Rossa Matilda Richter Aka Zazel

by Science Source

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Rossa Matilda Richter Aka Zazel

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Science Source

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Rossa Matilda Richter (1863 - 1937), AKA Zazel, was an English trapeze artist. In 1871, William Leonard Hunt developed a mechanism he called a "projector." Made out of heavy springs and Indian rubber, it shot a person forward, employing a gunpowder-based explosion only for effect. Richter's first performance of the stunt was on April 10, 1877, at the Royal Aquarium in London. She traveled 20 feet and landed in a net. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, she was the first human cannonball, but others claim Ella Zuila and George Loyal, AKA "The Australian Marvels", performed the act a few years prior. According to P. T. Barnum, who had traveled to London to see the performance, Zazel pleaded with him to take her away. Though she was the star of the act and took the physical risks, Hunt was keeping most of the money the act brought in. Richter went on tour with Barnum's Circus, performing in France and throughout the US. In 1891, she nearly died in an accident during a show in New Mexico, when either the net was incorrectly placed or the net failed. She broke her back, effectively retiring her from her career as a human cannonball, and she spent several months in a suspended full body cast.

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December 13th, 2017

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