The Fatal Climb for the Church Bells

A week ago, there was a dispute as to the relative heights of the steeples of St. Mary's and St. Michael's Catholic Church. One of the parties to the discussion was Charles Sullivan, and he volunteered to decide. He was a carpenter and considered himself an expert in building stages. This afternoon he procured a quantity of wire, and at 4 o'clock went with friends to the man in charge of the bells in the tower of St. Michael's Church, on Washington Street, and assured him that he had an order from one of the church authorities to ascend the belfry. The bellman refused to let him go without an order from the priest. While the party was arguing, Sullivan slipped past and clambered out of the tower to the roof, and seizing the lightning rod, began to ascend the steeple. He went up rapidly until he had nearly reached the foot of the cross at the apex of the tower, when the rod broke and he fell headlong a distance of 80 feet, making one complete revolution in his descent. He struck the roof with a sound like the report of a gun, breaking through the tin with which the roof is covered. His body lay upon the roof without motion. Assistance was called from an engine house, and the fireman, by means of an extension ladder, brought the body down, and a doctor took it to the morgue. Death had evidently been instantaneous. The neck and back were broken.