Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-05-01
The Martyrs of the Trapsze.

From the Kalamazoo fMich) Telegraph
Seeing in many city papers an ae-
count of an accident which occurred
in Baltimore recently to little Zoe De-
Lave, the first female gymnasti in this
country, and the first female that per-
formed the now less novel feat Of the
@hying ~trapeze," [ am tempted to
write for your readers a few facts con-
corning the troupe Of which she Is a
member. Ny information is from a
lady who became acquainted with
them during a stay Of a week or two
they made at a hotel at Grass Valley,
California.
The s'De Lave Troupe or Siam
iIy," consists of Monsieur, whose spe-
ciaity and sole part Of the entertain
ment, is an act on the tight rope, his
wife, a German girl about twenfy-One
years Of age now, and who is adver-
tised as Lila, and Zoe, a child about
twelve years old, his daughter by a
former marriage. In the first part OF
their entertainment, before the real
fatiguing business commences, Lila
dances some of the fancy dances, well
known in the days OF the ballet. Then
she and Zoe do the double and single
trapeZe, rings, parallel bar etc, in
short, all the business that the Han
Ions are so famous for, only that they
do different parts much more rapidly
than the HanlOns. Zoe also does
an act on the tight-rOpe. NJ. De Lave
once crossed Niagara river on a rope,
with Zoe, then six years old, walking
in front OF him. One of her feats is
for Lila to precipitate herself from the
"a #LAaHan l.HgLHnm
a trapeze or ring hanging from about
the center Of the ceiling, where she
hangs by her feet, and Zoe filings her
self to her, is caught and is again flung
to some ON the stage, whose BUSH
ness il is to catch her, and who does it
or not, as the sase may be, as We had
! an instance Of in Philadelphia this
fall. Mrs. De Lave has warned her
h@band time and again that the child
was getting too heavy, and some day
she would be- unable to catch her.
This and the flying trapeze act are the
most dangerous Of all the feats they
attempt, and in doing these Zoe is
continually missing her hold, and has
narrowly escaped death several times.
These girls detest the life they are
obliged to lead. Mrs. De Lave says,
every night when she goes upon the
ropes, the cold perspiTatiOn, started
by sheer horror, breaks out over her,
50 the rOsin put there to prevent slip
ping will not stay upon her hands.
She enters upon every performance
with a protest. Zoe has musical tai
ent that, if cultivated, would lead to
fortune much quicker than the means
she at present is Obliged to adopt. She
is small of her age; slender, though
very musculaT-her face thiT and
peaked; she is not what would be
called "A pretty child. Sheis ignorant
does not know even how to read. She
is self-willed-WiiI not even venture
upon either tight or slack ropes until
satisfied they are secure. Her father
has educated her to believe that as
long as he stands by the rope or bar
she will never be hurt, at least
dangerously. This, of course,
gives her confidence. He excuses his
sternness to them by saying that I'M
less they do Just as he orders they
would, in many instances, have been
killed. But this will never palliate
the brutalities he was known to have
been guilty of in Philadelphia. At
the time my informant met them, De
Lave was independently wealthy, and
promised, after exhibiting Zoe at the
Paris Exposition, she should be with
drawn and placed in a convent to be
educated. But the pledge has been
broken, and last month she was so
injured in Baltimore that il was
thought she would be a cripple for
life, and so / suppose her life viii be
held thus cheaply by her inhuman
father until she is crippled, or death
intervenes and sets her free from daily
contact with the things she loathes.
Knowing this, and that there are
parallel cases, as for instance the APP
prentices the HanlOns have, n can
not but wish that freedom might al
ways be the reward of bravery, and
wonder which is the most to blame
for this cruelty to these giris-the
Frenchman, De Lave, or the real
power behind the throne. the public,
who patrOniZes and applauds these
life-imperiling performances.