The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-23

lions here for you TO Kill. Go to war or
jump oil OF tnat briage up rnere.
I Wei remember now now he looked,
though L thought nothing of II at tue
tine, when he seiu: Lena, woula you
marry me il [ We're to jump on that
biloge: untninkngly answered.: OF
course would. AT that moment cur
chaperone called us to come to camp, and
l thought no more OF the matter unrIl we
Missed Fred. Upon looking around one
of our party exclaimed: Why yCnder is
f'red-up on the bridget! A premonition
OF something terrible at once arose in my
mind, and / felt a choking sensa ton IN
my throat.
All eyes were at onees turned toward
the dizzy heights OF 1.-The. bridge, and you
can i5nag ne our feeling when We saw
Fred throw of his coat and hat and
step up. en- the railing. l saw him wav-
ing his hands and throwing kisses toward
us, and [ barely caught a glimpse of h. s
form as he plunged headlong through the
air My eyes closed in terror and | fell
upon the earth senseless.r
Another member Of the party, Mr. John
Addison, who was present, tells the re-
mainder Of the story. He says: 81 saw
I Darmon jump from the bridge l sup
posed he had suddenly become insane,
and stood rooted to the earth para
lyzed with terror. Standing on the rail-
ing, more than leo yards above the water,
ne looked like Little boy two or three
years old In descending through the
air his body appeared to double up and
for second or more assume the shape
CT a ball. AS he neared the waters of the
Pecos he Strengthened out and descended
head foremost, with the palms of his
hands together in trent of his head, after
the manner Of an accomplished diver 1
ran toward the bank of the river, which
was only few steps away, and reached
the brink of the stream just in time to
see the desperate boy disappear beneath
the water. Light absolutely certain that
he was dead, and 1 supposed that his
body would be simply limp mass of
bruised flesh and broken bones
The river at that place is about Is
yards wide and from 20 to 40 feet in
depth. While l was hurriedly throwing
off my coat and shoes. to my utter
amazement my friend popped out of the
water, and [ plunged into the stream
hoping to rescue him if possible A long
jump and two or three strokes brought
me to his side, just in time to grasp MS
hair as he began to sink. Another young
man came to my assistance, and we east.
ly dragged the body of our friend to the
shore. He was apparently lifeless, but
We all fell to rubbing him, and, after a
few moments he gagged for breath In
the course of some twenty-five or thirty
minutes he opened his eyes and began to
mutter something about Miss Lena Rim
ers The loYe-sick scamp had spoiled
our picnic, and, being mad enough at
him to have thrashed him, l walked
away. Some people, added Mr. Addison
with 4 laugh, ARE talking of giving Fred
a medal for being the greatest bridge
jumper or high DIVER in the world, but
think he ought to have a button for be-
Z the hipURSt fool n Western Te1-a -
The two lovers recovered their senses
about the same time, and there was a lit
tie scene which brought about a perfect
understanding between them. Miss Rim
I ers was great ly- and certainly most agree
ably surprised When she found herself
able to sit up and was told that Fred
was alive and urhIIrt. He must have
wings" she said. The foolish lover was
as persistent as ever, though he was
hardly able to move. When his sweet
: heart bent over him his first words were:
i ''Wiu You marry me now, Lena?" Ev-
/ erybody heard lie reply: Yes, 1 am
ready to marry you at any moment, but,
! Fred, 1 am afraid that you are crazy"
I He was not at all crazy. Those who
know him best say that he is very
sible young man. He is INDUSTRIOUS tenn
( perate and honest and in every way
worthy of the estimabie young lady
whose heart he had won long before he
made his foolish jump from the Pecos
bridge.
When the story of this extraordinary
occurrence was first repeated in Del Rio
and other towns near the Pecos people
laughed about it and treated 1t with in
differences, hIft since then Mrs Merry,
the chaperon Of the the picnic party, and
other estimabless ladies and gentlemen
/ who witnessed Mr.. Darmon's wonderful
| leap. have declared that they are ready
to make an affidavit substantiating the
facts as they have stated them. There
! is no room to doubt the word of such
/ people. Fred a. Darmon most certainly
| Jumped from the Pecos bridge into the
river and he is alive to tell the story of
his foolish feat
From the ground below full grow man
standing on top of Peces bridge looks like
a small boy. Railroad trains run very
Slowly While crossing the lofty structure
and very few people are capable Of sum
| nloning sufficient courage to take a sec
! erd look from the windows Of the .passen-
! ger coaches. With the exception of the
! Stone pillars upon which the great steel
! columns are placed, the whole bridge is
! composed of iron and steel An ordinary
! photograph presents very. poor idea of
the colossal structure Columns, beams
i and braces that hook like mere threads in
/ teen feet in diameter 1t is one of the
! sights of the Sunset read, an travellers
! from every part of the world often stop
TO look at it. Great Engineers regard. it
as enc of the grandest- triumphs5 of me-
chanical genius to be credited to the nine
{, teenth century. It is believed that it win
withstand the action of the elements for
| many centuries.