The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1896-09-05
61iboooux sfmtintl.
IN THE CIRCUS.
TwoRoMANcEs WHICH TERMINATED
ON THE TRAPEzE.
NOW sam Meyers Proposed and Wa 40
cetted by His Annie-The Tragedy Which
Grew Out Of the Love Of the Rowland
Brothers For Jennie Dunbar.
"AhH'
"Oh!"

VII
Ill the spectators Of the giant leap
for life in the circus tent held their
breaths with terror while the 1.-THE aero
bat plunged forward, released his hold
and shet through space, to be securely
caught IN tie firm grasp Of his partner,
who hung from his tee from another
treacherous trapeze.
Twelve thousand nine hundred and
ninety-eight persons caught their breaths
again rs tie feat vas accomplished.
The two remaining persons Of the 49,
0oa-a big circus tent always holds 49,
600 persons, you kaow-watched the
proceedings with IN air Ct perfect nom
~chalance. as If q swing fer life was no
more serious matter than signaling an
electric car.
Well might they be calm, fer they
were retired circus performers, and the
perils CT the tents were cid stories to
them, and then, as the show went On,
they hegan exchanging "reminiscences,
While tie listening Journal man forgot
all ~sc15 what Yves before him in his
interest II these yarns.
'"iitgss j1r:p reminds me Of the way
Sam Iyels ezoEc.ed to Annie johnson
ten years ago"
Tie JcU-aal man noticed that the
veteean CT rs man emitted the Sig
nor" and .AaamseIie'' from his con-
versa.5es, - kat Sam Myers and An
mic Islaso, lid not bear in private life
the Ea-ces which adorned TIE circus
pre.-aEaIe and the p~articolorod lithn-
grabs which innane the circus going
proaSnsities OF Young America
Yea sec, Sam Myers and Pete Will
son and Annie johnson were albinrs
that season and did a great act on tie
flying trgpezc, ii which Annie made
ever SO many jumps across the tent and
was eanght BY Sam, while Pete was
performing en- q third lar way NJ
above them. One jump after anotlrr
was made al right b. her, and sudden
II eyery5ed~ vas surprised TO see Sam
lift Annie IL the air IS he caught her
ard kiss her lefore she turned @ make
the ,eap baeA to her own trspeze. Every
hcGy WaGdered what it all meant, and
after the act was over they soon found
Ont.
sit seem that Sam and Pete had
bot fallen Ia love with Annie. and Just
before tie act Pete cenfiGed to lis churl
his intentions CT proposing to the pretty
partner. Sam made up his mind that
he weuld net be left in O case Ike this,
but he had 10 chance to speak fer him.
self until they began.
az hen Annie made her FIRST jump,
he started TO pop the question, and tie
proposal eeatinued with Interruptions
as the yoarg LADY would swing back
and forth an1 jump to and fro in Il :
regular "a em Ct her performance.
Finally the question was asked Just IS
size swung. Sam. hanging By his toe !.
waited unit. she made the next leapa
as lie heard .er say Yes he lifted
up and ks ID her with such q SIN. !.
that It could be heard all oyer the biz
tent.
Everybody congratulated the par
but Pete. Somehow he lad the iraDres-
sica that he had nos been treated square
" in this proposal, and the firm broke
up then and there"
THAT reminds me Of another team
which was with d circus that / was per
forming in q dozen years age. The
Hcwland brothers were doing a double
trapeze act, with all sorts of daring
jumps, much the same SORT as the onn
we Just saw. In the same circus The
leading rider was Jennie Dunbar, who
rrac tho a3Sx-arrcE 1t441a ~@~,a r-Lo
yer jumped through a hccp, and both
the boys fell IN love With her.
She was really fond eff both Of them,
but when they proposed she accepted
Will and told Fred that she could onl-
be a sister to him. When Fred proposed,
We were performing up III Canada, and
the proposal was made just before the
afternoon performances. When the boys
came up for their turn, we all noticed
that Fred was Eale and nervous, while
VIII was just the reverse. Their ae:
went on just the same as usual, and
finally came their last jump, which was
the most daring Of all. Tred hung BIZ
his toes, and Will made the swing clear
across the tent. We never knew how j.
happened, whether Fred Was so nervous
that he lost his grip or whether he did
it deliberately, but just as Will came
flying throueh the air Fred trembled
and dropped from his hold down into
the net. while viii shot through the ain
and fell in the rsrg clear beyond liz
edge Of the net. When they ran to hin.
he was deads Jennie was almost crazy
with grief, andFred had an attack q
brain fever, nom which he did not re.
scover for mcnthE
No one ceulat tell whether be delIb-
erately dropped tp get rid Of his rival
or whether he was SO sick that he coulc
not hold himself longer. At any rate,