The Sunday Oregonian., March 10, 1912, SECTION SIX, Page 4, Image 74

Inventors of "Wings'' and Flying Devices Risk
Themselves in Tests That Bring Deaths Sight
seers Yield to Awful Litre
;r STERLING HEILIU.
PARIS. March 1 tSpecial Corre
spondence.) A crowd stood round
f.ic Eiffel Tower. In Paris.
Kept back by a police-cordon they
watched for an arrival, laughing. whis
pering, calling out observations. A
joung man pushed hit waT through.
There he Is." they said. "It's
Relchel:.-
Pressed In what looked an aviation
suit f baggy folds, a voluminous cape
bunched behind the shoulders, he
wi:kr,l briskly to the Otis elevator in
tne rtirtii pillar, smlllnic. explaining,
gesticulating to the (roup of reporters
who followed. The crowd murmured:
Where's his dummy? Where's his
parachute." -The event will be post
poned, lie lint ready:" "Keep bark.
He's got the dummy up there, and It
weighs as heavy as a man." "Of course.
In anr rase. 1 ak you . . "Yes. a
Jar figure. It can t make a movement."
"No. he says that ha will Jump, hlm
ef. . . ." "Do you think . . . T'
The elevators go up In a forest of
Ironwork. I'p. up.
"I need height." the queerly-dressed
one was explaining;. "Falling;, the par.
achute continues to unfold, quite by
Itself. Aviators have no time. In case
of accident, to adjust. Only a llm
m'ng movement of the arms. . .
They had arrived. They stood on the
spacious platform. Francis Itelchclt. In.
ventor of a parachute-sult-of-clothes
for aeroplanists. and a dozen thought
less, reckless reporters, used to any.
thins- Every week an aeroplanlst fails
and smashes. Here waa the Inventor
A. ATT
C7
SUCH a religious awakening had
never before been known In the lit
the village of Bounding Meadow.
nd. as a matter of fact. It Is doubtful
If the spiritual fervor of that brief
period will ever find an earthly parallel.
Bounding Meadow's 600 Inhabitants
would easily take high rank for sobri
ety, morality and religious zeal. Though
the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian
societies were each and all In a most
healthy, vigorous and aggressive con
dition, they had never wasted their en
ergies In Interdenominational strife.
In brief, religious effort In Bounding
Mradow. Just preceding the stirring
events to be recounted In this narrative.
miKht truthfully he said to have been
altogether above the average In activ
ity and spiritual fruitage. But the gen
erous voluntary offerings of worshipers
were a mere pittance beside the golden
flod that overwhelmed the church
treasuries a few weeks later.
"Like a bolt from heaven s cloudless
dome" the village newspaper said
rame an awful warning. IHfferlnc
from the mtsterious handwriting upon
the palace walls of the voluptuous Bel
ebsxaar. this message required no Inter
preter; the words were plainly stamped:
the meaning clear and pointed; the ef
fect marvelous appalling:
Horace Scott cultivated a farm ad
jt inmg the Methodist parsonage, a sort
of truck farm. In which the region
abounded, supplying distant markets
with early vegetables, butter and eggs,
and fruits in their seasons.
"ISobert." said Mra. Scott, addressing
her 13-year-old son, on an afternoon In
early November, "run out to the barn
and gather the eggs: I am going to
market."
Kobert moodily aroused himself and
clumped out to the barn.
lie made tne rounds crawled under
the corn crib where a sperklenl hen was
Industriously trying to "set" and ran.
sacked the mangers and had started
for the home, when his eve by chance
fell upon the eggs in the basket. Some
thing peculiar attracted his attention,
and after a second glance the boy
reached In and drew out an gg. It was
of ordinary size and shape and color,
but upon Its glossy shell was some
thing startling.
Robert halted, closely examined the
markings, looked about him In a scared,
puulcd way. and thao legged It for the
ower
of Yawning Abyss.
of a suit of clothes for them, whose
folds spread and drag on the air. to let
them down gently. . . . yulte right.
"Where s your dummy 7" "Where's
the suit".'
"I've got the suit on." he said. "Thera
Is no dummy. I will Jump."
