DEADLY STRUGGLE ON A TIGHT-ROPE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1156, 24 January 1874, Page 26

DEADLY STRUGGLE ON A TIGHT-ROPE.

( San Francisco Bulletin, Oct. 3.)

Little did the tens of thousands of men, women, and children who thronged the public square of Agram, Crotia, on the 15th of August anticipate that they were about to witness a spectacle such as has perhaps never been seen before — a mortal struggle in mid-air. The occasion of the gathering was a performance on the tight-rope. The acrobats, Andreas Kolter and Francis Pergowitch, were to appear on the rope, which had been stretched from the fifth story of the Courthouse to a window in an opposite house, a distance of 250 ft. The acrobats were to meet midway, and then to pass each other. When the clock struck 12, the acrobats emerged from their respective windows, dressed in tights, and without balance poles. Kolter walked rather cautiously, while Pergowitch came to meet him from the opposite direction with a nervous quick step. At last they met, and the suspense of the crowd underneath changed the next moment to a feeling of indiscribable horror. Pergowitch suddenly uttered an angry exclamation, and dealt Kolter a terrible blow on the head. Kolter staggered and fell, but in so doing succeeded in clutching the rope with one hand, while with the othtr he grasped the left leg of his assailant. Pergowitch now fell likewise, but passed his right arm around the rope, so that he hung upon it in comparative security. And now began a life and death struggle. Kolter, with his right hand, tried to drag Pergowitch from the rope, while Pergowitch kicked Kolter with his right foot, and with his left hand endeavoured to loosen his antagonist's hold. No one was abl9 to interfere, and the result, it was easy to foresee, must be the death of one or both the acrobats. Many women fainted, while strong men wept like children. What added" to the general despair was the appearance of Kolter's young wife at the open window, from which her husband a few moments before had set out upon his fatal walk. Her piteous screams were heard above the din below, and her appeals to Pergowitch to spare her husband's life would have moved the heart of an Apache. The struggle in mid-air lasted perhaps a minute, when Kolter suddenly uttered a last cry and lost his hold. He fell to the ground, striking it violently and expiring instantly. While the people gathered around the corpse of poor Kolter, his murderer on the fight-rope managed to get on his feet again. With a diabolical expression on his face ho uttered a yell of triumph. The Prefect of Police ordered Pergowitch to surrender. In case he should not do so within five minutes he would be shot down like a dog Finally he raised himself to his feet, and ran qiickly to the courthouse window, where he surrendered, begging that he might be protected from violence. There was great danger of his being executed by the people, who loudly clamoured that the murderer be given up to them ; but the military by a bayonet-charge cleared the public square. Pergowitch being asked what caused him to perpetrate this crime, said that there had been a grudge between him and Kolter ever since the latter had married young Eosita Sercanoff, a Polish girl of rare beauty. Kolter, in a fit of jealousy, had told him he knew one or the other must die on this account. Andreas Kolter wa3 the youngest member of the distinguished family of acrobats of that name.

The only fault found with King Victor Emmanuel at Berlin was his strange custom of never eating in public, not even unfolding his dinner napkin, and only filling his glass when toasting his Imperial host. King Victor Emmanuel never, even at his own banquets at home, eats of the fare provided, but dineß every day at 2 p.m. off a risotto, a dish of venison, or some other of the savoury Italian stewa, manufactured by his own private cook.

If we Are to believe the correspondent of an Italian journal at Massowah, the Abyssiunions do not seem to have benefitted greatly by then; change of rulers, the new Emperor, Johannill., being somewhat of a cruel disposition. Tfeus a captured rebel had his ears tilled with gun-cotton, which, on being ignited, blew his head to ,atoms. The Emperor is also reported to hav^e commanded the right handß and left legs ,of twenty-seven captives to be chopped off in his presence, and thin abandoned them to be preyed upon. ! by lion*, tigwft and nanther*