STEEPLEJACK’S FALL

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 109, 1 February 1930, Page 29

STEEPLEJACK’S FALL

WHIRL DOWN CHIMNEY Britain’s youngest working steeplejack has described what it feels like to fall through space ■without a shadow of hope of escaping death. He is Alfred Svenson, aged 18, of Garston, who, on November 29, fell 130 feet down a factory chimney at Liverpool through the collapse of a staging in course of erection for demolition work. Svensson never lost consciousness during the terrible ordeal, and after being dragged from the interior of the chimney by ropes he was admitted to hospital with a compound fracture of the left leg, two dislocated insteps, an injured left arm, burned hands, a scarred face, two black eyes, and bruises all over the body. In spite of physical pain he smiled broadly when he was interviewed next day, and humorously remarked, “As the preacher man says, It must have been sent for a purpose.’ It was like a bad dream. I momentarily lost my breath as I tumbled into space, and then I saw myself ricocheting from jutting portions of brickwork. “I made a grab at a rope which was hanging from a pulley, and as it slipped through my hands with a speed that caused my palms to burn, I heard a shout of ‘He’s killed—send for his mother? With a great effort I grabbed the rope only to find it was not secured at the top of the chimney, and it came away on to my head. “Stifled, and unable to breathe, I kept falling through space for what seemed an age, and the interior of the chimney appeared whirling round as I twisted and doubled during the descent. In those few seconds I lived a whole lifetime, but never lost consciousness as one elbow and then the other struck protruding angles in the uneven wall. “Then came the thud, which seemed the end of everything. That is beyond description. I fell on a heap of about 900 bricks in almost a sitting position, and was greatly startled when I saw men enter the chimney through the hole we had cut in the brickwork, fasten ropes around me, and haul me to safety. Almost immediately after that I Jost consciousness, and awoke to find myself in bed, well trussed up.” The boy’s face, battered from forehead to chin, with both eyes swelled and blackened, was wreathed in smiles. “Shall I stop being a steeplejack? No! “You see,” the boy continued, “I was at sea before I became a steeplejack, and I am sure if that piece of rope I grabbed at had held I should not have been in hospital.”