WHIRL DOWN CHEMNEY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXX, Issue 11126, 8 February 1930, Page 3

WHIRL DOWN CHEMNEY

STEEPLEJACK FALLS 130 FEET. YOUTH'S STORY OF HIMSELF. I Britain’s youngest working steeple- ; jock lias described what it ice Is lik<* • to fall through space without a shad- i ow of hope of escaping death. Me j is Alfred Svensson, aged 18, of (<ar- i stoii, who, on November 29, fell .130 j feet down a factory chimney at lav- ; •e.rpool through tae collapse. oi a j staging in the course oi erection tor , demolition work. Svensson never lost consciousness j during the tomble ordeal, and ;il- ! ter being dragged from the inter.oi : of tlm chimney by ropes he was ad- j nutted to hospital wit.i a compound j I nurture of the left leg. two disle- j eated insteps, an injured h• { t arm. • hurried hands, a sea) red lace, two ; black eyes, and bruises all over hm | iiodv.

In spite of physical pain he smiled j broadly when no was interviewed I next, day, and humorously remarked, j ‘ the preacher mini says, ‘lt musi. j have been sent for a purpose.’ It 1 was like a bad dream. 1 momem 1 iarilv held my lireath as i tumbled i into space, and then 1 saw myself , r eocheting from jutting portions oi j tin' brickwork. . j T made a grab at a rope which \ was hanging I rum a pulley, and 1 : L slipped through my hands with j terrible speed t Mat caused the palnm | i:o burn. T heard a shout id ‘He s j killed—send for his mother! Wnn i ■i great effort I grabbed the rope on- j !v to find that it was net secured j at the top of the chimney, and it [ came away on to my head. j '‘'Stifled, and tumble to breathe. 1 j Kept falling through space for what j seemed an age. and the interior oi j the ehimnev appeared whirling round | as I twisted and doubled during tin- > descent. In those few seconds I ; 1 1 ved a whole lijetime. out never lost j consciousness as one elbow then an- ! other struck protruding angles on | tire uneven wall. “Then came the thud winch seem- 1 ed Ihi l end of everything. Tlmt is beyond description. 1 tel! m a b.“ n

•f about 900 bricks in almost a sitting position, and was great I' - startled when I saw men enter tinchimney through the hole we had cut ill the ehimnev. fasten ropes around me. and haul me to safety. VI most immediately after that I los> consciousness, and awoke to fil'd, invsi'lf in bed. weM trii'sed up. The hoy’s face, battered from forehead to chill, with both eyes swelled and blackened. was wreathed n smiles. . r “Shall I stop being a steeplejack r No! “You see.” the hoy eoniinued, “1 was at sea before f became a steeplejack, and 1 am sure it that ivece of rope I grabbed at Imd .held I .should not have lieen in hospital.