El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-05
OWED FROM PECOS BRIDGE
COWBOYS PLUNGE OF MORE THAN THREE
HUNDRED FEET.
Fred Darmon Was Challenged To Do 1t As Proof Of
His Love for Texas Gr!!-Many Persons who
Say They Saw the Re ck'ess Feat.
PLUNGE OF MORE
HUNDRED FEET.
NNAN>~NSS

A Globe Democrat correspondent
from Fort Clark, Texas, writes as fol-
lows:
The great bridge constructed by the
Sunset railroad across the PecoS river
in western Texas, is very nearly the
Hottest structure of the kind in the
world 4 few days ago this Pecos
bridge was the scene of one of the
most remarkable occurrences ever
witnessed.
Miss Lena Riners, the only daughter
of a prosperous ranch owner and cat
tleman in the Rio Grande valley, is
one of the prettiest girls in western
Texas and has many admirers. Among
the young men who were attracted
by the beauty ana many accomplish
ments of this very lively Texas girl
none was more earnest and persistent
in pressing his suit than Fred A. OAR
mon, who is a very respectable cowboy
of the western plains. On last Sun
day some fifteen or twenty young men
and young girls, the sons and daught-
ers of ranchers in the neighborhood
went to the Pecos river bridge for the
purpose of enjoying a picnic. Among
the gay crowd were Lena Riners and
several of her admirers. The young
girl on this occasion was in one of her
happiest moods and especially attrac-
tive. Fred A. Darmon had failed to
secure the enviable favor of escorting
the young lady to the picnic grounds
but he kept close enough to her to an
noy a more fortunate rival and it was
not long before he found an oppor-
tunity to press mis- suit. Miss Riners
herself. with great earnestness and
without reserve tells how it all happen
ed for she has not yet recovered from
her fright:
Il was in the utmost terror" she
says, for long time after the dread
full occurrence, for fear that Fred had
been killed / know that / never could
have recovered from the shock, for my
conscience would have accused me of
having been the cause of his death. 1t
was all brought about by a jest. l
loved Fred-loved MIN well enough to
marry him-but it mad not occurred to
me that the proper moment had arriv-
ed for me to admit the fact to him. He
was so awfully persistent, and his
love making was always accompanied
by such a woe-begone look that some
how l foolishly enjoyed his great per-
turbation. Fred and / had strayed
away from the crowd and while | was
asking questions about the great
bridge he was constantly annoying me
with earnest protestations of his pas
SION Finally. in a playful fit of mock
anger. / said: oh. Fred. can't you
talk about something else? You boys
are ali alike. You have the same old
story to tell. Why don't you do some
thing to prove all this stuff you are
continually talking about?"
What shall | do?' he asked. |
replied: oh. l don't know. There are
no lions here 10 kill. Go to war or
jump off of that bridge up there
Il well remember now how he look
ed. though | thought nothing of it at
the time. when he said: Lena, would
You marry me if | were to jump off
that bridge?' | unthinkingly answered
OF course | would At that moment
our chaperon called us ocome to
camp, and 1 thought no more of the
matter until we missed Fred. Upon
looking around one of our party ex-
claimed: Why. yonder is Fred up on
the bridget A premonition of some
thing terrible at once arose in my
UkD1 and l felt a choking sensation in
~ throat.
"An eyes were at once turned to-
ward the dizzy heights of the bridge,
and you can imagine our feelings when
We saw Fred throw off his coat and
hat and step upon the railing. L saw
him waving his hands and throwing
kisses towards us, and barely caught
glimpse of his form as he plunged
headlong through the air. My eyes
closed in terror and / fell upon the
earth senseless."
Another member of the party. Mr..
John Addison. who was present, tells
the remainder of the story. He says:
Il saw Darmon jump from the bridge
l supposed that he had suddenly be-
come insane and 1 stood paralyzed
with terror. Standing on the railing
more than one hundred yards above
the water he looked like a little boy
two or three years old. In descending
through the air his body appeared to
double up and for a second or more
assume the shape of ball. AS he
neared the waters of the Pecos he
Strengthened out and descended head
foremost. with the palms of his hands
together in front of his head. after
the manner of an accomplished diver
l ran toward the bank of the river
which was only a few steps away, and
reached the brink of the stream lust
in time to see the desperate boy dis
appear beneath the water. / felt alb
soiuteiy certain that he was dead and
l supposed that his body would be
simply a limp mass of bruised flesh
and broken bones. The river at that
place is about seventy-five yards wide
ami from twenty to forty feet in depth.
While | was hurriedly throwing off my
coat and shoes. to my utter amazement
my friend popped up out of the water
and | plunged into the stream. hoping
p rescue him if possible. a long jump
and two or three strokes brought me
to his side just in time to grasp his
hair as he began ia sink Another
young man came to my assistance and
we easily dragged the body of our
friend to the shore. He was apparent
~ lifeless, but we all fell to rubbing
him, and after few minutes he grasp
ed for breath. In the course of some