St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-04-20
EXPLOIT IN YOSEMITE VAL
LEY.
ON THE VERGE OF A PRECIPIcE,
THREE THOUSAND FEET IN THE
AIR, HE STOOD ON HIS
HEAD.
IRON-NERVED ATHLETE,
To Whom Such Flip-FIaps Are Mere
Chi1d,s PIay-Why He
Did 1t.

Fancy standing on your head on the very
edge of precipice 5000 feet high and kick
ing your feet in the air. That's what Robert
Edgren did in the Yosemite valley just to
raise the hair on the heads of his camping
companions.
The whole trip up the Yosemite had
been series of flps cart wheels, somer-
saults and running jumps. Their muscles
had been developed and hardened by sew
eral years course in Berkeley gymnasium.
Will Roblee had been gymnasium instruc-
tor and could tumble and turn somersaults
like professional. Eugene Trefethen was
one of the best runners that ever came out Of
the University Of California and everybody
knows that Edgren is one of the very best
hammer throwers in the country. He went
East with the college team last year and he
is going again this year. Nearly every day
after a ten hours tramp up the mountain
side they would tumble and vault around
their campfire for the ediflcation of those on
the road.
One day the party divided. Edgren climbed
the Sentinel dome trail to Glacier point and
Roblee and Trefethen tramped around by the
Nevada Falls trail to the same point.
Edgren reached the top first. There is an
abutting rock on Glacier point about five feet
broad and about fifteen feet long, which
overhangs in a perilous fashion the valley,
below. Edgren coolly walked out to the end
of this rock, sat down with his feet dangling
over the edge and began to take friendly
interest in the Lilliputian objects 5000 feet be-
low him. 1t was sheer drop below, nothing
intervening to break the straight descent.
Most people would have fallen off the point
through dizziness, but Edgren didn't mind it
any more than sitting at table and looking
at stereopticon view Of the valley.
While waiting for Trefethen and Roblee
to come up he began to amuse himself by
tossing pebbles into the air and watching
them go down, down, down till they grew
so small they disappeared from view
Then he tried to think Of all the daring
feats that could be done on such an eerie
point. That led him to thinking of doing
some hair-raisng feat that should daze his
companions and force a dare that would
hold the record on the trip. 'Tll try stand
ing my head" he said.
So he turned over with his knees resting
on the perilous edge of the cliff and his
feet pointing out into the blue air over
hanging the valley. With his hands spread
out and close up to his knees he began to
elevate his feet and body, slowly, very slow
ly. One elbow was crooked considerably
more than the other on account of the slant
of the rock. Upward his feet slowly went
till his body was straight an arrow. An
instant's dizziness, the giving of arm mus
Gle, and it would have been all up with the
venturesome fellow. Had he even fallen back
ward there would have been hope, for
his body would have rolled off the shelving
rock before he could have righted himself.
iS in
fully and accurately balanced as he went up.
He was still in the air when Trefethen and
Roblee came over the trail and caught sight
of him. They were half scared out of their
lives account Of the too evident danger but
they did not shout, didn't dare run to his
assistance, didn't dare move, for fear that
they might do something that would startle
Edgren and make him lose his balance So
they stood like statues and saw his feet
descend slowly, while the knees crooked and
edged carefully toward the spreading fingers
on the rock. A moment more, and Edgren,
very red In the face, began to creep in on the
shelving rock Trefethen and Roblee ran for
ward and grabbed him and dragged him back
several yards from the edge Of the cliff.
In speaking of the venture Edgren said: ''I
didn't regard 1t as such a foolhardy trick
at the time. I was used to standing on great
heights and did not feel the slightest dizzi-
ness. If had been the least bit scary of
course, I never should have attempted It,
Standing on my head was about as easy ito
me as standing on my feet. At the gymnasi-
UNI we used to contest standing on our heads,
and I've often kept it UP ten minutes at
stretch.
''My feet must have been in the air for at
least half minute. Once UP, I realized for
the first time that had to keep my balance
or 1 was gone. Luckily for me, 1 had been
in some very ticklish situations. on great
heights, and 1 didn't lose my nerve. The
only shock I got in that line was from a
breath of wind. 1t came from down the
valley and caught me on the side. If it had
been stronger, l don't know what would have
happened. But, soft as the breath was, it
was big enough for me. and came down as
quickly as 1 could under the circumstances
I confess felt bit relieved when my knees
touched the edge of the cliff all right. Then
I could sight Trefethen and Roblee and I
saw by their faces that at last had made a
dare that would stand first on our trip.
That's what 1 was after, and I was salts
fed"