| Show t- t Te ADVENTURERS' ADVENTURERS CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Too Darned Careful By y FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter HELLO H ELLO EVERYBODY i You know boys and girls Ive I've seen plenty of adventure adventure adventure ture yarns of lads who got into trouble from being too reck reck- reckless reckless reckless less and lots about boys who landed in a tough spot be be- because because because cause they were sort of minded absent-minded and didn't watch their step But this is the first one Ive I've ever seen where a aman aman aman man got into a jam because he was TOO CAREFUL Thomas McDonough of Woodside N. N Y Is s today's Distinguished Adventurer and Tom took such doggone good care of himself one day that he almost got killed That day was a n cold one one one-In in February 1932 Tom is 15 a structural structural tural steel worker worker one one of those lads who spends his days walk walk- walking walkIng walking ing on narrow iron beams anywhere from ten to fifty stories above the street On this day he just happened to be working on tho the Bankers Trust company building on Pine Tine street In downtown Man Man- hattan That was a sort of double job The original Bankers Trust company building was located at No 16 Wall street They were building an annex right in back of ot it at No 9 Pine street While they were building the new part they were at the same time renovating the old one and ripping out the back end so that the two buildings could be joined into one Wanted to Be Certain of His Leap At the stage at which matters stood in February 1932 there was a space four or five feet wide between the two buildings And that that says Tom is where my adventure started While Tom was at work the foreman called to him and told him to tell one of the men he wanted to see him And Tom went too carefully about the business of getting that bird and sending him to the foreman Tom was in the new building buDding and the fellow he was to can call was in the old building lie He wasn't anywhere in sight so 60 Tom started out to find him To get across he had to jump that four or five feet that still sun separated the two structures I UI could have crossed that space anywhere along the line without the slightest bit of trouble Tom says but I 1 thought I 1 would be careful Tom could have made a leap from the middle of one of the steel beams but that wouldn't do He was on the sixteenth floor and that space was wide open all aU the way down If U he should miss his footing 7 I Ip p fr Tom Was Dangling Dangling- in Space hed he'd have a straight fall to the bottom and Tom wasn't v taking any chances lie He walked down to the end of the beam where a steel column rose upward toward the next floor With a grip on that fur for the leverage it would afford him he could be a little bit more certain of his leap Tom reached the upright and grabbed it t with his left lt hand to steady himself He put out his right foot bent his left leg and jumped He put plenty of power behind that leap plenty leap plenty to carry him to the other side But somehow he didn't move as far as he thought he would At the last minute something caught him and held him back Caught by His Overalls Strap Snatched back in midair Tom had a breathless brt moment In which he lie was out over the opening looking straight str i ht down into the cellar seventeen stories below There was a split second when he was falling but he didn't fall faU far Only s. s couple Duple inches then Inches then he was brought up short With his back to the beam he was dangling in space and for a minute he couldn't understand what had happened to him Then Th n it dawned on him that the strap on his overalls the overalls the one in the back used for tightening them around the waist waist had had somehow caught in a abolt abolt abolt bolt in the steel column There were several of those bolts in the column col They had been left there in readiness for bolting on the new beams which were were to connect the new building with the old Tom didn't know which one he was caught on and he couldn't find out There he was HANGING IN MID MIDAIR MIDAIR MIDAIR AIR held up he knew not how precariously by something he could not see and could not reach I couldn't turn around to grab hold of that column c lumn he says and at the same time I 1 couldn't reach the building on the other side It was wasso wasso wasso so near to me that it was heartbreaking My fingertips would just about touch the column across from me and me-and and that was all I 1 didn't dare move because I realized that the strap might be looped over the very end of the bolt where the slightest motion would cause it to slip off oft I 1 held my breath Counting Seconds Until Death There was no one in it 1 sight of the spot where Tom was hanging and there there was so much din and clatter that yelling for help wouldn't do any good On top of that Tom was afraid to yell He felt as If drawing Ina in ina ina a big of air would set him loose from his fastenings and send him crashing down those 17 stories to the cellar And then all of a sudden Tom heard something that made him turn cold and sent the shivers running up his spine It was nas just a slight ripping sound sound but but it meant the differ differ- difference difference difference ence between life liCe and death The strap that supported him was tearing ripping tearing ripping away from his overalls thread by thread I looked down toward the cellar Tom says and all aU I 1 could see were were the jagged edges of old steel that the burners had cut their way through There wasn't anything I 1 could do except hang there and count the seconds until the strap gave way And then Just as Tom was steeling himself for the fall help hove hoven In n sight It was none other than the man he had been sent to get coming over from the other building He saw Tom hanging there leaped the narrow space and hauled him back up again Tom told him the boss wanted to see him and went back to work but he didn't feel much like working In fact Tom has worked on several Jobs since and every once In a awhile awhile while he finds himself remembering that experience and when he does he begins to get dizzy So says he I try not to think about It fL it Copyright Service |
