Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-10-24
NERVE RAcKiNe CIRCUS ACTS.
Some Of the Many Ways Of Breaking
Your Neck.


Some Of the Many Ways Of Breaking
Your Neck.
Looping the loop and its progeny are
the most effective devices yet invented
for producing apparent as well as real
danger, says the Scientific American.
Does any one still remember the Amer
ican bicyclist who used to ride at ter
rifying speed down a steeply inclined
sixty foot ladder? One night an at
tack Of vertigo caused his death. but
his act was less dangerous than the
performances on inverted and aerial
paths to which we have since become
accustomed.
In looping the loop, first performed
by James Smithson, better known as
Diavolo, a bicyclist starts from a plat
form 60 feet high and plunges down a
track which extends obliquely for 100
feet to the ground, and thence rises
to form a complete spiral loop 20 or
25 feet in diameter. The speed ac-
quired by the cyclist in descending the
inclined plane carries him around the
loop. When Diavolo. preceded by
great reputation. came to Paris he
found one Noiset, known professionally
as Mephisto, preparing to loop the loop
at a rival music hall.
While several cyclists were prepar-
ing to loop the loop honestly, one man.
unwilling to risk his life for the amuse-
ment Of spectators, devised loop with
concealed groove which guided his
wheel and kept 1t from falling. His
trick was accidentally exposed by a
clown who got his foot caught In the
groove, and the disgraced looper fell
into obloquy and oblivion.
The public soon tires Of the strong
ns. sensations. The stationary loop
gave place to the rotating circle called
the devils wheel, in which the cyclist
spi1s like a squirrel. Taking his
place inside the wheel, which is about
fifteen feet in diameter, he pedals In
direction opposite to that Of the
wheel, and thus remains at the bottom
until the wheel has acquired consid-
erable velocity. Then he stops pedal
ling. applies his brake, and Is carried
backward and upward nearly to the
top, whence he rushes down, and flies
around and around the revolving wheel
with startling speed.
At a performance in Vienna a cy-
clist stricken with apoplexy fell from
the wheel and soon expired. But the
danger Of cerebral congestion Is not
the only one The critical phase Of the
act Is the last when both the bicycle
and the large wheel are being brought
to rest by brakes. The bicycle lurches,
and the slightest error in steering may
send it through the open side Of the
wheel and precipitate the rider to the
stage. ~
In Germany a genius called "Eclair
invented an Internal wheel Of another
sort. twas about 25 feet in diameter,
and a smaller wheel rolled round In
side Of 1t, obtaining Its impetus from
a plunge down an inclined plane, which
made descent OF nifty feet. To this
small wheel "Eclair" was lashed in
spreadeagle fashion. He accustomed
himself to this novel mode Of locom-
otion by having himself strapped to a
similar wheel, which was turned rap
idly about a fixed axis by means Of
a crank.
More startling and perilous than any
Of these devices Is the "circle Of death"
This is a large, fiat, truncated cone,
like the rim Of a pudding dish, sup
ported by ropes in a position slightly
inclined to the horizontal, so that only
one side of the lower and smaller edge
rests on the stage. Bicyclists-one or
more-en.er the central space and run
up and around the steep side with
their machines and bodies nearly hor-
izoatal. Then to add to the apparent
and real danger, the whole apparatus
Is raised aloft. The effect Is thrilling,
for the riders appear to be in constant
danger Of falling In Berlin, as three
cyclists, were gyrating In a single
circle of death, one fell and carried a
second down with him. They had
scarcely reached the stage when the
third performer fell also.
1.-THE globe Of DEATH" an interesting
and comparatively safe act recently
exhibited in New York theatre. COM
bines some Of the features Of looping
the loop and the DEVILS wheel. Two
bicyclists, a man and a woman, enter
stationary latticework globe some
twenty feet in diameter and course
around it at great speed In both ver-
tical and horizontal circles.
All Of the acts hitherto described
are performed with complete circles or
loops. The next development was the
removal Of the topmost part Of the
vertical loop, leaving an air space
through which the bicyclist flies head
downward. This feat is called loop
II g the gap"
Mile. Dutrieu, "the human arrow"
produces a more graceful effect by ira
versing a gap in a track which would
no., II complete, form a loop. The
first section of the track Is a plane
100 fee: long, inclined 80 degrees to the
horizontal and terminating in a short
upward curve. The second section be-
gins with a saddleback curve and ends
in a plane inclined upward for the
purpose Of bringing the bicycle to rest.
The two sections are separated by a
gap Of fifty feet, through which the
cyclist flies like an arrow. 1t Is worthy
of note that women formed a large
majority Of the spectators Of the hu-
man arrows first public flight.
feat performed by the cyclist
Marok might be called looping without
loop. The track resembles the first
section used by the human arrow, but
the upward curve Is longer and forms
an arc Of a circle. At the foot of the
incline and the commencement Of the
curve the bicycle is caught by wire
suspended from the centre OF this cir
Gle. The machine, therefore, after ira