(Almost) last exit from Brooklyn

Press, 31 August 1977, Page 8

(Almost) last exit from Brooklyn

, NZPA-Reuter New York ] it A writer who said he it would “rather fight than’’ quit’’ handed out news re- * leases yesterday, left behind i ( a copy of his play, and then,< .jumped off the Brooklyn ’ (Bridge into the East River. ‘ ’ A police spokesman said ; ’the writer, identified as Dan t iCameron Rodill, aged 30, of; New York, was in a “very't I critical condition” in Beek- 1 man Hospital, centra) New I York. Il

play, “The Dry Season.” He then climbed on to a girder beneath the historic structure, dangled briefly, and let go. Rodill was floating facedown in the East River and did not appear to be breathing when policemen aboard a launch pulled him from the water. But he was revived aboard the boat and taken to the hospital. Last April, Rodill climbed the same span and distributed news releases from his lofty perch for 45 minutes before policemen managed to

Officials say Rodill distri- get him down, buted news releases entitled A hospital spokesman said “Playwright on the Bridge". Rodill, w’ho described himand left behind a copy of his | self in his release as *

“world traveller, ex-war correspondent, and author of an unpublished play about IndoChina,” had had to undergo surgery for internal bleeding. He had suffered multiple fractured ribs and a collapsed lung. The hospital spokesman quoted Rodill’s news release as saying his jump off the bridge was “dedicated to the last endangered species, the American dreamer.” The release said Rodill had taken the plunge to make a statement about “IndoChina, unemployment in cor-porate-commercial society and the plight of New York and writers who’d rather fight than quit.*'