Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-08-29
TUMBL|NG BY RULES,
Every Move of an Acrobat Is
Carefully Calculated.
CHANCE FALLS DANGEROUS.

II a TumbIer Loses His Balance Acct
dentaIly and Coos Down His Skill
Will Not Be a Factor In Saving Him
From Getting Hurt.
''1f there is one thing more than an
other that pains me-" said a leading &C.
robat, its these stories you read some
times OF 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 OF and will fall Just as far
and just as hard as the man or woman
who does not ven know bow to turn
q somersauh I speak, as I say, from
bitter experience, and no doubt any
other circus OF vaudeville tumbler
would emphasize this should you
bother to ask him.
THE explanation Is simple enough,
II perhaps you have not grasped 1t al
ready, %embodying as 1t does the fact
that tumbling is a science and that
every move, however careless or slip
shod it may appear to the spectator. is
a calculated move and that any tumble
or fail proceeds in certain definite
moves from start to finish as exact and
perfect as q problem in arithmetic.
1.-THE act may incite roars Of laugh
ter, but I wonder would the laughter
be so great did the spectators know
how that mirth provoking stunt had
been worked owe from point to point
and studied and practtced. Well, 1
suppose it's like any other business
where the glamour is all on the outside.
Speaking Of tumbling 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, l think it was, to
some little n tent town down the
line, and the members Of the troupe
were packed in a long caboose on the
roor of a froirht tro{r -h3oh r-oo
made UP partly Of u property cars.
ut was raining hard that night and
black as a tent rigger's heart. The ca
boose was so Sitting hot that two or
three members Of u 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 a stand
still, and there we stood for at least
ten minutes, with all sorts of rafting
and 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 a peep. Sure enough, there was
a big blaze up forward-a railroad
station, every one thought it was, but
it turned out to be two Of our forward
| cars.
"Mind 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 caboose 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. q lady elephant tumbler was
| right behind Luke, and 1t was a race
for the bottom. l was next, but as l
saw the others disappear I reached
up and caught the hand rail just as my
feet dangled in the air. 1t was a mat
ter of but a second to pull up again.
but before 1 had my feet fair on the
step I could hear from below a sort of
dull splash and screams of gurgling
terror.
1--WE got lanterns and ran down the
side of the %trestle, thinking to find two
dead persons. but instead we discov-
cred in about a foot Of water and six
feet of mud the two tumblers and
wedged in so tight they could not
nov 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.
GAS for me, n night in the Coliseum
in Kansas City the heel Of my shoes
caught in the end Of the platform on
which / was doing a turn, and 1 dived
off the platform on my shoulder,