The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-08-13

for that matter at any city or town
which supports these summer devices
for extracting coin of the realm from
thine plebeians.
No matter how stolid he may be in
hfe's ordinary pursuits or how emo
tionless in an interurban wreck, MS
spine curls, his sympathetic nerve
system tickles and he is compelled
to give himself up to thrills. You can
find him in every resort where there
are scenic railways, roller-coasters,
velvet-coasters, figure-eights, shoot
the-chutes, dip-the-dips, leap-the-gaps,
ticklers and scores of other modes for
shooting the electric currents up and
down the spinal cord of the laughing,
bowling public.
He is a source of amusement for his
tutored city brother who tickles the
day ledger with pen during daylight
and cavorts about on amusement de-
vices throughout the summer evenings.
The city pleasure-seeker has much of
this sport and the thrills fail to rise
up in his anatomy the way they do in
that of the man, woman and child who
are taking their first turn at the
game.
Statisticians claim that there are so
many actual thrillers of different cali
ber and variety at work daily in the
United States that if one should travel
on every one Of them, just once, the
trip would take all summer. There
were more this year than ever before.
If all of the rides were strung out
they would reach clear across the con-
tinent, high browed scientists claim.
But that only goes to show that
America is amusement-crazy. The
populace and the elite, too, can't get
enough thrill. Not long ago, an ILL
nois man with an idea proposed to in
stall an automobile in the parks of the
country and this device was scheduled
to run down an incline, turn double
somersault and alight upon its wheels
again. Americas thrillers are terrific
and getting more so each year, but
the man from the middle west was
perhaps a bit premature with his
death-defying machine. Sometimes it
didn't alight as per program.
The process of starting a thrill
through the pleasure-seeker's frame
consists of laying out device which
combines both speed and the unexpect.
ed. This subject has been studied
by every amusement manager in the
United States and they can't get the
Jumps, drops and bumps long enough
or fast enough to attract your shekels
from your bank account to their Golfers
with the desired rapidity.
"Say, by heck, I'm afeared to ride
on thet shebang. 1t don't hev a safe
look, to me"
Well, hurting through the air faster
than an aeroplane In working order
certainly doesn't look safe, but at the
same time the visitor to the city who
made that remark did not know where
of he spoke. Every single device, no
matter how small, how large or how
4.safe-looking, is required to undergo
a rigid test by the building commits
sioners, before being allowed to accept
the public's dimes. There must be a
block system of lights, much the same
as that used by railway systems. also
stoppage devices on every incline to
prevent cars, chairs or other seating
vehicles from sliding backwards down
an incline.
The framework of the device is test
ed for its strength and made to sup
port far heavier weights than are ever
after made It's burden. On the curves
of riding thrillers there is the usual
horizontal track above the wheels of
the vehicle to prevent 1t from leaving
the scheduled pathway. Persons pos
sessing weak hearts are forbidden the
thrills and few accept the chance to
test that organ when in bad condition.
There are also straps. chains, guards.
etc, to hold the patron in the car and
Il he or she falls out 1t is little short
OF a miracle and only once or twice
season are accidents reported, 50
carefully do the amusement managers
guard the lives Of those who provide q
method Of bread-winningi