Skyscraper Drama: Man Dives To Death As New York Watches

Northern Advocate, 28 July 1938, Page 7

Skyscraper Drama: Man Dives To Death As New York Watches

(Received 10 a.m.) NEW YORK, July 2C. A MAZING SCENES. TERMINATING IN A DRAMATIC SUICIDE, WERE WITNESSED TO-DAY IN FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. A member of a Chicago family, prominent in society, John Ward, aged 2C, paced morosely along a narrow ledge 17 floors: high, outside a wellknown hotel, and threatened from time to time that he would jump, while his sister, aided by a psychiatrist, polie’emen and a priest from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, pleaded with him to return to safety. It was noon when Ward went out on to the ledge, and at dusk he was still there. In the meantime, newspapers and wireless had spread the news throughout New York, and thousands more people hurried to the scene. The police shut off all traffic to the street in front of the hotel, including pedestrians, and admitted only journalists and photographers, nearly 200 of whom maintained a vigil in the street. \ Newsreel outfits were set up at several vantage points, and spectators thronged the streets in the vicinity until scores of policemen arrived and ordered them to keep moving. k .}

Sensationalism. * Two telephone calls were received by Ward, the police passing out the telephone receiver through the window. One call was from a radio station offering him 100' dollars for a brief broadcast from the ledge, which he refused. The identity of the other caller is unknown: The police posted a sturdy patrol man, known for his strong grip, at the window opening on to the ledge, with orders to seize Ward if he attempted to leap, otherwise to try to coax him. It was learned that Ward was likely to receive several offers for appearances - in vaudevilles if he did not jump. The Fatal Jump. However, Ward jumped off, after remaining on the ledge for nearly 11 hours, and his body crashed through an iron and glass marquee at the front of the hotel and lay battered in the street. Thousands of spectators, many of whom had been standing in the streets or sitting at windows and on roofs for hours, gasped and screamed with horror. Women turned away their faces and clutched the arms of their escorts for support. Firemen, hauling up a net, had reached the 14th floor when Ward 1 jumped. They had planned to anchor it at the 16th floor, and lower ropes from the 18th, then suddenly to haul up the net and trap Ward against the building, but he leaned over the edge, j saw the net coming, and jumped. It j had been repeatedly suggested that a j lariat should be dropped over him | from above, but the overhanging cornice of the 18th story made this impossible. A Demented Man. The police said Ward had twice previously attempted suicide, once slashing his throat, and the second time leaping from a bridge into a river, from which he was rescued. He had been released last November from a mental hospital, and his quarrel with his sister is believed to have been mainly due to the fear that he would be recommitted. An earlier message said that Ward, who met his sister in his hotel room, •apparently quarrelled with her and sprang out on to the window ledge. There he answered all pleas of his i sister, who alternately fainted and alternately implored him to return by saying, “I want to be let alone. I will think this thing out for myself.” Hours passed, Ward smoking innumerable cigarettes and drinking glasses of water placed on the ledge for him. He /frequently approached the edge, causing screams from the spectatox-s and shouts of “Don’t jump.” The police thought out several schemes to get him inside, but discarded them, feaxing Ward might leap. A psychiatrist was summonded fi’om Bellevue Hospital, and declared that Ward was suffering from “crowd complex.” Having got his audience, he wished to hold it as long as possible. A priest, who asked Ward his religion, received the indifferent reply: “I am an unknown Presbyterian, I guess.” The priest said: :“You ought to be a good fellow and come in.” Radio City television studios across the street from the hotel turned the televisor on Ward and threw the picture on the studio screen. Ultimately, Deputy Chief Police-' Inspector Ryan arrived extremely angry. “Something will have to be done. All Manhattan is tied up. Somebody has to do something,” he exclaimed.