Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-23

d
/HH same thing. In one sense they
are but there is as much differ
ence between a "hy" and
"jack"-aS we call them-as there is between
portrait-painter and a house painter.
What want to say is that human fly is
q real artist, and good ones are so rare that
you can count them on the fingers of two
hands. A steeplejack is just skilled work.
man, who can repair chimneyS and spires, paint
T1agpoles and bridges and perform other haz-
ardous, but necessary, work.
My brother and made our living as steeple-
Jacks, but earned our reputation by being
human flies.
Now I am going to tell you exactly what
human fly does and how he does it, even If
have to reveal some professional secrets.
Some years ago received a letter from a
inan-In call him the tooth paste king-in st.
Louis, who asked me to scale a 32-story sky
scraper an advertisement. The terms were
satisfactory, and next day arrived in St.
Louis and put up at the best hotel.
The tooth paste man came In response to a
telephone call. After he had shaken hands
and ordered my hotel bill sent to his Office
we took a stroll together down the main street.
Presently he paused in front of q nice high
building in the middle Of a block
ONE glance was enough to show me that
that building wouldn't do. so locked my
arm firmly in his and marched him of, at the
same time explaining that the masonry looked
as If it might crumble and the doorman had q
hard-boiled face and whatever other excuses
came into my head
Two blocks further on we came to a corner
where there was big bank and ONCE building.
] stopped and said enthusiastically:
Heres fine buildingl How did you come
to pick this out?"
OF course he hadn't picked 1t out at all.
but he was tckled and pretended he had. We
went inside and saw the landlord. After q
little urging, he gave me permission to scale it.
The reason picked the corner building was
not because more people could see me climb
it-although that was an advantage too-but
because it had q clock near the top and q
long vertical electrical sign running several
stories.
went back to the hotel to rest for few
days while my tooth paste friend got police
permit and arranged the insurance. He plas-
tered the town with bin posters and advertised
in the newspapers that Sam Wright. the human
1y, would scale such-and-such building at 2
O'Clock on the following afternoon on behalf
of so-and-sos tooth paste.
Meanwhile had not neglected to 60 back
and study the skyscraper carefully. I went
upon the roof and had q look at the cornice.
AS it projected about 10 feet, the first thing
I did when returned to my hotel was tele-
graph for my plant"
A plant" is q man who, when you send
him wire. comes on the next train equipped
with Russian hemp rope. trapeze rings. rolls of
electric tape and soups" Cat first I wasn't
going to mention soups" because these little
aids to climbing, which are strapped in the
palms of the hands, are dangerous for an in
experienced person to handle. / won't explain
how they made.)
On the morning of the appointed day had
a light breakfast at IL o'clock. You can't
climb if you're hungry or If you're loaded
with grub. About 1880 removed my clothes
and had my plant" fix me up as follows:
First, he put thin layer of cotton on my
right knee, winding it around with tape just
tight enough so that the joint moved freely;
the left knee was left unbound. Next he
tapped each big toe separately and bound the
other four toes on each foot securely together.
This allowed the big toe to bend and wiggle
freely. Then the ball, heel and ankle of each
foot was tapped. I put q pair of socks,
but no shoes. Next the index and middle
fingers each hand were tightly tapped to-
.gether so my hands would not split" The
thumbs and other fingers were tapped separ-
ately Finally the "cups" were fastened to my
palms and my arms were taped from wrists
to elbows.
! OVER this I donned a lightweight white
suit and cap and was ready for the climb
AT 100 arrived on the scene. Already
great crowd had collected and the police were
regulating traffic. I mounted a Stepladder
and stood on the first floor window ledge next
the corner where the crowd could see me. A
City Father arrived shook hands and made a
speech. Then the camera men took my pic
ture.
AT last the preliminaries were over. man
with stop-watch fired pistol and the crowd
yelled, Hes off"