Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-09-02
EVERETT ATKINS CLIMBS TO
TOP OF SPiRE IN TWENTY
MINUTES.
oUTCLASSES SIMILAR,
STUNT OF "THE FLY"
tacular "Stuff" at Difficult Places
on Walls, But Goes Up Rapidly
While Large Crowd Looks on-Ex-
hibition interesting.

Scaling the walls of the court
and spire without the aid of ropes or
the use Of windows, Everett Atkins.
Spider" thrilled good-sized crowd,
which applauded freely at o'clock
Wednesday night. Atkins was sched-
uled to climb the Let's Fletcher
.Company's building a: 8 o'clock in
the afternoon, but. owing to the rain,
the climb was postponed until to-
day. when he was to give another
exhibition on the county building.
Atkins is an athlete, and not a win
dow washer. as are Sc many of the
so-styled fly footed climbers who are
touring the country. The climb was
made on the north side, Of the build
ing in less than twenty minutes, al
most as fast as a person could ,trudge
up the stairs of the Inside. A coll
lection was taken while Atkins was
climbing, 10 per cent of the money
being given to the Associated Chart
ties.
outclasses the Ely"
To those who saw the exhibition
of Williams, the Human Fly here
two months ago. the climbing Of
Atkins was all the more thrilling.
Where Williams stalled for three
quarters OF an hour beneath the
broad cornice at the top of the build
ing proper, Atkins swung out around
it apparently with no effort.
The crowd was thrilled with his
stunts on the way up. Standing on
his hands. hanging by mis- knees and
toes $50 feet above the street, We're
among the feats that caused the
crowd to stop breathing. Atkins
seemed to enjoy taking a chance.
When he encountered projecting cor
nices or heavy relief work, instead of
studying the situation for half az
hour, he reached or jumped into
space. depending upon Iais well-train-
ed eye and muscular hands to keep
him from dropping to the walk be-
.ow The dome OF the building was
scaled without seeming effort. and
the top of the spire was reached
without incident.
Trouble Getting Down.
One Of the queer things connected
with the climb, was that Atkins had
more trouble getting down on the
inside Of the building than he had
climbing the outside. A trap-door
OF the bottom OF the first ladder in
the tower was locked ON upper side.
Atkins partner could rot unlock 1t
from his side. and Atkins could not
knowing whether the floor was solid
he CROPPED in the dark for twenty
minutes before he found it.
Atkins said the building was good
one for exhibition purposes, but was
not so easy to scale as it looked. The
cutters were full OF mad and water
making the footing rather uncertain.
Shows at Mason City.
He will go to Mason City Friday
where he will give, an exhibition FRI
day and Saturday. He has an engage
ment at Dubuque fair week, when he
will make six climbs, then he will
work east, with the expectation of
climbing = the Woolworth building,
New York City, for moving picture
company.
Atkins is young fellow. who looks
to be not over 20 years old. He has
climbed at Dubuque fer. some time.
and has gained the ep'ltation of be-.
ing one OF the best. At Winona,
Mimi, he ran amuck a hornets
nest, which, according to Atkins,
speeded his climb to record time.