Playing Card, Recovered
Photo credit: Matt Flynn
Accession Number: C.2006.12.7
Dimensions: 5 in X 1/4 in
Dimensions (Metric): 12.7 cm X 2.54 cm
Dimensions (Metric): 12.7 cm X 2.54 cm
Source: Mickey Kross
Credit Line: Gift of Mickey Kross
Description
Two of clubs playing card with handwritten note: "9-11 | Stand the Hazard of the Die | W.S." The card is wrinkled with a few puncture marks.
Two of clubs playing card with handwritten note: "9-11 | Stand the Hazard of the Die | W.S." The card is wrinkled with a few puncture marks.
Historical Notes
Lieutenant Mickey Kross was still descending stairwell B, having reached the third floor of the North Tower, when the building collapsed, killing almost all above and below this floor. A few hours later, Kross, one civilian, a PAPD officer, and 11 other members of the FDNY who also had been trapped emerged into a landscape of twisted steel and rubble.
Disoriented, Kross picked up a playing card lying in the debris, the only thing that looked recognizable and undamaged. He came to view the playing card as a symbol of luck. A self-described William Shakespeare buff, Kross later wrote on the face of the card, "Stand the hazard of the die," the initials W.S., and the date.
Lieutenant Mickey Kross was still descending stairwell B, having reached the third floor of the North Tower, when the building collapsed, killing almost all above and below this floor. A few hours later, Kross, one civilian, a PAPD officer, and 11 other members of the FDNY who also had been trapped emerged into a landscape of twisted steel and rubble.
Disoriented, Kross picked up a playing card lying in the debris, the only thing that looked recognizable and undamaged. He came to view the playing card as a symbol of luck. A self-described William Shakespeare buff, Kross later wrote on the face of the card, "Stand the hazard of the die," the initials W.S., and the date.
