Evening journal., 1907-06-08
TUMBLNG BY RULES,
Every Move Of an Acrobat Is
Carefully Calculated.
CHANCE FALLS DANGEROUS.

If a Tumbor Loses His Balance Acct
dentally and Goes Down His ski.
Will Not Be a Factor In Saving Him
From Getting Hurt.
III there is one thing more than an
other that pains me- So a leading ac-
robat, "its these stories you read some
times or hear told Of circus tumblers
and clowns who in falling accidental
" have exercised their skill to escape
unhurt
"You read of an acrobat falling out
OF a window. but. with rare presence
Of mind, giving a sort Of wriggle just
as the sidewalk draws near, landing on
the back Of his neck in precisely the
right way and then bouncing to his
feet and bowling gracefully to the star
tied spectators.
"Oh, I've read Of such things time
and time again, but, take my word, they
are all fakes pure and simple My ex-
perience has been that If a tumbler
loses his balance accidentally he Is just
as badly Off and viii fall just as far
and just as hard as the man or woman
who does not even know how to turn
a somersault / speak, as ] say, from
bitter experience, and no doubt any
other circus or vaudeville tumbler
would emphasize this should you
bother to nsk him.
"The explanation = simple enough,
If perhaps You have not grasped It al
ready, embodying as It does the fact
that tumbling Is a science and that
every move, however careless OF slip
shod It may appear 70 the spectator, is
a calculated move and that any tumble
or fall proceeds In certain definite
moves from start TO finish as exact and
perfect as a problem IN arithmetic.
'The act may incite roars Of laugh
ter, but / wonder would the laughter
be so great did the spectators know
how that mirth provoking stunt had
been worked over from point 70 point
and studied and practiced Wen.
suppose It's like any other business
where the glamour is all on the outside.
Speaking Of tumbllng In real life,
you should have been with the Fore
paugh show one summer evening some
years back. We were doing a Sunday
jump from Topeka. / think It was, TO
some little one tent town down the
line, and the members OF the troupe
were packed in n long caboosc on the
rear Of freight train which was
made up partly Of our property cars.
1T was raining hard that night and
black as a tent riggers heart The ca
boose was so sitting hot that two or
three members Of our troupe would go
up In the caboose tower every now
and then. open the lookout window
and drink in the air.
"Finally the train came to q stand
still. and there we stood for at least
ten minutes. with all sorts Of rattling
ana humping going on ahead. At last
after about fifteen minutes one OF the
girls up IN the tower called down
that there was a FIRE ahead We all
crawled up. one after the other, and
took peep. Sure enough, there was
a big blaze up forward-a railroad
station, every one thought 1t was, but
It turned out TO be two Of our forward
cars.
"Mlnd you. the night was so black
that you could not see three feet ahead
OF your nose. The whole crowd made
a rush for the cahoose door, Luke
Stark was the first, and Luke was the
finest aerial tumbler In the country.
He had the chance Of his life right
there, for as he stepped Off the last
step, thinking TO hit the ground, he
hit nothing at ALL The bloomin' car
was on a trestle.
"well. a lady elephant tumbler was
right behind Luke. and It was a race
for the bottom. was next. but as
saw the others disappear reached
up and caught the hand rail Just as my
feet dongled IN the air II was a mat
ter of but a second to pull up again.
but before ! had my feet fair on tho
step could hear from below a sort Of
dull splash and screams OF gurgling
terror.
1--WE got lanterns and ran down tho
side Of the trestle. thinking 70 find two
dead persons. but instead we discov-
cred in about foot Of water and six
feet Of mud the two tumblers and
wedged In so tight they could not
move. We dug them out OF the mud.
hauled them back to the caboose, and
after they had changed their clothes
we asked them how they came to
make such nice falls out OF It. But
they only looked mad. OF course they
fell like any ordinary baby would have
fallen.
"As for me, one night in the Coliseum
I'm Kansas City the heel Of my shoes
caught I'm the end of the platform on
which / was doing a turn, and dived
on the platform on my shoulder,
spraining It frightfully. The audience
laughed At to kill. and Of course to
make good | climbed up on the plat.
form and fell again. but that time sci
enudcally, you bet Then 1 went to
bed.
by the way. Luke Stark. who fell
or that trestle. was killed in jumping
over elephants one night. and we
/ picked him up and made a burlesque OF
carrying him or. so that the audience
would not get out Of their laughing
mood. We were crying under our
! paint too. New York Post.
Beethoven.