Show brooklyn bridge jumper 15 ACK in the eighties the brooklyn bbridge aj bridge was one of the wonders of the modern world its dedication on may 24 1883 1833 was an event of nationwide nation wide interest but three years later it was even more in the news because of a man with whose name that great span has been linked in popular memory ever since he was steve brodie bootblack s treet street car conductor sailor and worker around the docks who became a professional walker as a means of earning some easy money but he was never better than a see sec ond rater and none of his walking matches ever belef benefited cited him greatly in the summer of 1886 1836 he was nearly broke one day in july he heard some gome of his friends talking about the latest casualty among the men who had tried for fame and fortune by diving from the brooklyn bridge to the river feet below seven of them had tried it and all of them had been killed huh I 1 bet you I 1 could do it and not be killed boasted brodie bet you you cant replied a friend youre on was brodies answer but he was evidently none too confident that he could make good on his boast for he took out a life insurance policy for 1000 as a protection for his wife just in case on july 23 1886 brodie jumped off the bridge and came up without a scratch officials of the life insurance company were furious because he had risked 1000 of their money to win they returned his premium and cancelled his policy which was foolish for he lived to a ripe old age agel his successful jump was widely publicized it won him an engagement in a melodrama called blackmail in which he had to dive off a great height into a net a feat which he declared was even more dangerous than his jump from the bridge and his performance in this at a week made brodie the brooklyn bridge jumper famous all over the country his achievement encouraged imitators and during the next few years no less than 11 others tackled the nations most spectacular high dive although the first seven had perished in their attempts brodie seemed to have broken the jinx tor for every one of the 11 survived by that time the novelty a feat had somewhat worn off but brodies fame as the first to make a successful jump was secure moreover he contributed another picturesque esque phrase to the american language for doing a brodie I 1 is still a synonym for a spectacular jump or plunge from a height |