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THE BEE: OMAHA, SUNDAY. OCTOBER is.
Body Snatchers of Eiffel Tower Save Hundreds From
Compelling Desire to Jump From Rail to Earth Below
Loftiest Structure in the
World Takes a Yearly
,' Toll of Death Tower
Holds Strange Fas- -cination.
By STIRLING HEILIO.
.Paris A painter fell from the
Eiffel Tower. When his body
ttruck the ground it sunk five feet
into a flowerbed. Four more men
must fall to complete the toll of the
most dangerous painting job in the
world.
They paint the tower every six
years. All Paris is interested, be
cause on its paint depends whether
1 the gigantic mass of iron is to be the
' glory or the eyesore of Paris 1
Its first shade, in 1889, was "dead
leaf." .When the sun lit it hazy
golden, with effects of jeweler's fra
gility, it was beautiful. In 1895,
after immense discussion, - they
painted it orange. In strong sun it
gleamed like burnished copper. Os
car Wilde declared it noble. Puvis
do Chavannes, the grand old painter,
threatened to blow it up with dyna
mite I
; .... Electricity Eats Paint 1
In 1900 they made it "sun color"
which has always been repeated.
Again, the tower became a thing of
- glory.
It- did not gleam sun color long.
According to Camille Flammarion,
the atmospheric electricity which
such a, mass of iron receives is incal-
culablfc Conducting tubes two feet
in diameter lead it down to 50 feet
below the water-bearing stratum;
but its effects on paint are disas
trous. The paint does not crack off
or peel off. It just disappears!
It is the tower's way of calling for
a special bunch of victims painters!
' Every day it calls for voluntary
victims by whispering .to visitors
with thrills of that incalculable at
mospheric electricity, "jumpl"
On the upper platforms lounge
mien who try to look like tourists,
yet whose lazy eyes watch every
new arrival.
Electricity Urges: "Jump!"
When they see a tourist stand im
mobile by the railing, deaf to re
marks, oblivious of surroundings,
with eyes fixed on the abyss and
face lit up with a holy look, they
move a little closer to the tourist.
They are the body-snatchers of
the tower. As the snake fascinates
the bird, so the abyss calls to 10
tourists daily, while electric soul
. jolts murmur: "Jumpl" They're
snatched and saved, be sure the
snatchers have the habit I
I have seen ladies fairly rush to
the "down", elevators, hiding their
face in their hands 1 Those who may
be really ready to jump will feel a
strong, friendly human body bump
against them, with hearty apologies:
Amillion excuses 1 How ,1 am
clumsy 1" ' ;
Will Not Let You Jumpl
" It is the body-snatcher, saving
' your life. He will not let you jump.
He stands by you, whether you wish
it or not, until you return to nor
malcy. ' On the ground,- by the west pillar,
is a police room. Here are wheel
barrows, shovels, and a big pile of
black garden-earth. When a fasci
nated victim succeeds in jumping,
Jew people realize what has hap
pened. The falling body, makes a deep
hole in the earth; but before any
horrified or curious party . can , ac
complish the slow descent by ele
vator or stairway, the body is pious
ly wheeled to the police-room and
the hole is filled up, smoothed with
new earth, and, maybe, geranium or
green shrub planted!
- There are "no statistics of those
who jump. It is not- a thing to
talk about they're mostly visitors.
'. But there are full statistics of le
gitimate victims painters and in
ventors of parachutes! .,
So fell Francis Reichelt.
"I need heightl" he said. "In fall
ing, my parachute continues to un
fold, all by itself. It is for aviators,
who have no time, you understand,
to adjust anything. A swimming
gesture of the arms, , you ' under
stand .''.'
Drops to Death.' t s "
He looked into the -abyss and
turned back in dread. - He tore a
newspaper, to try the winA ' He
looked down again and slowly his
face illuminated. His look of vo
luptuous longing frightened the re-
porters. Before they could consult,
he was near the railing. The cape
: unfolded. A bulging balloon of brown
silk swelled above him. It looked,
.for a moment, like success. Then
down went Francis, like a lump of
lead! ' - -:
w. -The painting job is vast, by rea
' 'son of the tower's open structure.
The edifice weighs -less than 8,000
.toss, but its total surface jto be
t
V
i
l
Top picture shows giant searchlights and wireless station on top of
Eiffel tower. . . '
Below, pictorial comparison of the tower with other famous structures.
painted requires- nearly 60 tons of
liquid paint for each single coat
Sixty-five painters, working con
tinuously together, take three months
to do a single coat.
