[Illustration]
"I send you a snap-shot, taken by me, of a man falling ninety feet!
The high-diver (forming part of a street carnival show) climbed up
his ninety-foot ladder set up in the main street of Washington, N.C.,
half an hour before he was to make his daring leap into four feet of
water. As he tested the ladder to see if all was in readiness one of
the guy-ropes broke, and, to the horror of the crowd below, man and
ladder came crashing down to the pavement. With rare presence of mind
the athlete turned when he felt the ladder start and slid down for his
life, thus lessening the fall by almost half. Strange to say he was
not killed, but his legs were badly broken."--Miss Mary Brickell Hoyt,
Candler Post Office, Buncombe Co., North Carolina.