Hopkinsville, Kentuckian April 1900
| About 5,000 excursionists gathered here today to witness three of the most
daring feats ever performed in this section. George Slackey walked
a high wire that was attached to the bridge superstructure, carrying a
man on his back. Fred Loomis made a balloon ascension suspended only
by his neck.
When at a great altitude the parachute became entangled, and the hot air becoming exhausted, he descended rapidly, landing directly on the bridge about midway the river. As if by a miracle the man escaped with only slight bruises. Matthew Gray turned a back somersault from the channel span of the bridge, and came within an ace of losing his life, being dragged from the river in insensible condition. The pluck little fellow had fractured one of the bones of his right forearm in making a leap from the top of the Cairo bridge last week, and in trying to protect this arm, which was bound in splints, he lost control and struck the water with his right side. Gray says he is uninjured, excepting his arm, but it is thought he has sustained internal injuries. |
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