Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1874-01-10
Surprising Escapes From Instant Death
or MutiIafiOn

Jane Dixon is rapidly recovering, and
in few days will resume her place in
the ballet III Niblo's Garden. An in
cident of her fall last Tuesday night
from a pedestal fifteen feet high has not
before been related. AS she stood upon
the little disk ut the top of the slender
support she in some way became con-
scious that she could not keep her bal
auce, and cried out to the stage carpen-
ter, who was managing part of the
machinery at a little distance, " I'm
going to fall. The stage carpenter,
with rare presence of mind, told her not
to jump, fearing that the pedestal
would give way and throw her upon her
head.
keep the muscles of your limbs re-
laxcd," he cried, land let yourself
drop" She obcyed his instructions, and
thus possibly saved her life. She struck
the stage IN sitting posture and fell
over upon her back The first jar was
in this way trans mittcd through the en-
tire length of her spine, between the
vertebric of which nature has placed
elastic cartilages. Had she fallen on
her side or upon her breast, or even on
her shoulders, rupture or dislocation
would have been certain. AS it was,
two hours after the accident, she was
so far convalescent that she was able to
sit upright and partake of grape and
wine.
A year or two ago the writer stood
with others at newspaper Office window
on Nassau street, where the attention of
ali was directed to fat-cheeked little
youngster leaning out of the tifth-story
window of building opposite. 1t was
enjoying itself in that hilarious, childish
fashion SO pleasant to see, but which
only added to the horror of the OBJ
servers as they looked up and saw it
utterly beyond their efforts to save it.
They dared not Cry out for fear of start
ling it, and stood for some moments spell
bound with horror. Pretty soon a cry
burst from the whole party, as the little
thing toppled over and, losing its infan-
tile hold, turned over and over and over
in its fearful fall. 1t descended past
three stories and then struck an awning,
where it bounded MP two or three feet
like piece of india-rubber. The
stout canvas held firm and, bellying
down, formed kind of pocket, in which
the child seemed to gather its scattered
senses for a moment, and then, seeming
to think its dignity had been invaded,
set up an angry cry. A lawyer in the
second story of the building crept care
fully out on the iron support of the
awning, and Selling it by one of its legs
drew it to him, and so rescued it COM
paratively unframed.
About year ago, on Thirteenth
street and Avenue A. an older sister was
rolling an infant in its little carriage on
the roof of five-story tenement house.
Unexpectedly she lost her hold of the
it had rolled over the edge of the roof.
In falling, the wheels remained under
meath, and struck the pavement first.
The carriage was broken to fragments,
and even the iron supports of the nova
BILE top were bent. but the little inmate,
envclopcd in its pillows and shawls, was
only stunned by its fall, and in few
days was as well as ever.
Five or six days ago young woman
domestic employed at Madame Demon
cst'S, Broadway and Thirteenth street,
ascended to the roof to remove a piece
of carpet that had been placed over a
portion of the skylight. Trusting too
much to the strength of the framework
in which the panes of glass were set,
she broke through them and was pre-
cipitated headlong down through the
skylight shaft, past two stories, and
struck on the dining room floor, Il dis
tance of fortytwo feet. In what posi-
ton she was when she struck the
floor, She, of course, does not know.
Her friends hearing the sound of her
fail ran to the dining-room, and as the
truth flashed on their minds they We're
almost palsied with alarm. They found
her lying on her back, unconscious, and
ut once removed her to sofa, with no
expectation that their exertions to re-
store her to life would prove successful.
She soon recovered her senses, however,
and is now recovering. She thinks she
must have turned once or twice in her
descent, but her memory of what oc-
Cured after breaking through the
skylight is very much confused.
Notwithstanding the extreme height
from which she fell, not bone was
broken nor IL joint dislocated. --Ncw
York Graphic.