New-York tribune. [volume], August 14, 1904, Page 3, Image 46

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
DESCENDING FROM HIGH BALLOON BY
PARACHUTE.
'"■'-■■ iumns.
■
I
An iiea of how the eight mighty columns will
look when the sixteen great ster.es— two to a
CCflinrra. one on top of the other— are all in posi
tion n;«iy tie gained from a peep at the model of
the finished cathedral, which rests i:i a well
lighted room of the old asylum buiidins that
Still stands on the cath?dral property. Made on
a scale of an inch to a foot, in plaster, it dis
plays to advantage the chancel and choir, with
she P«-ven Chape!s of Tongues <a suggestion of
Efefcep Potter) encircling the ihoir. From the
Se\en Chapels the «iospel will be taught in
sr-ven languages. The shape's have been named
as follows: Scots Chapel. British RiU-; Holland
Chap»l. German Rite; Swedish Chapel, Scandi
navian Rite; St. Saviour's Chapel, Oriental Rite;
St. Ambrose** Chai^ei. Italian Rite; Huguenot
Chapel. GiLllk-an Rite; Spanish Chapel, ilozii
rabir Rite.
Looking into the interior of the model, one sees
excellent copies of the altar and the eight choir
columns in position, all complete in every detail.
Tbe columns rest on a base twelve feet above
thf> floor of the nave. The interior effect in the
model is extremely beautiful in its pure and
spotless white.
By the Generosity of the Bishop's wife, it Is
said, the old asylum is being arranged for a
convention hall and other purposes, with a seat
ing capacity of 1.300 persons. It is hoped to
have the hall ready in time for the diocesan an
nual meeting to be held on the last Wednesday
LnTPINC; THE LOOP ON A BICTCLB.
in September. Some high dignitaries of the
Church may attend it. including the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
WILLING TO LISTEN.
Teas— She was toasting that «he is a very
pood listener.
— Yes. She's wtiat you might call a fluent
listener. She loves to bear herself talk — (Phila
delphia Press.
NEW- YORK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
RISKING THEIR LIVES.
Men Must Do Much to Thrill the
Public Norn.
There is nothing; amusement seeking Ameri
cana like quite as well as thrills. They are ready
to risk their own lives and limbs on all sorts of
mechanical arrangements, with never a thought
of the consequences. They are even more ready
to look on while paid performers trifle with fate
in feats that make the spectators hold their
breath and the women in the crowd turn pule
and hide their eyes.
Prom time immemorial there hay» been life
endangering occupations filled by men and wom
en for the mere purpose of earning a living. The
paid soldier, who rushes into the cannon's mouth
behind a foreign flag, fighting a battle in which
he has no personal interest beyond his rronthlv
stipend, is a brave man ar.4 makes his living
out of this courage. K<jually brave are the cais
son worker, the deep sea diver and the steeple
jack.
The thrill makers belong to a newer but equal
ly courageous class. The founders of their
guild, the first men to ply the trade of risking
life for the amusement of the public, were
SUDINO ATXSNG A LOFTY WTRR SUSTAINED
BY THE TEETH ONLY.
those who went up in flimsy balloons at coun
try fairs. They hoped to get down somewhere
in the same county, somehow, and they thankeJ
their lucky stars each time they fell safely to
earth that they had not dropped into a lake. •
drown In the tangle of rope and silk, or Into a
treetop. where legs might be broken.
Then came an improvement with th* introduc
tion cf a parachute. The aeronauts probably
consider**! this attachment in th* light of a life
saving device, but for years parachutes have
occasionally failed to open after being cut away
from the balloon and men and women have
fallen to horrible deaths.
The balioon with its parachute jump still
■ernes in the ccuntry. but the metropolis must
have up to date thrills, and the amusement
managers have provided them with slides for
life, looping loops en bicycles, jumping gaps
on roller skatos and diving into life nets from
the roofs of high buildings. Even members of
the h%h diving fraternity, who occasionally
bring up in the pools at the bottom of their
diving towers with broken backs or necks, have
had to erne forward with something new. High
diving, at itself, no longer thrills New-York,
not even when the oaring performer darts down
a hundred or more feet into extremely shallow
water.
Perhaps as daring and dangerous a thrill
maker as has yet been offered is the 'slide for
life" at Dreamland, in which a young man
?!ides 725 feet over a rain rusted cable 32S feet
above the ground. It would be dangerous
enough if he hung with his hands to the pulley
arrangement which slides over the wire. This
performer's hands are free, however, as he
demonstrates by firing revolvers in the course
of his flight. He hangs to a rubber strap by
his teeth. Part of his flight Ls over a miniature
lake, but if he tumbled into the water his chance
of life would be only one in a thousand. If he
should fall on the Wooden platform or on one
of the bridges there would be absolutely no
chance for him.
One night, a few weeks ago. he stood on top
of the great tower from which his "slide for life"
begins, smile J down on the throng gazing up
at Ma from below, kissed his hand to the wom
en, who were n-rvo 1 for a chorud of shriek?, took
WALKING THE TIGHT tOPI fN HKAVT
'T3.
the rubber firmly between his teeth and was oft.
His wire track i.s swept by ocean breezes, and
when he h.i.i covered about ill the distance
a gust of wind struck him. It hu:-. . him o:i
at frightful speed ar.d dashed him with a craaii
into the upper works of an unusually hi^U
"shoot the chutes."' If he had landed at his
ordinary speed he could have dropped into a. re
ceiving net which ia spread there to receive him.
As it was. he fell with stunning force op. tha
chutes, directly in t!ie path of a boat which had
besun the descent and which coulJ not b-i
stopped. The boat rolled him over and over tha
entire length of the chute and finally bunt-itl him
into the lake.
Women fainted at the right, and the rr.c- v.-lv
rushed to pu!l him out of the water had no
thought that there would be lif<; left in him.
The luck that often goes hand in hand with a
man who tiares was with htm In his fall. He was
badly Injured, but not beyond recovery. In
fact, he left the hospital a. few days .150. ar.d is
a^ain sliding for life, as though he ha not
come so near sllJlng to death. It is Interesting
to note that the hospital cot he vacated was
taken a few hours later by a. courageous Uoo
tamer who had been wounded by a Nubian liun.
Tightrope walking has been so long on the
circu3 and amusement bills that without modem
variations, consisting of added risks, the public
will no longer look at the sight. Accordingly
the men and women of the wire have taken to
wearing stiff boots, which makes their feat ox»
ceedingly dangerous. The nets which am orn"(
spread under the wire have been removed, i:\\
if the performers fall they alight with bona
breaking forcj m hard ground.
The bicycle has come to enter largely Into the
feats of daring which amuse by thrilling. Per
haps the most exciting, for both rider and spec
tators. Is Looping- the loop on a wheel. Th«
JUMPING FROM ROOF INTO LOTS NET.
variation of a fraction of an inch at almost
any point in the giddy dash down the Incline
and around the circle would give the rider a
most dangerous fall. Leaping the gap i.s an
other bicycle feat which never fails to excite
the crowd. The rider starts from the top of a
steep incline and rides to the gap. Ills ma. hln«
leaps into the air, crcesdes a considerable space
Continued «a tenth para.
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