Inventor's Fatal Leap.
It all happenej so quickly they had
no time to reflect. He looked into the
abyss. He turned bark in fear. He
tore a newspaper and threw It out. to
try the wind. He loked over the brink
again. Slowly his face Illuminated. A
look of voluptuous longing slowed
upon It. The fatal vertigo had caught
him. the charm of the depths of empty
sunlight, the lure of the Klffel Tower!
"Stop:" cried the reporters.
He jumped. With a swimming move
ment of the arms he dived. His cape
unfurled, Between his arms and feet
spread belljlng surfaces of stiff brown
silk that Joined the cape, spread,
caught the air, and slowed his fall re
markably.
For a moment It looked like success.
Then the folds wound around the fall
ing body . . . and down like a lump
of lead It shot. It struck the earth with
an nwful thud, and bored a deep hole
in the frozen ground.
H. low. the photographers and cine
matograph men were all ready. All got
excellent negatives.
"When "It" struck there was a cry of
horror. This came from the front rows.
In the back rows there was laughter.
In between there waa disputing. Word
had got round that the man himself
might Jump: but few believed It. Now
they mixed with the police around the
4 SAA
house at an altogether unusual pace,
holding the egg In his hand.
Mrs. Scott had her "things" on await
ing the coming of P.obert. and noted
his hurried approach, as well as the
peculiar expression on his usually im
passive countenance. The boy en
tered, uttered not a word, but placed
the eg? in his mother's hand. She re
garded him with mlncled suspicion and
perplexity and then glanced at what
she held. Had her gaze fallen upon a
cluster of five-carat diamonds the ef
fect could have been hardly more sen
sational. "Itohcrt Scott:" she exclaimed, and
started as If stricken with a chill, the
color failing from her face. "Robert,
run for father: he's hoeing in the cab
bage patch," and with tones ringing In
his ears such as the boy had never be
fore heard from his mother's lips, he
dashed out of the house.
Mr. Scott came on the run, puxzled
beyond expression at the unusual call
and the nervous and agitated condition
of the boy.
Mrs. Scott, with her younger chil
dren, stood in the dintng-room, and, as
the father approached, banded him the
egg. He glanced at It a moment,
looked up with an Interrogation point
stamped upon his features and. while
the noisy rloik iik-toekei off a dozen
seconu.s. the members of the family
gazed1 Into each other's faces In mute
despair.
Upon the surf.ice of the erg-shell,
standing out boldly In letters that
seemed aflame, were the words:
THE JUDGMENT IS AT HAND
"That's the voice of God. Horace."
said Mrs. Scott, finally. In a sepulchral
tone. "How wonderfully we have been
honored and blessed In thus being com
missioned t herald the tidings."
The whole family stood awestruck
and silent except Ulme. the eldest
girl, who actually giggled.
Without further debate Robert and
Lizzie were despatched to carry the
wondrous news to tiie neighbors and
beg them to come with all speed, while
Mr. Scitt rushed to the village to warn
the people and Inform the pastors.
Insltlc of an hour the Scott residence
was overflowing with anxious men and
w omen, eager to see and hear. The egg
bearing the dread message was ten
derly handled by scores of trembling
.people, wiille wailing and lamentation.
n
e
THE SUNDAY
ff.' r UQxs - - - Sri1,-)- i? - : A i35 l
iWlJtmf i AWll, , ' m hi W n
j-gf?- V 111' l v r?-1' l
object. The unhappy Relche
Jelly: telescoped. Thus land v
the Eiffel Tower. The Impact digs a
grave.
before these lines can be printed an
other parachute Inventor, the aviator
Camllle Gulllaume. will hare Jumped
from the Klffel Tower. To the police
who Indignantly protest that every per
mit understands a "dummy" or lay
figure Guillaume answers calmly:
"If you stop me Jumping from the
Klffel Tower. I"!l Jump from my aero
plane but It's a pity to abandon an
aeroplane in movement.'
