The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-12-03
DANGEROUS BUSINESS.
The Perils Attendant Upon an
Acrobat's Career.
An yOld-Time Professional Relates Some
Thrilling Tales of Terrible Falls of
Himself and Isrothers:His
Advice to Boys.

William Hanlon, of the firm of Han
lon Bros, producers of stage spectacles
and pantomimes, has had remarkable
career The Hanlons did not come to
America until the year 1851, but before
that time they Travelled continually in
all sections of the earth. William Han
Ion, the only remaining member of an
acrobatic family, has given up gym
nastic feats for good and is now de-
voting his entire time to the produce
ton of his pantomine, s'Superba."
''It is question, and a great ques-
ton, whether the success that might
be gained by professional acrobat is
worth the years of constant training,
the hardships and terrible dangers of
following such vocation, said this IA
nous gymnast to a representative of
the Chicago Inter Ocean recently. 81
would not advise a young man to un-
dertake to become professional aero
bat for those reasons. remember
got my first fall at Malta through the
careless of a Mr.. Lees, to whom had
been apprenticed. The drop was only
about twenty feet. but I lost my senses
the moment began to fall. In subse-
quent falls was conscious until the
'thud' came, and in my first great fall,
strange as it may seem, / had time dur
ing the drop of thirty-fve feet to think
OF all the terrible accidents l had ever
seen in my life and of many other
things as well. This last happened in
Manchester, England, and the result
was badly broken arm, which the
English doctors failed to properly
mend. I was laid up for a year, during
which time we crossed the Atlantic,
and DIR. James K. Wood Il then famous
New York surgeon, fixed me up in
good shape, job which caused 4 great
deal of talk at the time among the med
ical profession throughout this and the
old country.
81 had another terrible fall in Ha-
vana, Cuba. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
1 got another bad tumble; in fact all of
my brothers as well as myself had at
least twenty bad falls during our aero
batic career, but the worst happened
to poor Thomas. 1t was at Pixies opera
house, Cincinnati. In all our career
we had never used nets, as they do
nowadays, and you can easily imagine
what a tumble to hard stage floor
meant to any of us. In making the
flying leap from one trapeze to another
Thomcs lost his hold and fell into the
footlights, bounding from there into
the orchestra. and smashing the bass
violin. His head struck two gas jets,
breaking them off, and it was a long
time before he seemed on the road to
recovery.
Strange enough, just one year from
that time we were again playing in
Cincinnati and one night Thomas was
missing. He was found a few davs
after wandering in a demented condi-
ton in Harrisburg, Pa, and died there.
It was afterwards found that q frag-
ment of the skull, which WAS fractured
by the fall, had penetrated the brain.
Still, there are bright sides to the
life of the professional acrobat. If he
is superior in his line his triumphs are
absolute and pleasing. He is received
wcu wherever he goes, and he is given
opportunities to see things that many
wealthy people are even unable 90 OBJ
serve, as was the case with Us. We saw
and met many members OF royalty, in
Guiding Eugenie, empress of the French;
duchess of Theba of Spain, duke
and duchess of Elba, and the queen of
Spain, but of all the royal people we
met the rajah of Burdnan was the most
magnificent. His throne, which / was
allowed to see also, was the costliest on
earth. 1t was wide enough for two
very large men to sit on and built of
solid gold The seat was upholstered
in the finest down and satin, and the
arms terminated in two knobs, each
half the size of a mans head, thickly
incrusted with rubies as large as
pigeons egg and other rare jewels. A
silken canopy was surmounted by a
dove, which was ablaze with first-water
diamonds of great size. This throne
was worth a kings ransom, but every
thing in the rajah's court was on
similar scale of magnifcence. The
Brahmin priests had remarkable
influence over the prince, and were
constantly concocting plans TO rob him
and enrich themselves. One was to in
duce him to build a golden COW, life
size, followed so that he could get in
side, and once or twice year fast for
twenty-four hours. At the princes
death the golden COW was to become
the property of the priests. The prince
died. All such sights and experiences go
to make up the enviable side of pro-
Fashionable acrobat's life, but the other
side leaves me the only survivor of a
once large and happy family. Boys
don't do it,"
Not Blowing About 1t.