Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-12
THE NERVE OF A GYMNAST.
Acquired by Professionalism Han
lens Description Of q Fall.


From the Louisville Commercial.
Gymnastics are bad medicine when taken for
anything but brief and pleasant exercise, said
Mr.. William Hanlon, one Of the famous Hanlon
brothers. The talk had turned upon the life Of
professional athletes, and the reporter ven
tured the opinion that gymnasts, as class.
must be men of more than ordinary nerve. To
the writer's surprise, Mr.. Hanlon was quick to
challenge the statement.
eve heard it remarked" said he. 'that a
man must be very plucky to toss himself about
on high trapeZe. 1t is not true. He may be
plucky enough at that, and yet a coward in
almost any other direction 1t is simply the
custom of going upon the trapeze and his train
ing That makes performer appear to be Drawer
than others. He is Just like trained soldier,
who. when he gets the order to charge, does so.
though he may not feel q bit like it. He acts
like piece Of machinery in fact. Now, re-
cruit wouldn't do it, Say charge to the veteran
and he charges say charge TO the recruit and he
don't. that is all the difference"
"What has been your plan for developing
your muscles?'
Constant work with light weights Many
make the grand mistake OF firing themselves
with heavy weights. They put themselves under
constant strain, and soon wear out. 1t is
much better to put up light dumbbell fifty times
than heavy one ten. The muscles get just
that much more play, and hence greater de-
velOpment, with no strain. The most remarka-
bic example of the evils of the heavyweight
style l ever saw was in the case of John c..
Heenan. / saw him fight King. When he was
In training for that battle he was continually at
work with the heavy weights, and he did get
up an enormous amount OF muscle in his arms.
If he could have struck King as he wanted to in
the first few rounds he would have killed hi1fi
But King kept away from him, and made him
exercise his overstrained muscles and when the
real strain Of the battle came upon him, he had
no reserve power to sustain it. That had all
been given to the heavy weights. He was
never drugged, as was reported. The only
poison he ever got was from Kings fists, as Sir
William Ferguson, the eminent London ply
stefan, said, after an examination of Heenan sub
sequent to his defeat. Light and often that
the proper thing in using weights to make mus
Gle"
''You have had several very nasty falls. What
is the sensation Iike?'
Il have had three of the bad falls that marked
the Hanl0n family. You will probably think it
singular that l neither lose consciousness nor
presence of mind when fall. My worst tumble
think, got in Havana. We were playing
under the management of Jim Nixon, and we
made great success. The same people in
Havana go to the theater every night and they
demand constant changes in the bill NV
brother Tom was taken sick suddenly. His lad
der was up in the dome ready for the leap for
iiic, anu ptopic UepHu 10 ciaulOf TO nave III
done finally agreed to do it. The feat con-
slsts, after the performance of variety oftricks
on the ladder, in swinging yourself into notion
and jumping to taut rope, running from the cell
ing at an incline to the wings. The jump was
long one, and the house was very quiet when
began to swing, preparatory to taking the leap
threw myself at the rope, and when was in
mld-alr, saw it was no go and that was done.
struck out desperately with my feet, in the
hope of helping myself forward, but l only
reached the rope with the tips of the fingers of
my left hand. Both hands and both feet were
extended in spread eagle form ifyou life. fought
to have struck the rope with both hands, fairly
in the center of my body, with the legs across
the line, so as to distribute the strain of sus-
tanning nv weight over my whole body. AS it
was, it all fell on my left arm. and my body
swept in toward the rope like whiplash. Of
course 1 let go, and then began to turn spi-
rally like cOrkscrew and then go down. / in
stantly realized that l must not land all spread
out. gathered my left arm close into my body,
pushed my head forward. and drew my legs to-
gether, struggling to get into shape to fall on
my side. l did fall just that way forty feet on a
wooden stage. My arm was driven into my side
and rib was broken. The arm was shattered,
and was laid up for many months. While |
was going down, in an instant l saw over again,
as vivid as life. every fall that ever witnessed
They came up in my mind, one right after an
other. like successive flashes of lightning, and
seemed to be experiencing all of them in my
own person. But worse than everything else
great deal worse than the shock of arriving,
was the terrible shrek of agony that went up
from the audience. 1t was like one heartbreak-
ing wall of agony. can hear it yet, and hear
it every time think of the accident That is a
popularity OF our family. We all heard that
shriek and none of us ever forget it. How did
that accident occur? My brother Tom made a
mistake in the measurements because of mis-
calculation of the space in a round dome. The
rope was two feet further away from the ladder
than it ought to have been"