The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-10-31
FIRST PARACHUTE JUMP
START OF A SPORT WHICH HAS
BECOME COMMON.

The parachute Jumper is o recent
product In the profession Of balloon
ing.
| The first parachute jumper was Sam
Baldwin. now successful manufac-
turer of balloons. He his brother and
Professor Van Tassel, all three gas
balloon men, happened to meet In
Los Angeles hotel In the summer of
| 1887. Each had a hard luck story to
tell and 1t was unanimously agreed
that the business had gone to the
dogs. AS means of resuscitating 1t,
Baldwin suggested the parachute leap.
| The others did not believe 1t possible
| for a man to make the jump and live.
| None of them was willing to make
the experiment, so a bag Of sand was
used. The balloon was sent up with
! q long string attached to the para
! chute rope. When the bag had risen
| three-quarters of nile the cord was
pulled and the chute cut loose. 1t
dropped like n log for 100 feet, then
opened and came slowly down to
earth.
Repeated experiments convinced the
! trio that 1t was a safe trick with q
man in place of the bag of sand. Van
Tassel then went to San Francisco to
interview the newspapers and get
them to send reporters to Los Angeles,
but while he was away the impatient
Baldwins experimental themselves,
I and Sam made the first jump in his
tory safely and easily.
The Baldwins were quick to realize
I the money value of being first in the
field, and they started East to intro
duce the sport there. Greatly incensed
| Van Tassel broke with them and get
ting an outfit began making ascents
| himself.
The new act leaped into popular
favor at once. The daring fact that 1t
was more than an equal chance that
the aeronaut would be dashed to pieces
drew crowds wherever the leap was
advertised to take place. The man
who rode the bag" could command
almost any price he asked. For some
time the three balloonists had the field
to themselves. Most of the other
aeronauts were afraid of 1t. With
four assistants and a pushing mana
ger the Baldwins made a tour around
the world. In year and half they
netted 100000 in cash.
With the advent of other "riders
Of the bag" prices began to drop.
From $1,000 that was once paid for
Fourth of July performances at the
big resorts, prices went steadily down
ward, until $3.50 was reached. Still
more recruits came, and nowadays the
ruling price Is from $25 to $40 No
one has ever compiled an accurate list
of the number of men who depend
upon the parchaute jumping as a
means of livelihood, but estimates
range from 300 to 500.
The public craze for novelty, COM
bined with the desire to excel, caused
number of innovations. First came
the man and woman, then later the
dog was added. First the man and
woman rode on the same bar Later
they had separate parachutes, tied to
the same bar. Then came the man
riding bicycle in midair. When he
left the ground he was pedalling at a
great rate. This he kept up as long
as he was in sight. 1t looked very
risky, but it wasn't.
Later came the man who fred him
self out of a cannon in midair This
was spectacular and taking, but a
. great deal of fake. The folded chute
was first placed inside a big tube Of
tin mounted on stanchions and car
riage of the same fimsy material,
painted black to resemble iron. Then
the performer crawled in. He had
concealed In the breast of his "leo-
tard," the half coat used by all tumb-
iers and trapeze artists, a pistol, pro-
! vided with blank cartridges. The bal
loon was released in the ordinary man.
/ ner, and when 1t reached q proper
height the aeronaut exploded his cart
| ridge, and ''the human cannon BALI
dropped into view.
After mere half dozen short swings
to and fro the ascent is almost direct
ly upward. The man who Is quitting
the earth is, curiously enough, the
| SN@'J SHS "bo uONSh ltcl lllitl ne ID
doing anything of the kind. AS he
sits in his trapeze and gazes down
ward there is no sensation of motion
or of giddiness. The earth Is dropping
away from him. He Is sitting still
suspended from nothing. 1t is just
as though he had sat himself in a high
swing and dropped broad object
downward.
To the novice 1t Is wonderful
sight. The earth seems to be saucer
shaped, the valleys and hills and riy-
ers mere miniatures in wax that the
sun has melted and caused to run. Just
beneath you seems the lowest point,
while the horizons appear to be COM
ing up to meet you. You are looking
at the earth through the small end of
your opera glass and some one is
rapidly turning the focusing bar.
The first two or three seconds after
cutting loose Is the time when the
only real terror is felt. No matter
how many times the parachute jump
er repeats the experience he cannot
escape the sensation, the complete
goneness at the pit of the stomach.
When he is ready to let go he takes
a long, full breath-several of them
In fact ana sets his muscles hard.