Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-10-06

In one Of their performances Farm was
accustomed 10 lav hi- feet upon one
tvapo,- aud hi< n" !, up n aap't"r. holt
inr hi BODY p.rf,- : ' rigid between
them. with the boy Standing upon his
belly, until. AZ Il given slgual. the 10.
made AN upward leap. and. aided by u
spring Of Fariui' BODY. dart"d 10 third
trapc<a twelve feet abnyr. Onr day the
happy thought u .cIrrrt to Iarini. why
not enplo- a >pringhn ard instead OF m.
bolv?" H. tri",iit. II was an improve
mrnt Then his inventive f-trtiltir, w"rc
directed to the discovery of WAYS and
means for tho propulsion of performers
to heights and distances wholly IMPOSE
bic. for flesh and blood alone.
In Liverpool he made the model Of
his first machine for jumping up a
performer To thu height of forty feet. and
at MarSrilicS built tn" marhin" itself and
pra ticrd I'll Nino Farini' in its use.
In Narcotics. too. he did something
else. He transformed Samuel WaSgatt
into charming Young girl, who was
advertised in Paris. whrrH the thing was
first brought ont. aS Lulu The fac!
crea,eda popular sensation. although ITS
advent was in time of intense public
excitement over far more serious mat
tiers, the German army being just about
Ia invest the city. In performing it.
Lulu stood rigidlv upon footpla'e
let into the stage. upon the same slope
rs the stage. and moi distingushaolc
from the rest of the floor. Suddenly
she WAS seen darling upward toward
Il spring board. forty feet above the
stage, where she touched only. and made
second surprising leap to trapezc still
further up, where she made a perform
ance.
At the moment of the beginning OF
her flight there was n great crash. but
NO human eye was quick enough to seq
what made it: there were. indeed. two
crashes. but so close together that the
ear recognized them only * one. Yet.
in the imperceptible interval between
those crashes. an iron spindle support
ing the foot-plate, shot mp five feet above
the stage, giving the impulse for that
frightful leap. and retreatcd again to its
place. India-rubberspring' were the mo-
tive power for both movements. One set
of them. when liberated. fired the spin
die upward. and al its extreme clrva-
ton it automatically freed another set.
which ierked it back into place. On
that first machine, when it was set ready
for the feat. there were 10 rubber
springs. each with a tension OF fortylive
pounds, total of 5,400 pounds. No
wonder Lulu went up like a bullet from
gun. No wonder either thai 'he' to
use the masculine pronoun Lulu now
claims-complained that ait had a ten
dency to telescope a person. Indeed.
it did telescope him after awhile, when
he began to get heavier. TO such an ex-
tent that he was very seriously injured,
and had to diminish the strength of the
machine and shorten the leap by ten
feet. An ingenious arrangement was
introduced, in connection with this feat
in Paris. by which, at the moment OF
Lulu's flight, Il net-previousiy held
back by -weignts-was instan-
taneously spread L., rubber springs, and
in place beneath h.. before she reached
the springboard.
In 1876 Signor Farini invented the
cannon for firing a performer from its
| muzZle to a considerable distance. with
much noise and smoke. but without any
danger TO the proiectilc. The first
common was operated by India-rubber
springs. but Farini's patents have COW
cred two other modes of propulsion, one
by spiral spring, and the other actually
by the force OF gun-powder. which in the
spring caunons is simply used to keep up
appearances. When the performer is to
be literally ''fired OUT a heavy barrel
in the breech of the sham cannon is
loaded with about twice US much powder
IS would constitute charge for shot
gun. and the gases produced by its COM
bustiOn are set loose in the air chamber
at the base Of a series of telcscOpcd shells
| surrounding the person in the cannon.
| As the shells extend towards the muzzle
like the frightening Of a telescope. and
give a rapid impetus to the performer
Near the muzzle two openings are de-
veloped. through which pours the black
smoke from the explosion, without any
danger of burning or blackening the
| fired-out one, who is at the moment gy-
rating through space. The cannon is so
arranged that springs can be used if de-
sired, and in that case the explosion of q
smaller quantity of powder is required.
merely to free the spring. Attempts
have been made to get up the cannon
trick in this country. but it is fully pro-
tected by patents, and the modes by
which evasion has been sought have not
been encouraging. In one case the per-
former was already darted out into the
net when the explosion took place-an
entire "give away" rs showmen say:
and in the other a rash performer had
his legs driven up into him.
Farini' young woman, whom he called
Zazel. did the cannon act successfully
two and half years in the Royal Aqua
rum in London. The trick is not in the
superior cannon, however. The per-
former must have nerve enough to re-
main perfectly rigid in the irving second
after giving the word "Go" And that
perfect nerve is exceedingly difficult to
find. so much so that Signor Farini has
never discovered anybody but Lulu who
could do successfully the jump-up act.
! Others became limp somewhere at the
prospect of the awful chuck before them
just as they said Go" and when they
went up it was in all sorts of WAYS, like a
rabbit thrown up by its hind legs. Few
of them ever tried it twice. Philadelphia
Telegraph.
The Future Of Alaska.
With a comparatively mild climate
Al