These are the Tower's new victims,
a new catagory. They are inventors
who believe that they have found the
Ideal "unfolding" parachute, which can
be attached to the clothing. They are
also charmed by dreaming of the great
abyss of air and light; victims of ver
tigo. Of aviators it Is known that not
for lucre or even for glory do they
dart on high, to dash down, down; and
If they fetch up In' vast curves before
they strike the earth it Is to rush
on high again for the Intoxication of
another downward swoop:
The Tower has always had Its vic
tims. On the upper platforms, all day long,
lounge men who look like tourists,
modest, suave, retiring; yet their lary
eyes watch every new arrival stroll
around the railings.
When they see a man or woman
stand Immobile on the brink, deaf to
remarks, oblivious of companloriS,
dumb where others exclaim in won
der, with eyes fixed on the abyss and
face lit up with a strange holy look,
one of these suave loafers moves a
Ictirns of . VjT
JVXCLrJY
mingled with rejoicing, fiKed the air.
The letters appeared to have been cut
or etched upon the eggshell as cleprly
as though engraved by hand, and when
exposed against a strong light the
writing seemel Illuminated, producing
a marvelous effect.
Kobert, the hero of the hour, regard
ed as the recipient of a special mark of
favor and distinction at the hands of
the Almighty, was besieged with Inter
rogations concerning the discovery, and
as to whether a voice had been heard.
He could only answer that the first
sight of the mysterious writing had
been granted to him while the egg re
posed among others In the basket he
did not know even the nest from which
It had been removed.
The suggestion that a monster prayer
meeting be held at once found instant
and unanimous favor. Church bells
clanged and messengers were dis
patched Into the country, appealing to
everybody to come to the house of the
Lord. Work was dropped and the farm-
Mid
ll l r
OREGOTA POKTLAXD,
ilM'Ji W . J . LAiW - U - Vv $u m
li a . IS VI t I . as I X -aWis" .- J . za . . - "v NbC . . : - ,Jy Pk.-c
little closer close enough to spring
and grab.
They are the body-snatchers. Plain
clothes men of the Eiffel Tower. As
the snake fascinates the bird, so do the
depths fascinate a certain type of tour
ist. Others by hundreds feel the most
dangerous charm: but they break it
promptly and walk about, chat with a
friend or with a stranger. Others tam
per with the feeling, and pull them
selves up with horror. I have seen
, . - , . . ,
lady fairly rush to the elevator and
l',Ul"Jleeli c?.rnerS!
so.
face hid In her hands. Those who
might Jump, fee! a strong, friendly,
common-sense human being bump
against them with a hearty apology:
"Pardon:" And the charm is broken.
There are no statistics of the Jump
ers from the Eiffel Tower.
On the ground, beside the west pil
lar Is a police room. In one corner
of It are wheelbarrows, shovels and
a pile of earth. When in spite of
every care a party Jumps, few re
alize IL Great distances separate the
platforms. Crowds get parted In the
different elevators. Tou cannot call
down: "Did someone fall?"
Below, the falling body makes Its
hole in the earth. No one sees it
lying on the ground. Kven before ex
cited witnesses can make the slow de
scent of the lifta the remains have
been piously lifted up and wheeled to
the police room, and the hole is filled
with earth and smoothed.
Stray tourists round the very spot
may be horrified, but. remember, the
ers and their families poured Into the
village, on foot, on horseback and in
lumber wagons.
Meanwhile the townspeople, bearing
the egg. had adjourned from the Scott
home to the Methodist Church, that be
Insr the largest, and all denominational
lines having vanished, within five mln
utes, however, the building waa filled
and the people swarmed to the other
churches.
Everybody acknowledged the egg to
be a direct and divine revelation that
the last days of the world were very
near at hand. Nobody - doubted that.
The only anxiety of the xealous was to
warn sinners to prepare for the im
pending annihilation of the earth and
to "flee from the wrath to come."
Such meetings had never been
dreamed of. The ministers spoke with
words that fairly burned Into the souls
of their hearers. Tongues of men and
women. heretofore diffident, were
loosened, and they proclaimed the
Gospel and exhorted with an eloquence
and fervor that moved the most stony
hearted and obdurate unbelievers, while
hundreds of voices mingled In anthems
and hymns as they never had before.
