Forced to continue working beneath powerful searchlights and volleys of gunfire, the hapless group on the Minot Tower made a major breakthrough the next day when the foundations of the spire itself were worked loose and the Tower began to come away from its perch.

With ropes and crowbars the group began to remove the struts of the spire and as the dark day progressed some headway was made. Not without accidents, of course. Six people fell to the ground when another ladder was moved by the high winds. Another eight lost their lives when the rope they were pulling on came undone from its mooring and catapulted them all backwards off of the Tower.