Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-06-24
AMkfER-JUMpER
IRELATEs nov ODLUM COULD NAVE
JUMPED WITHOUT HSEM
The Effect that Paper Packages OF Sand Have
in Directing the Course OF the BODY IN
It's Downward Fiight-Precautions to
Be Taken Before Jumping.
Corr. of Washington Republic.


Had the writer known Professor Odlum n
personally, he would have given him a few a
hints and timely advice which might have | 7
enabled him to accomplish his jump success =
fully. When was a boy was an expert 4
swimmer and diver. In my native town '
was grain mill five stories high, the rear
part of which was built out over the river J
near the dam The water was twenty feet
deep In company with few of my school
companions | used to jump into the deep
water from the open doors of the first floor
and so on from the fifth floor This was a |
frequent pastime. 1t was difficult to keep
upright balance from the fourth and fifth
floors (forty and fifty feet above water), and
i'm spite of much care and Practice would
sometimes strike the water on a slant and
bruise my side or hips pretty severely.
When / jumped from the fifth floor (and
sometimes from the roof ten feet higher) l
always touched the bottom of the river, about
twenty feet deep, and found this to be the
rule, you will always touch bottom when
you jump in water one-third the depth OF the
distance you jump. In sea water 1t may he
less as it is more dense than fresh water.
Several of my companions were badly
hurt in jumping. one boy jumped with his
| legs apart as he struck the water they were |
| forced asunder and his hip joint was dislo- |
Gated. drunken man employed in the |
| mill jumped from the fourth iloor and fell |
| sprawling He was taken from the water |
half dead and with difficulty revived. I |
| then began To think how ] could ST. ike the |
water straight like plummet knew
| that an arrow shot from "A bow up in the air
| always fell TO the ground head foremost, and
| a walking cane, one end loaded with lead,
| flung high in the air descended with the
| loaded end foremost / Enew that the hcayi-
| est part of a mans body is from the hips to
| the shoulders. | saw once two men blown
three hundred feet i'll the air by the explo-
sion of a steam boiler in IA planng mill. Tho
IL. Il.
it descended gradually settled in one position
and descended to the earth back downward,
arms and legs straight upward. / saw it
fall i'll exactly that position. As it struck
the earth 1t burst open, was reduced to a jelly,
and the BRAIN contents of chest and abdo-
| men were scattered in all directions.
| APPLYING WEIGHT TO THE FEET.
The next time / jumped ] placed fifty
pound stone in a bag fastened with a cord
and looped around the ankle. ! descended
to the water straight rs a plummet, felt not
the slightest impact, kicked off the loop and
swan ashore. My companions did the same
and the result was every time successful.
} No more twistings of the body nor falling
and striking the water on a slant Some
| times we would bruise our feet against the
| stone as we sank in the water. Finally |
. | used cloth bag filled with sand, and at the
last paper bags filed with sand, this was an
| absolute success. No acrobat, Jumper or
] diver, however expert he may be, can keep
Y his balance In jumping from great heights.
4 | The law OF gravity renders this impossible
. | Cats, 1t IL said, will tall on their feet when
= thrown from height. This may he natural
20 the animal and partly also from their
great suppien1se,ss and agility. But
$ II ts impossible for bipeds to ac-
o | complish it. If Mr.. Odlum could haze
4 known what | know--so far as descending
n | straight into the water is cOncerned-he
could have accomplished his famous leap
u with success. TO all water jumpers and
divers in the future who seek fame and no
toriety i'll that department, ! offer these few
words of advice: Dress yourself In a close
IS fitting shirt and drawers, strong cotton oI
: wOolen, loose about tho joints tn allow free
y play OF the limbs, short socks, fitting snug
d over the toes, as the impact ON the water may
disocate the toe joints, put cotton in the
ia | ears, provide yourself with sand equal to
Is one-third or one-half your weight. If you
q | weigh hundred and sixty pounds get sixty
/. to eighty pounds of sand Wrap it up il
l. three or four separate packages of common
N | newspapers, tie them together with "a core
two or three feet long, or place them in
- loose bag of common coarse netting
y, like fish net; place the froe enc
= in large loop around the lef
y foot, or with longer cord wrap it a few
u times around the left leg and hold the fre,
!, II end in your hand. Bend your head for
- ward, your chin near the top of tho breas
I" bone, shut your mouth and eyes. Place
, | your arms with the elbows close to your ribs
IL right hand closing nostrils tight, left fore
a arm across the pit of the stomach, take a deeI
l. breath, brace the muscles of the body, anC
z with the sand bags attached to your left foo
., take your jump aud cross your right leg owe
Di the left instantly. You will descend siXteei
N feet the first second, thirtv-two feet tn,
's second, siXty-four feet the third, one hun
4 dred and twenty four feet the fiftl
second (nearly three times the speed
Y of an express train going "A mile mir
y ute). This is the rate of all falling bodies
:; Your sixty pound sand bag will keep you
A. body straight and will descend into the waite
| like lead plumIppt. feet fprpmpSt hut
r | will not fall any the faster. rock weigh
)f ing thousand tons falls no faster than
d single pound; this is the law of gravity. Keel
v your legs tightly crossed together, this pre-
g. vents your hips from dislocation, whicl
Is might happen if they were separated. Tn,
cotton in your ears prevent the car drums
being lacerated or bursted by the upward
rush of water, and the closure of you
nostrils prevents the water from rushing vi
l. into the po,terior nasal passage and dowI
!, the throat and windppe, which would excit,
- choking, strangulation or spasmodic cougl
10 which would exhaust the lungs in few
Is seconds. Your arm being placed across til,
y pit OF the stomach protects that part from tn,
r. sudden and powerful impact of the wate
IF | against tit IL called in sporting parlanc,
?. the belt, and in the boxing ring forbidden {,
+ be struck-the gastric pleNus of nerves lie.
st there, and slight blow on the pit of tn,
q stomach sometimes prostrates the strOnges
Is man.
n PERFECT QUIET NEEDED.
VI When you sink into the depths of th,
water keep quiet, don't move hand or foot
The moment your paper sand bags strike the
v water they burst and the sand is scattered
l. no harm from it. You descend TO distance
?, equal to one-third the height of your jump
n There is a moments pause, the pressure o
o the water now forces you upward almost
r, | like cork out OF a champagne bottle. You
n arise without an effort to the surface, take 8
o long breath, kick off the loop of your sand
IS / DanS-they were dissolved and Sfattprpt thf
n moment you struck the water-and without
8 experiencing the slightest fatigue or sensa
u ton of shock-for you enter the water like 9
wedge, apex downward, and the pressure
acts gradually and uniformly over the body
you swim easily
! j am an old man now. Were thirty years
+ | younger l should not fear being armed in
4 this simple, practical and scientific manner,
q to take a leap of a hundred feet into the
= water, and should prefer fresh TO salt water,
: as being less dense and consequently pre-.