The record-union., 1897-05-22
The Acrobat Who Tries the Triple
SomerSault Courts Death.
Wise Men Are Satisfied With Doing
the Double and Staying
in the Ring.

dead now. They were carried out Oh
the ring to a hospital immedlately
thereafter and lived for the various
period Of from one to three days.
The memories of this most d1fncult
of acroba1ic feats were recalled a few
days ago when Augustus Warner, one
of the tumblers of the Barnum q Bailey
circus, in taking the double somersault
over the backs Of elephants, 1el anu
narrowly escaped injuring himself TOT
life. He told one of the surgeons that
he had tried one of the triple II
seems, however, that he had SIMPLY
missed his calculations on the double
sonlersault and had landed upon his
neck instead Of on his feet.
There have been men who have as
serted that they can turn the triple
They are generally the acrobats who
have left the circus ring forever ana
are devoting the last years of their lives
to the sale of cigars and ginger pop
The men who have followed the circus
all their lives say that no man has ever
turned the triple from springboaro
and has lived to boast of his triumph.
The triple somersault is done from
the flying trapeze, but it is simply
series of revolutions in the air as the
performer drops. Even then it should
be called two and one-half revolutions,
for the acrobat falls on his back in a
net and depends upon the rebound to
hurl him to his feet He can make
these two revolutions and half from
a springboard sometimes, with the dill
ference that nine hundred and ninety
nine times out of a thousand he alights
h hood the hack of his neck,
which, in the circus parlance, is instant
death. A man who falls that way even
in a net is a subject for the Coroner.
1t was only last summer that we'll
known performer, in trying to turn the
triple from the trapeZe, went the usual
two and one-half revolutions, dropped
into the net and was almost instantly
killed.
Yet as long as men are ambitious
and the acrobat is one of the most
ambitious of men-the three Somer-
saults will be attempted over and over
again. There are so many men who
say they have done it, you know, that
the youthful performer starts out with
the determination to do so or die. IL
is 10 the circus ring what squaring the
circle is to mathematics and the per-
petual motion machine is to physics.
The somersault, whether 1t be single,
double or triple, is a feat which re-
quires the most assiduous practice and
the most accurate calculation. Inc
public sees the rapidly revolving aero
bat, and says: why, here is man
who turned six or eight times" 1t has
seen the double somersault with its as
cent, its doubling and its twisting, and
its illusion of endless whirling in space.
The somersault, simple as it may
seem, is complex feat. The muta-
scope illustrations made by experts
from the Edison laboratories show the
various movements which are blended
in this apparently simple feat OF the
tumbler's art.
The acrobat is Charles Werts, known
to the circus folks as Chad Werts.
He is one of the cleverest acrobats OF
the Barnum & Bailey show. The views
were taken while the acrobat was per-
forming upon the roof of Madison
SQUARE Garden one sunshiny morning
last week
Within a space of fifteen seconds this
nimble acrobat had turned four dis
tinct kinds of somersaults. He stood
upon a strip Of carpet and performed
without the aid of springboard. The
muscles Of his strong legs and shoul-
ders enable him to make those gyra-
tions, which the man who knows moth
ing of the rigorous training OF the cir
Gus performer would consider impossi-
BILE
Chad" Werts is one of the acrobats
who says that he does not do the triple
somersault.
That's not to say he said to me,
"that l couldn't do it. I'm not sure
of doing it every time. And it isn't
pleasant, when you start out on the
springboard. to think that you may
do the triple all right. but that it will
probably be all day with you if you do.
Well, yes. l never did it, but l think
I can. The double somersault is good
enough for me-.
The fact remains that all the force
which springboards and trained mus
cles can give is not quite sufficient to
whirl the body of a man through the
third revolution. The friction of the air
overcomes the force, and when the
third revolution is supposed to begin
the acrobat has lost all control of him
self He becomes what the circus folk
call east"
This is equivalent in mechanics to the
driving wheel of a locomotive being at
a dead center. The acrobat ceases to
revolve, except in exceptional cases,
and falls to the ground like a sack of
wheat 1t is unfortunate, though, that
this human sack of wheat has cervical
vertebrae which will be Jared by the
fall. 1t means death, or living death
lifelong paralysis.
The first thing which the tumbler
learns is to jump from a springboard.
The sensation Of springing through the
air, as all know who have had even a
limited gymnasium practice, is an un-
canny one Next is the stock" somer-
sault which consists of merely spring.
ing up in the air and slowly and with
practically no muscular exertion, turn
ing over The motion is so slow that
the spectators hardly realize that the
man has turned over.
Then begins the drill for the real
somersault The acrobat learns the
tuck" which consists of grasping both
legs tightly half way between the knee
and ankle and pressing them closely
together. AT the same time the aero
bat puts the muscles of his shoulders
and back into play. This muscular
force acts like the balance weight of
the wheel. 1t aids him to complete
the revolution.
The taking of the "tucks" requires
the incest calculation. The acrobat
must wait until he has sprung as far
into the air as the force of the spring
rd or will him Z