The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-08-14
PERILOUS SITUATION.
HUNG BY HIS TEETH HALF HOUR
IN AIR.
Coney Island Slack Wire Performer
Finally Rescued From Peril With

Coney Island Slack Wire Performer
Finally Rescued From Peril With
Life Net.
The New York Times says the
dark thunder clouds which preceded
Tuesdays storm were just beginning
TO come up into the sky, driven by
steadily increasing wind, when
The Flying Howard" the profes-
slonal title of Billy Howard, aero
bat, trapezist and strong-jawed man.
VINO appears at Dreamland, Coney
Island, started his Slide for life"
hanging by his teeth to a leather
thong attached to a pully running
over slack wire stretching from
the. top of the Dreamland tower
down to the lighthouse atop the
Shoot the Chutes platform.
Many thousands feet beneath him
crowd of nearly 1000, most of them
women and children, stood gazing
upward, where but moment before
Howard and his wife had completed
trapeze act; on wire just below
the one to which the athlete then
hung.
AT a signal Howard sprang from
the platform far up on the tower,
and, with arms extended, shot out
and downward, clinging only by his
teeth, at pace which grew swifter
with every foot. The wire sagged
beneath his wei Until presently
the expanse between Howard's sway
ing figure and the end of the wire
had assumed an almost horizontal
position. The wire had been strung
too loose.
The watching crowds saw Howard's
pace slacken perceptibly, each in
slant growing slower, until at last
the whirling figure, buffeted by the
wind then blowing with almost 4
hurricanes fury, stopped and Ho-
ward, clinging by his teeth, revolved
slowly round and round above the
heads of the crowd.
The storm broke almost at the
same moment, but the downpour OF
rain, the vivid flashes of lightning,
and the rumble of thunder could not
drive the crowd to cover. All stood
gazing up at the athlete, who was
tsignalling desperately with his
hands. His face was upturned TO
the rain; with his teeth he clutched
the leather strap, and it was impossi-
BILE for him to shout for help OF give
directions for aiding him
Mrs. Howard had been watching
| her husband, and the spectacle Of
him swinging helpless above her
head overcame the woman. With q
cry, HE will be killed." she tainted,
and men in the crowd carried her
into the Emergency hospital, where
Dr. Smith attended her. Other wo-
men promptly followed Mrs. Ho-
wards example and there was inten-
Sc excitement.
Meantime other performers and
employees Of the park were shouting
encouragement to Howard, although
at loss for method of aiding him.
Howard tried hard to haul himself
to the wire by his hands. The strap
to which he clung by his teeth was
just long enough to prevent his get
ting his hands upon the wire. The
strap itself was soaked by rain and
quickly became so slippery that to
clutch it in his hands only relieved
the strain on his jaws a tritle, while
to draw himself up to the wire by
it proved impossible, his hands slip
ping back each time he instructed
more than the slightest weight to-
their grip Then some one raised
the shout:
Get a life net!
The cry was taken up through the
crowd and Howard waved his han0,
apparently to signify that he couid
hold on a few minutes more. Already
| men hdQ SLdTleu W" al IhS dooA-
ers of the fire show in Surf avenue,
and when they returned there came
with them John Green, foreman OF
the show, with half dozen employ
es carrying one of the life nets used
in their exhibition. The men TOOK
their positions and Creme, waiting
until Howard's swaying form hung
for an instant almost perpendicular
" over the net, shouetd the word.
Howard opened his clenched teeth
A gasp arose from the crowd. Before
thew could inhale another breath,
the athlete was safe in the net and
dozen hands were assisting him
out of it to the ground. The crowd
was forced back and he was hurried
70 the Emergency hospital, exhausted
and almost overcome by the exper-
ience he had undergone.
Howard hung by his teeth 1oF
nearlv half an hour.