All night long the meetings con
tinued. Nobody thought of sleep, or
food or business. Excitement developed
into delirium. Ordinary avocations were
practically forgotten and left to take
care of themselves.
As the news spread people continued
to push into town. The churches were
packed and the village hall was con
verted Into a place of worship, but still
men, women end children stood with
out, clamoring for admittance. Pastors
alternated In exhorting, assisted oy
laymen, end so irresistible was the
mighty Influence that scarcely a soul
In the town or surrounding country
successfully withstood it.
Soon the news of the discovery or tne
miraculous message and reports of the
marvellous meetings spread from town
to town, and multitudes from many
miles around came to see the wonder
ful egg. all yielding swiftly to the In
fluence of the spell exerted over the
public mind. The meetings were con
tinued, gathering strength and increas
ing in excitement and numbers. People
exhorted, sang, prayed and praised, un
til, worn out. they sought beds for a
few hours' sleep, hastily swallowing
such food as could be prepared with
least effort, and then hurried back to
the meeting places.
Then somebody suggested the erec
tion of a monster building, where all
An
MARCH 10, 1912.
legs of the tower spread over three
acres. Nothing remains. Some wit
nesses, below, huiTv away in their
taxi autos. Others, stronger-stomached,
mount in the elevators, chatting ex
citedly. But on the first platform
where there Is a theater, cinemato
graph, restaurant, cafe, shops, postof
flce and a photograph gallery all pas
sengers change elevators. Tou can
not go up to a stranger and say: "X
saw a man fall!"
The victims least protected are the
painters.
i lie lowers iirai siiaue, in losz, was
' ead leaf. when the sun lit it to hazy
BOlden even the artists admitted the
The towers first shade. In 1SS9, was
cyclopian Intruder to have its nobility.
By 189 the magnetic currents had
turned to dingy chocolate the little red
paint remaining. They repainted It an
orange that gleamed red gold while
it lasted. Not long. In 1899 they had
to paint it again, the "sun tint" which
has since been continued. What be
came of all that paint? Thirty tons
of liquid paint for a single coat!
It is a queer story, and may have
something to do with the nervous ex
altation of the fascinated. Camllle
Flamarion declares that the quantity
of atmospheric electricity received
daily by such an unprecedented mass
of many-surfaced iron sticking straight
up into the air Is incalculable. Con
ducting cables a foot and a half In di
ameter lead the electricity down the
four pillars and piles, to 50 feet below
the water-bearing stratum; but its ef
fect on the paint is there for every one
to see. It does not crack off. The
paint simply disappears.
It is the tower's way of calling for
might assemble beneath one roof, and
contributions were called for. The re
sponse was amazing. Money literally
poured in upon the building committee,
many well-to-do farmers withdrawing
their entire balances from the bank and
placing the cash at the disposal of the
leaders.
However, no funds were required
The lumber dealer, a prominent church
member perhaps feeling at this crisis
the need of heavenly credit threw
open the gates of his yard and begged
the committee to avail itself of his
stock, while glazed frames, of which
the acres of market gardens in the
vicinity afforded an unlimited supply,
were utilized as windows and in the
construction of the roof. Hundreds of
wrought-up men freely volunteered
their services, and the unparalleled un
dertaking of completing a tabernacle
between daylight and sundown seemed
to be possible.
The decision was reached and a loca
tion determined upon late Friday aft
ernoon, and at daybreak on Saturday,
November 12, a score of teams besran to
transfer the lumber yard to the ap
pointed place, where hundreds of stal
wart men stood ready to execute the
"regular" victims. Fifty painters take
three months to do a single coat.
Do Niagara Falls seem high? They
could fall from the first platform,
which scarcely shows above the tree
tops. The loftiest masonry construc
tion in the world are the American
sky-scrapers. Not one of them could
reach the intermediate platform, half
way up the slender shaft. 647 feet from
the ground. The third platform, prac
tically the top for tourists, is 911 feet
high. Niagara with a suspension
bridge 100 feet above it could fall be
tween it and the top of the highest
sky-scraper, leaving empty space to
spare. And the true top is 74 feet
higher.
