The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-09
A DIVERS PLUNGE TO DEATH.
Miscalculntcs the Distance and Is
Instantly Killed.

NEW YORK, Dec. S.-Joseph d. Stark, a
trick bicycle rider and diver, whose feat
OF riding down an inclined plane on a
bicycle and diving from a height Of forty
feet into a shallow tank was to have
been the feature of the Amateur Circus
at the Twenty-second Regiment Armory
this afternoon. was instantly killed dur
ing the performance as the result of the
dive he undertook to make.
Owing to nervousness, the result, it is
said, of attending the funeral of his
fancee only few hours before. Stark
apparently miscalculated the distance of
his dive. and plunged into the water at
the end instead of in the middle of the
tank. His head struck the bottom Of the
tank and his skull was fractured
The accident was witnessed by 5000
people. all of whom were filled with hor-
ror. Stark's sister was among the spec
tators, and tainted when she saw her
brother plunge to his death.
Stark was twenty-five years old and for
the last five years he has been giving exhi-
bitions OF trick bicycle riding and diving.
He and his partner Harry Farrell have for
| a week been performing here. When the
amateur circus was planned the managers
! secured Farrell and Stark, whose diving
feat was to close each performance, Far
rell's exhibition was given Friday night
and was successful. The inclined plane
from which the dive was made is fifty
feet high at the start and 200 feet long
the end being forty feet from the ground.
Thirty-ive feet from the end OF the inclin-
ed plane is the tank, which is only three
feet deep. The exhibition consisted Of rid
ing at full speed down the inclined plane
and diving into the tank The bicycle was
caught in net as 1t dropped from the end
Of the inclined plane.
Stark's turn to perform this feat came
about o'clock in the afternoon at the
close of the show. The girl to whom he
was engaged died two days ago and the
funeral which Stark attended took place
this forenoon Stark was visibly affected
and his friends who heard Of his intention
to perform his diving feat in the after
noon were amazed. Several Of them at
tempted to dissuade him from attempting
it In the state in which he was, but he
refused to listen to them.
When he appeared at the circus the ner-
vousness which he had shown at the fu-
neral haG grown on him, and those who
were with him noticed it with a feeling Of
great uneasiness. When a remark was
made about 1t in Stark's presence he only
laughed. When the signal was given he
was off with flourish of the band. Then
those who we're watching him saw a dive
they will never forget.
Instead of striking the tank at the
end nearest to him, the momentum at
tanned was such that the body of the
diver was seen to go over not only the
intervening thirty-ive feet. but the entire
length OF the tank itself, and strike the
water at Its farthest end. The distance
covered had been eighty-five feet.
Those who realized how shallow the
tank was and what it meant to strike
that part of It sent up cry of horror.
Stark's sister sat directly opposite. with
Farrell, his partner. AS the latter saw
just where stark was going he involun-
tarily rose from his seat. Stark's sister
followed him. They reached the tank only
second or two after the diver had
plunged in.
John Haskell, an attendant. jumped into
the tank and soon. appeared with Stark's
body in his arms. The divers head was
bleeding. DR.. Hooker. Of Roosevelt Hos
pital, who came in response to hurry
call, pronounced Stark dead and said he
had been killed instantly. His body was
taken to the West Sixty-eighth Street
station, where it was claimed by his sis