The Washington times., 1917-09-06

He appeared to have q mania for
climbing and balancing, and despite
the fact that he took what appeared
to be desperate chances, he had fewer
falls and bumps than has the average
growing boy.
He first appeared in public at the
age Of six, in a flag pole stunt In Buff
faIo with hiG father; who was a
steeplejack. The flag pole. which was
fifty feet in height, was on the top OF
q ninety-foot building, making the
total height 40 feet. A rope was
looped around the top OF the pole. and
the father hung on one side while the
lad balanced on one foot from the
other.
From that time on he continued his
climbing and balancing, never missing
a chance to ascend to dizzy heights.
His first big stunt was at the age
of twelve, when he climbed up the
side OF the Old South building. in Bos-
ton. and did a balancing stunt on the
edge OF the building. Here he used
five tables, one placed on top OF the
other. and on these he placed four
chairs, sitting in the fourth and bal
ancing on two OF its legs with his feet
Yrojected out into space.
Scaled FIatIron Building.
In 1912 he scaled the Flatiron
building. in New York. using the
same combination of tables and
chairs that he used in Boston.
Later he tackled the Wagner build
ing. in Philadelphia, a twenty-five
STORY structure. where he gave a
hair-raising demonstration OF balanc-
ing. He projected a plank over the
edge OF the roof, placed a table on
the plank. and then erected his
structure of chairs from the top of
the table. ending by balancing in the
topmost chair.
In 1916. Reynolds returned to
Philadelphia and climbed the city
hall tower from the base of the
dome to the top. and stood in the
palm OF the outstretched hand of
William Penn, appearing from the
streets below like a tiny peg held in
Penn's hand.
At New Haven, Conn, during the
same year. he climbed to the roof of
the twenty-story Taft Hotel. Pro-
jecting a board over the edge OF the
roof. he placed a bottle on the end OF
It, and balancing one leg of a chair
on the mouth of the bottle, proceeded
to rear back and take in the scenery
of the city as calmly as though he |
were sitting on the ground.
Balanced On BroomstIck.
A little more than a year ago on |
the twenty-story Telephone building.
In Philadelphia, he placed two boards
on the edge OF the roof and set two |
ordinary cane-bottomed chairs on |
these. leaving a space OF some four
feet between them. This space he |
spanned with a broomstick. and. TAX
ing a third chair, he balanced its
hind legs on the broomstick and sat
In II.
His pet ambition now is to climb
the Washington Monument, and II
the authorities will grant him permits.
sion to make the attempt he plans to
balance on one foot on the apex and
wave the American flag.
During fourteen years of constant
and balancing, Reynolds has
hau but two accidents, and neither OF
Ihese was due to faulty balancing.
The first was in February, 1914, when
he fell from the twelve-story Mutual
Life building in Philadelphia and
escaped with nothing worse than a
iislocated arm.
The other accident occurred at At
antic City. where he fell down the
Iide Of a sixty-foot building and suf-
'ered a dislocated thumb.
Reynolds is twenty-six years old.