The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-09-11
fHHAAMsroNn,s GREAT LEAP.
One Hundred "A Fifty-Hve Feet Down
From a CliT into the Rio GrsHd.

-
One Hundred and Finy-Hve Feet Down
From q CliR into the Rio GrsAd.
San Antonio Cor. Philadelphia Times.
When the news of Professor dium's
fatal leap from the parapet OF the
Brooklyn bridge reached here we were
talking over the affair in the "Gold
Room" Sam Graham, e~x-sergeant of
rangers, called attention to a parallel
incident which attracted a great deal
of attention on the frontier at the
time and gave the name OF Ham
mond's Leap" to a lofty canon wall
on the bank of the Rio Grande, about
six miles west where the alkaline waters
of the Pecos empty into it. Thetrack
of the Southern Pacific railroad runs
close to the river here, and as you whirl
by the trainmen willpoint out the spot
where Robert Hammond made a.
sheer jump of 155 feet to the muddy
waters of the Rio Grande below. This
leap was made in the early summer OF
1882, when the railroad vas In pro-
cess of construction. The painted red
men from a safe hiding place on the Mex
lean side watched the busy scene with
wide opened eyes, heard the "big thun-
der of the blasts with loud-beating
heart and stole back to the Santa
Rosas. The only animate beings that
did not seemto mind the noise andtu-
multi were those pestiferous little a
mints, the vinegaroan, the devil horse,
the tarantula, the centipede, the sting
- I.-.J 1-l 49, .o4%locnol a Hfhaty
remained and disputedt the ground inch
by inch with the invaders. They
caused a great deal of trouble, andthe
navvies feared and respected them. 1t
was a stinging lizard or scorpion that
caused Hammond's leap. Hammond
was a navvy, born in England, and at
the time he made the leap about rs
years of age. He was ofrather slender
build, but why and muscular, and
Jack Harris, the contractor for whom
he worked, considered him his best
churn driller. Harris camp was at
the head of a deep canon, about one
mile south of Vinegaroan. Hewas en-
gagged in making a fill and two side
cuts, and worked gangs day and night.
Hammond worked In the day gang,
and the big wall tent he shared with
six or eight Others was about 300
yards from the edge of the lofty wall,
against whose base the muddy waters
of the great river dashed and tum-
bled. At this particular point the river
is quite deep. One night the sleeping
occupants of Harris's camp were
aroused by a series of startling yelis,
which came from Hammond's tent.
Before they could collect their enses
and settle in their minds whether Or
not the camp had been attacked by In
dams, Hammond dashed from thetent
and although held by his companions,
tore himself away, and yellIngat every
jump, made giant bounds toward the
river. The drillers and blasters mthe
cut stopped their work and ran up on
| the bank to see what was the matter.
They saw Hammond as he uasned
, toward them and heard his ag-
onized yells. A cry of horror burst
from their lips as the yelling man
reached the brink of the precipice and
without a seconds hesitation leaped
out and shot down like a plummet to
the boiling food155f feet below. They
heard the loud splash made by his
body when it struck the water and
then, with blanched faces and hushed
voices, hurried down to the river level
to search for the poor fellows man
gled body. What was their surprise
to meet the supposed dead man alive,
uninjured. He was shivering with cold
however, and the muddy water drippod
from his clothing.
aWhat was the NATTER" cried the
group of searchers in chorus.
Zone of them Internal stinging liz
ards got in my ear and nearly drove
me crazy answered Hammond, .9but
he popped out when / struck the wa
ter. BY the way boys, what do you
think of that jump"
cit ought to have killed you," said
one man.
ut didn't, though" cried Hammond
with laugh. "Illmake it again for a
ten-dollar BILL"
The next morning Jack Harris had
the distance measured, and the tape
line, held closeto the cliff edge, marked
155 feet and a few inches when the
other end touched the water. Ham
mond did not appear to suffer from
his terrible fight through the air. He
worked for Harris until the latter's
contract was finished and then he
went into Mexico to work on the Mex
lean Central. He was In his under
clothes that night, and his feet were
protected by thin socks. He struck
water feet first, and described the sem
sation experienced as similar to that
if the feet had been smartly slapped
with a broad strap. While in the air
he felt no difficulty in breathing, and
the increased velocity as his body
neared the water was not perceptible.