Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-05-28
A LEAP TO DEATH.
A Washington Swimming Mas
ter's Advertising Scheme.
He Leaps From the Brooklyn Bridge to the
River Below, and Pays for the Rash
Effort for Cheap Notoriety
With His Life.

New YORK, May 20.-R. E. Odlum,
| Washington swimming master, who was
| we'll known in the capital and who taught
the children of President Hayes ant
President Garfield the art of swimming
| jumped from the great span of the Brook
| Ign Bridge into the East River yesterday
| afternoon and was killed by the concus'
| sion. Odlum, in whose mind the deedt
| of Sam Patch and other famous Jumpers
were ever present, had for some time en-
tanned the idea of jumping from the great
bridge. He thought he could do it sue
cessfully, as he had made many Jumps
from lofty elevations into the Potomac
and he was perfectly at home when once
| in the water. He said only half an hour
before he made the fatal leap that he had
perfect confidence in his ability to make
the fearful descent and emerge from the
water unhurt. He would thus eclipse
the achievements of Sam Patch, and moi
only win fame but advertise himself, and
SO help his business in Washington.
STRATEGY.
He had announced his purpose before
hand, and the bridge police were on the
lookout for him, determined that the
foolhardy attempt should not be made.
1t became necessary, therefore, to con-
trive some strategy by which the police
could be thrown off the scent. This did
not prove to be difficult. At a quarter
before five O'Clock this afternoon man
dressed in swimming costume and &C.
companied by friends drove upon the
bridge from the New York side and
trotted swiftly out toward the center.
The mans dress at once attracted the at
tention of the police, and believing that
he was the would-be jumper they started
in pursuit. The wagon was stopped near
the center of the bridge and the police
Immediately surrounded it, leaving their
posts along the roadways. This was the
opportunity that Odlum desired, for the
man in the swimming costume was simply
a dummy whom he had sent ahead tc
draw off the blue coats.
THE JUMP.
AS soon as he saw the road was clear,
Odlum, accompanied by two attendants
and wearing an overcoat closely buttoned
over his red trunks, drove rapidly upon
the bridge in an ordinary express wagon.
He excited no suspicion. When the ex-
press wagon reached a point about half
way between the New York tower and
the center of the bridge it suddenly
stopped and Odlum, throwing off his
disguise, leaped from the wagon, jumped
upon the outside railing of the bridge,
his red tights showing with startling dis
'tinctness against the Sky, and raising one
arm made a signal to some friends who
were watching him from a tugboat in the
middle of the river below.
He did not wait a minute after giving
his signal, but placing his hands by his
side and pressing his feet together he
slid quickly from the railing and in an
instant was shooting toward the water,
1876 feet below. With frightful velocity
he sped downward, still holding himself
in position, his straight, red form fash
ing like an arrow through the air. Sud-
denly, and for what reason will never be
known, when the descent was about half
completed, his friends were Mortified to
see him lose his balance, spread his arm
in vain attempt to regain it and then
whirl around in the air and strike the
water, with resounding blow, fat upon
his back and side.
FATALLY HURT.
The tug steamed instantly to his side,
and, mangled and BILE eding, he was lifted
from the water. 1t was seen at once that
he could not live. His ribs were crushed
in, his body was black and blue, blood
was squirting from the bursted veins and
arteries in his side and legs and his skin
was swollen into Jumps, where the blood
was striving to break out The tugboat
put quickly for the New York shore
and stopped at Old Slip,
and a messenger was sent
post haste for an ambulance,
but before the crushed and bleeding form
could be lifted from the boat life was ex-
tinct. Those who timed Odlum's descent
as it was watched from the tugboat say
just four and one-half seconds elapsed
from the time he slid from the railing I'M
til he struck the water. The body was
removed to Kennedy's morgue and an I'M
of Odlum's death was telegraphed to his
wife in Washington, who is left with a
family OF young children.
SPECTATORS OF THE LEAP.
A rumor of what was to be done had
spread over the lower part of the city, |
and the wooden piers in the neighbor- |
hood of the bridge were filled with peo-
pie. When the form of Odlum shot |
downward every tongue was silent, but |
as, whirling helplessly, the figure struck |
the water, a great shout arose from the |
bridge, from the piers, from the ferry |
boats, tugs and schooners in the river. |
Paul Boyton, who stood in the bow of the |
tugboat containing Odlum's friends, was |
the first to recover from the horror that |
seemed to have seized upon all and to
call for the instant rescue of the jumper.
Boyton himself plunged overheard, as the
helpless body was seen half submerged |
and sinking after its first rise to the sur
face and kept. Odlum's head above water i
until the boat rescued them both.
Odlum recovered sufficiently to ask in
a dazed sort of way if he had made
good Jump. Odlum was thirty-seYen
years old, and had been a jumper and
swimmer for twelve years. The jump
was not made for money or a prize of any
kind, but simply for glory, and the adj
vantage that might accrue to him from
The reputation it would give him.
The Young Mems Catholic Onion.
NEWARK, N. j., May 2O.-The Eleventh
Annual National Convention of the Young
kfants Nofi TIpio tn