The restaurant, theater, face, etc.,
of the first platform accommodate 1600
persons. Four exterior galleries round
them hold 4000; and the interior gal
leries and terraces 400 more. The sec
ond platform hold 1000. Add 3000 per
sons mounting and descending stairs
and elevators, and the total "satura
tion" of the tower becomes 13,200
more than the population of a good
sized city.
Its painting is a gigantic job by
reason of the peculiarly open struc
ture. There are so many surfaces. In
1889 only five painters fell, or jumped.
The tower had Just taken 19 victims
during its construction and everyone
was on guard, by habit. The painters
watched each oter.
In 1895 11 painters fell, let us say
fell." Few of them were the men of
1889. Unbelievers In the lower's lure,
they had all the French artisan's van
ity and daring. When, after seven
men had gone, the direction tried to
impose life-saving tackle, they re
belled unanimously. As a result, six
more dashed to death.
orders of the builders, and, when they
were given, worked with desperation
born of a conviction that upon the com
pletion of the tabernacle depended their
hope of eternal salvation.
The completed structure was 200 feet
square and 20 feet high a huge box,
in fact, roughly built furnished with
plank benches, but grandly lighted
through its great glass roof.
The last nail was driven shortly be
fore 10 o'clock Saturday night, and
then the exhausted multitude retired to
rest, the dedicatory services being post
poned till Sunday. Then the zealous
felt that the end was, indeed, near at
hand, and the weaker brethren trem
bled at the idea of gathering in a
structure planned on a Friday and to be
dedicated on the 13th of the month.
Throughout all these moving mani
festations Geoffry Jordan, the son of
the Methodist minister, remained un
moved and apathetic, and this, too, in
spite of the fact that he had always
been an interested member of the Sun-
11 u V tunvui " ' i " v -, ... ... c
His mystified, sorrowing father and I
mother labored vainly, day after day,
to arouse the boy to the danger of his
position to the peril of delaj.
Finally, Mrs. Jordan, with maternal
intuition, divined the existence of a
secret in Geoffry's breast that chained
him to the world, and that would, if
harbored, forever bar him from the
presence of his Creator, before whose
tribunal all the people or tne eartn
must soon appear perhaps that very
day and she pleaded in agony with
her boy to divulge the cause of his in
difference. For a long time the son steadfastly
denied the possession of a secret, but
t length broke down beneath the
mother's searching questioning, and on
Sunday evening, while exciting serv
ices were being held in the crowded
tabernacle, made a full confession.
Mrs. Jordan was horrified almost to
the point of hysteria. Alternately she
wept and reviled herself that it should
have fallen to her lot to be the mother
of such an infamous creature. Then,
becoming calmer, she made her way
through the dense throng to her hus
band and whispered a few words to
him. His face blanched Instantly, and
he staggered as though beneath a vio
lent blow.
With heroic effort, however, the min
ister controlled himself, and, advanc
ing to t'te center of the rude platform,
where a fellow pastor, wholly uncon
In 1S99-1900 the direction called for
painters who had worked in 1895. They
responded in a mass and demanded
exorbitant wages. When, however, it
was got into their heads that they
were sought, not for their skill, good
as an act of humanity, they went to
looks or personal charms, but merely
work on the old advance of 30 per cent
above the union scale. On one condi
tion of their own not to be disgraced
by the use of life-saving rigging!
In 1907 it was the same; and now
again they are very much the same
men whom they are engaging for the
Spring job of 1912. Eiffel Tower paint
ers have become uimost specialists.
Thy know the Insidious danger
greater to them than to any others;
yet they clamor for the Job and reject
tackle.
Nine fell in 1889-1900. Seven fell in
1907. And, stragely, all but two land
ed in flower-beds, making holes that
quite buried them.
I met two painters come to register
for the new Job, intelligent, serious
workmen, fathers of families, men who
read a book at night, seated by their
wives. Yet both had a queer exalta
tion, almost hilarious.
