Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-30
HOW HE FELT WHEN FAILING.
Gymaast Hanlon's ExpsPisacss After
His Trapsxs Broke


William Hanlon, the gymnast vao fen sixty
feet from broken trapese In the New York
Academy Of Music saturday night snd escaped
with little injury, has told New York Sun re-
porter about his experiences when be fell The
trick which William Vas performing ct the
time OF the accident was the giant swing ="
He had made several rotations about the bar
when the wire rope that supported one end Of
the trapeze gave way. The bar sagged, and
the nrst thought that occurred 10 the gynusst,
he said yesterday, was 10 cling 70 the bar. II
10 made Of wood the original polish Of which
10 intensified by the action Of the gymnast's
hands. This Ia - IL should b for the gymnast,
but is altogether unsuited 10 cling 10 when in
perpendicular position. william looked
down. The guy ropes had swung the trapezs
toward the edge Of the safety net, yet he con-
Guided that . slight consortion Of hm body
his hands and shot downward
All this mental calculation vent on while the
audience was still uncertain that il was Q gen.
uine accident they we're being treated to. A.
William fell with his eyes vide open and all
his wits about him, he prepared whom about
half way down to strike the net on his back,
and 30 distribute his weight about the surface
head back, and IN a twinkling his body was in
horizontal position and was perfectly rigid.
But his second thought eonhictsd with his
FIRST In regard to the chances Of striking the
net. During the next fraction Of . second the
mind Of the falling gymnast was in . state Of
reposs. Then he struck against the guy rope
that held the net, and his brain was again
alive. He did not know whether il was the
edge OF tho net or the rope which he had
struck, but he knew with the rapidly Of .
bullets fight that he was NOT destined 70 try
the strength OF the net, and 90 he did what
every gymnsst does ihstinctively when he finds
himself falling with no certainty of . landing
place. This in the vernacular Of gymnssts, il
'bslling up" II consists In drawing up the
legs, ducking the head down 10 the knees and
drawing it in toward the waist o. far - posi-
BILE, and folding the arms 50 - 70 protect the
knees and the top Of the head. This position
was secured by . single motion Of the gym
nast's ready muscles, and In this position he
crashed down in the parquet.
His fall from the trapeze 10 the door occupied
something like two seconds, or about a. long -
it takes a man to put on his hat But in this
short time the brain Of the falling man had .
chance to grasp the entire situation, to specu-
late upon the chance Of escaping injury and
to devise methods Of falling With view TO
safety. 1t was also quite long enough to enable
him to assume three distinct positions. While
he lay among the broken seats. and before he
began to speculate what injuries be had re-
ceived, the gymnast wondered whether he had
fallen upon ANYBODY, and to think how lucky IL
was that he was able to think at all. Then q
dreamy feeling crept over him and conscious
ness fed When he came to in the women's
dressing room his first thought was Of his
brothers. for whom he asked Then . doctor
asked him to move his limbs and he did so,
while he wondered why the doctor made such
q request