The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-10

/ no larger than a cellar door br- 49,
VINO stood nearly under il could see The
.LatleNOrh OF tne scanolding above. For
/ " Ieet above this hole in the roof there
vas, the speaker said. a perch. ana from
l tnls perch the lady intended 10 droD
i don't say it viii be done said me
/ manager. For that matter. j thought II
was going to be done This afternoon ana
/ she did not come here this afternoon She Is
| here now, and there is a rome thar nuns
over pulley, and she viii Be hoisted up
/ 10 the perch, and if she wants to iump she
/ viii jump and IL she don't want to iumn
! NOBODY viii push her over: and an that 7
/ ask Is that the audience will preserve
strlct slence- And then he stepped back
| and the lady appeared.
she was young and she was cookbook
demonstrating after the circus fashion.
/ II you please, but by no means uninterest-
ING; Tier hands were rather large and
rather red, and very dirty with that Pc
/ culiar wealth of dirt that makes the Oh
/ server wonder how circus performers Keen
so much dirt on their hands without its
| falling on. In her youthfulness and In the
large brightness Of her eyes there was
something so pathetic that when she nut
/ her hands behind her back and looked up
/ through the whole in the roof people be-
| gan to feel that it was very serious.
A stout man near me cried "Shamep'
shame and then blew his nose bashfuHy
as he heard his red-faced voice roll down
the long nave Of the building.
A good many Of US, / think began TO
feel that If the girl were going TO die
we ought not to be there to game at her
know that I quite forgot that / was
there to make report of what I saw.
ana perhaps my own private emotion Of
/ the moment was more pictorial than anv
| studied description could be- She nut her
/ foot in the loop at the end Of the long
rope and as she rose the little field Of
| limelight rose with her. The stage car
| penters crew were making quick work
/ Of hosting her. but it seemed a long time
before she slipped through the square
| opening in the room. From that hight
another light was thrown upon her She
| stood quite alone on the edge Of the small
| perch and with my glass 1 could see
her hair move in the night wind, for she
| was quite out of doors up there.
The man who had sprinkled the powder
| on the boards-the man with the watch
| chain-came and looked at 1t again. as
If to make sure that it had not been dis
| turbed. At the most, It did not lie more
| than an eighth of an inch I'm thickness on
| the platform; 1t certainly seemed to be
| quite useless, and yet one felt that there
| lay in its minute distribution a Drecau-
| ton of grave Importance. He stopped
| over and smoothed the surface of it with
| his hand, and then, looking up at the
girl called out: Are you ready?"
For a moment there was no answer and
| then little shrill, hurried mo" came
down. 1t made one feel that there was
a reluctance in the girls mind.
l think no one of US would have been
sorry IL we had been told that the Jump
was not to take place. The stout man
withdrew his umbrella from under his
| arm and screwed it up very tight, but did
not raise his voice again. The ladies
| in the audience began TO be very ner-
vous. 1 discovered next day that I had
been biting my nails. The question, Are
you ready?' was asked again. This time
there was longer delay, but the answer
was Yes" when it came-not an eager
| affirmative, l thought. 1t seemed to be
a submission rather than statement of
| fact.
If any one had at that moment proposed
to lynch the man with the large watch
chain 1 should have seconded the motion.
It seemed to me quite clear that he ex-
erted an evil power. I wondered that
had not seen that from the first.
She was dressed in white tights, and she
dropped like handful of snow from the
cornice of a roof. l think 1 could have
drank a glass of water while she was in
the air. 1t seemed to me as long as that.
/ was leaning against the edge of the plat
form, my hand on the rough, implanted
end of one of the heavy planks.
She certainly did not weight more than
40 or $50 pounds but as she struck the
noise and the Earring were of amazing
violence. A column of dust arose; all of
the sprinkled powder was in the air When
1t cleared away, l saw her lying on the
boards quite STILL save for little witch
| ing motion Of her shoulders, and her body
had a broken look.
A bird looks 50 when it has been shot at
a hight and has fallen with its wings
| closed.
Then they picked her up.
The man with the watch chain took her
under the arms; another man took her
under the knees, and they lifted her and
carried her away.
1t was about twenty yards from the
platform that had been built over the
tank to the stage and no one in the audi
ence moved or spoke while the two men
were taking their burden there.
A woman behind me whimpered like a
child left alone in the dark. That was
the only sound except the shutting of the
two men across the floor. They made
their way through the little space be-
tween the curtain and the proscenuim
arch and when they had passed out of
sight the audience was still quite silent.
A light still shone on the little perch, 1872
feet up in the air, and some little scatter
ed rings of the greenish powder lay on the
surface Of the boards.
There was no applause, no demonstra-
tion of any kind. Every one knew that
the management would make some sort
of announcement from the stage, and ev-
cry one waited to see what the anonunce-
ment would be. After a wait Of two or
three minutes the orchestra played
Scotch air with a bagpipe effect intro
duced, and as the droning came to an end
the lady was supported to the front of
the curtain.
She did not walk, but she was erect,
or almost erect, and the two men slid her
along. She looked as if she was suffer
ing from conclusion, and no doubt from
internal injuries" as the reports of rail-
way accidents say.
But she was alive at any rate; there
had not been tragedy?
How had she survived so terrible a
fall?
The correspondent of the Sunday Journ-
al, who stood very close to the platform
leaning over it. indeed-thought he saw,
just before she struck the planks some
thing leave her hands and fly up to the
ceiling. 1t looked like a little hoop, and
for an instant 1T hung over her head like
a halo.
Was there counterweight wire, accu-
mulating weights before it passed over
a sheave to her. and measurably retard-
ing the latter part of her descent? II so,
there had been a miScalculation, for the
shock had certainly been a very serious
one.
THE POPULIsT CANDIDATE.
A Pen and Ink Sketch of Hon. Sea-
born Wright of Rome.