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Show PLAYS WITH DEATH FEARFUL RISK8 TAKEN BY "8TEEPLE JACK." No Height from tht around Too Great for Him to Attain In the Pursuit of HI Hazardous Occupation. If, In tho pursuit of your life's vocation, vo-cation, you bad seen five men drop from your side at a dizzy height to a terrible death below, would you continue con-tinue in that vocation? It you did persist In it, would you have sufficient confidence in yourself to retain your "nerve" under all circumstances for thlrty-fivo years? That has been a brief part of the many exciting experiences in tho life of II. F. ("Itlsky") Evuns, "Steeple Jack." "Hlsky" Kvans la a type or tho daredevils dare-devils thatNue growing scarcer each year. The Inventions of modern times havo eliminated much of tho necessity for risk which was run In necessary climbing of steeplCB and high buildings in tho earlier days. He himself has been ono of the foremost in making tho business of those who must work nt high altitudes 'as safe nnd easy as if they had solid ground beneath their feet. But still, every once In a whllo "Risky" finds it necessary nec-essary to go to a great height to carry car-ry up a rope on which to swing a scaffold, or to attach block and pulley pul-ley that his men, less versed in the art of climbing, may perform their duties du-ties with safety. Thore are plenty of men who work at great heights as nonchalantly ns docs the average person on the ground. Carpenters, masons and other oth-er builders must have the smiie contempt con-tempt for the dizzlncsR that affects the average person who looks down from a great height.' Hut even the work of such men as these pales bo-fore bo-fore the accomplishments of the few left in the country of the caliber of "Risky" Kvans. On a wager he once climbed at night, without ropes, ladders, or any other paraphernalia, tho steeple of St. Joseph's church, in Cincinnati, stood erect op the topmost part of the cross surmounting the steeple, set Are to two newspopera he had carried with him in his pocket, and dropped vhem blazing on cither side of the steeple, to prove to the man with whom ho had made the wager that he wus at tho top of the steeple. The wager was for $50, and the time allotted allot-ted him to accomplish tho fent was half an hour. He is the samo mnn who, a few years ago, slid twice dally from tho roof garden of the Masonic Temple nt Chicago down a rope the entire twenty stories to tho ground, attracting attract-ing at each peiformanco crowds that congested tho streets, making them impassable. He Is ono of the men who are often seou painting' flagpoles many feet above tho tops of the highest of downtown down-town skyscrapers. He has climbed practically every steeple of any prom-inenco prom-inenco in Chicago, but ho considers Chicago steeples nothing, for in New York ho has gone with only tho aid of his hands, Bhoulders nnd toes, to tho top of old Trinity, a height of 325 feet. "Itlsky" Evans' first real experience experi-ence at any great height from tho earth was in the early '70s. He vus n boy who loved all sorts of adventures. adven-tures. A balloonist of then natlonul reputation came to the city which was "Itlsky's" homo. He needed someone to go with tho balloon, In which he was taking up several passengers, to go down tho ropo on which was fast-cned fast-cned tho anchor to mako It fast when n landing was made. This was to "nisky's" liking. Ho took tho Job. When the "professor" wanted to land "Itlsky" wns hoisted over the side of tho car. Down tho swinging rope he slid, legs gripped tight around it, hand over hand. "When I got to tho end of tho ropo and sat down a-straddlo of the anchor I felt pretty good," Kvans said in toll-i.i." toll-i.i." the story. "Then I began to watch for n tree top1 to grab the anchor an-chor in. We went through one or two, nnd I had my clotbei torn Into shreds and rot all scratched up. But I hung on, and finally got tho anchot nround n limb, sign-led to the "pro-fessor," "pro-fessor," and tho landing was mado." |
