THE NEW YORK TIMES, AUGUST 31, 1895 – Mrs. Clara McArthur of 162 East One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Street attempted to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge at 5:30 o’clock yesterday morning, but was prevented by the bridge policemen…
“I made up my mind long ago to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. My husband read to me from a newspaper last Winter about someone who made the leap. I said, ‘Why, that is nothing at all, I can do that myself.’
“I went down this morning, fully intending to jump. I was not the least bit nervous. My husband has done all the fretting. In fact, he is about worn out with anxiety. I put on, before leaving home, a suit of yellow and black tights and over them a close-fitting dress that I was going to leave in the carriage. I had my shoes weighted with sand. I cannot swim but there was no danger of my drowning, because I wore a new kind of life preserver that has little balloons that fit under the arms. I had around my neck a little silk American flag. I was going to hold my hands high above my head and just step off.”
Mrs. McArthur is rather tall. She has dark eyes and hair. She speaks intelligently except on the subject of bridge-jumping.
“It was not my fault.” Mr. McArthur said. “My wife has a talent for bridge-jumping. She has not had any actual experience, but she has the right idea.”
Draped in good intentions and the American flag, Mrs. McArthur had a good plan for a bad idea. It was a perfectly executed disaster.
Can you relate?
