The Fatal Leap at Snoqualmie Falls
A young aeronaut attempts a dangerous parachute stunt in the spray of the falls, ignoring warnings from the crowd.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A. C. Anderson, Jr., the aeronaut, attempted to make a parachute jump into the chasm below Snoqualmie Falls yesterday afternoon, but was dashed on the rocks by the whirlwind created by the rush of water. Anderson, who had assumed the name of Prof. Lavonis, had chartered a Lake Shore excursion train to take a crowd to see his feat. Despite warnings about the dangerous whirlpools and rushing currents, he proceeded with the jump. Anderson jumped from a trapeze attached to a wire cable. He dropped about 100 feet before his parachute opened, only to be caught in a new current of air that swung him sideways toward the rocks. He struck a jagged rock on the south side, where he was found entangled in his parachute, unconscious. Two doctors in the crowd, F. W. Harrell and J. H. Loughary, administered aid and carried him up the canyon to a waiting train, but he died from his injuries. Anderson was a local youth who had turned to show business against his father's wishes, warning others of the dangers of the industry.
“I'll come back with you, though I may come back in a box.”
Snoqualmie Falls remains a site of immense power and a major tourist destination, though the commercialization of the area has shifted from daredevil aeronauts to luxury resort development. The story reflects the late 19th-century 'booster' culture, where dangerous public spectacles were promoted to drive ticket sales for local rail lines.
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