Wednesday 22 April 2020

I Know This Sounds Extremely Improbable,

a tightrope walker, carried a cast iron stove on his back,


to aid his trick, when he crossed Beaton Street, Corsicana, Texas, unfortunately he fell, his trick was not helped by the fact that he was one legged! I kid you not, photograph tomdarin.l, here is the story, 

"In the late 1890s a one-legged tight-wire walker was performing his act in downtown Corsicana as a promotion to bring people to town. He would walk a rope stretched across Beaton street from the tops of two buildings. The rope walker carried a cast iron stove on his back to add to the trick. On July 28, 1898, the 69 year old man, who claimed to have been born in Princeton, New Jersey on February 6, 1829, was performing his tight rope performance when the rope sagged excessively and he fell while halfway across Beaton Street. Mortally injured, the man called for a rabbi. There were none to be found but a Jewish merchant prayed with him in Hebrew. The dying man stated his date and place of birth but no one could remember if he have his name and he was never identified. He was buried in the Hebrew Cemetery in Corsicana. His headstone simply reads "ROPE WALKER"

the true identity of Rope Walker was known at the time of his death, although it may have been forgotten by the time the stone was ordered, Find-a-grave has the short version of the story., the legend was untangled a few years ago, and you can read about it at the Corsicana Daily Sun, which is fine if you are in America, but for us in Europe we receive this message,

and there was me thinking we were out of our masters clutches when we voted to leave Europe, but I am afraid we are still under the Jackboot of Europe! still a great story, a cast iron cooker carrying one legged tightrope artist, who would have thought it!


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