A Daring Climb Above Second and Cherry
A Home Messenger Company lineman risks a terrifying ascent to repair a flagpole atop the New York building.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
An exciting incident occurred yesterday evening at the corner of Second and Cherry streets when A. Hall, a lineman, scaled a 60-foot flagstaff atop the 90-foot tower of the New York building to replace a halyard pulley. Hall, a former sailor, used professional linemen's climbers to scale the swaying pole, which bent dangerously under his weight. At the height of 150 feet above the sidewalk, the pole was reduced to a mere two inches in diameter. Despite his efforts, the repair was not completed because a custom-fitted band was slightly too small. Hall, a strapping fellow weighing 175 pounds, intends to make a second attempt to finish the job for a $15 fee.
“As he approached the top the pole bent outward and the daring climber swung around to the outer side, a movement that made his friends... hold their breath.”
This story highlights the perilous conditions of early electrical and utility infrastructure work. The New York building site remains a bustling part of the financial district, though such high-altitude manual repairs are now handled with vastly different safety regulations.
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