Sept. 11, 1907 (Wednesday)

IT HAS ALL THE LOOK AND FEEL OF AN "X-GAMES" EVENT: A big crowd at Revere Beach, Mass., watched in horror yesterday as a stunt bicyclist who goes by the name of "Cyclone" FLEW OFF a large ramp and tumbled to the ground. Fortunately, he survived. But the disaster earned a prime spot on the front page of today's Boston Globe (shown here)

HEADLINE OF THE DAY -- "LOST EARTHQUAKE LOCATED": Huh? It's referring to the earthquake felt in Washington, D.C., and the Isle of Wight on Sept. 2 and reported on Sept. 4. Now, thanks to a report from an officer of the revenue cutter Rush based at Dutch Harbor off Alaska, the location of the earthquake has been pinpointed, according to today's New York Times. Sailors on the Rush said a volcano in the Aleutian Islands erupted on Sept. 1 and 2. A hurricane sprang up at the time, too. It happened near the volcanic island Perry, which broke the surface shortly after the San Francisco earthquake in April 1906.

SURE HE'S CRAZY -- LIKE A FOX: Officials at the New Jersey State Hospital for the Insane are puzzled by Dels Degs, a longtime inmate from Denmark. He and one other inmate escaped. Degs has a reputation of an "inventive genius" at the State Prison. His method of escape indicates that he deserves the moniker. He got ahold of a SPOON HANDLE and fashioned it so it would UNLOCK THE DOORS at the prison. Today's Times says, "No trace of the missing lunatics has been found.'

TEENAGER SEES PLAY AND GETS A IDEA -- WHY NOT SUICIDE? A trip to the theater, to see a production of "The Octoroon", nearly led to the death of Lillian Humphreys, 15. When asked by Ambulance Surgeon Ralph Goldthwaite why she had swallowed NITRIC ACID, she said, "Because I saw it done in the play." She was referring to the end of the play, when Zoe shows that she would prefer suicide to a life of slavery. (The image here is from publicity material for the play.)
Lillian tried to kill herself in the dressing room of the Worcester (Mass.) Slipper Company, where she works. She is expected to survive, although she is badly burned.