In 1889, only five painters fell or
jumped. The tower had just taken
28 victims during its construction,
and all were careful. In loy5, 11
painters fell, few of them men of
1889. Without experience of the
tower's lure, they had the French
artisan's vanity and daring. When,
after three had gone down, the man
agement, interposed lite saving
tackle, they rebelled in a body. As
result, nine others dashed to a jelly
in 45 daysl
In 1900, they called for "painters
experienced on the tower." They re
sponded in mass demanding quad
ruple wages. When put wise to mo
tives of humanity, they accepted 40
per cent above union scale on con
dition not to disgrace themselves by
enforced use of tackle. Eight fell.
Nine More Fall.
In 1907, it was the same. Nine
fell, and always without tackle. In
1913, they had got to be a little
corporation. Only five went down,
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and five, they came to say, would
be the future average ot a work
manlike iob." '
High winds blow, up there 1" says
one grizzled expert. "The shaft
sways two yards on a calm day, and
four yards in the winds'.; Visitors do
not feel it, moving ' about the' plat
forms, but straddled on a beam,
painting some of those 2,500,000
major rivets, you get this 'gone'
feelinsr. I fear only storms," he
added. "Two comrades went down,
beside me, in the storm of , 1913.
Hail and big drops blinded us. All
went black, and the thunder and
lightning was awful.. We painters
just clung! i
The Whispering ' Magnetism
"Good bye . gormandizing 1"
laughed another. "Got to keep the
stomach sweet, to work up there!
Or else, look out for vertigo and
whi'soerinsr maenetismt" ' '? ;
"To feel what we painters feel,"
iSAGfftNCT FACES COMlECT
ED BY NEW METHOD
Tightens Loom Skm, Remove,
Deep Wrinkles.
he says, "you must be on beam,
up there, with the abyss below and
the immensity aboveall still! un
til you want to chuck the paint pot,
spread your arms, and swim in the
bright airl
"It's not like flyers in plane
they're saved by movement. Tour
ists, walking about, the same. You
have to be painter, in that open
steel work that sticks into the iky,
to know what it is drawing to it
self in juice!"
"What about the wireless oper
ators?" "They know nothing. They, live
in a house, up there, amid stuffed
chairs, and solas and wooden walls,
and can't see out.
Eiffel Feels No Qualms.
Monsieur Gustave Eiffel, the en
gineer who built the tower, still
lives veteran great man of France.
His tower rendered such services
during the war that all talk about
its ugliness and dangers is forgotten.
Monsieur c-inel almost lives, away
up there! lie has always kept a
rrivate parlor, up there, reached by a
"reserved elevator." and in it he re
ceived, the other day, a distinguished
visiting delegation ot American en
gineering societies.
"The height gives me no- qualms,"
he told them. "I have slept up
here through bombing Gotha raids
in the late war. I have sat here
reading poetry in the midst of ter
rific storms when the tower was
'touched' once a minute and the shaft
was swinging four yards in the hur
ricane!" Admit Tower Is High
Niagara Falls are hieh. Thev
could fall from the tower's first plat
form. The loftiest masonry con
structions in the world American
skyscrapers could not reach even
the intermediate platform, half way
up the shaft. 647 feet from the
ground. The third platform (like
the brim of a hat) is 911 feet high.
Niagara, with a suspension bridge
100 feet above it, could fall between
it and the top of our highest sky
scraper, leaving space to spare!
' Holds 13,200 Persons.
The ground enclosed by its four
legs is three acres.
Restaurant, theater and cafes of
the first platform seat 1,600 persons,
and their "exterior galleries" hold
400 more. The second platform ac
commodates 3,000 persons, the inter
mediate and third 1,000 more. Add
3,200 adults mounting and descend
ing stairs and elevators, and the total
"saturation" of the tower becomes
13,200 people the population of no
mean city!
"Saturation" has probably never
been reached, but it is remarked in
Paris that the tower's shareholders,
after getting not rent throughout
the wer, touched 7 per nt last
year, and expect 12 per cent di
vidend shortly.
For this prosperity they have to
thank the wireless and that other,
queerest of all "whisperings." which
I said that I would mention In good
time.
Gets Free Advertising.
Now that it is such an Important
wireless station, the tower gets free
advertising all over the world; and
Urge probortion of visitors who
come to Paris for the first time, feel
bound to nuke the ascent
A queer legend of the tower's first
days, in 1889. revived with talk of
the tower's need of paint, has doubt
less helped to boost the dividends.
