The Northern Pacific farmer., 1880-04-08

no means tne prOpelllng 1Orce,) but
makes up for this by adding a new
and obvious risk to the life and limb of
the performer. The catapult is simply
a platform of size to hold a human
body. Rubber springs are concealed
beneath and at one end is hinge on
which the platform makes a partial
revolution. I decribe the thing as
have seen it; complications may exist,
but they can't much effect the principle.
The force of the spring, I was told, had
been calculated to fraction; it was
far safer than the flying trapeze or 9TH
er contrivances where momentarv
failure of the nerve or presence of mind
of the gymnast would be fatal.
On this platform, raised some twenty
feet above the floor, Z@o places herself,
lying on her back at full length. When
she has adjusted her body to her liking,
with number of preparatory bitches
and undulations, she gives the word to
her assistant by her side and he pulls
lever. The springs beneath thrust the
platform and its human freight sudden
ly upward, as if about to describe a
complete circle. The human part of
the machine, not being in any way at
tached to the rest of it, does, in fact,
describe complete circle, and some.
thing more. The momentum and d.
rection impaired to the body by the up.
ward thrust are sufficient to cause it to
perform q somersault in the air during
its progress forward, and the body is
expected to fall flat into net about fifty
feet from its starting point, and some
ten feet lower than the catapult. When
I 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 not
withstanding, that the missile was flung
through the net and down ten feet on to
the floor. The good-looking young wo-
man who moment before had been
smiling at the spectators was heap of
quivering and apparently lifeless, flesh
and broken bones. AS It turned out, no
bones were broken and the life had not
gone out of the flesh. With q touching
considerateness toward the public the
manager shortly afterwards placarded
q medical certificate to the effect that
as Zseo was suffering from slight con-
custom she would not be able TO ap-
pear at that evenings performance.
A week later her temperance was
advertised. Some people, who have
no fancy jor seeing cruelty and risk of
a woman's life turned to 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: "On Saturday, January 81,
Zeo, in the concluding feat, slipped
through the net, but broke her fall Of
about eight feet to the floor by CATCH
ing.the meshes ofthe net in her descent"
Nothing could have been more
satisfactory than this, but unluckily a
fresh letter appears this morning, 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; and he has
most distinctly to state that she did not
catch in the net in he1 decent; that she
was flung through as If the net had been
composed of thread, and that when
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 re-
served seats.
This is not the first accident of this
kind; not the first that has happened to
Z@o herself. It is not long since that
she was performing at the Alexandra
palace on a similar, or, perhaps, the
same machine. The accurate calcula-
tions did not prevent her from being
cut about the head by some part of the
apparatus as she took her flight, and as
she landed bleeding and senseless, the
net however not giving away on that
occasion. The writer above quoted
adds that on the day of the last acci-
dent, and Immediately after it occurred
he overheard an employe of the aquar.
ium say to one of the orchestra, who
with callous insensibility to his EN- ploy-
ers interests, had remarked that it was
time such exhibitions were put stop
to. Eyes, indeed, you may say So;
and if you had seen the shaves I have
dozens of times, you would say it was
murder allowing them to continue"
Take Paper.
Nothing presents sadder commen-
tary upon the present condition of So
ciety than the large number of families,
both in town and the country, but