New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-03-04
THE PERILS OF THE TRAPEZE.
THE SAD FATE OF ZEO.

THE APOLOGY or A BRITISH MANAGER.
[FRoN THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE tribune
LONDON, Feb. 12.-There may be seen at the
AQUARIUM in Westminster good looking and wei
but young woman whose real name Is probably
Jenkins or Thompson, but who is known to the
public as Zeo She is a professional gymnast or
acrobat and some ten days ago she had the lliIuck
to meet with an accident of peculiar kind. which
has led to not little discussion both as TO rms
partlcular mishap and TO the propriety OF allow
inc pnblic exhibitions of women who do danger
Gus feats Zaeo is the successor to another young
woman named Zazel, whose pride it to be shot
out of a. cannon As the public after time weared
of Zazel and her cannon, the managers who make
merchandise of her body devised what they call
catapult-amachne which no longer appeals to the
imagination by burning gunpowder (which was by
no means the propelng fOrce but makes up Tor this
by adding a new and obvious risk to the life ana
limb Of the performer. The catapult Is SIMPLY
platform of a size TO hold human body. Rubber
springs are concealed beneath, and at one end Is
hinge on which the platform makes partial
revolution. describe the thing as | have
seen il; complications may exist. but they
can't much affect the principle. The force
of the spring, was told, had been calculated to
fraction; il was far safer than the flying trapeze
or other contrvances where mOmentary failure OF
the nerve or presence OF lnlhd OF the gNIhas' "ou
be fatal.
On this platform. raised some twenty feet above
the floor, Zseo places herself lying on her back at
full length Wien she has adjusted her body to her
liking. with number of preparatory bitches and
fluctuations. she gives the word to the assistant by
her side and he pulls lever The springs beneath
thrust the platform and its human freight sud
denly upward as if about TO describe a complete
circle The human part of the machine. not being
in any way attached to the rest OF it, does III fact
describe a complete circle and something more.
The momentum and direction impaired to the Douy
bv the upward thrust are sufficient to cause II 10
perform a somersaul in the air during tS progress
forward; and the body is expected so fall flat into
net about fffy feet from Its starting point, and
some ten feet lower than the catapult. When saw
this exploit everything worked smoothly and the
female missile was accurately projected into the
net. But it happened the other afternoon, accu-
rate calculations to the contrary notwithstanding
that the missile was flung through the net ana
down ten feet on t. the floor The good-ooAing
young woman who, a moment before had 0ceh
smiling at the spectators. was heap OF quivorlng
and apparently lifeless flesh and broken bones. As
II turned out no bones were broken, and the life
had not gone out of the flesh. With touching
cousiderateness toward the public, the manager
shortly afterwaTd placarded medical certificate 10
the effect that as ZpO was suffering from slight
concl.sion she would not be able to appear at that
evenings performance.
A week later her temperance was advertised.
Some people, who have no fancy for seeing cruelty
and iisk to a woman's life turned TO a shOwmans
profit wrote to the papers PROTESTING The show
man replied i'm a letter which is masterpiece of Its
kind. He duly expressed his regret at the "acc-
dent" declared the accounts Of 1t exaggerated. and
gave an account OF his own m these words: " On
saturday, January 81, ZRo, in The concluding feat
slipped through the net, but broke her fall OF about
eight feet to the floor by catching the meshes OF
the net In her descent" Nothing could have been
more satisfactory than this, but unluckily fresh
letter appears this morning. the writer Of which
tells Us he was standing within three yards If where
this poor girl fell. lie helped to pick her up, and
carry her TO tho stage door, and he has most
distinctly TO state that she did not
catch at the net in her descentj that
she was flung through 1t, as If the net had
been composed OF thread, and that when picked mp
she was iusensible, only showing she was alive
by fceblv moaning. lie adds that had she been
thrown two yards further she would have been
dashed against the Orders Of the gallery had she
fallen one yard short, she would have aliehted on
the spiked barriers that surround tho reserved
seats
This Is not the first accident OF the kind not the
first that has happened to Zro herself. 1t IS not
long since she was performing at the Alexandra
Palace on a similar, or, perhaps the same machine
The accurate calculations did not prevent her from
being cut about the head by some part Of the
apparatus as she took her fight, and she landed
Heading and senseess: the net, however, that
occasion not giving way. The writer above quoted
adds that on the day Of the last accident. and i'm
la ri IN
emDloyG Of the Aquarium say to one Of the orches-
tra who. with calous inscnsiblity TO his employers
interests had remarked that it was time such ex-
hibitious were put a stop to. " Yes, indeed you
may say so; and il you had seen the shares have,
dozens Of times, You would say it was murder al
loving them TO continue"
Some such idea as this last seems to have taken
possession of the manager himself and II is his
way of expressing il which led me to describe his
letter as a masterpiece He has observed that
notice has been gwen in Parliament of a bill to
atop dangerous acrobatic performances. No one
wishes more success TO this bill than he, HobsOn,
Snowman and manager to the Aquarium does for
" the passing of some such measure VIII relieve
nagers like myself of responsibility and xiety
while catering for the tastes of the British pubicw
This way of putting the matter reveals the posses
sion of a literary talent in Hobson which ought not
to be hidden away in napkin or an aquarium a
writer of less or at any rate different talent,
marks with brutal planness that If Hobson does not
wish TO hire women to risk their lives, he need not
wait for a restraining Act of Parliament; and that
his humane zeal would be more conspicuous did he
save the wear and tear Of bis mind while the girls
mack was still unbroken And Hobson to do HIM
iustlce appears 10 he Of this opinion lie has an
| ticipated Mr. Edward Jenkins's BILL and passed a
priyate act for his own benefit. He has, as he now
SAWS struck out this part Of the performance. Zeo
is no longer shot out of india-rubber springs; nor
does Hobson "allow" her TO do single feat with
the semblance of danger appertaining thereto" 1t
would be still moro satisfactory if Hobson would
/ l. L.. IL Ill, Ia Zoo Nrifh ha