The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1875-10-05
A Man and a Woman Risk Their
Lives, and Pay the Penalty.

Lives. and Ray the Penalty.
A part of the entertainment in Rob.
inson Hall, this week. has been trapeze
performance by "The Casinos" man
and woman. At the matinee yester
day the audience filed the little hail.
The trapeze feats were put in the pro.
gramme near the end. A large trapeze
and small one above and within it
hung from the ceiling over the front of
the auditorium. No net was suspended
beneath, as the law in this State directs.
When the time came for "The CAST
nos" to perform, they sprang out on the
stage with the sprightliness that custom
prescribes for athletic exhibitors, bowed,
stepped on the orchestra railing. and
jumped thence to the f,or The wo-
man had looked small On the stage,
where persons seem to the spectators
larger than reality, but on a level with
the people her diminutiveness was ap-
preciable. She was less than five feet
in height, proportionately slender, and
wore the ordinary dress OF male cir
Gus performer. .oo-.f
The man was big and muscular, fur
ther dwarfng her by contrast. He.
climbed rope to the trapeze, and then
hoisted her after him. As. she sat on
the dangling bar by her brawny com.
rade, there was no trace in her of phys
ical fitness for her task. Her bare arms
were slim, her hands small, and it seem.
ed to require her whole strength to lift
herself from arms length to q sitting
posture on the trapeze. riie 6,rr
Their feats were commonplace. The
man hanging by his hands or feet, swung
the woman below him In various atti
tudes. She had little to do except to
inertly risk her life After they had ex-
cuted several OF the usual performances,
and were taking breath on their perch,
the woman said something to the man,
and he replied with gesture that be.
tokeued vexation. .lca io tm i
One of the dancing girls afterward
said that the woman had previously
asked him to omit the feat next In or
der, as she was afraid of falling, and
that their talk was, repetition Of the re
quest and q refusal Her face wore a
pocting expressionfor an instant, and
then, as though recalling the presence
of the people, she smiled mechanically
and kissed her hand. The intended feat
was doubtless planned to- surprise by
Its unexpectedness. The 4man, without
moving from his sitting posture on the
bar, clasped one of the woman's ankles
as she stood at the other side of the
center rope OF the trapeze Then she
threw herself forward, and he simultai
neously slipped from the bar. His feet
should have caught the suspeuding
ropes at their junction with the bar, so
as to hold both with their heads down
after their bodies had fallen to a per
pendicular line. But his feet did not
catch There was no stoppage Of the
fall at the proper point, and they went
heads foremost to the floor, striking it
with heavy. thudding impact that
Jared the building. The man hit on
the back Of his head and shoulders, and
then lay limp and senseless The wo.
man fell on her side, partly under him,
and ldrops of blood came out of her
mouth as she, too, lay unconscious
She had made no outcry as she fell; MOI
! we're there any screams in the audience,
for women do not habitually attend the
current entertainments in Robinson
Hall.
An usher took up the little woman
and carried her out to the Office, and
several spectators followed with hel
comrade. A physician was summoned
hurriedly, and, after an examination, ht
said that one of her legs was broken
but that the man was not seriously hurt
1t might be, he added, that there were
internal injuries which would maxi
themselves known later. There wa
only few minutes of intermission, an(
then the entertainment was finished.