Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-08

Thirty years as a parachute jumper
is life more venturesome than falls t
the lot of most men. That anyone whC
attempts It should end his days al
sound In body and health as when hC
began is remarkable, and yet one may
find many parachute jumpers at the
Aero clubs exhibit at the automobile
show. They usually gather around the
flying machines, where they spin yarns
and talk about next season."
Alexander Wilson of Bar Harbor
Me-, is dean OF the fraternity, despite
the fact that he has given up an excit-
ing career to settle down to the daily
grind of an inventor Wilson Is so, but
supple and strong as when he was leap
Ing from the clouds as a drawing card
for county fairs and farmers picnics.
He took to parachute jumping when
an engineers apprentice, because it Of
fered him more money than he could
make pounding rivets. Besides, he
wanted funds to help him secure a pat
ent for dying machine. That was In
so, and today Wilson has his device
perfected, the papers i'm his pocket, and
his creation is on exhibition among the
heavier than air. machines. 1t looks
like the skeleton of square dry goods
box, with two wings propelled by mo-
tor within the frame work.
The popular idea of a parachute
jumper is n spectacular sort of person,
loud I'm his talk. dress and manner.
Wilson is the opposite. Like many 9TH
er inventors, he has his eccentricities.
He is slow in his speech. careless as TO
his clothes, and has the down east
drawl One might easily mistake him
for a fisherman.
Wilson can fly. His longest horizon
tai progress through the air has been
100 feet. Perpendicularly, he has made
several hundred times that, but this he
doesn't count for, according to him,
amy one can jump from a balloon"
Il began going aloft in 1S69-anyway,
it was about that time" he said today.
1T was the year of the Boston peace
jubilee. when they had a. captive bal
loon in that city. l stayed with the
balloon until '73, when 1 made my first
jump, out in Iowa, and after that 1
stuck to jumping. More money in it.
When town is getting up show, or a
fair, or picnic, and wants crowd,
you contract to deliver the goods
That's all there is to it. You're paid
to give the people a scare, and your job
It's easy money. Sometimes the peo-
pie are unrea asonable, and then you have
to risk your neck or be called a faker
by the local newspapers. If it is bad
weather. or your balloon catches fire,
or the wind is too high, and you think
you have a good excuse to stay down,
the crowd hollers that you're coward,
the newspapers say you're playing a
shell game, and that hurts your busi-
1t
after you are advertised there is nothing
to do but go up. wind storm, fire, or
anything else. Give the people their
worth.
THE most dangerous thing in these
situations is fire. All jumpers balloons
are inflated with hot air, and often
catch fire. But the jumper mustn't back
out. He must cast off and go up with
his bag ablaze taking his chances on
jumping before the balloon burns
enough to drop.
"At Buffalo once I was billed to jump
from a height of 100 feet, and because
l shaved 500 off the first day the man
agement cried fraud and held up the
Next day there was a mob on
the fair grounds, and those nearest the
balloon jeered at me. l made the long
est drop in my life that day. After
cast off and went up 1 hung to the
balloon until l lost sight of Buffalo,
and then cut loose. The wind carried
me beyond Tonawanda. had my mad
up that day, and if there hadn't been
a duty on balloons L would have crossed
the lake and dropped in Canada.
All Jumpers Are Tied to the Trapeze
spectators at a fair who come to see
a parachute jump get the impression
that the man depends entirely upon his
hands to hold to the trapeze, This is
a mistake. The jumper could not afford
to do this, because he has use for his
hands. l always snapped myself to the
trapeze bar while going up, and then
turned my attention to the folds of the
parachute. You see it is necessary that
they do not become tangled, but are
perfectly free to open the minute the
jumpers weight stretches them out.
Then, again, the jumper has also to
think of his balloon and where it is |
going to land. His object is to tip the