The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-03-22
A vscTIM OF THE rHApEzE.
The Mishaps That Befell a Young
Woman Who Made a Projectile of


Herself
| London Letter In New York TribuneI
There may be seen at the Aquarium
in Westminster, good-looking and well
built young woman, whose real name i
probably Jenkins or Thompson, but who
is known to the public as Zeo. She is ,
professional gymnast or acrobat, anG
some ten days ago she had the ill luck tt
meet with an accident of a peculiar
kind, which has led to not a little dis
cussion both as to this particular mishar
and as to the propriety Of allowing pub
lie exhibitions of women who do dan
gerous feats. Zeo is the successor tc
another young woman named a Zazel
whose pride it was to be shot out of q
cannon. i-' R'tt
As the public after a time wearied of
Zazel and her cannon the managers who
make merehmdise Of her body devised
what they call a catapult-a machine
which no longer appears to the imagin-
alton by burning gun powder (Which
was by no means the propelling force),
but makes, up for this by adding new
and obvious risk to the life of the per-
former. The catapult Is simply plat
form of size to hold q human body.
Rubber springs are concealed beneath,
and at one end is q hinge on which the
platform makes a partial revolution.
describe the thing as I have seen it;
complications may exist, but they can
much affect the principle. The force Of
the spring, was told, had been calcula-
ted to a fraction; it was far safer than
the flying trapeze or other contrivances,
where momentary failure of the nerve
or presence of mind Of the gymnast
would be fatal. ..'' = '
On this platform, raised some twenty
feet above the floor, Zeo places herself,
lying on her back at full length. When
she has adjusted her body to her liking,
with a number of preparatory bitches
and undulations, she gives the word to
the assistant by her side and he pulls a
lever. The springs beneath thrust the
platform and its human freight suddenly
upward, as if about to describe COM
plete circle. The human part of the ma
chine, not being in any way attached to
the rest Of it, does, in fact, describe a
complete circle, and something more.
The momentum and direction impaired
to the body by the upward thrust are
sufficient to cause it to perform somer-
sault in the air during its progress for
ward, and the body is expected to fail
fiat into net about fifty feet from its
starting point, and some ten feet lower
than the catapult. oH8 'e
When saw this exploit everything
worked smoothly, and the female mis-
sile was accurately projected into the
net. But it happened the other after
noon, accurate calculations to the con-
trary notwithstanding, that the missile
was flung through the net and down ten
feet on to the floor. The good-looking
young woman who moment before had
been smiling at the spectators was
heap of quiverjng and apparently life
less flesh and broken bones. As it turned
out, no bones were broken. and the life
had not gone out of the flesh. With
touching considerateness toward the pub
lie, the manager shortly afterward pla-
carded a medical certificate to the effect
that as Zeo was suffering from slight
conclusion she would not be able to ap-
pear at that evenings performance.
A week later her reappearance was ad-
vertised. Some people, who have no
fancy for seeing cruelty and risk to
woman's life turned to a showman's
profit, wrote to the papers, protesting.
The Snowman replied in letter, which
is a masterpiece of its kind. He duly
expressed his regret at the ACCIDENT"
declared the accounts of it exaggerated,
and gave an account of his own In these
words; Son Saturday, January 3lst,
Zao, in the concluding feat, slipped
through the net, but broke her fall of
eight feet to the floor by catching the
meshes of the net in her descent" Moth
ing could have been more satisfactory
than this, but unluckily fresh letter
appears this moyning, the writer of which
tells US he was standing within three
yards of where this poor girl fell.
He helped to pick her up and carry
her to the stage door; and he has most
distinctly to state that she did not catch
at the net in her descent; that she was
flung through it as il she had been COM
posed of thread, and that when she was
picked up she was insensible, only show
ing that she was alive by feebly moaning.
He adds that had she been thrown two
yards further, she would have been
dashed against the girders of the gallery;
had she fallen one yard short, she would
have alighted on the spiked barriers that
surround the reserved seats.
This is not the first accident of this
kind; not the first accident that has hap
pened to Zseo herself. 1t is not long
since she was performing at the Alexan-
dria Palace, on similar, OF, perhaps,
the same machine. The accurate calcu-
lations did not prevent her from being
cut about the head by some part Of the
apparatus as she took her fight, and she
landed bleeding and senseless; the net,
however, on that occasion, not giving
way. The writer above quoted adds that
on that day of the last accident, and i'm
mediately after it occurred, he over
heard an employe Of the Aquarium say
to one of the orchestra, who, with cal