"It is a poetical Job, up there," the
younger said. "A six months' Job, two
coats I wonder if I shall live to see
it through? It's live all day in a bal
loon, quitting earth and sailing, a va
cation trip away from the dirty
world."
"It's a fascination," said the older,
grizzled bearded. "Up alone, there, in
the silence, an immensity of air and
sunlight, ike an ocean! The soul
sings to the great movement onward,
the rotation of the earth upon its axis,
its swing round the sun, or the majes
tic progress of the system toward the
constellation of the lyre "
"That's strong," I said. "Do you feel
the movement of the earth up there?
1 never did."
"Perhaps it's the swaying of the
tower," put in the younger man. "It
swings three yards at the top. What
makes it vibrate? Not the wind, I'll
bet you. To feel what we painters ex
perience, you must be sitting there on
an iron girder for hours, the abyss
below, the immensity above, until yon
feel you could chuck the pot and
Bpread your arms and swim!"
"There are 2,500,000 rivet-heads to
paint, holding together 15,000 beams,
bars, girders, uprights, diagonals,
arches and cables, not to mention a
million blocks, screws and small
pieces," said the grizzled beard. "When
I begin to feel like swimming, I count
rivet-heads."
On the tip of the tower is a wireless
telegraph plant that communicates
with every part of France and with
French troops in Morocco and the Sa
hara. A time station in touch with
the observatory fires a cannon at high
noon and maintains a gigantic clock
without a dial whose changing figures
8:15, 8:16. 8:17, 8:18, etc. are Illumi
nated at night. Around the wireless
shed, the most powerful searchlights
in the world roll on a miniature rail
way track.
I asked one of the wireless operators
about the lure.
"The lure exists." he said. "It Is the
most dangerous vertigo in the world.
On a mountain precipice you are held
to everyday common sense by the
masses behind you. The aeroplane is
Itself in movement the pilot yields to
the intoxicating vertigo, but he also .
directs it. I tell you, I never look
down."
"The top of the Eiffel Tower is like
a balloon," I said.
"I think It is worse." was his con
clusion. "No one Jumps, from a balloon."
scious of all earthly surroundings, and
with soul aflame, was lifting his voice
in exhortation, he gently touched the
speaker upon the shoulder. Then,
stretching his arm toward the audi
ence, as if to implore closest attention,
and raising his eyes heavenward. Rev.
Mr. Jordan opened his lips to speak.
A solemn hush fell upon the vast
concourse, all eyes followed those of
the pastor, and the multitude gazed
upward through the great glazed roof.
Then a frantic shout went up.
Women shrieked, men groaned and
children screamed and wept. The whole
heavens were seen to be blazing with
darting stars. Flaming meteors flashed
before the terrified eyes of the cower
ing crowd, seemingly as thick as snow
flakes in a storm, and cries of horror
and prayers for mercy drowned every
other sound. The end of the world had
surely come, and all who could ani
mated to the last by human instincts
and preferring to make their start for
the Judgment seat in the open air
rather than from beneath the ruins
of a lumber pile and the debris of
broken cucumber frames rushed wild
ly for the ample, barn-like exits.
A few, however, remained in their
seats, and among them the village doc
tor always regarded suspiciously In
the community as too much of a "ma
terialist" who calmly pushed his way
through the group of hysterial clergy
men on the platform, and there, hav
ing secured the attention of his Jew
auditors, coolly announced that the
phenomenon they were witnessing was
merely the meteor swarm called by
astronomers the Leonids, which re
turn to the earth's path once in about
33 years, on or near the 13th of Novem
ber! That was the end of the great Bound
ing Meadow revival, for which sci
ence was primarily responsible, though
Geoffry Jordan's hand in the matter
was never publicly disclosed, as the
father and mother, after the excite
ment subsided, concluded to keep the
secret. They alone unless Lizzie Scott
had a guilty knowledge knew that the
boy, having acquired a smattering of
crude chemical lore, had coated one
of Farmer Scott's eggs with a thin
covering of tallew. and then, with a
needle, scratched the momentous words
upon the shell. A few hours' immer
sion in a strong solution of lye com
pleted 've "miracle."
(Copyright by Ehortstory Pub. Co.),