REPAIRING WASHINGTON.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 193, 22 August 1885, Page 4

REPAIRING WASHINGTON.

Standing on a Foo~7f pi a .,, Five HundrodJ-ect taj*,** j

The elevator ia the Wuhingto, % ment stood ready for n ascent * down with a huge coil of rope, anoj smaller size, a narrow plank and !ev , tools. Thoropo in tho first coil wu , aad a hall inches in circumference 1 fe coils were woven with extraord D ™7 from mamlla of tho stoneest cS 7 * afterward thoroughly u.tSis« ready," said Superintendent vSS lin, as ho stepped into the elevator 2 panicd by a carpenter and tvro'riS^ Whoso nerve, had often been triedß work on the greal obelisk. In ton „• . • the elevator reached the.ba^of ttT* midal roof and etopped. p roß this S^ interior ladders ran up a di'tan* J!? feet and reached the WifU?^ directly under the capstone and 2' south. Climbing up with their tS. ments, and staying themtelwiasE! csuld by clinging to the stone arcb»»2 cross-piecesofthointetiorconstniclk? Laughhn and his men ran the plait wj tho window until about two feet of ih. jooted over the lsdgo. The othere^S'. securely lashed by a pieco of the ehmti»: to a beam belov/. Around the ink.'; James Hogan, one of the diggers,ontegjjj a lope was pushed and made secure, fin - drawn so as to allow barely len«tifev dora of movement, and the oth°er enln: tightly fastened within the rco! V Hogan'a hand was then pkced about e-' feet of the 4J iaeli ropo. Mounlii, t'.'' plunk, which wai only twelve inrtarili lie cautiously crawled to its projectW | : and, slowly straightening himseif. ( w| ■ erect upon tho slender footing which m I hung the dizzy height of 545 feet. Fa' several seconds Hogan etoad rig* c j ■ waiting for a sudden giddinew to'«'; away, and then holding the tm it!'. of the ropo, be threw the Jojp otb I ■ tbo top of Ihe capstone, and, mA'■ ■"■' it to dop uatii it reached thebiseoliii:, window, tied it firmly around tie pyusl! By tho same process and in thessmtma v Eiugle strand of tho ropo waa tiediraj r the monument at the top of tleiUti ltopan next stepped upon thero|»fe: : inches iv circumference, and holdingti4 i upper ropo with his hands, crept aioitit- ■■'. "\ tho wcEtern eide of the monament tss : ant Rigger Charles Smith- then pissJij: |V upon the narrow ropeway and JJrSt' Laughlin followed, makinghis Kiyiiia: to tho northern side of the pyraniJ, ih the telercopo had located the Blonoiijiii . ;h by tho lightning. Both were pnlotrfi the same manner as Hogan jniij a catastrophe of a fall by a rope atraiSa waists. Thousands of ehudifiirin; 51 from adjacent portions of the dljra fixed upon the immense height rimlii

men, looking likeblackmites,bii3/rjii{

letting fall from the upper or luin^s each sido of the monument, a ta%i

ropos, which reached therataMwi'-." tho base of the pyramidal too!. " How did you feel, MrMiijiwhen you first got clear ot thenndni stood out on that plank Tasked a"{«' reporter. " I nave grown up with tha mocißiet'said Mr Mclaughlin, "andlhiiebul , , on it many a time. Mine was the MM :li :' that touched the aluminium poiotrisa scaffolding was takon down, But, io fi of my long experience, I must frutifi.; sure you that to-day when I kid n;fl glance around I felt fora momenldriJ^ uncomfortable. Oh, no! I *'t# V. hend any danger. I knei^wo talaj;: everything fast— vo certainly iMI have ventured out if ive hado'tteß fident, of that." '■ How did the world look toycnlraatß perch up there?" ■ , , "Oh, that is an unanswerable qw» replied Mr Mclaughlin withan en* of bopolessness. "No man canolJ* to it. You must see it for I**' gather youro-vn impression. No,il«> winiy up thoro to-diy - the «&<< very favourable and simply beautiful , "What did your examinp.tionrtTa-. " Well, I stood upon tho upper ff could then just comfortablj loohns* minium top. Tho lightning hadafi| I the sharp point, and tho top pra*. , . : j rounded appearance of the top" »'| ,H h discovered also thatityas the«!» stone on tho north Bide '" *S , : 1 directly under tho capstone «*»•. / I struck. Its east end w»S cftcWW- s to bottom. The crack 13 aboutW;!; wido and extends, 1 think, e«^V: ; B the stono. What will wo do? W»S» ' 1 catoly nnply .1 powerful force and 1P,:.; pieces together. A well-paddrii^.: el perhaps answer tho purpose, <i of course, which held tho rf«M -\ broken and dislocatod^and it «"* : practicable to remortarit. «»"««, |i| sarv, therefore, to employ emw? ■ riveting when it U restored to mi»J ,y A couple of bronze csponnvß w , probably bo all that is needed. w ■'What will be done to-morrm.^. = "From tho lower window«•*(,. ] on eac!, sido a h B wido and ten long, which wllg. , ,| to tho tackling linesi yon «c« • "l from the upper oncirclingro?3« win.lo-.vs. Thoso when d»» ■/g position just below the hn'K-. . ~ rope will meet mid bo to* % ;?1 each corner of f-o Ryraniid. i, ' will then go up with «*(.,- .--| thorough inspection 0 thaw £ tho roof, and the best me W # , ~t the crack by brinKinß «!>« TO "1^ together will bo ™^ d jtiTV ■1; * determined upon, tim of tho additional rods to ."c protection of tho monuihen ' j| . V object of our operation' «P ™ jV that as tho work must ncce*"^ ff» slowly, wo will be ensued np» *= forawcok.-"WasMa ß toD^^ -\ [Tho moMimwt lms ""^ik': |« according to tho p!oo oatUrtd' ....... J|«