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Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series on H.F. Pigman.

Pigman returned a month later to the courthouse for another climb in front of an even larger crowd.

“Pigman Climb Thrills Crowd – Spotlight’s Glare Makes Daring Feat More Spectacular,” a Herald headline declared Aug. 4, 1924.

“Never perhaps before did an Austin man inspire so many hard wishes for his safety as did H.F. Pigman, ‘human fly,’ when he scaled the courthouse Saturday night in his spectacular climb made as a benefit for the boy scouts.”

Pigman went along an “unsafe stretch” that wasn’t part of his July 4 climb because he studied it more.

A fire truck on Main Street provided a spotlight to help Pigman find holds and for the crowd to see the “white-clad figure” crawl along the wall. At one point, Pigman raised his left foot above his head and “there was a sudden jerk of his body and he was resting on the ledge.”

Many averted their eyes as Pigman provided “heart-ascending thrills” until he was standing on his head at courthouse tower’s tip.

“There were those present who had driven miles to become a spectator and then could not find the courage to be a spectator. They watched him for a moment and then turned their heads when he came to a difficult ledge.”

The Herald predicted several hundred more “human flies” in the next 20 years.

“Small boys who had witnessed the feat launched careers immediately after the performance. Some of them started the careers where Mr. Pigman started his climb, others selected the corners of brick buildings on Main Street for their first climb.”

“The post office defied several attempts of youths whose taste for the heroic was stirred.”

Other stuntmen across the nation modified Pigman’s act for special events – many balancing on building edges rather than scaling them.

But there was a better-known “human fly” – Clarence O’Rourke – who scaled buildings like Pigman and generated significantly more press coverage. In 1922, O’Rourke was reported to have been killed while doing his act atop a tall building in Mexico but those were not true; his wife even filed divorce papers while not knowing if she was a widow.

In 1925, a California man, who had been doing “human fly” stunts, died after falling four stories to the pavement while climbing a Pennsylvania building.

Another man calling himself a “human fly” at this time died after falling from a courthouse steeple in Tennessee.

Albert Lea

wants Pigman

Albert Lea citizens saw Pigman’s second Austin climb and signed him up to climb their county courthouse a few weeks later.

After rain canceled Albert Lea’s Aug. 23 event, Pigman returned Aug. 30 dressed in white for a 9:30 p.m. climb to the courthouse’s clock tower. Several thousand spectators had gathered while Albert Lea firefighters gave him a spotlight.

Pigman had arrived at noon to look over the structure, which left him shaking his head at the challenge. He called it “about as hard a proposition” as he had ever faced, according to the Albert Lea Tribune.

Pigman came out of a second-floor window and struggled for 30 minutes to work his way up. At one point, he fell about three feet from a window but hung on.

“From all appearances, it looked as if he had grown nervous over the long delay and was in fear of what the crowd might think should he fail.”

Many looked away during Pigman’s stunt until the “fly” found himself trapped. He looked up at three men in the tower above him and said, “I can’t make it.”

He tried to get back to a ledge but slipped, kicking himself away as he fell.

“As he shot downward with his feet first, many covered their faces while some screamed and ran from the building.”

After falling 45 feet to the pavement, Pigman was taken to the hospital unconscious and in “critical condition.” This made national news, with some headlines even claiming Pigman was “fatally injured.”

“Battling for his life,” he suffered numerous injuries, including a badly crushed foot, shattered thigh bone, splintered ribs, cuts to his head and torn muscles.

“All day Sunday and Monday he suffered excruciatingly from his injuries,” the Tribune wrote Sept. 2, 1924.

Pigman didn’t have much after losing “his fortune” by speculating in land. A twin sister living in Mason City looked after him at the hospital.

The Tribune staff did not feel good about the event.

“And for what? Just to satisfy that barbarous part of men and women, which still remains in the breasts of the masses – the so-called civilized part of the world, if you please!”

Many who witnessed the fall condemned the VFW for setting up the stunt. Others criticized the city and county for allowing it.

“Sure, they are to blame but why censure and condemn only them? Are not we who witnessed the affair more guilty? The veterans, the city officials and county commissioners only attempted to satisfy our savage instincts.”

Post-injury Pigman’s situation unknown

From his hospital bed, Pigman said he might resume his stunts if he could regain strength in his badly broken right leg. A few weeks later, though, Pigman said he would never climb again no matter what.

After nearly two months in the hospital, Pigman was released. He moved to Mason City, where his sister lived, and the rest appears to be a mystery. Online news archives don’t show articles or death notices about Pigman after that point.

Interestingly, there was another H.F. Pigman in Iowa at that time but he was a city building inspector near Des Moines.