The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-09-03
FALLING FROM THE SKY.
SENSATIONS OF 4 PARACHUTE
 LEAPER AS HE DROPS.

Usual Fee Is Ten Dollars, but a Good
 Worker Gets Morc-The Need of
 Good LandIng-some of the Risks
 Attached.
 "Flyin's all right. but when you come to light it ain't such a thunderin' sight O fun"
 Such is the remark attributed to Da- rius Green in the classic description of his experences with his flying machine, and the other day the Queen of the Clouds spoke to the same effect. You are liable to get an awful bump she said.
 | The queen, when not in the clouds, is a rather matronly little woman with a ! bright smile and the appearance of be- l ing an excellent housekeeper.
 We're right at the beginning of our busiest season, now" she went on. "All the schutzenfests and big picnics want a parachute leap, and when the country fairs come on we'll be on the go, or I suppose it would be more correct to say I on the jump, all the.time. I'll be work ing about every day.
 l "As a general thing there's more in this business for a woman than for a man. The farmers at the fairs always l prefer one of us to do the leap. We l draw bigger crowds than the men, and this being so it is only right and proper that we should get bigger money, which usually we do. d. ''The regular price for the leap is ten dollars and expenses, but good wo- man leaper who knows her business won't look at that, especially if she does something out of. the, way, like the bomb leap.
 ''The bomb leap? Why, that's where 1 you and the parachute are in a big shell that's attached to the balloon. When you decide that it's time to cut loose, l that is, when you think you're up about two thousand feet, you pull the cord l that releases and opens the shell and lets you and the parachute out. At the same time there is an explosion of some powder that is fixed on the shell and a lot of smoke, and after that it's just the 1 ordinary leap, | Dangerous? Why, of coursei is. hope to quit after this season, but while you're in, the profession you've got to take your chances, just like the doctors that attend smallpox cases or anybody else that has living to make the best way they know how.
 But the profession ain'e. what it used to be. It's been cut into awful I can | tranO11ont EIicfgpofl1r fI,o ,.,t who generally made the contracts with the picnic people would get one-fifty for furnishing leap. and if he didn't make the leap himself the one that did would get fifty, anyway. <, 5.@I.. .-... 1 Now, as I say, nlany's thankful fo1 ten and expenses Why, there's some ir I this business that will actually offer tc supply the balloon, make the jump, pay their expenses and all for ten doIlai lbill.
 I How they do it I don't know, but live heard Of them riding into town or
 a freight car. If that ain't coming il low don't know what is; and these ter
 dollar men call themselves profession. .I als, too I ''The trouble with the business is that almost any one with good grip and steady nerves can make a leap about as twell as the old timers. There's boys
 that hang around fair grounds that will go up for nothing if they get the chance
 They hear the music and feel heroic and it gives them a big standing ir their gang, you see.
 This is usually the way boy gets
 to be a parachute leaper. If he lands
 safe the first time he's generally just
 wild to go up again. That's the fasci. nation of it. 1 "The aeronaut fill good many en-
 agreements for says to one of his boys
 the other day: 'Bilps cut the price Henry. He's willing to go up for three
 dollars Henry studies a minute ant