Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-10-16

| RI HE ness: anu Il cutSOlS
| examination of the
environments that
many men choose
R apparently OF their
ewu free Wills leads one to believe 'hht
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 professiont lie en-
dangers life and limb nttnuali!-
billboard "thrlllers,' which grow every
year more nerve-racking. The hoop inc
loop is already Il thing of the past by
Tar too tame for the up-to-date circus
and 1t is no longer sufficient to nave
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 u
looped the gap In an automobile. turn
Ing upside down in midair.
Modern psychologists declare that
violent contrasts and great nervous
shocks are craved by a 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 n leap for life on slender
skees." From q platform more than
100 feet above the ground, he coasts on
narrow wooden runners, eight feet In
length, down a long slippery runway
tilted Mt an agile of As 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
fight an arc 35 feet high at the center.
The high diver who plunges from an
elevation of 90 or 60 feet into q tank
Of water as shallow and ms narrow. 1T
would seem, as can be built and still
allow one chance for life to remain, Is
of course a constant attraction. Few
Of those who follow this mild pastlme
live to make use of nm accident in quite
the same way as did one Edward l..
Pape. After receiving nm injury to the
fifth vertebra which raised a 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 in
damages by falling Off their cars and
Stimulating the actions of a man whose
ypine had just been injured.
steep1ejack and Iron Worker.
If their managers are to be believed.
men and women that perform these
teats receive proportionately high sal
aries, and are thus in q measure repaid.
But the steeplejack and the structural;
tronworker labor in really useful fields
fo< day wages which, to the ordinary
p7osa.o mortal ct least, seem not at all
commensurate with the risks they run.
Only a year or two ago a n~onchalant
stseplsjack climbed up and down the
face Of the Flatiron building In New
York City with no other aid han that
of 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 or narrow
iron Orders 100 feet and more above
the level Of the street, throwing red
hot rivets from n to another, and
driving them home with giant swings
Of sledges that would cause the ordin-
airy man to lose his balance even on
terra frma. Not content with these
risks they often ride through midair
on tho long iron beams that the der
rick raises from the ground md lowers
again into position ten, twenty, stories
above. High in the air without visible
means Of support, they engage In mimic
fights for the benefit Of the open-mouth-
ei bystanders. They have even been
known to stand on their heads on the
vsfy highest upright Of n skyscraper.
The Placid Well Shooter.
The business Of w~ell-shooting de-
serves mention. Here the perils center
not 50 much about the men that do the
actual work as about those who carry
nitro-g1ycerin to the wells. With n few
dozen cans Of his extremely high ex-
plosive on his mule wagon, the driver
sits placidIy beside a catastrophe com
parable only to the crack o doom
Driving through mountainous country,
he Is In constant danger Of being blown
to atoms for the slightest jar is like
~ to cause IN explosion.
A few years ago, one of these mule
tsers approaching the town Of Newton,
Pa, along a straight road, halted his
team and alighted, intending to be gone
only a moment. Left without guiding
hand, however. the mules became fright
sned, and started toward the town at a
wild pace.
Some one saw them coming, and rec
ognizing the dunger, turned back to-
ward the village, shouting to the nhab-
.tsnts to Gee for their lives, In the
very center of the town the road
swerved in q curve, and it was lmpos-
sible that the mules could make the
turn without upsetting the wagon. The
Inhabitants, expecting every minute the
destruction of their homes. fed in hope
less confusion toward the woods, for
getting that at the curve In the road.
right in the path OF the disaster, stood
4 schoolhouse filed with children toe
young to make their escape. The
schoolmaster, who had been apprised of
the danger, saw hat 1t would be i'm
possible to remove them in time, and
seized the only alternative. Grasping