JUMPED 380 FEET.

Grey River Argus, 23 February 1927, Page 2

JUMPED 380 FEET.

PARIS SUICIDE SENSATION. PARIS, Feb. 21. After a quarrel with his wife, be cause she forbade him playing bi! liards, Gaston Orpholan climbed to ihc second platform of th<‘ Eiffel Tower at night time. Hu signalled to the police co fetch his wife, and declared i:is intention of precipitating himself to her feet. She watched Gaston calmly smoking cigarette after cigarette until 5 o ’clock I struck, when he jumped and was kille.l instantly. LONDON, Feb. 21. Gaston Orpholan’s suicide caused a sensation in Paris where he w T as a< chimney sw T eoper. He had been drinking. He Ic't his wife’s bedroom at !hrec in th< morning and ran to Eiffel Tower. Two gendarmes rushed gesti •ulating, but Gaston escaped their < .utc.hes and climbed 380 feet, the gendarmes, meanwhile fetching the fire brigade. A big crowd quicklv assembled, including his wufe. but the police hid her behind a tree, judging it better that Gaston, should not know she was present. Finally, Gaston stood upright, and momentarily there was a sigh of relief from the vast crowd, but turned to shrieks of horror when he hurled himself into space and was crushed to pieces on the first platform.