The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-10
SHE JUMPED 152 FEET.
,,p1NG YOUNG WOMAN'S PER-
roRMANCE sTARTLEs LONDON.

she Was AdNertseu 10 Le"b rum .
s.,aaId Forty Feet Above the
aoof of the Westminster Aqua
linn and Land on UnyieIding
Planks-It Was Apparently Certain
meath and an Effort Was Made TO
SION 1.-THE Result n Mystery.
From the New York Journal
r,-5on.-A week ago it was rumOred
.t,-- London that a woman had signed
-,rtract TO commit suicide at the West
-.irster aquarium at 4 O'Clock in the after
noon Of wednesday, July s. The English
s+,tuts known as the dangerous. per-
so-mances act" is not very strictly inter-
--s-a5. and British audiences are blood
.+,-s-y. but the announcement made by
..a management Of the great variety hall
v,s so startling that 1t hardly seemed
serious.
"A lady" said the advertisement, has
undertaken TO jump from a scaffold rear
81 forty feet above the aquarium room
10 the wooden floor Of the building. The
management, however, does not guarantee
that the performance will take place"
The aquarium room is I2 feet above
the floor BY cutting a hole in the roof
and building a temporary tower ABOVE
n the drOD-as a hangman would can II
would be extended to l52 feet. Little
H7nlou's famous dive into the net at the
Crystal Palace was only 10 feet, ana,
with a net to receive him, he was killed
after a few weeks. without a net lWen-
Nv feet is quite high enough for any one.
Plainly. the suggestion was monstrous
one. Experienced showmen and gymnasts
all said that the woman would not only
be killed, but be shockingly mutllated.
Tavern
station. a resort which serves as a sort
Of exchange and employment agency Ior
circus performers and acrobats, 100 TOR
felt was deposited by a we'll known music
hail agent who wanted to wager $500 that
no one could jump fifteen feet 10 boards
and then get up and walk away. NO one
covered this wager, and yet every one
knew that this extraordinary announce
ment at the aquarium was more than
mere hoax, for the London managers are
serious people.
The aquarium Qn which there ceased
years ago to be any fish is as well man
aged as any place Of amusement in the
world, and its enormous size especially
adapts il for all sorts of aerial teats. 1t
was here that ZaZel was first shot out
of a cannon 1t was here that Fuller dived
from the roof into a narrow tank con-
tanning seven feet of water. But the most
daring of all past performances could not
be compared with the incredible foelhar-
diness Of an attempt to jump l52 feet and
strike on unyielding planks,
Two days before the time fixed Tor the
jump London evening paper published,
under all reservations, a rumor winch
purported to explain the advertisement.
The lady in question was, said the
Echo, a second-rate bareback rider named
Evans, who had been deserted by her
husband, also a performer, and who had
planned this sensational suicide as
means of attracting public attention to
his misconduct and in this Nay revenging
herself
on the same evening a member of the
House of Commons rose in his place and
asked If the attention of the government
had been called to the fact that a woman
was about to make spectacle OF taking
her own life, and whether the police would
be instructed to prevent such an outrage
against decency and order
The home secretary replied that inquiry
should be made; but so far as could be
learned, up to the hour announced for the
jump, the only result of the Interpretation
had been to give a great deal=of free adj
vertising to the aquarium.
On Wednesday afternoon, at 4 o'clock,
the Sunday Journal correspondent Joined
knot Of English newspaper men who
were plying the manager, of the aquarium
with questions; but there was no infor-
nation to be had. THE advertisement"
said the manager, tells you all 1 know,
except the name of the lady and my own
opinion about her reasons for undertaking
the act, believe myself, that she is going
to do it, and | expect her to be here with
In quarter of an hour. If she doesn't
come, the other turns on the matinee pro-
gram will go on as usual, but of course,
l snail be sorry for your disappointment"
Inc disappointment came, and, no doubt
the sorrow; and everybod had a drink,
and everybody went away except the Sun
day Journal correspondent, who wanted
very much to find out little more about
the woman whose heart had apparently
tailed her at the last moment
There is a great deal in waiting, If a
ryh nj ,A To-
the manager unbosomed himself you
know, there really is something in this"
ne said. There was no use trying to talk
10 those chaps, but l really believed that
the woman was going to jump, and, what
is more, believe she will do it vet You
come back here at 1920 tonight and see
Inc truth is, have had a wire from her
TINS afternoon, and believe she will do
the jump tonight"
When 1890 came the aquarium was
crowded to the doors. For some mystic
Ilous reason the public, who had not come
IN In me afternoon when the performance
was to have taken place, saw fit to come
IN IN lhe evening. Perhaps they cherished a
vague belief that everything in London is
always little behind time.
When the regular performance was
aoout nan over L caught glimpse of the
manager ana he nodded triumphantly at
me Ihen l set to work to study the prep
drop. uo AOA INC
- til4uul6 OF the aquarium floor. at
9onie Instance from the stage, is a little
s salih' INTO which diver, sewed up in a
sddch, Jumps every night from a hight of
a az u, nifty feet-"doing the Monte Christie
49, 49, as 1t is called. Over the top of this
"a oSH IN attendants were laying a covering
EI EeaVy spruce planks, not less than four
s s,,es thlck, about as unyielding as anv
SutlaCe Wen could be. The man who was
IeIpuI intending the work a man with a
sbdS5[. Wdtch-chain-made a great fuss
t1Se Itting together, with great exacti-
The TIo ne edges of the boards, and when
snr5i,i lorIn was adjusted to his liking he
no,,5heu over 1T a coating of greenish
Two oT na;,f almost as fine as -four He used
n oTGo epalIuls of this material. and as the
tap@ottGIi IN was only about twenty feet in
weTe -. I, Dy hiteen feet in width, the boards
tbosa n ny more thickly covered than are
T VI a sanded barroom floor
faI T. ~ the moment marked by this triv
Food iIeluent, one has left no more than a
eye,ir5 alqred interest in the event of the
+be e' LIS, out as that powder thickened on
there Ii US until 1t concealed their texture.
nina u oesdh 70 be present to the observers
One d certain sense of EMBELLISHMENTS,
bloci9g 4ds seen sawdust thrown about the
law in =. d french execution. Perhaps there