PALMYRA, NY — A man who had climbed to the top of a 100-foot flagpole here today in an apparent suicide attempt fell to his death after he had changed his mind and was being rescued by firemen, sheriff's deputies said.

Authorities said they received a call that a man, later identified as William Corcoran, 34 years old, of Palmyra, had climbed the steel flagpole and was perched on a square foot platform at the top.