DANCING ON A SPIRE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6631, 9 June 1928, Page 5 (Supplement)

DANCING ON A SPIRE

A young pastrycook provided the surprise of the Cologne Carnival by climbing up the outside of the south steeple of the famous cathedral twin spires, and here first dancing a Charleston, then doing a hand balance with both feet in the air. This was done in the sight of an enormous and anxious crowd. The spires are 520 ft. above street level. The boy—he was only 20 —was dressed in carnival costume as an "apache” (says Ecuter's correspondent at Berlin). Hour after hour the climb went on, the climber pausing now and again to wave a hand at the sea of upturned faces. Nobody thought ho could surmount even the groat stone "wreath,” which projects all round about 60ft. from the top, but tho climber accomplished this, although it meant climbing outwards. Then, by means of tho lightning conductor and another outward climb, the boy rounded the stone ball on the

apex and stood on the very peak of the spire. The climb had taken him five and a-half hours. Seated on the top of the spire, ho was practically out of sight, but he was only resting while ho smoked a cigarette and "had a look round.'’ In a few minutes he was seen to be dancing a "Charleston” or cutting capers of some sort, and then, to the amazement and horror of tho onlookers, he balanced himself on his hands for quite an appreciable time. When Herr Mayer regained the pavement he found himself fronted by a posses of 15 fully-armed policemen. He was handcuffed and taken to prison, but not before the crowd had given him round after round of cheering. He was only anxious to obtain payment for a small bet. He had performed his feat for a packet of cigarettes.