Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-04-18
BIG FALLS NOT FATAL
THAT IS, HERE IS A LONG RECORD
OF JUST SUCH CASES.

T, Remarkable s'High and Lofty TumblinGc
By Men. Women and Chndren-From
| What Height May . Person Fall and
Not Re Killed Thereby?
From how great q height may a per-
son fall and live? This question was
suggested by the experience of Dr..
Helm, the Zurich professor. who told
how he fell o great distance down o
glacier in Switzerland and lived to re-
late his sensations. His aim was to prove
| that sudden death was not painful. The
| other phase Of the question-how far
may We fall unhurt-is Just as interest
ing, however.
The well known Alps wanderer, ST.
grist. fell backward off the crown of the
korpfstork Alp, Switzerland, and land
| ell on the rocks at the foot of the glacier.
OF course his fall was somewhat broken
as he bounded from spur to spur, but
the fall was q great one nevertheless
VI the persons who have fallen from
balloons no record has been kept, but
the accidents have been sufficiently dan
gerous to prove that great fall does not
The Post-Dispatch recorded the feat of
negro who. to escape punishment for
stealing q ride, jumped over the Della
ware bridge Oh the Erie railroad at Port
Jervis, n. Y. He fell distance of so
feet, and though striking ON his head in
q bed Of gravel covered only by six
inches Of water. he escaped serious in
jury.
George Petorski, q young Polish boy
aged IL, went out for huckleberries ON
tho Honeypot mountain, near Port Jez-
Wis, N. Y. He ventured too near tho
edge Of cliff known as Eagle Nest,
| and, slipping on q stone, was hurled
over. The descent is nearly'perpendicu-
lar and the lad rolled and bounded over
| the jagged rocks a distance, of 400 feet
TO the railroad tracks below. He was
! picked up torn and bleeding from hun
dred wounds and unconscious, but still
/ alive.
That case had youth in its 'favor. Here
| is q case of age. Mary Cer1na, aged 80
years, recently fell 80 fcetfrom a Win
dow Of 257 Camden street, Newark, n.
j., and escaped with only badly
|
| shaking busting cloth, from the win
dow and fell upon hard ground in the
back yard.
Here is a case OF an infant: at Rock
away Beach, II. Y, George McVey, 2
| years old, tumbled out of q third story
| window without receiving any injuries
except a bruised eye and q skinned nose.
| He crept to the window W lille his roth
| er was asleep. His fall,was broken by
| an awning.
Women seem especially able to drop
from any height and receive little or no
! injury. In France recently a woman
tried to commit suicide by jumping
| from high bridge. She WIS hardly in
| jured. Near Niagara falls a woman fell
over precipice and landed some hun
bred feet below, alive and able to tell of
| il.
Mrs. Annie Keeney leaped ont of q
fifth story window of 1875 East One Hun
dred and Eighth street, New York, and
sustained only few slight bruises on
the face. The woman was half asleep ut
the time and walked over the roof Of her
| own house to that of her neighbor's
She swung off the roof to q fire escape
and asked tho occupants of 125 for
brandy. On being refused she leaped to
the ground. Clotheslires stretched
across the yard between the tenement
windows. and the woman rebounded from
one of these to another in her fall, until
she finally landed, badly shaken up, but
otherwise unhurt.
August johnson, a joiner, residing in
Middletown, Conn, fell from the fourth
story Of a building on which he was
| working, turning a complete somer-
sault and striking with his head ON
some boards which projected from the
first story. He managed to catch hold
Of the boards, to which he chung until
he was rescued. He fell 40 feet. He
was not injured in any way.
Edward Christie fell from scaffold
which gave way at the fourth floor of n
new building at Madison avenue and
Soventy-second street, New York. AL
though he fell four stories, he sustained
no more than fracture Of the thigh
and right arm. Christian Jensen, a
painter, of White Plains, n. Y, fell
from ladder TO the ground, a distance
Of 40 feet, and is alive to tell it. George
Falley, II years old. fell through the
fire escape of 772 Tenth avenue, New
York. from the fourth TO the first floor,
and received not the slightest injury.
Such il the elasticity Of youth.
Express Messenger Edward. Stevens
Of Water Valley, Miss, was doing and
fell from his car door. He was not missed
until 20 miles had been passed. A mes
sage was sent back to the effect that he
must have fallen from his car. A hand
car was rugged up and several men
started down the track to look for him.
They found him three miles away, lying
within two feet Of the track, sleeping.
He awoke as soon rs they touched him
and asked what was wanted. He said
he had no recollection Of falling, and
imagined himself asleep in his bed at
home. The train was running 10 miles
an hour when he fell off. He was not
hur;.-St. Louis Post-Dispatch..
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