The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-01-17
\ DANGEROU BUSINESS

- ~.
DANGEROU us BUSINESS
xhs PsTils Attendant Upon ~
Acrobat's Career.
IVY Oid-Tims Professional Rsissss sssas
Thriliing Tslss of Tsrribls Fails 81 -
Himsel3 and RESPONSIBILITY VA
Advice = Boys: Il
William Hanlon. OF the firm Of Han
lon Bros, producers Of stage spectacles
Sand pantomimes, has had 8 remarlkable
career The Hanlons did not come 70
America until the year 1881, but before
that time they travelled continually In
III sections OF the earth. William Ham
Ion. the only remaining member OF an
acrobatic family, has given up gym
nastic fcats for good and is now de-
voting his entire time TO the produc-
tion Of his pantominc, 'superba. =
1t is a question. and q great ques-
ton, whether the success that might
be gained by i professional acrobat IS
worth the years Of constant training,
. the harlships and terrible dangers Of
following such vocation, said this Ia
nous gyMnast to a representative OF
the Chicago Inter Ocean recently. IT
would not advise Il young man to un-
dertake to become a professional aero
bat for those reasons. remember /
got my first fall at Malta through the
careless Of q Mr. Lees. to whom had
been appranti.ed. Yhe drop was only
about twenty feet, bat ! lost my senses
the moment begun to fall. In snbse-
quent falls was conscious until the
'thud' came, and in my first great fall,
strange al, itmay seem, had time dur
ing the drop Of thirty five feet to think
Of all the terrible accidents ! had ever
seen in ,ny life and of many other
things as well. This last happened IN
Manchester. England, and the result
was a badly broken arm, which the
English doctors failed to properly
mend. was laid up for a year, during
which time we crossed the Atlantic,
and Or. James X. Wood, q then famous
New York surgeon, fixed me up in
good shape, job which caused o great
deal of talk at tho time among the med
ical profession throughout. this and the
old country
ssl had another terrible fall in Ha-
vana, Cuba. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
/ got another bad tumble; in fact all Of
my brothers as wel as myself had at
least twenty bad falls during our aero
bate career, but the worst happened
to poor Thomas. 1t was at Pike Is 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 q hard stage floor
meant to any Of us. In making the
|. flying leap from one trapcze to another
Thomas 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 q long
time before he seemed on the road to
recovery. Id
Strange enough, just one year from
that time we were again playing il
Cincinnati and one night Thomas was
missing He was found = few days
| after wandering ia a demented condi-
I ton in Harris burg, Ia. and died there.
It was afterwards found that frag-
ment Of the skull, which was fractured
by the fall, had penetrated the brain.
.sStiil, there arc bright sides to the
life Of the professional acrobat # he
is superior in his line his triunaphs are
absolute and pleasing He is received
well wherever he goes. and he is given
opportunities to see things that many
wealthy people are even unable to OBJ
serve, as was the case with us. We saw
and met many members of royalty, In
Guiding Eugene, empress Of the French;
duchess OF Theba Of SPAN, 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 I was
allowed to see also, was the costliest on
earth. It was wide enough for two
very large men ito 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 mans head, thickly
incrusted with rubies rs large as q
pigeons egg and other rare jewels A
silken canopy was surnounted by 9
dove, which was ablaze with frstrwater
diamonds Of great size. This throne
was worth q kings ransom, but every
thing in the rajah's court was on 9
similar scale Of magnifcence. The
Brahmin priests had a remarkable
influence over the prince, and were.
constantly connecting plans TO rob him
and enrich themselves. One was to in
duce him to build . golden COW, life
size, followed SO that he could get in
side, and once or twice q year fast Tor
twenty-four hours At the princes
death the golden COW was to Become
the property Of the priests The prince
died. AL such sights and experiences 60
to make up the envisble side Of . pro-
Fashionable acrobet's life, but the other
side leaves me the only survivor OF .
once large and happy family. Boys
don't do II. =, "a
Tga~EA n "