Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-11-12
UP IN THE AIR.

Some few months back was called in Il
am a surgeon by profession) to attend a Sc
nor Tornados, who, despite his name, was
as true an Englishman by birth and by
parentage as the parish of Lambeth ever
bred and reared. l found him suffering
from extreme debility and nervousness
brought on by the overstrained tension
the muscles and sinews. He told me that he
was q rope-dancer, slack and tight; tum-
bier, stiff and loose; sprite, acrobat, and
bottle-equilibrist; and many other things
which have escaped my memory.
His family consisted of his wife, pale
sickly womap, somewhat older than him
self, and a very handsome little girl. Ac-
customed as l was to witness the devotion
of woman by sick bedside, and the irri-
liability of male patients, the self-sacri6ce
of Madame Tornados and the demonstrative
gratitude of her husband for each act Of at
tention, surprised me.
He was under my care some months, and,
as he recovered, grew talkative and familiar.
One evening, as be sat in an easy chair,
propped up by pillows, he favored me with
The following narrative. l purposely sup
press any profession technicalities and aero
batic drgot, which would be unintelligible
TO the ordinary reader;
"You see, sir" he began, "my father
was hawker over in Lambeth Marsh. 1
never knew my mother, because she died
when l was quite young. don't know how
ii was learned tumbling. The first thing
can remember is standing on my head
close to Westminster Bridge, and o gentle
man going by giving me a shilling. Now,
my boy the gentleman said, do that
H. II i ro,1 ln
'springr which did, and came on my
feet again. Good boy said he, and he
patted me on the head. That gentleman,
sir, was the great Mr.. Ducrow. Well, sir,
of course, after such encouragement from
uch man, tumbler l became. l spared
neither pains nor trouble, and practiced
i'll l became master Of my art and head Of
my profession.
"About seven years ago-l was just
twenty first met with James Ranford,
who was also in my line, and he proposed
that we should work together. consented
and we travelled about and exhibited at town
halls, and assembly rooms, and large rooms
at inns; but we did very badly. Ranford
had wife and child, so it fell harder upon
him. 1 was forced to lend him what little
I could spare, for L could not see young
woman and little baby 60 without while l
had it, could |?
Well, sir, things got from bad to worse
and my partner, being man of violent tenn
per, took todrink-he was always given that
way-and, am sorry to say, he used to
beat his wife. Sometimes my blood has
boiled, and l have walked away for fear
that | should interfere. However, / used TO
cheer up missus as well as l could, and
nurse the little girl, and they grew to like
me very much.
"0ne night, at little place called Peddle-
tho pc, we had no license at all. We were
without money and we were asking each
other what we should do, when the squire's
son and lot Of young gentlemen came in
and asked us to perform for them, which we
did and they gave us couple of sovereigns,
and, more than that, asked US to supper at
the hotel. After supper, the squire looked
at one of our bills of the day, and said:
Hello why, l see you call yourselves
AIessrs. j. Ranford and W. Kerr. No won
der you get no audiences. l suppose those
are your real names" We answered that
they were
ooh, thatll never do?' he said. "You
must have an aliaS-you mustn't let the pub
lie suppose you are Englishmen. 1t is
contrary to the rules of professional eti-
quette. You must make out that you are
foreigners ?"
"Well, at that all the gentlemen began
TO laugh but it was settled before we broke
up that night that, for the future we should
call ourselves THE Two Foscari-the
Spineless Siamese Of Syriap
"Well, sir, from that moment Ranford and
Ibegan to do well; but l am sorry to say that
our good luck only caused my partner to
drink the harder and, in consequence, to
behave more badly to his wife. His child
he certainly was very fond of-partly, l
think, because he had only known her a
short time, for Ranford was one of those
men who liked new faces. AS soon as he
met stranger be was all life and spirits,
and he would do any thing or 60 anywhere
10 oblige him but when he had known a
man some time he didn' care for him, but
grew cross and contradictory.
"At last we got an engagement at a gar
den near London, where there was grand
gala night every week, on which occasion
balloon ascended. scraped acquaintance
with the aeTonaut, and one evening went
up with him. The sensation was singular.
! can not describe it, but liked it very
much. The aeronaut showed me how he
managed to steer through the air, when to
throw out the sand, and how to descend. AS
we were sailing over London he said to me- !;
"You couldn't do the slack rope up here,
FOscari, could you ?"
"Why not ?'' said and as I spoke the
idea flashed upon me what a splendid feat
nre in the programme it would be: Peril
GUS Performance of the Two Foscari
Brothers, who will go through their inimita-
BILE Evolutions on the Slack Wire suspended
from Balloon floating thousands Of yards
above the surface of the Earthllr A bal
loon, / thought, that could bear the weight
of eight men inside the car could bear the
weight Of two men outside of it. The wire
could be fastened to the sides of the car,
and, when at sufficient hight, we could 20
on it and perform.
"As soon as reached the ground went
TO RanfOrd, who first laughed at the notion,
and then agreed 10 it. The proprietor Of
the gardens asked us to name our terms.
We did so. He tried TO beat us down, but at
last consented, and we went up and did it u
interrupted him by asking him if the
dangers were not extreme.
Not bitP replied my patient. "If
fell from a wire fftv feet from tho Oround