Watch High Diving Scene

Daredevil acts were a way to draw crowds to amusement resorts, whether looping the loop, slides for life, or high diving into small and shallow pools of water. They required skill and a certain foolhardy courage. But some would rather take the risks than live humdrum lives, working a "normal" 6 days a week, 10-12 hours a day. And as for paying customers who led those more ordinary lives perhaps they weren't so bad if one considered the alternatives. There were many such acts at Coney Island, but this performance may have occurred on Memorial Day 1901, in Providence, Rhode Island.