Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Jumping Rope 100 Times -- And Dying



It used to be considered dangerous for girls to jump rope excessively; they risked illness, a dislodged uterus, or even death.

Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel, 17 July 1858

 

To make exactly one hundred jumps seems to have been an especially risky endeavor.

Bluefield (West Virginia) Daily Telegraph, 23 March 1905

 

Chad Lewis, Hidden Headlines of Wisconsin (Eau Claire, WI: Unexplained Research Publishing Company, 2007), p. 12.

Jumps Rope 100 Times
Dies Within An Hour

LA CROSSE – Gretchen Henschel, aged 8 years, died here yesterday as the result of jumping rope. She jumped 100 times in succession, then went into the house and became suddenly ill. Death resulted in an hour. – Milwaukee Journal, April 21, 1902.

Biloxi Daily Herald, 31 May 1906

 

Always Farther On

Have you ever heard the story
Of the girl of whom ‘twas said
She jumped the rope one hundred times
And suddenly fell dead?
Of course you never met her
Because it was her fate
To live in some far country
Off in another state [...]