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Jenny Rumary Van Tassel(1864-1892)
Jenny Rumary Van Tassel was no soft, timid, shrinking wife of balloonist “Professor” Park Van Tassel. Described as big, young, handsome and blonde; on the 4th of July 1888, Jenny, escaped from the detective who had been sent to stop her, climbed into husband’s balloon gondola, rose to 6,000′ above Los Angeles and then, without hesitation, launched herself and her 28′ parachute into the air.“It is only a question of nerve,” said Mrs. Van Tassell, when asked about her exploit. “I made up my mind that I could jump from a balloon and when I make up my mind to do a thing I do it. So, when we were over a clear place, they opened the valve to hold the balloon stationary and give the ‘chute a start to open a little, and then I said good-by and jumped.
I dropped thirty feet like a shot before the parachute was well open, there was no shock, and I felt no great strain on my arms. I often dreamed of falling immense distances, and I wanted to see how it really was. I ain’t exactly a bird nor an angel, but it’s just about what I imagine the sensation of flying is. It was beautiful! Though I went through that 6000 feet in five and one-quarter minutes, I didn’t seem to be going fast, and never lost my breath. I swung hundreds of feet one side and the other for the first 4000 feet, but after that I just floated down an incline to the ground, and alighted with no more shock than would be caused by jumping off a chair. I wasn’t the least bit frightened from the start. One arm was strapped to the parachute, and there was a belt around my waist, so I could not fall away from the parachute. I only thought about my landing, whether I would drop on a big tree that was just under me, or on a house that I saw. I luckily missed both. I was anxious to get a reputation, and I did, and I expect to make a fortune by jumping from balloons.”On March 16, 1892, in Dacca, East Bengal, she died while landing, after she stuck in a tree at Ramna. She is buried Narinda Christian graveyard in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Park Van Tassel continued his barnstorming career after the incident. He died in Oakland, Calif., on October 24, 1930, at the age of 78.