The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-26
DAREDEVIL DYING
AFTER LIFE LEAP
Thousands at Van Cortlandt
Park See Schreyer Make
Misdive Into Tank.
WIFE AND BABY PRESENT
Had Thrilled Audiences 2,O19
Times in Twenty Years
Prior to Mishap.

For twenty years Max schreyer Of 27s
North Palisade avenue, Hoboken. has
been going about the country with cir
cuses and street carnivals and working
at amusement parks, doing leap for
life"-riding q bicycle down q ninety
foot runway set at an angle Of forty
degrees and reaching to q height OF 1+a
feet. and then. at the end OF the rum
way. diving eighty-five feet into tank
of water seven feet square and four feet
deep. while the bicycle drops Into q net.
It has always been q thriller, an cot cali
culated to make the crowd hold its
breath, and Schreyer has been In such
demand that up to yesterday afternoon
he had done the stunt 1913 times.
But for several years MrA Schreyer
has beea begging her husband TO aban-
don the daredevil stunt and 6nd some
safer way Of making q living. Her in
sistence became stronger when their
baby was born five months ago. and
Schreyer promised her he would quilt
when no had done his leap for life Just
once more-and that was to be yester-
day afternoon at Van CortlAndt Park
for the benent Of the Salvation Army.
Mrs. Schreyer CONSENTED to let him
ulNo INC thuk anu VIII uok Ukuy
sho went to the park to see the stunt
for the last time. Schreyer, besides
giving his stunt for the benent Of the
army. refused to let the committee
in charge Of the show spend any money
on his preparations. but himself paid
the expenses Of erecting the runway
and the net and installing the little
tank into which he was to plunge
Schreyer always rode a specially con-
80 ed -
three days Mt the park testing his
equipment and measuring and getting
familiar with the distance. When ne
climbed with his bicycle to the top of
tho runway yesterday afternoon he had
everything as nearly perfect a. he could
make II. Moro than $4,000 persons
were there to sec him make the leap.
and in tho forefront Of tho crowd was
Mrs. Schreyer, with her baby in her
arms schreyer stood poised for . mo-
ment on the top Of the runway, cling
ing to an iron bar and gauging the dis
lance he must jump, and then he sud
denly let 70.
The bicycle shot down the incline
with lightning speed. The crowd noticed
that az the machine plunged down the
incline It wabbled slightly At one point.
but the next instant Schreyer had
reached the end Of the runway. The
wy Sio uioPPoa AIOiil uHucI MIN buu niI
body plunged toward the tank.
But for the first time In twenty years
Schreyers luck failed to hold. Instead
of landing in the water his body STRUCK
the end of the tank. For q moment II
hung there. his fingers gripping An edge
Of the tank and fumbling fecbly for the
water. and then he fell to the ground.
unconscious For almost q moment the
crowd. knowing that Schreyer was hurt,
stood SILENT and then Mrs Schreyer
screamed and tainted. Half . dosen
other women in the crowd swooned.
while William Gibson and Louis Fri
digger, who were managing the exhibi-
ton. ran to Schreyer's aid.
Gibson and others picked Schreyer up
and carried him to q nearby hotel, and
an ambulance was summoned from
Fordham Hospital, where physicians say
he had suffered q fractured skull, q
broken left leg and a fractured jaw
bone. He was still unconscious last night
and Is not expected TO recover.