The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1908-11-06

u La: examination OF the
&;7l employments III t
fM many men choose
M apparently Of their
own free Wills leads one to believe that
It is really a widespread sentiment
On what other grounds. for instance
can one explain the extreme non
chalance with which the circus per-
former follows his profession? He en-
dangers life and limb continually-in
billboard ''thrillers," which grow every
year more nerve-racklng. The loop the
loop Is already a thing Of the past, by
| far too tame for the up-to-date circus !;
and 1t is no longer sufficient to have
men place their lives in the balance,
but young women must needs be I'M
pressed also. Take Miss Isabel Butler,
for instance, who day in and day out
looped the gap in an automobile. turn
'ug upside down in midalr.
Modern psychologists declare that
violent contrasts and great nervous
shocks are craved by large proportion
of the people. 1t is to satisfy this
craving that the circus managers search
the wide world over for men and wom-
en- Of daring, to introduce the thrill
ers." One Of the latest has been a
Norwegian, who travels the country
exhibiting in "a leap for life on slender
skees" From platform more. than
100 feet above the ground, he coasts on
narrow wooden runners, eight feet In
length, down a long slippery runway
tilted at an agile of 45 degrees, to with
\ in hardly a yard Of the level Of the
arena, and then shoots out one hundred
feet through space, describing in his
Digit an arc 50 feet high at the center.
The high diver who plunges from an
elevation Of 90 or 60 feet into a tank
Of water as shallow and as narrow, 1t
would seem, as can be built and still
allow one chance for life to remain, is
Of those who follow this mild pastime
live to make use of an accident in quite
the same way as did one Edward L.
Pape. After receiving an injury to the
fifth vertebra which raised lump on
the back Of his neck, he toured the big
cities with two confederates to serve
as witnesses and mulcted street rail.
way companies for large amounts I'm
damages by falling off their cars and
Stimulating the actions Of man whose
spine had just been injured.
steeplejack and Iron Worker.
If their managers are to be believed,
men and women that perform these
feats receive proportionately high sal
aries, and are thus in measure repaid.
But the steeplejack and the structural;
ironworker labor in really useful fields
for day wages which, to the ordinary
prosaic mortal at least, seem not at all
commensurate with the risks they run.
Only a year or two ago a nonchalant
steeplejack climbed up and down the
face Of the FlatirOn building in New
York City with no other aid than that
# his hands and feet-for two dollars
No less needless Of their lives are
the ironworkers, who, in the everyday
course of work, run around on narrow
iron Orders 100 feet and more above
the level Of the street, throwing red
hot rivets from one to another, and
driving them home with giant swings
of sledges that would cause the ordin
airy man to lose his balance even or
terra flrma. Not content with these
risks they often ride through midail
on the long iron beams that the der
rick raises from the ground and lowers
again into position ten, twenty, stories
above. High in the air without visibl,
means of support, they engage in mimic
fights for the benefit Of the open-mouth
ell bystanders They have even beer
known to stand on their heads on tn,
very highest upright Of skyscraper.
The Placid Well Shooter.
The business Of well-shooting de
serves mention. Here the perils cente
not so much about the men that do tn,
actual work as about those who carr!
nitro-giyeerin to the wells. With a few
dozen cans Of this extremely high ex
plosive on his mule wagon, the drive
e sits placidly beside catastrophe com
parable only to the crack O doom
Driving through mountainous country
he Is In constant danger Of being blow
to atoms; for the slightest jar Is like
ly to cause an explosion.
A few years ago, one Of these mule
teers approaching the town of Newton
Pa, along a straight road, halted hi
team and alighted, intending to be gon
only a moment. Left without glidin
hand, however. the mules became fright