The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-01-13
Looping the Loop
fOrigtnal.1

bike. and the manager toIe me last
night that next week l was to git out.
That set me to thinkin'. and I've just
hit on soInepin better. I'm goin' to
shoot down an incline. up ii loop. cross
a break. up another incline and across
another break and of the stage"
L sakes. Nan: yen break yer
neck,'
You bet ! won't"
The next week the billposters We're
putting up flaming pictures of Nile.
Yvonne P~asconnu. recently from Paris
double looping the loop. The perform
ance was to take place ut the sam.
theater where Fanny Anderson. alias
Nan Brennan. had been performing lie.
astonishing bicycle feats. which We.
now to be outdone by the daring Mile
P~asconnu.
The small boys look ed at the pie
lures and began to save their pelnie,
'or u gallery admission. Men wondered
if the feat wee to lie done without IL
act: women declared the performance
vulgar. but wanted to See it. On
the night of the first performance long
before tie curtain rose Standing
Room Only" placards were put up. ana
there was sery little of that The audi
ence waited inlp;,tiently while the 9th
er varieties were gone through With.
and when the last. the doub.e looping
the loop by Nile. IruulIe l'asconnu.
came round. the house WAS OH the tip
toe of expectation. The curtain Was
down for IL quarter of an hour. and be
hind it the meYiIg Of frames md tie
pount.inE of hammers could lie dis
tincti.y heard. Then. after the orches-
tra had exhausted itseif. the curtain
was pulled up and revealed The struc-
ture IN which The feat of the %eveain.
was to be performed.
When ~mademoiSeiIe came on the
stage. there was deafening applause.
Fanny Anderson had worn her own
Irish red hair and white and rose COM
ple2 on without the freckleS but
Mile. Yvonne P~asconnu's hair was Il
raven black. and her complexion was
Of an olive tint. As she came tripping
for1s ard in her tight costume not one
Of the audience saw in the little French
girl with Il bridged nose the Irish Fan
ny Anderson with her nasal pug. Aft
II bowling to several rounds of APP
Jlause niademoiselIe approached a sill
&c. IlOti!lith bit1 ere WAN Il SIitIoEiuS
jewel in each end of the handle bar.
leaning against Il wing. and Inspected IT
carefully: then. going to the foot of the
loop structure. she walked slowly up il.
testing it at different points. picking up
a nutshell, ii bit of wood, q piece OF
rope. and throwing them down on the
stage.
While this was going on a supe took
f.Aa u-hnAI ~Ft +fAo .+.
after walking through the loop and
looking up at each OF the two breaks
or Intervals. as if wondering ii it would
be possible to shoot them in safety.
TODD on II platform high above the
.taSe and made a farewell bow: then
she disappeared through a door. and
the audience waited b~reathlessly. every
eye fixed on u door above leading on to
The loop.
The orchestra had 5een playing dur
In. the Inspection. but ceased as soon
as mademoiselle disappeared. Daring
the three minutes thai elapsed between
her disappearance and the opening OF
the door leading on to the loop there
was not a word spoken in the audience.
Suddenly ~mademoiselle on her bicy-
Gle shot out and descended the first
81 VI lax iSOp- hsIN
expected to see her figure rounded
down to the hazardous work; but.
though she moved so rapidly that they
could not follow her distinctly. she
seemed to sit as though Il thorough
abandonment to forces beyond her con
troll was far safer than any effort on
her part.
When she had passed the first break
in safety there was Il sigh of relief in
the audience. The second break vas
shorter and the radius of the loop less.
She passed it aud in a ~twinkling shot
off the stage.
Then there were a terrific burst of
applause and an encore. After a long
interval m3demoiselle came out bow
ed, disappeared and in a few minutes
again. seated on her wheel. burst into
view.
There was no diminution to the thrill
which had pervaded the audience at
the first trial. Again -mademoiselie sat
her wheel as if resigned to whatever
her fate might be and committing her
self to force. She safely passed the
first loop. and with slightly diminish
speed came to the second. This
time the fore wheel struck against the
on the other side of the
break and -mademoiselle, head down.
fell to the bottom OF the loop.
A thrill of horror ran through the
audience. Before the result of the &C
cident could be determined the curtain
rung down. Women tainted, men
while some left the theater
not caring to hear the
announcement that mademoiselle had
been killed outright. In a few min
utes the manager stepped before the
and announced hat the wonder
Of agility had fallen on her hands and