Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-10-20


til many men choose
~ apparently of their
own free wills leads one to believe that
1t 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-ln
billboard "thrillers," which grow every
year more nerve-raeking. The loop the
loop is already 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
ing upside down in midair.
Modern psychologists declare that
violent contrasts and great nervoe--
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 a 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
fight an arc 35 feet high at the center.
The high diver who plunges from an
elevation of so or 60 feet into 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 course constant attraction. Few
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 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
spine had just been injured.
SteepIejack 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;
lronworker 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.
steeplejack climbed up and down the
face Of the Flatiron building in New
York City with no other aid than 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 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 on
terra f1rma. Not content with these
risks they often ride through midair
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 visible
means of support, they engage In mimic
fights for the benefit OF the open-mouth-
ell bystanders. They have even been
known to stand on their heads on the
very highest upright Of skyscraper.
The Placid Well Shooter.
The business Of well-shooting de-
serves mention. Here the perils center
not so much about the men that do the
actual work as about those who carry
nitro-glycerin to the wells. With few
dozen cans Of this extremely high ex-
plosive on his mule wagon, the driver
sits placidly 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
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 his
team and alighted, intending to be gone
only a moment. Left without guiding
hand, however, the mules became fright
ened, and started toward the town at
wild pace.
Some one saw them coming, and rec
ognizing the danger, turned back to-
ward the village, shouting to the inhab-
itants to fee for their lives. In the
very center of the town the road
swerved in a curve, aud it was impos-
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
q S(AlOOALOGSE hA4CA " III NAAt0A W.
young to make their escape. The
schoolmaster. who had been appraised Of
the danger, saw that it would be i'm
possible to remove them in time, and
seized the only alternative. Grasping
his umbrella, he rushed down the road
toward the advancing team. Tapping 1t
in their faces. 1t was one chance in
hundred-and It proved TO be that one.
The mules slackened their pace until
one Of those who had not yet left the
scene was able TO catch them by the
brides and bring them TO a stand
still.
Risks Run by Loggers.
In all rural communities on the edge
of civilization, life is a matter Of
chance; for the men that take upon
themselv-s the upbuildins Of The from
tier are brawny, hardy lot They live
and work only by the sufferance Of
their companions. and when one be
comes In any way objectionable he had
best make precipitate tracks for some