retropopcult:Atlantic City bathing beach and Steeplechase Pier, August 1908. Seen on the awning o
retropopcult: Atlantic City bathing beach and Steeplechase Pier, August 1908. Seen on the awning on the pier: “Human Roulette” and “Human Niagara”. For those wondering what those are, read on. From New Jersey Law Reports, 1914: “The plaintiff was injured while riding upon an amusement device known as “Human Niagara Falls,” maintained and operated by the defendant company upon the Steeplechase Pier in Atlantic City. The Steeplechase Pier is an amusement resort upon which is maintained and operated a number of mechanical contrivances for the use and amusement of its patrons. There were displayed all about signs reading “All amusements at your own risk.” Several of these devices were maintained for the purpose of allowing patrons to take rides or slides of a more or less thrilling nature, and the “Human Niagara Falls” was a structure of this character. Patrons of the pier were charged a fee of twenty-five cents upon entering, and this entitled them, if they chose to put themselves in a position of obvious danger, to the use of all the devices plainly designed to produce unusual excitement and sensations. The plaintiff paid the entrance fee on the day of the accident, and thus became entitled to all the rights and privileges of patrons of the pier.The “Human Niagara Falls” consisted of an incline upon which was fastened a series of rollers, about eighteen in number. The rollers were about seven feet wide by eighteen inches in diameter. Persons using the device seated themselves upon the topmost roller of the incline and were then propelled by the force of gravity, over the rollers, to the bottom. The weight of the person passing over them caused the rollers to revolve. There was a space of from three-sixteenths to one-quarter of an inch left between the rollers for clearance so that they would revolve without touching.At the trial the plaintiff’s version of the accident was that, having chosen to ride on the “Human Niagara Falls,” when she reached about the fourth or fifth roller on the way down, her heel caught between the rollers and she was twisted around, thrown forward head foremost, and bumped over every roller to the bottom, and was thus injured.” -- source link
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