dublin It was foggy night and a cab containing four persons drove straight into the Alexandra Basin. The cab happened to fall exactly across the mooring cable of a ship, the horse on one side and the cab on the other. Al though the passengers were up to their waists in chilly water and boxed like rats in q trap, they were safe and were soon rescued by rope at the hands of the ships watchman. Only the horse lost its life.
 Automobile perils are becoming com monplace. Some years ago the car of MT. Conklin, a New York lawyer, was smashed to splinters by an express train but he himself was carried along on the front of the engine above the cowcatch- CT Only few ribs were broken, and he recovered Several cases of horses and carriage going over high cliffs in Eng land without serious damage are record ed A Parisian woman doctor once went to call on a patient at a private hotel, and entering wrong ooor which had a patent catch. found herself trapped in an elevator well. with the elevator slowly descending on her. No one was in the lift She shrieked for help, and finally shrank down on her knees awaiting death. The concierge heard the cries, rushed out and stopped the machinery when the floor of the car was within a foot of the prisoners head.
 A similar experience, and favorite -------------------------------