New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-10-09
(attibas stt!-kfr.
Deadly strugEI. ON a TiEb' Rnp--Oa. o.a-
bs'a"t Hailed to the Ground snd To-
stsntIy Ruled.

Little did the tens Of thousands If men.
women, aud children who thronged the pub
&c square oil Agram, Croatia, GU the 18th of
August, anticipate that they were about TO
witness spectacle such a. has, pcrhapS.
never been seen be.ore-a mortal struggle in
nd-air. The occasion IF the gathering was
a performance on the tight rope. The aero
bats, Andreas kolter and Francis Per-u-
witch were to appear on the rope, which La |
been stretched from window in the filth
story Of the courthouse to n window in
an opposite house a distance of 2JJ feet
The acrobats were to meet midway, AMI
then To pass each other. When the clock
struck twelve, the acrobats emerged from
their respective windows, dressed in tights
aid without balance poles. kOlter walked
rather cautiously, while Pergowitch came to
meet him from the opposite direction with a
nervous. quick step. At last they met, aud
the suspense of the crowd underneath
changed the next moment to feeling % it,
describsb.e horror. pcTgrwitch suddenly
uttered an angry exclamation, ami dealt Kpi-
ter terrible blow on the head. koiteT
staggered and fell, but in - Il ing succeeded
in clutching the rope with one hand. while
with the other he graspHl the lett leg JI hi,
assailant. pergGwitCh now fell likewise lat
passed his right arm around the rope 81 that
he hung upon it in comparative secTrity.
And now begun n lie AMI death stru..,.
hotter, with his right hand, tiled t, drag
PergOwitch from the rope, While pcrgnwitrh
kicked kolter with his right foot, and with
his left hand cndeavOred to loosen his autt-.-
onist's hold. No one was able to interfere
and the result, it was easy to furesCc, must
be the death of one or both the acrnbats
Many women tainted, while strong men wcpt
like children. What added t. the general
despair, was the appearance Of koiter's
young wife at the open window, from which
her husband a few moments before had set
cut upon his fatal walk. Her pitcouS screams
were heard above the din below, and her ap-
peals to Pergowitch to spare her husbands
life would have moved the heart of an
Apache. The struggle in mid-air las ted per-
haps a minute, when kolter suddenly uttered
q last cry and lost his hold lie fell to the
ground, striking it violently and expirin. in
~tanty. While the people gathered round
the corpse of poor hotter, his murderer on
the tight rope managed to get on his feet
again. With a dabolical expression on his
face he uttered a yell of triumph.
The Project Of Police ordered PergOwtch
TO surrender. In case he should not do 50
within five minutes he would be shot down
like Il dog. Finally he raised himself to his
feet and ran quickly to the courthouse wia-
dow, where he surrendered, begging that he
might be protected from violence. There
was great danger of his being executed by
the people, who loudly clamored that the
murderer be given up to them; but the milf
tary by bayonet charge cleared the public
square. Pergowitch on being asked what
caused him to perpetrate this crime, said that
there had been grudge between him and Kol-
ter ever since the latter had married young
Rosita Serganof, Polish girl ofrare beauty.
kolter, in a fit of jealousy, had told him he
knew one or the other OF them must die on
this account.