DEATH LEAP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23101, 28 July 1938, Page 13

DEATH LEAP

AMAZING CASE YOUNG MAN'S DEED FALLS 17 STOREYS HOURS ON A LEDGE 1I0UR1EIEI) THOUSANDS By Telegraph— Press Association —Copyright (Received July 'J7, p.m.) NKW YoHK, Jnly -'> Amazing 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 26, paced morosely along a narrow ledge 17 floors high outside a well known hotel and threatened from time to time that he would jump, while his sister, aided by a psychiatrist, policemen and a pi iest from St. Patrick's Cathedral, pleaded with him to return to safety. Tens of thousands of horrified watchers in the street below produced one of the worst dislocations of traffic in the history of the city. Ward, who had met bis sister in bis room in the hotel, apparently quarrelled with her and sprang out on to the window ledge. There he answered all the pleas of his sister, who alternately fainted and implored him to return, by saying: ''l want to be let alone. I will think this thing out for myself." Suffering from "Crowd Complex" Hours passed. Ward smoking innumerable cigarettes and drinking glasses of water placed oil the ledge for 111111. He frequently approached the edge, causing screams from the spectators and shouts of: "Don t jump. The police thought out several schemes fo get Ward inside, but discarded them, fearing that he might, lea p. The psychiatrist was summoned from "Bellevue Hospital and stated that Ward was suffering from "crowd complex." Having got his audience he wished to hold it as long as possible. Operators in the Radio City television studios across the street from the hotel turned a televisor on Ward and threw the picture on to the studio screen. Anger ol Police Official Ultimately the Deputy Chief of Police, Inspector Kyan, arrived on the scene. He was extremely angry. "Something will have to be done. All Manhattan is tied up. Somebody lias to do something," he exclaimed. 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 in 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. News-reel outfits were set np at. several vantage points and spectators thronged the streets in the vicinity until scores of policemen arrived and ordered tlieni to keep moving. After that there was a continuous mass of humanity moving slowly along any street from which a glimpse could be had of Ward. Offer for a Broadcast 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 KM) dollars for a brief broadcast from tlie ledge, which he refused. The identity of the other caller is not known. The police posted a sturdy patrolman known for his strong grip at the window opening on to the ledge with orders to seize Ward if lie attempted to leap, otherwise to try to coax him. Jt was learned that Ward was likely to receive several offers for appearances in vaudeville if he did not 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

street or sit tine; 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. Failure of Net Plan Firemen hauling up a net had reached the ] Ith floor when Ward jumped. They had planned to anchor it at the Kith floor and lower ropes from the 58th. then suddenly to haul U]) the net and trap Ward against the building, hut he leaned over the edge, saw the net coining, am*! jumped. It had been repeatedly suggested that a lariat should be dropped over him from above, but the overhanging cornice of the ISth storey made this impossible. The police said Ward had twice previously attempted suicide, once slashing his throat and the second time leaping trom a bridge into a river, from which he was rescued. He had been released last November from a mental hospital, and bis quarrel with his sister is believed to have been mainly due to fear that be would he recommitted.