The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-31
FROM THE FLYING IRAPEZE
A Seventy-Five-Foot Leap to Certain
Death.

Death.
II read a French novel the other
day aid h man TO whom every
hin was a reminder OF something
else, land Il made me wonder il the
author had even lived in Australia.
Twenty ago / was there as the
manager Of a circus, or what they
called a circus in that and
among our people was a pretty little
woman who swung on a flying trapeze,
and wound up her turn by tumb.ing
from the highest available point into
a net. 1t did not make n difference
how high hat roof might be that lit
tie woman rugged her platform right
UP To the ridge pole n dove down
through the air like a flying fish. I've
seen her drop as much as seventy-five
feet and come up smiling every time.
She was about twenty years old, as
pretty as a picture and as guileless
and good as she was pretty. she was
the star of the show n there wasn't
a man or woman connected with the
entire establishment that wouldn't
fight for i1er. n was always cheerful,
and never afraid, and the audiences
loved her as We did. 1t was the most
natural thing in the world that she
should fall in love, and h had done
that a yea before n came TO us.
The man in the caSe was a worthless
kind of a fellow, with some money,
and, as might have been expected,
she Just wasted herself on him. I
knew he was going to break her heart
the first time l met him, and l wanted
to break his Internal neck, but / a
no good and sufficient cause to, and so
l couldn't do anything but stand by
and see him do it. Her contract with
US was for a year, and n couldn't
marry till thai had expired, and he
l0afP6 around waiting for har A.
least that was the intimation he was
giving, but a couple of months before
the time he disappeared, n two
weeks later he had married another
woman in Melbourne. Our show was
doing New Zealand at the time, and
hen the news came our little woman
went down under it like a flower un-
der a Sahara sand storm, We had TO
lay her off for ten days, but she rail-
lied and went to work again. l saw
though, the first time she took the
high leap that h was ratified and
was liable to break her neck, so 1 told
her she could cut that pant of the act
until h got all right again. She
knew L was right and cried like a
baby, because she vas an ambitious
little thing n was proud of her
jumping and loved THE applause it al
ways brought her. She insisted on
keeping it in, and 1 gave her another
chance or two, but she couldn't do it
and / cut it out.
"Au the paraphernalia was left,
however, as it was when she did the
jump except the net, which was re-
moved, or rather was not stretched
when it came her turn. 1 was glad L
had been firm with her, for when she
came out that night h was very
nervous and her eyes kept wander
ing aroun The audience, as if she were
looking for some n who was not
there. She went through the trapeZe
business all right, and when l expected
that she would come twisting down
the rope as she always did I was mis-
taken, for she caught hold of a. guy
rope and went hand ver and up to
her nigh platform. 1t vas at least
seventy-five fee from the ground, and
the audience went wild when she did
the act. You see, it didn't know but
hat was part of the show-something
myself what h intended to do, and I
couldn't help giving a hand with the
audience, she did it so gracefully. But
the next instance all of us knew, for
she stood traight on the platform,
away up there, nearly out of sight,
and with a kiss thrown from her fin
ger tips to the audience, as she always
did, she love down straight to the
hard ground, holding her body rigid
striking SQuare on her head. She new
er stirred after she struck, and the au-
dience was so paralyzed that I'VE got
her out into the dressing room before
a single person moved from his seat"