Not atmospheric electricity alone,
they say, but its comingling with
obscure earth magnetism of un
imaginable force, works with the
vertigo on hearts and souls' outpour
ing! The telluric currents (no one
knows a word of their true nature,
scientifically!) twist and soften the
harsh flood of atmospheric elec
tricity which urges: "Jumpl" and
deafen fair ears to its horrid man
date! Mother Earth, in tenderness
for daughters of Mother Eve, makes
it to sound to them like ksss, Icsss
"Kiss!"
And so, for 50 visitors who seek
Thrill No. 1 of braving an alleged
danger there may be 100 who have
sneaking willingness to test Thrill
No. 2 of problematic safety! "No
woman," runs the story, "can resist
discreef, persistent efforts of a man
to kiss her, at the top of the Eiffel
towerl"
Lure of the Tower.
"The Lure of the Tower exists,"
says the grand old French astrono
mer. "It is the most dangerous
vertigo in the world! Up there, in
the immensity of sunlight, sir and
silence, like an ocean, the soul sings
for joy of the' great movement on
ward, onward, the rotation of the
earth upon its axis, the swing of our
globe around the sun, and the ma
jestic progress of our solar system
through space toward 'the Constella
tion of the Lyre!" ,
Earth Protects Her Child!
Stirred, thus, to jump, by atmos
pheric electricity ("it's strong
enough to make each atom of the
vast steel structure tingle 1"). how
shall a girl keep her head where
strong men feel the urge to spread
their arms and swim, except over
whelming counter-currents (thrilling
from the feet up) gently jazz her to
a soft confusion, though no boob
have nerve to test it!
All these things were known per
fectly in 1889. Then, in October,
1890, they were -forgotten by joint
effort of newspapers and population.
Jack and Jill
It was Just five minutes of seven.
Dinner was finished, and Jack was
just drawing on the waistcoat of his
evening clothes, when he observed
the time. They were bound for the
theater.
"Jill." he cried cheerily, through
the buh-room door.
"Hello honey," she cried back
"what is it dear want me to fasten
your studs."
"Studs?" he shouted incredulous
ly, "For the love of Mike, darlin',
I'm all dressed. Don't tell me you're
not nearly ready,"
"Oh, I'll be ready in time," said
Jill. .
So Jack, looking quite like the
hero In a play himself, his tsll figure
wonderfully distinguished in his new
evening clothes, idled down stairs
to the little living room where he
resd a page of Montaigne.
It was seven-ten before he strode
out into the hall and looked ex
pectantly up the stair-case.
"Oh, honey," he cried eventually,
seeing no sign of his Jill-girl.
"Yoo-hoo," she called down hap
pily. "
"Most ready, dear?" v -
"Oh, I'm hurrying."
He read two more pages of the
cynical Montaigne. Seven-twenty-two.
There came the sound of splash
ing from above.
7'Holy smokel" he ejaculated, "I
do believe she's just taking a bath
now. Can you beat that?"
Out into the hall again and a leap
up the stairs. He stood outside tne
bath-room door. Then le knuckled
the panels.
The sound of splashing stopped
abruptly.
"Well, what is it, dear?" Jill's
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voice was impatient, fretful.
"You know we arc going to the
theater tonight, not tomorrow mii
nee," he said, in lofty sarcasm.
"Yep." replied Jill calmly, "I
know it, old dear."
He fumed and clumped down
stairs again.
Three more pages of Montaigne,
and it was a quarter of eight.
He heard Iter coming down the
stsirs slowly,
"Goodness, Jill, hurry up," he
said croisly. "It takes half an hour
to get in to town, and fifteen min
utes more to get to the theater.
We'll land there just about in the
middle of the first act if you don't
hurry."
"Oh, I'm hurrying, dear," she said
softly, pulling on a glove.
lack snorted.
Yah you look rushed to death."
He hriut her aaong to the sta
tion and they caught the 7:59, where
as he hid planned to pet the 7u5.
"Well, well miss half the show,
of eoum. but you don't mind a lit
tle thing like that," he said cynically.
"We'll be on time," retorted his
J ill-girl calmly.
"On timet Gee, women are tht
limit."
It seemed ss if Jack was right for
it was twenty-two minutes of nine
when they reached the theater. They
heard the orchestra braying, and
there was an awful crush about the
entrance. Hut they were finally
seated, lill had her hat off and her
hair fluffed, and Jack had chance
to read the jokes in the program,
before the curtain actually arose on
the first act of the play.
But the perfect wile made bo re.
marks. .
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