Show r ADVENTURERS ADVENTURERS' CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES LIVES' OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF I 1 Breath o of Life By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter ELLO EVERYBODY H HELLO Ill I'll bet you'd have felt pretty tough too if this had h happened hap hap- p. p at the door of death death depending depending p ened to you If you were lying for your very life on the efforts of two or three of your pals who were trying to save you you and and you heard one of of th them m say Aw w heck fellows were we're not getting anywhere with this Let Lets Let's s give it u up up p for a bad bd job well in a case like that I wouldn't blame blame any man for getting discouraged And so was Don Ward discouraged discouraged dISCOr- dISCOr I aged on that day back backman in May 1932 when that identical thing happened to him State hospital at Brentwood N N. N Y Don has a job now at the Pilgrim the electric wires wires trouble shoot among to He doesn't go out any more and cables of Long Island but in 1932 he was a lineman emp employed oyed by a firm of electrical engineers in Northport L L. L I. I and ad worked worked with a gang of six men stringing wires all over the surrounding country country Chris Anderson was vas the boss of that crew and there theres s another lad in that outfit whom we might as well mention now as at any of Don Dons s. s big biff part in this story other time because he played a of sore feet and nd a stubborn n His name is Kelly and he had a couple a. a disposition and if he hadn't had both of those things It its it's s a dif different different dif dif- ferent yarn wed we'd be telling today Kellys Kelly's Sore Feet Started It All The crew was running a new street light circuit in Stony Brook L. L I. I Don and Kelly were working together They had had strung seven or eight sections of wire when Kelly began to complain about his feet He hadon hadon had hadon on a new pair of shoes that day and climbing up and down th the poles made them sore So Don told Kelly to stay on the ground He Hed He'd d takeover take takeover takeover over the part of the work that called for climbing Don went up the next pole There were a lot of other wires vires strung on it old it-old old ones from which the insulation had worn sworn off until they were practically bare Don admits he should have been more careful in tack- tack I M i t tIA IA J J JUI I UI Struggled and Wriggled With All My Might ling that mess There were safety devices in their truck that he could have used But the fellow who works on even the most dangerous lob job gets careless once in a while and this was Dons Don's day to do it Don was passing one of the two new wires he was stringing over the cross-arm cross of the pole when it happened His left arm rubbed one of the worn live wires and at the same time his right leg rubbed against an Iron brace It made a direct short circuit and sent VENTY T TWENTY THREE THREE HUNDRED VOLTS through his body It UIt held me fast Don says I HI was powerless to break the contact The only way I can describe the feeling is to say that it seemed as though some monstrous being like King Kong had me held at arms length and was shaking the daylights out of me I could hear the generators throbbing throbbing throbbing throb throb- bing in my ears as though I was right in the powerhouse I struggled and wriggled with all my might but it wasn't any use In the meantime Dons Don's partner Kelly had bad walked down the road a few hundred feet Suddenly he be heard a moaning sound and turned to see sec Don hanging on that cross-arm cross his clothes burning and his bis face contorted in a look of terrible pain He raced back to the pole climbed up it and cut the wire that was feeding juice into Don They Thought Don Was Vas Done For Don in the meantime had slumped down unconscious with only his safety belt holding him on the pole Kelly took a rope from his belt looped it under Dons Don's arms and lowered him to the ground The Theother Theother Theother other linemen came running from down the road a piece and gave Kelly a EI hand They stretched Don out on the ground and looked him over He wasn't breathing breathing and and it seemed as if his heart had stopped It looked bad for Don but the boys went to work on him giving him artificial artificial arti- arti respiration For twenty minutes they worked on Don taking turns at pressing with their hands to force a little air in and out of his paralyzed lungs Twenty minutes and no sign of life But though there was no sign of it I life was still there Just a few seconds before consciousness had started to return to Don He was trying to get his lungs to work again doing again doing his best to help those fellows who were doing his breathing for him He couldn't move a muscle muscle muscle-couldn't couldn't speak or even open his eyes eyes but but buthe he be knew he would be all right if his pals worked on him a little longer And then came the most disheartening moment of Dons Don's life Out of a clear sky Don heard one of the fellows say Its uIt's no use boys HES HE'S GONE We Ve might as well quit and take him back to the truck Saved by Kellys Kelly's Stubbornness Don wanted to scream but he couldn't breathe by his own efforts Were they going to give up and leave him to die All the terror of a lifetime was packed into his heart in that one brief moment But the theman theman man astride his back still kept on pressing away forcing the air in inand inand Ii and out of his lungs Again the first fellow made this terrifying suggestion suggestion tion Lets quit and take him into town And this time Don could hear the man who was working on him reply It was Kelly Kelly and and Kelly was sticking to his job lob For five minutes ten minutes ten minutes worked minutes Kelly Kelly on stubbornly refusing to give up his battle for his friends friend's life Maybe Kelly remembered I that it it h was his own aching feet which had been the cause of Dons Don's climbing climbing climbing climb climb- ing up that pole in the first place Maybe l Kelly figured that the least he heI I could do to a man who who ha had almost died doing him a favor was to exert every effort to save his life Anyway Kelly belly kept on and on-and and in another two or three minutes Don started to breathe They flagged a passing car and too took Don to a hospital and they kept him there seven weeks Kelly was cited for bravery and received a medal from the company for saving Dons Don's life But I think Don ought to get some sort of a medal too for living through a twenty three volt dred-volt shock of electricity The electric chair up at Sing Sin Sing g Im I'm told only has two twenty e Service |