DEADLY STRUGGLE ON A TIGHT-ROPE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 133, 10 February 1874, Page 2

DEADLY STRUGGLE ON A TIGHT-ROPE.

(From the San Francisco Bulletin October 3.) Little did the tens of thousands of men, women and children who thronged the public square of Agram, Croatia, on the 15th of August, anticipate that they were about to witness a spectacle such as perhaps has 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 Francisco Pergowitch, were to appear on the rope, which had been stretched from the fifth story of the court-house to a window in an opposite house, a distance of 250 ft. The acrobats were to meet midway and pass each other. When the clock struck twelve 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 indescribable horror. Pergowitch suddenly uttered an angry exclamation, and dealt Kolter a terrible blow on the head. Kolter staggered and fell, but in so doing so succeeded in clutching the rope with one hand, while with the other he grasped the leg of his assailant. Pergowitch now fell likewise, but passed his right arm round the rope, so that he hung 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 endeavored to loosen his antagonist’s hold. No one was able to interfere, and the result it was easy to forsee, 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 minutes before had set out on his fatal walk. Her piteous screams were heard above the din below, and her appeal 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 tight-rope managed to get on his feet again. With a diabolical expression on his face he 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 quickly to the courthouse window, where he surrendered, begging that he might be protected from violence. There was great danger of him being executed by the people, who loudly clamored 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 Rosita Serganoff, 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 was the youngest member of the distinguished family of acrobats of that name.