Show K f ADVENTURERS' ADVENTURERS CLUB CLUBA HEADLINES A D L I N E S FRO FROM M THE L LIVES rv E S OF PEOPLE LIKE I Death From Aloft L ELLO EVERYBODY HELLO r I guess you'd call this a success story because its it's E. E about a young lad of eighteen who made the grade On the theother ther r 1 other hand you can call it an adventure story too Because its it's one of those yarns where success and adventure are all mixed up together Its It's from John R. R Mills of New York City and while I dont don't claim it was the adventure that made a aman aman aman man out of Jack Mills I do think it convinced a lot of other I fellows that he was one Jacks Jack's New v Job Was Vas Plenty T Tough ugh 1 I This story starts in the fall of 1927 when Jack was hired by a structural structural f tural iron working firm as a rivet jack And Jack sums up that job of G his very neatly i in 1 two sentences My duties says he hc were to supply t four or five riveting gangs with rivets and with coal for their forges The duties of the riveting gangs were to supply skyscrapers sh for New York city But it wasn't that easy Structural iron work is one of the hardest I trades in the world to break in on Youve You've got to get accustomed to walking like a cat along narrow steel girders only a few inches wide I and hundreds of feet above the ground The only way to do that is to get getup getup getup up there and walk those girders There are no schools that teach a aman aman aman man to keep his head in a n tight or dangerous spot You cant can't acquire a steeplejacks steeplejack's cour courage ge out of a book or learn it in some safe place on the ground In the ironworkers ironworkers' trade Jack says you have to develop those iron nerves you hear about Even the bravest man is nervous nervous nerv nerv- ous ons at first walking along those narrow v beams with arms and back loaded and not even a semblance of a hand or foot grip to l r catch hold of if you lose your our balance My debut in the business was on a building that was an extra hazardous job because there f was a double shift shirt of ironworkers and that created a lot of conr con- con r fusion The ir ironworkers ran up a framework of steel that was far farin in hi advance advance eight eight stories at least least least-at at all times of the concrete i who worked below Jack was on the night shift but somehow he couldn't feel that he heI I was one of the gang It wasn't that he was afraid It wasn't that he didn't do his work But somehow or other the veterans on the job made him feel like an outsider outsiders To them he was just lust another rookie They weren't unfriendly to him him but but they weren't friendly either Things Went Vent Haywire After Payday Jack didn't let that bother him He went right on doing his work work- and then came a night when everything went haywire It was the night after payday and the men on the job with hardly an exception had been celebrating their fat pay envelopes A lot of that stuff out of the little brown jug had been imbibed and those boys were I E S i r I 4 L x r I I Like a flash Jack swung and caught him not quite up to par The raising gang was having trouble holding onto the great iron beams they were lifting and the riveters were dropping red hot rivets right and left A couple of beams had been allowed to toL L 4 fan fall and a couple of men had had narrow squeaks I l A 4 by 12 beam missed me by Inches says Jack and with f the deafening chatter of innumerable riveting guns the clang of p r beams against beams and the banging of hammers on steel the scene was akin to pandemonium It was no place for a man E with a case of DC nerves and I still had some although a few weeks of work and a few narrow escapes had hardened my nervous t system considerably It seemed to me that the quietest of the ther r I lot were my fellow apprentices the rivet Jacks r Jack was just a little bit nervous as he went about his work To get r coal for the riveters' riveters forges he had to climb down through eight stories of open steel work He was on his way back to the top with a bag of I coal on his shoulder and as he struggled up the ladder with his load he began envying a couple other rivet jacks who had rigged up a makeshift makeshift makeshift make make- shift hoist and were hauling their coal up by means of ropes Jack Sees Doom Dropping From Above At that moment Jack reached the beams of the third story below the top and stood waiting while two other ironworkers climbed up the next ladder Another ironworker was following him up the ladder he had just left and Jack watched him coming for a moment and then turned his attention back to the rivet jacks who were hoisting bags of coal He had just turned his gaze in that direction when he saw the bag of coal slip its noose and come hurtling toward him Jack was right under that descending bag He dropped to a sitting position and wrapped his legs around the beam He knew he was going to be hit but with luck he might keep his hold Gripping the beam he waited Then Then CRASH CRASH The bag hit him on the shoulder tore off his shirt sleeve and ripped a big patch of skin from his right arm He lIe was numbed numbed bewildered But his eye took in everything that happened At that moment the ironworker who had followed him up the ladder had almost reached the top Ills His head was about even with Jacks Jack's waist And the bag of coal glancing of off oU Jacks Jack's shoulder hit the other fellow square on the head Like a flash Jack swung out and caught him with his injured arm And none too soon either That fellow was out cold His eyes were closed and he had let go his hold on the ladder He was a dead weight and Jack hanging from the beam by one leg now was holding him with the fingertips of a numb and bleeding arm Five Stories Aloft and Concrete Below Says Jack We were five stories above the nearest floor and that was nice hard concrete The weight was causing my left leg to slip and that leg was holding me on the beam I grew dizzy from the strain and began to feel sea Meanwhile another ironworker coming up the ladder began maneuvering himself into a position to straddle the injured man and hold him But all that took time And when at last other help arrived and many hands were assisting the man on the ladder ladder ladder lad lad- der Jack was so far gone with dizziness and fatigue that he had to be helped himself before he could get back on the beam Both Jack and the other fellow tellow were back on the job the following night and that same night other ironworkers began to speak to Jack They didn't say much much just just a remark or two about the weather But it M was enough to let Jack know that he had made the grade Copyright Service I i |