THIS IS A DOUBLE THRILLER.
Ringling Circus Has a New Automo-
bile Slide Trick.
Automobile thrillers are a part of every circus now, and each succeeding show claims its thriller to be more thrilling than the one before. So it happens that the Ringling Brothers' show, which comes here September 7, is making so much noise over Miss La Belle Roche's "double somersault in midair." The Ringling press artists -- there are four of them, all in a row like the Ringlings -- see nothing extravagant in the description they have written of this act.
This is the way they see it: "From the dome of the tent down a slender metal track the heavy machine, throbbing and straining at every rivet, plunges with lightning speed and the crash of thunder. The ending of the incline in an abrupt curve lifts the auto high in air, the plucky young woman firmly clutching the guiding wheel. There is a pause of death-like stillness after the ponderous car has left the steel rails. Spectators, with straightened spines and tingling scalps, almost freeze to their seats, so keen is the suspense, so awful the dread of that brief moment.
"Once the machine turns a perfect circle, not a stir is heard among the audience. Breaths are held in fear of what may follow Again the automobile turns completely over, and then with the crash of a thunderbolt it lands upright on a steel runway and plunges onto the track to spend its terrific force, the young French woman at the wheel smiling with triumph The pent-up emotion of the audience vents itself in hysterical applause from the women and shouts of admiration from the men."
