River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-02-07
DUE TO LOSS OF NERVE.
times Seizes Upon Trick Per-
formers at Critical Moment.

"Joc Stark, the trick cyclist who
was killed doing hign dive in New
York the other day, Travelled for a
season with Davis circus" said
sporting man recently to a New Or
leans Times-Democrat reporter. Il
was with the show at the same time.
on the business staff, and ! got to
know Joe very well. | see bY the
papers that his death was due to
misealculation of over 30 feet in the
dive, and the reporters are wonder
ing how in the world he could have
made such a biunder To anyone ac-
quaintcd with performers OF his class,
however, the thing is no mystery.
They are all subject to queer spells
of panic, that come without any par
ticular reason and unfit them tenn
porarily for business. tt a man per-
sists in doing his act at sach a time,
the consequences are altogether a
matter of chance, and the majority
of the accidents within my recollec-
ton have been attributable to that
cause While / was i'm the show busi-
ness ] witnessed several striking IN
stances of this mysterious loss of
nerve, perhaps the most remarkable
being that Of a little Englishman who
did very sensational act on the fly
ing trapeze lie had two bars sus-
pended at opposite sides of the ring,
about 40 feet from the ground, and
finished his performance with the
feat that is called I'chelle.' in the
slang of the circus. ! don't know
where the word comes from, but in
doing the turn the gymnast swings as
far as he can on one trapeze, lets go,
throws a somersault and catches the
other, the danger depending on the
distance he travels through the air.
The Englishman was slow
spoken, rather stupid little fellow,
who had been brought up in the ring
and was as nearly destitute Of emo
ton as anybody | ever saw. his hab-
its were excellent like those of most
professional athletes, and be did his
work with mechanical precision
that almost excluded the possibility
Of a mishap. One night his helper
got drunk. and / went with him to
the little aerial platform from which
he took his long swing, for the pur-
pose of holding back the bar while
he got ready to launch himself into
space. AS ! was busying myself with
the ropes l heard him groan and,
looking around, was thunderstruck to
see him as white as n sheet and trem-
bling like a man with the ague
What's wrong. Fred? / whispered
oh, Lord. he said between his teeth
I'm just in funk, an awful funk
! was so astonished / could hardly
credit my senses, but ] realized that
something would have TO be done TO
prevent a fiasco that would ruin him
in the business. Pretend you've
sprained your arm / said, and leave
the rest 10 me. Now, let's get down
quick He was so unnerved he could
hardly descend the rope ladder, and
the audience began 10 buzz with sur.
prise / sent him to the dressing
tent and said a few words to the ring
master, who made a little speech ex-
planning that Mr. had injured his
arm climbing to the platform and
would be obliged to omit his usual
finale. Later on found the poor
fellow lying on his costume trunk
sobbing like a child, but next morning
he was all right. and ] never knew
him to have another seizure. You
may rest assured Joe Stark met his
death through just such an unac-
countsole collapse. 1t probably took
him as he started to make his dive
and pride forbade him to hold back"