When the 'Human Fly' invaded San Antonio: 3 men climbed Alamo City buildings with their bare hands
When the 'Human Fly' invaded San Antonio: 3 men climbed Alamo City buildings with their bare hands
"Human Fly" Harry Gardiner hanging from the 24th floor of the Hotel McAlpin on Broadway in 1922. He was famous for climbing buildings wearing his ordinary street clothes and using no other special equipment.
From the early 1900s to the late 1920s, Gardiner scaled more than 700 buildings in North America and Europe, often in just everyday street clothes with no equipment save the occasional rope. Some of his tallest climbs included the 16-story Empire Building in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1917, and the nine-story Bank of Hamilton building in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1918 to celebrate the end of World War I.
In May 1924, Gardiner came to San Antonio to scale the 10-story St. Anthony Hotel, a stunt organized by the San Antonio Elks Lodge to benefit the Milk and Ice Fund that served undernourished children and families in need. The climb also was sponsored by NuGrape soda.
In a May 24 write-up to advance the May 26 climb, San Antonio Evening News writer Mary Carter described Gardiner as “54 years old, looks 35 and has more pep than you’ll find in 16 ordinary people.” She also noted he used his hands like hooks to climb, relying on just the three middle fingers, not the pinkie or thumb.
In a May 24 write-up to advance the May 26 climb, San Antonio Evening News writer Mary Carter described Gardiner as “54 years old, looks 35 and has more pep than you’ll find in 16 ordinary people.” She also noted he used his hands like hooks to climb, relying on just the three middle fingers, not the pinkie or thumb.
At 7 p.m. May 26, several thousand onlookers gathered at Travis Park to watch Gardiner as he “swung from story to story” up the St. Anthony to the top ledge, then used a rope for a few feet and “swung up with what appeared to be almost superhuman agility,” according to a San Antonio Express article the following day.
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