A Burglar Caught by a Skeleton & Other Singular Tales from the Victorian Press (49 page)

The Western Gazette
, Yeovil, January 15, 1897

A Perilous Balloon Trip

Three aeronauts, Mlle. Lena Dare, Signor Spelterini, and an assistant, made a perilous ascent from the Clarendonia Grounds, at Leicester, on Saturday evening.

A strong wind prevailed, rocking the balloon very violently. Spelterini and his assistant were in the car, but the lady hung on by her teeth to a trapeze under the car.

The balloon shot away rapidly, swaying the lady most violently backwards and forwards as she was carried rapidly over the town. She, however, stuck to her performance on the trapeze until she disappeared from sight.

The balloon travelled rapidly eastwards, and, owing to the late ascent, darkness was coming on before the aeronauts could descend. An effort was made to alight near Great Dalby, but the grappling-iron failed to hold, and the strong wind carried the balloon bumping along over fields and through hedges for two miles.

To avoid contact with the buildings the balloon had to be lightened to enable it to reascend. At the next descent the grappling-iron held fast, and the party safely alighted. All three were very much shaken and bruised, but otherwise they were uninjured.

The Citizen
, Gloucester,
September 3, 1888

A ‘Strong Man’ as a Lodger

On Wednesday in the Westminster County Court, the case of Brackenbury v. Sandow came before Judge Bayley. The plaintiff claimed £4 12s. 6d., for damage done to the ceiling and furniture at 6, Rupert Street, London, by the defendant, known as ‘the Strong Man.’

Mr T. Mann, in opening the case, said the defendant (who did not appear) rented some rooms at the plaintiff’s house, and after a little time he commenced to practise some feats of strength in the rooms with dumb-bells and heavy weights, with the results that the ceiling of the room below came down.

He stopped practising with the weights, but commenced to use a pistol, with the result that he damaged the wall paper and fired through a picture frame. He also dropped one of the dumb bells on a cabinet, knocking the corner off. Plaintiff gave evidence in support of this statement, and, in answer to his Honour as to what objection he had to dumb-bells, the plaintiff said, ‘One of them weighed 320lbs, sir.’ His Honour gave judgement for the plaintiff for the amount claimed, with costs.

The Huddersfield Daily Chronicle
, November 13, 1890

Uproar in a Paris Theatre

A Paris correspondent telegraphs: A great uproar was caused in the Theatre des Menus Plaisirs on Saturday night. During the performance of what is called a ‘revue,’ in which the vendors of lying news-sheets were satirised, the audience heartily applauded a scene where a fellow crying out the adventures of a colonel is taken to task by another actor who sings a couplet praising the military.

In the midst of the applause a loud hiss was heard. It proceeded from the front orchestra stalls, where a young man of respectable appearance was seated.

He was remonstrated with by those about him, but, nothing daunted, he continued his hissing, and as the imaginary newsvendor broke away from the grasp of the singer, calling him opprobrious names, the young man stood up and applauded with energy. He was immediately set upon by the persons near him, and was thrashed within an inch of his life.

When rescued by the men of the Guard, his face was covered with blood and bruises, and his clothes were torn to tatters. During the entr’acts, a crowd of the persons attending the theatre tried to get the man out of the police-office. They evidently wanted to kill him for having defended the news-boys in the teeth of the whole house.

The Manchester Evening News
, March 8, 1886

A Singular Incident

A melancholy fracas has occurred at Indianapolis owing to an actor being bitten by a dog.

It seems that there is an actor there of such exquisite proportions that he is known as the Apollo Belvedere. He was walking in the streets the other day and exciting universal admiration by the magnificent proportions of his limbs, when he accidentally stepped on the tail of a terrier dog who happened to come across his path.

The enraged animal immediately turned and bit the actor severely in the calf of the leg. The wounded man, however, stalked on apparently unconscious of the injury he had received until a bystander called his attention to the circumstance.

He immediately stopped, and the utmost sympathy was felt for him and expressed by the spectators until to their amazement and horror they saw flowing from the wound – not a drop of blood – but a thin stream of sawdust.

The incident naturally caused a painful sensation in the city, and was mentioned with kindly regret by one of the local papers. This annoyed the actor excessively, and announcing his intention to chastise the editor he proceeded to the office of that gentleman to carry out his intention; but the muscles of his arms proved as little formidable as the calves of his legs, and after a short and sharp struggle he was ignominiously kicked by the editor out of his room.

Altogether he has sadly fallen in the estimation of the public, and it is understood he contemplates retirement from the stage – at all events for a time.

The Manchester Evening News
, June 12, 1873

An Editor Horsewhipped by Chorus Girls

According to a report in the
South Australian Register
there was an exciting scene in a New Zealand newspaper office recently.

It appears that in consequence of strictures on the characters of members of the Gaiety Theatrical Company, published in the
Workman
, of Dunedin, several members of the company went to the office, and, failing to get a satisfactory explanation from the editor, five chorus girls thrashed him and the printers with horsewhips.

The party were ultimately ejected, but they broke the doors and windows, forced their way inside again, and wrecked the premises.

An actor was struck a severe blow on the right eye during the melee in the street. On the following day some members of the company were brought up at the police court, but the charge was withdrawn.

The Edinburgh Evening News
, July 11, 1893

The ‘Manard Coat’ Demonstrations

Shooting Accident at the Canterbury Music Hall

Miss Julie Manard, the wearer of the Manard bullet-proof coat, was struck in the neck by a bullet while being shot at on Saturday evening at the Canterbury Music Hall. She was removed to St Thomas’s Hospital, where she is progressing favourably.

In an interview with a press representative the marksman can only attribute the accident to the deflection of the rifle before the bullet cleared the barrel.

It is stated by a news agency that the London County Council is about to take steps for the prevention of the public exhibitions of the bullet-proof coat, on the grounds of the great risk attaching to such exhibitions.

The Pall Mall Gazette
, May 28, 1894

Fearful Riot in Leicester.