Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A 27-year-old woman, accused by police of vagrancy (a euphemism for prostitution), tried to elude officers through a dangerous method: leaping headfirst out of a second-story window.

Officers said she had been arrested several times before on the same charge and never went willingly. This time, they entered her room, arrested her and allowed her to go into an adjoining room to change clothes.

They heard a scream and when they burst in, she was out the window. They were sure she was dead, since she landed on her head. But when they rushed downstairs, they found that she had miraculously suffered only a broken nose. They took her to the emergency room and then to jail.

From the carnival beat: The Traveling Men’s Carnival, so-called because it was staged by an association of traveling salesmen, had some thrilling attractions, including:

• The jungle exhibit, with 50 alligators.

• La Belle Vivian, an “oriental dancer.”

• Chief Okum, “from the Maltese tribe of cannibals.”

• A spooky “Temple of Mystery.”

• An eight-footed horse.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1707: The Kingdom of Great Britain was created as a treaty merging England and Scotland took effect.