Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1901-12-11

The parachute jumper Ii a compar- 4
.dyely recent product In the profess
,,on of bafiooning. The first parachute |
,umper, the FIRST man literally TO make |
The leap from the clouds. was Sam
baldwin, now a successful manufae-
,urer OF balloons at Quincy. Ill. Bald
win his brother and Prof Van Tassel,
three gas balloon men. happened 10
meet In a Los Angeles hotel In the
summer OF 1887. Each had hard
luek story 10 tell and IL was unani-
mously agreed that the business had
zone 10 the dogs. AS means OF re-
suseitaiing IL and rescning II from the
anime grasp Baldwin suggested the
paraehute leap. The others did not
believe 1t possible for man TO MAKE
The jump and live.
Out Of the chatting came determin-
alton 20 make the experiment None
81 them was willing 10 oifer himself up
Al sacrifice. 80 bag OF sand was
substituted The balloon was sent up
from the commons with a long string
attached to the parachute rope. when
the bag had risen Ia height OF three
quarters Of mile the cord was pulled
ana the chute cut loose. II dropped
Ike a log for hundred feet, then
opened aud came slowly down 10 earth.
Repeated experiments convinced each
thai II was safe trick with a man ia
place OF the bag OF sand. Van TasSei
then went TO Frisco TO interview the
newspapers and get them 10 send spe-
Gals 10 Los Angeles. but while he was
away the impatient BAldwins expert
ntuted themselves and Sam made the
trst jump In history safely and easily.
The Rsldwtns Were quick TO realize
TIE money ya,ue Of being frkt in the
keld and they started east 10 inaugur-
ate the sport there. The greatly tn
esnsed Van TasSei broke with them
and getting an outfit began making as.
cents himself.
Ael Drew Imm-as. crowd..
Toe new act lsaped into popular IA
rOr a, once, The incredible daring OF
The performance and the seeming fact
ia, IL was moro than an equal chance
TIA; the aeroaau, would be dashed TO
plpsca Grew immense crowds every
where the leep was advertised 10 take
plaee, The man sho rode the bag"
ecu,d command almost any price he
asked For some time the three bali
lOotls,s who told each other hard-lnck
stories In Los Angeles had the ield 10
themselves Most % tho other aero
tauss weye afraid OF Il. with four as.
tlrtaHis snd pushing manager the
h2l&wlrs made a tour around the
xu'ld. In year and half they net
ted = cool si00. 900 in cash. To this
der added bis money secured from the
nsaaEryH uF many eastern resorts
rive hundred dollars Was the fixed
saarEe for one performance.
With the advent % other riders Of
he bag" as the technical term 81 the
pTo'casinn is. prices begun 70 drop.
nanr Janp~rs TirlaE Prices Down.
From $1,000 that was once paid for
Fourth of Juiy performances nj the big
resorts. pflcea went steadily down
Satd. Until $3.50 waa reached. sHn
saftN sA'F HANA sstltlet AAiN HNWAAash AhN
ruling price Ia from s2S 10 $40. due
largely to the preaoneo OF many
farmers" in the business men who
Use Il "a a means % making n little
AIDE money during the summer, No
one has ever complied an accurate list
Of the number Of men who depend up
90 tho parachute jumping rs = means
q livelihood. but estimates range from
30 to 500. with no bazis Of guessing
Dos many local performers there are.
startling Novelties Devised.
Tho public craze for novelty. com
hned with the desire 10 excel. caused
number Of startling innovations.
Fiat came the man and woman. then
later the dog was added. First tho
man and women rode on the same bar.
Later they had separate parachutes.
Ufd To fhn aafpn haF Whom the dog